November 4 Radio History

In 1916...David Sarnoff proposes "radio music box" for radio reception.

The curator of Sarnoff's papers found a previously mis-filed 1916 memo that mentioned Sarnoff and a "radio music box scheme" (the word "scheme" in 1916 usually meant a plan).  Here is the memo:

David Sarnoff

"I have in mind a plan of development which would make radio a 'household utility' in the same sense as the piano or phonograph. The idea is to bring music into the house by wireless.  

"While this has been tried in the past by wires, it has been a failure because wires do not lend themselves to this scheme. With radio, however, it would seem to be entirely feasible. For example--a radio telephone transmitter having a range of say 25 to 50 miles can be installed at a fixed point where instrumental or vocal music or both are produced. The problem of transmitting music has already been solved in principle and therefore all the receivers attuned to the transmitting wave length should be capable of receiving such music. The receiver can be designed in the form of a simple 'Radio Music Box' and arranged for several different wave lengths, which should be changeable with the throwing of a single switch or pressing of a single button.  

"The 'Radio Music Box' can be supplied with amplifying tubes and a loudspeaking telephone, all of which can be neatly mounted in one box. The box can be placed on a table in the parlor or living room, the switch set accordingly and the transmitted music received. There should be no difficulty in receiving music perfectly when transmitted within a radius of 25 to 50 miles. Within such a radius there reside hundreds of thousands of families; and as all can simultaneously receive from a single transmitter, there would be no question of obtaining sufficiently loud signals to make the performance enjoyable. The power of the transmitter can be made 5 k.w., if necessary, to cover even a short radius of 25 to 50 miles; thereby giving extra loud signals in the home if desired. The use of head telephones would be obviated by this method. The development of a small loop antenna to go with each 'Radio Music Box' would likewise solve the antennae problem.

"The same principle can be extended to numerous other fields as, for example, receiving lectures at home which be made perfectly audible; also events of national importance can be simultaneously announced and received. Baseball scores can be transmitted in the air by the use of one set installed at the Polo Grounds. The same would be true of other cities. This proposition would be especially interesting to farmers and others living in outlying districts removed from cities. By the purchase of a 'Radio Music Box' they could enjoy concerts, lectures, music, recitals, etc., which may be going on in the nearest city within their radius. While I have indicated a few of the most probable fields of usefulness for such a device, yet there are numerous other fields to which the principle can be extended... 

"The manufacture of the 'Radio Music Box' including antenna, in large quantities, would make possible their sale at a moderate figure of perhaps $75.00 per outfit. The main revenue to be derived will be from the sale of 'Radio Music Boxes' which if manufactured in quantities of one hundred thousand or so could yield a handsome profit when sold at the price mentioned above. Secondary sources of revenue would be from the sale of transmitters and from increased advertising and circulation of the Wireless Age. The Company would have to undertake the arrangements, I am sure, for music recitals, lectures, etc., which arrangements can be satisfactorily worked out. It is not possible to estimate the total amount of business obtainable with this plan until it has been developed and actually tried out but there are about 15,000,000 families in the United States alone and if only one million or 7% of the total families thought well of the idea it would, at the figure mentioned, mean a gross business of about $75,000,000 which should yield considerable revenue.  

"Aside from the profit to be derived from this proposition the possibilities for advertising for the Company are tremendous; for its name would ultimately be brought into the household and wireless would receive national and universal attention."

Sarnoff eventually ruled over an ever-growing telecommunications and consumer electronics empire that included both RCA and NBC, and became one of the largest companies in the world. Named a Reserve Brigadier General of the Signal Corps in 1945, Sarnoff thereafter was widely known as "The General."

Sarnoff is credited with Sarnoff's law, which states that the value of a broadcast network is proportional to the number of viewers.

Walter Cronkite

In 1916...Journalist and longtime CBS Evening News anchorman Walter Cronkite, once called "the most trusted man in America," was born on this day in 1916. He dropped out of college in his junior year, in the fall term of 1935, after starting a series of newspaper reporting jobs covering news and sports.  He entered broadcasting as a radio announcer for WKY in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. In 1936, he met his future wife, Mary Elizabeth Maxwell (known by her nickname "Betsy"), while working as the sports announcer for KCMO (AM) in Kansas City, Missouri. His broadcast name was "Walter Wilcox".

