January 30 Radio History

In 1918...actor David Opatoshu was born in New York City.  He delivered the evening news in Yiddish on New York radio during the World War II years on WEVD.   In a span of 40 years guesting on TV he appeared repeatedly in Philco Playhouse, Studio One, Dr. Kildare, The FBI & Medical Center.  He died April 30 1996 at age 78


In 1927...WADO 1280 AM in NYC signed on as WGL.

This station was owned by the International Broadcasting Corporation. WGL president Colonel Lewis Landes stated on the inaugural broadcast, "The International Broadcasting Corporation's aim is to adhere to truth, to be free of partisanship, religious or political."

WGL was the first station to protest the frequency allocations of the Federal Radio Commission in May 1927. WGL was authorized to move to 1170 AM, but wanted to go to 720, occupied by WOR. When WOR was awarded the 710 frequency, both stations went to court, with WOR eventually winning the case. Finally in June 1927, WGL moved to 1020 AM and shared time with Paterson station, WODA.

In August 1927, studio manager Charles Isaacson announced one of the city's first attempts at local news coverage. WGL was organizing listeners to volunteer as radio reporters and call the station with breaking news stories.

On September 16, 1928, WGL changed calls to WOV and was sold to Sicilian-born importer John Iraci. The WGL call sign was then picked up by a Fort Wayne station, which uses them to this very day.

WOV's initial programming was aimed at a general audience, but by the mid-1930s, it strengthened its ethnic ties and expanded its Italian-language programming to fill the daytime hours. WOV soon became the dominant Italian voice in the Northeast through its affiliation with share-time station WBIL and Iraci's WPEN in Philadelphia.

The station was owned by WOV Broadcasting until 1959, when it was sold to Bartel Broadcasters, at which time the station was renamed WADO. During the day, WADO broadcast R&B music. At night, they ran Italian programming. By 1962, some Spanish programming was run on weekends. By 1963, the only English programming found on WADO was in Sunday religious broadcasts.

In 1964, WADO began broadcasting completely in Spanish from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., and Italian from 8 p.m. to Midnight. Overnight, Asian programming was run. By 1970, Spanish had replaced the Asian format.


In 1933..."The Lone Ranger" debuted on WXYZ radio in Detroit.  The program ran for 2,956 episodes and finished in 1955.



The famous radio western was not sponsored for most of the first year, until Silvercup Bread came aboard in November. It was picked up by the Mutual Broadcasting System radio network, and on May 2, 1942 by NBC's Blue Network, which in time became ABC. The last new episode was broadcast September 3, 1954. Recorded repeats of the 1952–53 episodes continued to be aired on ABC until June 24, 1955. It ran for 2,956 episodes before ending production in 1955. George Seaton (Stenius) was the first voice of the Lone Ranger. Jack Deeds and Earle Graser followed in the role.

However, it was Brace Beemer who is best remembered as former Texas Ranger, John Reid. On radio he played the part of the black-masked Ranger, fighting for frontier justice, for thirteen consecutive years.

In 1969...On the roof of their own Apple Studios in London, the Beatles gave their last public live performance. They performed "Get Back" (take 1), "Get Back" (take 2), "Don't Let Me Down" (take 1), "I've Got A Feeling" (take 1), "One After 909," "Dig A Pony," "I've Got A Feeling" (take 2), "Don't Let Me Down" (take 2), "Get Back" (take 3).



The concert came to an abrupt end after 42 minutes when police shut it down in response to the complaints of a nearby shop owner.


In 1978...The Mutual Broadcasting System began airing Larry King's overnight radio talk show.




In 1999...Announcer (Universal newsreels, Your Show of Shows, The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour, Kraft Television Theater, As the World Turns, All My Children, the commercial voice of Kraft Foods for more than 40 years) Ed Herlihy died at age 89.

Ed Herlihy 1959

Educated at Boston College, graduating in 1932, he gained his first radio job in his home town, at Boston's WLOE. When he was hired by NBC in 1935, he moved to New York, along with his friend, fellow Boston announcer Frank Gallop, who was hired by CBS.

Herlihy was immediately successful in network radio. He was the announcer for many radio shows from the 1930s, to the 1950s, among them: America's Town Meeting, The Big Show, The Falcon, Mr. District Attorney, and Just Plain Bill. He became the host of the The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour on radio in 1948, remaining its announcer when the show went to television. He continued his success in the new medium: his early television credits included Sid Caesar's hit Your Show of Shows and soap operas As the World Turns and All My Children.

He was also the host of Recollections At 30, which was a special NBC Radio series created for the network's 30th birthday.