September 23 Radio History

In 1949...Bruce Springsteen was born in Long Branch, New Jersey.


In 1950…"The Eddy Arnold Show" debuted on NBC Radio.


In 1956...Mickey Dolenz began his television career in NBC’s “Circus Boy” series. But he became a star ten years later as a key member of The Monkees, the TV series inspired by The Beatles.


In 1957...“That’ll Be the Day” by Buddy Holly & the Crickets reached #1 on the charts. The title was from a phrase used by John Wayne in the film ‘The Searchers.’

In 1967...The Hot 100..An example of what made 1967 one of the best years in the Rock Era--the progression of #1's from "Respect", "Groovin'", "Windy", "Light My Fire", "All You Need Is Love", "Ode to Billie Joe".

And on this date, the Box Tops took over the coveted position with "The Letter".

That's heavy duty competition, something you always want to evaluate when looking at music.  All are members of The Top 500 Songs of the Rock Era.

In 1967...The Album Charts..The album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band by the Beatles had been out 14 weeks with 13 of those at #1.  Even the Doors' solid debut could not topple it.  Flowers from the Rolling Stones was #3


In 1969…The London Daily Mirror reported that Paul McCartney was dead. It was the first time the rumor was printed in a mainstream newspaper. The hoax began to gain traction in the U.S. on October 12, 1969 when disc jockey Russ Gibb's listeners shared and discussed "clues to the death" on Detroit's WKNR-FM.

In 1978...The Hot 100.."Boogie Oogie Oogie" by A Taste of Honey amazingly held on to #1 for a third week, but only for the moment.  On its heels was "Kiss You All Over" by Exile while Olivia Newton-John scored her 18th career hit with "Hopelessly Devoted To You".  Behind that trio, the Commodores' former #1 "Three Times a Lady", Andy Gibb's "An Everlasting Love" and yet another hit from Grease--"Summer Nights" from John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John.  The rest of the Top 10:  Boston's new release "Don't Look Back", "Hot Blooded" from Foreigner, Canada's Nick Gilder entered the Top 10 with "Hot Child in the City" and the Little River Band were up from 15-10 with "Reminiscing".

In 1978...The Album Charts..Grease returned to #1 on the album chart after a one-week occupancy by Boston's Don't Look Back.    That gave one of the last great musicals its eighth week at the top. Foreigner's Double Vision was third followed by Some Girls from the Rolling Stones.

Radio Marti

In 1981...the Reagan administration announced its plans for what would become known as Radio Marti. Radio Marti provided unfiltered and uncensored news to Cubans living under the regime of the dictator Fidel Castro.

In 2003...Rosalie Allen died at age 79. Allen was the singer/broadcaster also known as the "Queen of the Yodelers". Allen was the first woman inducted into the Country Radio Broadcasters Country DJ Hall of Fame.


In 2004...Bill Ballance died at age 85. Ballance is widely credited for paving the way for "shock jocks" with his controversial show in the 1970s which covered topics such as relationships and sex.



Ballance had radio station stints in Denver, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Honolulu and San Diego. Ballance was the evening personality late 1950s-early 60s on #1 rated KFWB. In Los Angeles, on KGBS, Ballance became well known as the host of the Feminine Forum radio show, which he managed beginning in 1971. He is known as the forerunner to "shock jocks" Tom Leykis and Howard Stern, having been accused of exploiting women's rights activists who called in to his show.

The Feminine Forum was dropped in 1973, and he began the Bill Ballance Show. He left Los Angeles in 1978 and went to radio station KFMB in San Diego, where he remained for fifteen years. While his early years in San Diego were successful from a ratings standpoint, his core audience was much smaller than what he had in Los Angeles. Ballance continued his practice of mixing open-topic callers with various in-studio guests (psychologists, counselors, physicians, etc.), as well as his own hand-written monologues. By the late 1980s, however, his popularity began to wane. As other talk show hosts copied and changed the "shock jock" format, and as the format itself began to evolve into racier topics and discussions, the "Bill Ballance Show" began to seem tame by comparison.

He retired from radio in 1993, after more than 50 years in the industry.

Ballance caused another stir in 1998, when a judge ruled that nude images of Dr. Laura Schlessinger could continue to be posted on a website. Ballance had sold the pictures to Internet Entertainment Group for $50,000.00 because he had been snubbed by Schlessinger at a Beverly Hills luncheon honoring her. He claimed that they were the product of a 1970s affair between himself and Schlessinger, while Schlessinger was married. Schlessinger admitted the affair but claimed she was legally separated and had filed for divorce from her first husband at the time of their affair. Ballance was 28 years older than Schlessinger.