August 23 Radio History

Art Van Harvey, Clarence Hartzell, Bernadine Flynn, Billy Idelson

➦In 1883...radio actor Art Van Harvey was born in Chicago.  His claim to fame was playing Vic in the memorable daytime radio series Vic & Sade, written by Paul Rhymer, and set in “the small house halfway up in the next block.”

During a more than 14 year run on radio, Vic and Sade earned critical and popular success.  According to Time Magazine, Vic and Sade had 7,000,000 devoted listeners in 1943.  Van Harvey died Sept. 7 1957 at age 74.


➦In 1889...the first ship-to-shore wireless message was received in U.S. (at San Francisco.)

➦In 1923....Billy Jones and Ernie Hare, “The Happiness Boys”, were heard on New York’s WEAF radio for the first time.  The two were billed as radio’s first comedians and were also credited with creating and performing the first singing commercial.

They began on radio October 18, 1921 on WJZ (Newark, New Jersey), where they were sponsored by the chain of Happiness Candy stores. Listeners mailed in their comments about the singers on cards supplied to retailers by Happiness Candy.

Beginning August 23, 1923, the Happiness Boys broadcast on New York's WEAF, moving to NBC from a run from 1926 to 1929. The duo sang popular tunes, mostly light fare and comic songs, and they engaged in humorous repartee between numbers. Their theme song was "How Do You Do" (1924). However, only the words to this song were new at that time. The melody had been used for a variety of other songs in the past and is still used in the camp favorite "If You're Happy and You Know It (Clap Your Hands)".



By 1928, Jones and Hare were the highest paid singers in radio, earning $1,250 a week. They also made highly successful personal appearances in the United States and Europe. (They mention the European tour fondly in their recording of "We Don't Like It, Not Much.")


➦In 1989...The music died on the Big 89 WLS.

In June , WLS 890 AM had announced they were going all talk by the end of the summer. Rumors were that the change was to happen September 1.

Air personalities were becoming more talk intensive anyway and midday talk was added as well.

But quietly with no warning, on August 23, 1989 at 7 pm, WLS stopped playing music altogether. Phil Duncan was the last DJ to play music on WLS, and as Phil finished up his show, a voice in the back of the studio (that of then-WYTZ worker Steven Craig) was heard saying "Goodnight!"; Steven unknowingly (and unoffically) became the last live voice on WLS Musicradio. Appropriately, the last song was "Just You 'n' Me" by Chicago.



WLS then became a 24/7 all talk statiom featuring high-rated talk talents from around the country, such as Bob Lassiter from Tampa Bay, Stacy Taylor from San Diego and their biggest hit, Rush Limbaugh out of New York.

In 1975, The Big 89 WLS celebrated its 25th anniversary of playing rock and roll with this retrospective TV show that aired on Channel 7 WLS TV Chicago in 1985. Most of the disc jockeys of the past (and some of the present at the time) appear on this program.  The program is hosted by the late super jock Larry Lujack.



For More on WLS: Click HERE And HERE.


➦In 1991...Seattle radio station KKND “The End” FM 107.7 was born, billing its music as “The Cutting Edge of Rock.”  It first gave airplay to local bands Pearl Jam, Nirvana and Soundgarden. This launched the Seattle “grunge” movement internationally.


➦In 2010…Veteran San Francisco radio-TV newsman (KCBS-AM , KPIX-TV) Dave McElhatton died after a stroke at age 81.

Dave McElhatton

McElhatton worked for KCBS Radio in San Francisco for 25 years, starting two weeks after college graduation. Early in his career, he hosted an all-night radio show, "Music Till Dawn".

In the early 1960s, he was the host of "McElhatton In The Morning", a blend of news and comedy, with his sidekick Homer "Friendly Clyde" Welch.

He later hosted a radio program called "Viewpoint", which was the area's first telephone talk show. McElhatton later became news director of KCBS radio, where he helped change the format of the station to an all-news format.

While working in radio at KCBS, McElhatton (along with Friendly Clyde) hosted TV Bingo, a daytime show on KTVU Channel 2.

McElhatton became a television news anchor for KPIX-TV Channel 5, the first television station in San Francisco starting in 1977 upon leaving KCBS radio. The hiring of McElhatton, a radio broadcaster, was noted by some to be a bold stroke. He remained as a news achor with KPIX until his retirement in 2000. He was noted, along with that of CBS newsman Walter Cronkite, to be among two good reporters during a forum by U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein.

At his peak, his salary as a newscaster was reportedly approximately $750,000 per year. For a decade from the late 1970s to late 1980s, his co-anchor was Wendy Tokuda, with whom he still maintained personal contact.