In 1928...KOH-AM in Reno NV begins radio transmissions.
The debut broadcast was to be on November 11, 1928 (to honor Armistice Day) but on-the-air testing between 4AM and 8AM the morning of October 27, 1928 proved so successful that KOH went directly to full-time broadcasting running 100 watts on 1370kHz. This early debut also allowed KOH to take advantage of the lucrative political advertising for the upcoming 1928 Presidential Elections in November. In fact, KOH even carried the election returns in a joint effort with the Reno Evening Gazette on November 6, 1928. KOH had a seven man crew, which was the largest for a radio station in Nevada up to that time. KOH was the first professionally operated, commercial radio station in Nevada.
Today the station is KKOH 780 AM is owned by Cumulus and airs a News/Talk format.
In 1931...vaudeville star Eddie Cantor was heard on radio for the first time. NBC’s Chase and Sanborn Hour became one of the most popular radio shows of the 1930s.
In 1932...Radio personality Dick Biondi was born. Calling himself The Wild I-talian, he was one of the original "screamers," known for his screaming delivery as well as his wild antics on the air and off. In a 1988 interview, Biondi related he had been fired 23 times; both fits of temper and jokes gone wrong were part of the tally. Over many years and many frequencies, Dick's close-of-the-program line was, "God bless, bye, bye, Duke. Thanks a million for dialing our way."
Biondi gained national attention in the 1950s and 1960s as a disc jockey on leading AM radio stations in Buffalo, New York; Chicago, Illinois; and Los Angeles, California. Besides being among the first to play Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, and other early rhythm and blues artists, he was able to meet them also. The early Rock and Roll era meant "record hops" where disc jockeys would make personal appearances at local schools and clubs; they often included appearances by the artists whose records were being played.
Biondi is credited as the first U.S. disc jockey to play the Beatles, on Chicago's WLS 890 AM in February 1963, with the song "Please Please Me". Later, while working at KRLA 1110 AM in Los Angeles, he introduced the Beatles and Rolling Stones at their Hollywood Bowl concerts.
Since 1984, Biondi has been a mainstay on Oldies stations in the city where he first earned his reputation, Chicago. On 2 May 2010, Dick Biondi celebrated the 50th anniversary of his first Chicago broadcast. WLS-AM and WLS-FM presented a 5-hour simulcast special from 7 PM to midnight, featuring memorable moments in his career and special celebrity guests, with Biondi as its host.
In November 2006, Biondi started on WLS 94.7 FM, where he hosts from 11 p.m. to 2 a.m. Central Time (formerly from 7 p.m. to 11 p.m.).
Biondi is an inductee of the National Radio Hall of Fame.
In 1937...the first successful radio soap opera set in the world of doctors and medicine Road of Life debuted on the NBC Red network. Writer/producer Irna Phillips’ story of handsome Dr. Jim Brent and his wife Jocelyn ran simultaneously on CBS for much of its 22 year run.
In 1960...the U.S. Federal Communications Commission banned the practice of payola — in which record companies paid disc jockeys to play certain records. The congressional investigation into payola caused the downfall of pioneer disc jockey Alan Freed, who did more than any other deejay to bring rock ‘n’ roll to a mass audience. Freed was fined 300 dollars and given a suspended sentence in 1962 after pleading guilty to two counts of commercial bribery. He was blackballed by the radio industry, and died a broken man on January 20th, 1965 at the age of 42.
In 1964...How's this for an amazing concert? The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Dusty Springfield, the Miracles, the Searchers, Martha & the Vandellas, the Shangri-La's, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Jay & the Americans, the Contours, the Dovells, the Newbeats, and Millie Small shared a bill for the conclusion of Murray The K's (1010 WINS) ten-day Big Holiday Show (September 4-13) at the Fox Theater in Brooklyn, New York.
In 1965...The Beatles released "Yesterday" b/w "Act Naturally" in North America. "Yesterday" was the first recording by the Beatles that relied upon a performance by a single member of the band, namely Paul McCartney. He was accompanied solely by a string quartet. The recording differed so greatly from their usual works that the other three members of the band vetoed the release of the song as a single in the United Kingdom, however it was eventually issued as a single there in 1976.
In 1986...Bob “Bob-A-Loo” Lewis does last radio show.
Bob ‘Bobaloo’ Lewis was best known as one of the “All Americans” on 77 WABC-AM. Lesser known was the fact that he was also heard on the FM side. WABC-FM 95 1/2 was a Progressive Rock station. The format was called “Love”. It featured tons of album cuts from all the heavys of the time, Hendrix, the Doors, the Who, and many more similar artists which would become the staples of AOR and later, Classic Rock stations. Courtesy of the musicradio77.com website, Aircheck from 1965: Click Here.
In 1999...WNEW 102.7 FM flipped to 'extreme' talk format
In 2011...Former New York Jets radio analyst/former Jets offensive guard Sam DeLuca died of pancreatic cancer at 75.
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