In Kansas City, he joined the United Press in 1937.  He became one of the top American reporters in World War II, covering battles in North Africa and Europe,  and in 1943 turned down a job offer from Edward R. Murrow of CBS to relieve Bill Downs in Moscow.  Cronkite was one of eight journalists selected by the United States Army Air Forces to fly bombing raids over Germany in a B-17 Flying Fortress part of group called the Writing 69th, and during a mission fired a machine gun at a German fighter. He also landed in a glider with the 101st Airborne in Operation Market Garden and covered the Battle of the Bulge.

Art Carney

He died on July 17, 2009 at 92.


In 1918...actor Art Carney  was born in Mount Vernon NY.   He was a busy member of the New York radio actor’s pool, in shows such as Gangbusters, Casey Crime Photographer, and the Henry Morgan Show.  He also specialized in impressions like FDR and General Dwight Eisenhower.  The zenith of his career was on TV playing Ed Norton on Jackie Gleason’s ‘Honeymooners.’  Gleason once said Carney was 90% responsible for its success.  He died Nov. 9, 2003, at age 85.

Shirley Mitchell 2007

In 1919...actress Shirley Mitchell was born in Toledo Ohio.   She started in Chicago daytime radio drama but quickly moved to Los Angeles, and became much in demand on such OTR favorites as ‘Fibber McGee and Molly,’ ‘The Rudy Vallee Show,’ ‘The Joan Davis Show’ and ‘The Life of Riley.’  Her best-known role was as the charismatic Southern Belle and love interest Leila Ransom on ‘The Great Gildersleeve.’   She had recurring roles on such TV shows as ‘Pete and Gladys,’ ‘I Love Lucy,’ ‘Please Don’t Eat the Daisies,’ ‘Bachelor Father,’ ‘Green Acres’ and ‘The Red Skelton Hour.’

She died of heart failure Nov. 11, 2013 at age 94


In 1946...This ad for a WHN 1050 AM program appeared in the NY Times...

In 1946..This advertisement appeared in the NY Times...

In 1949…The popular radio soap opera "One Man's Family" began a 2½-year run as a weekly primetime television show and featured future stars Eva Marie Saint, Tony Randall and Mercedes McCambridge. "One Man's Family" was the longest-running uninterrupted serial in the history of American radio.

In 1957...In an unusual chart anomaly, the top six Billboard singles on the pop and R&B charts are exactly the same: Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock" sits at #1 on both charts, followed by "Wake Up Little Susie" by the Everly Brothers, "You Send Me" by Sam Cooke, "Silhouettes" by the Rays, "Be-Bop Baby" by Ricky Nelson, and "Honeycomb" by Jimmie Rodgers

In 1963...The Beatles performed for Queen Elizabeth II, the Queen Mother, Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon at the Royal Variety Performance in London.  It was here that John Lennon famously said "Will the people in the cheaper seats clap your hands.  All the rest of you, rattle your jewelry."


In 1967...WOR FM switched from a progessive rock format  to the “Drake” Top 40 format. The line-up:

Hal Mitchell, Sebastian Stone, Tony Taylor, Jim O'Brien

One theory for the change was that the format pull audience away from WABC and WMCA so the winner would then be sister station WOR 710 AM.  It had a talk format so would appear better in the ratings if Top 40 competitors WABC 770 AM and WMCA 570 AM lost audience.

The progressive WOR-FM had created its own audience rather than luring them away from WABC and WMCA.  That didn’t help WOR-AM.

In 1967 the big advertising dollars came from AM stations so if FM could help AM by stealing a few listeners from the competition, it was worth a try.  Or so management thought.  The other reason, according to the tribute website, musicradio77.com,  was that Bill Drake was now the boss and he simply didn’t have any use for progressive rock radio.  He had developed a rapidly growing format for KHJ 930 AM in L-A and KFRC 610 AM in San Francisco and wanted to program it in New York.


In 2004..Gary Wergin died. Wergin worked for WHO-AM, Iowa and was the "voice of farming" for 10 years on "The Big Show".


In 2012…ESPN Radio's NBA play-by-play voice Jim Durham, who previously had called Chicago Bulls games for 18 years and had stints as a play-by-play announcer for the Dallas Mavericks, Houston Astros, and Chicago White Sox, died at the age of 65.