August 31 Radio History

In 1916...TV/radio correspondent Daniel Schorr was born in the Bronx, New York.  Recruited to CBS News in 1953 by Edward R. Murrow, Schorr was instrumental in the network’s exposes in the Watergate scandal that bought down President Nixon. He would later move to CNN, and in the last 25 years of his life, was a Senior News Analyst for National Public Radio.  He died July 23 2010, five weeks short of his 94th birthday.


In 1920...The first news program to be broadcast on radio was aired. The station was 8MK in Detroit, MI.

Circa 1920

8MK soon became WWJ and was founded by The Detroit News; the mixed letter/number calls were assigned to the station by the United States Department of Commerce Bureau of Navigation, the government bureau responsible for radio regulation at the time. The 8 in the call sign referred to its location in the 8th Radio Inspection District, while the M in the call sign identified that the station operated under an amateur license. It is not clear why the Detroit News applied for an amateur license instead of an experimental license. As an amateur station, it broadcast at 200 meters (the equivalent of 1500 AM).

8MK was initially licensed to Michael DeLisle Lyons, a teenager, and radio pioneer. He assembled the station in the Detroit News Building but the Scripps family asked him to register the station in his name, because they were worried this new technology might only be a fad, and wanted to keep some distance. Later that year, Michael and his brother Frank, also assembled the first radio in a police car in Toledo, Ohio (with Ed Clark who started WJR 760 AM in Detroit). They captured a prowler using the radio, making national headlines. RCA got the contract to install radios in police cars across the country.




In 1941...Premiering on NBC, The Great Gildersleeve moved the title character from the McGees' Wistful Vista to Summerfield, where Gildersleeve oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie (originally played by Lurene Tuttle and followed by Louise Erickson and Mary Lee Robb) and Leroy Forester (Walter Tetley). The household also included a cook named Birdie. Curiously, while Gildersleeve had occasionally spoken of his (never-present) wife in some Fibber episodes, in his own series the character was a confirmed bachelor.  The show Aired to 1957.




On 1946...Superman returned to radio on the Mutual Broadcasting System after being dropped earlier in the year. Bud Collyer was the voice of Superman



In 1968...The Rolling Stones released the single "Street Fighting Man" in North America. The song was inspired by an anti-war rally Mick Jagger attended in March 1968 at London's U.S. embassy, during which mounted police attempted to control a crowd of 25,000. Some American radio stations refused to play the song based on its lyrics which were perceived as being subversive.


In 1976...A judge ruled that George Harrison was guilty of copying from the song "He’s So Fine" (by the Chiffons)

In 1981...Now WXLO 98.7 FM adopted the “Kiss” brand.  The station's transition to new urban contemporary format was completed. Early on, WRKS played a great deal of R&B and dance music, and became an almost instant hit with listeners, as its ratings skyrocketed from 22nd place to third. Notable Kiss FM Mixmasters at the time were Shep Pettibone and the Latin Rascals, who relied heavily on freestyle music. Longtime urban contemporary leader WBLS was caught off-guard by the sudden rise of the new station, which represented its first direct competition in that format.

In 1995...The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum opened in Cleveland, Ohio with a seven-hour concert featuring dozens of artists.


In 2008...CBS News radio/TV reporter Ike Pappas died of heart failure at 75. During his 25 year CBS career Pappas covered the Jack Ruby shooting of JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald in Dallas for New York’s WNEW radio.


In 2011...Radio broadcaster Bob Laine, who in his 46 years at CHUM 1050 AM Toronto did everything from hosting the all-night show to managing the station, died of cancer at the age of 72.

In 2012...Hal David, who with Burt Bacharach was one of the most successful songwriters of the Rock Era, died of a stroke at the age of 91 in Los Angeles.

David and Bacharach's hits include "(They Long to Be) Close To You", "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", "This Guy's in Love with You", "One Less Bell to Answer", "What the World Needs Now Is Love", "The Look of Love", "Do You Know the Way to San Jose", "I'll Never Fall in Love Again" and "Walk On By".  David was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972.