September 12 Radio History

In 1932...Edgar Rice Burroughs’ creation, Tarzan of the Apes began a syndicated three-times-a-week 15-minute run on WOR and other US stations.  Burroughs’ daughter played the part of Jane. The syndicated serial that was broadcast in fifteen-minute episodes and lasted for two years and 286 episodes. The first aired from 1932-1936 with James Pierce in the role of Tarzan.

H.V. Kaltenborn

In 1938...H.V. Kaltenborn made broadcasting history by covering a crisis in Czechoslovakia for CBS radio beginning on this day.  Kaltenborn was so devoted to his work that he slept in the studio for 18 days while bringing updates to his audience.


 In 1958...electrical engineer Jack S. Kilby staged the first successful demonstration of an integrated circuit – the microchip – at Texas Instruments in Dallas, thereby rendering the transistor obsolete after just four short years




In 1970..."Fire and Rain" by James Taylor was released to radio, becoming his first hit single.


In 2001...XM Satellite Radio began service.

The company has its origins in the 1988 formation of the American Mobile Satellite Corporation (AMSC), a consortium of several organizations originally dedicated to satellite broadcasting of telephone, fax, and data signals. In 1992, AMSC established a unit called the American Mobile Radio Corporation dedicated to developing a satellite-based digital radio service; this was spun off as XM Satellite Radio Holdings, Inc. in 1999.

On July 29, 2008, XM and former competitor Sirius Satellite Radio formally completed their merger, following U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) approval, forming SiriusXM Radio, Inc. with XM Satellite Radio, Inc. as its subsidiary. On November 12, 2008, Sirius and XM began broadcasting with their new, combined channel lineups. On January 13, 2011, XM Satellite Radio, Inc. was dissolved as a separate entity and merged into Sirius XM Radio, Inc.  Prior to its merger with Sirius, XM was the largest satellite radio company in the United States.


In 2003...country superstar Johnny Cash died of complications from diabetes and emphysema, at age 71.


In 2013…Inventor Ray Dolby, who pioneered the noise-reduction and surround-sound technologies used in movies, cinemas, personal computers and home theater equipment, died of Alzheimer's disease and leukemia at age 80.


In 2014...Appearing CNBC's Closing Bell show, CBS CEO Les Moonves admitted the company might "trim down radio" in smaller markets. "We still believe in radio. It is a slow growth radio. Not as fast as some of our other businesses. We like it."  Moonves ruled out CBS selling out of radio completely.