January 28 Radio History

➦In 1934...Walter Winchell, in his newspaper column, paid  compliments to a local disc jockey in Washington DC.

As a result, 30-year-old Arthur Godfrey began receiving offers from talent scouts and producers, and eventually was adored by millions across the country on CBS radio and TV.

His trademark (strumming a ukulele and delivering down-home patter) endeared him to fans for the next 30 years.

Gary Moore

➦In 1940...The musical quiz show "Beat the Band" began a 4½-year run on NBC Radio Network in two distinctly different series.

The first, which aired until 1941, was hosted by Gary Moore and featured the Ted Weems Orchestra with vocalist Perry Como.
The second version was hosted by Hildegarde, then Eddie Mayehoff, and the Harry Sosnik band supplied the music.


➦In 1956...Elvis Presley made his first appearance on national television on “The Dorsey Brothers Stage Show” on CBS. He sang “Blue Suede Shoes” and “Heartbreak Hotel”.  After the appearance, sales of “Heartbreak Hotel” skyrocketed; however the national Elvis furor did not erupt until his subsequent appearances on the Milton Berle and Steve Allen TV shows.


➦In 1959...Radio personality Randi Rhodes was born

➦In 1977...Actor (Cat Ballou, The Killers, The Thrill of It All, Mame, The Strongest Man in the World, Herbie Rides Again, The Shakiest Gun in the West, Speedway, Tiger by the Tail, The Reluctant Astronaut, The Great Bank Robbery)/onetime radio host (KDKA-Pittsburgh in 1921) Burt Mustin died at the age of 92.

➦In 1985...At the A&M studio in Los Angeles, the last recording session was held for the charity single "We Are The World" by the supergroup USA for Africa. Many of the participants, including Ray Charles, Billy Joel, Diana Ross, Cyndi Lauper, Bruce Springsteen and Smokey Robinson, came straight from an American Music Awards ceremony held that same night. Altogether more than 45 artists were involved in the project. The proceeds went first to starving residents of Ethiopia and eventually toward hunger prevention worldwide.




➦In 1986...the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven crew members on board: flight commander Francis Scobee; pilot Michael Smith; Ronald McNair; Ellison Onizuka; Judith Resnik; Gregory Jarvis; and schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe, who was to have been the first civilian in space. The cause was found to be failure of a booster rocket seal due to the cold weather, causing a leak of fuel that was ignited.

➦In 2000…Saxophonist/bandleader Thomas "Beans" Bowles died of prostate cancer at the age of 73. He played on numerous Motown sessions including the Supremes' "Baby Love," Martha & The Vandellas' "Heat Wave" and Marvin Gaye's, "What's Going On." He also wrote the melody for Stevie Wonder's "Fingertips Pt. 2."



➦In 2003...Stan Martin, a New York City radio personality, died at age 64. He worked at WQEW-FM and WNEW-AM, among other stations. He also hosted a nationally syndicated show, "Solid Gold Country".

Stan Martin

Martin joined the station in 1992 as program director when The Times changed the station's format from classical music and its name from WQXR-AM to WQEW. He eventually became the station manager.

He left in 1998, when The Times leased the station to ABC, for Radio Disney.

His radio career began in 1959 at WDLC in Port Jervis, N.Y. He then worked for several other stations, including WPIX-AM, WHN-AM and WFAN-AM in New York and WPEN-AM in Philadelphia.

After leaving WQEW, Martin was master of ceremonies for cabaret shows in Manhattan and host of a website.


➦In 2015…Veteran radio personality (KRLA, KROQ and KTNQ-Los Angeles, KYA, KFOG and KISQ-San Francisco, KCBQ-San Diego, WJBK-Detroit, KOOL-Phoenix, WMYQ and WLVE-Miami, WKYC and WGCL-Cleveland, WSHO-New Orleans, WIST-Charlotte, KONO and KTSA-San Antonio, WLOF-Orlando, WPOP-Hartford, KKUA, KORL, KDUC and KPOI-Hawaii) Lee "Baby" Simms committed suicide while battling cancer at age 72.