February 12 Radio History

➦In 1904...Radio, TV host Ted Mack was born William Edward Maguiness in Greeley Colorado.

Mack succeeded Major Bowes as host of The Original Amateur Hour for the period 1948-52 on radio, and until 1970 on TV.  His discoveries include Gladys Knight, Pat Boone, & Teresa Brewer.  He also hosted TV’s Ted Mack Family Hour, a show similar to Ed Sullivan.  Mack died July 12, 1976 at age 72


➦In 1909,...singer/producer Barry Wood was born in New Haven Conn. He was the singing star of radio’s Lucky Strike Hit Parade in the early 40’s just ahead of Frank Sinatra, and went on to perform in lesser-known radio shows.  In the TV era he was host of several shows including Places Please & Backstage with Barry Wood, and producer for The Bell Telephone Hour & Wide Wide World.   He died July 19 1970 at age 61.

Ken Roberts- 1945

➦In 1910...Announcer Ken Roberts was born Saul Trochman in New York City.  He is best remembered as announcer on the daytime television soap operas The Secret Storm, Texas and Love of Life, each for a two-decade span.  During the Golden Age of Radio he was the announcer on such New York-based shows as The Shadow, The Adventures of Ellery Queen, Crime Doctor, Easy Aces, The Hour of Charm, It Pays to be Ignorant, Quick as a Flash, and You Are There. He lived a good long life and died June 19 2009 at age 99.

Del Sharbutt

➦In 1912..one of the great announce voices of bigtime radio Del Sharbutt was born in Cleburne Texas.

He became a staff announcer for CBS Radio in 1933, and is best remembered as spokesman for Campbell’s Soup (“Mmm mmm Good!”) beginning in the ’30’s.  He was also TV announcer for Your Hit Parade, and worked until retirement in 1976 as newscaster for the Mutual Radio network.   In the early '70s. Sharbutt staerted WHLW (now WOBM/1160) in Lakewood, NJ, then a small 5 kw directional daytimer on 1170 Khz.

He died April 26, 2002 at the ripe old age of 90.


➦In 1924…"The Eveready Hour," paid for by the National Carbon Company which at the time owned Eveready Battery, became radio's first commercially sponsored network program. It originated from WEAF (later to be WNBC and now WFAN) in New York City and was hosted for many years by the banjo-playing vocalist Wendell Hall.

Calvin Coolidge

➦In 1924...Calvin Coolidge, known by many as the “Silent President”, made the first US presidential political speech on radio. The speech originated from New York City and was broadcast on five radio stations. Some five million people tuned in to hear the President speak.


➦In 1940…"The Adventures of Superman," with Bud Collyer in the title role, began its 11-year run on radio as a syndicated show on New York City's WOR. It became a network show on Mutual in August 1942 as a 15-minute serial airing three to five times a week.

St. John, Age 18

➦In 1951...New York City Radio Personality, Pat St. John, was born. Most notably known for his airwork on WPLJ-FM.

St. John is one of the U.S.'s preeminent and longest serving radio personalities and voice-over artists.

Known as The Dee-Jay’s DJ, he began his radio career on Windsor, Ontario's CKLW 800 AM in 1969 and '70, followed by WKNR 1300 AM in late 1970 to early '72, followed by WRIF 101.1 FM to April 1973.




Pat is best known for his work in the New York City market on WPLJ, WNEW-FM, WAXQ and WCBS FM.



He is now heard daily on severalSiriusXM's 600s on 6 channel 1 to 5pm (Eastern).



Pat has done extensive television voiceover work, including announcing for Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve from 2000 to 2010.

St. John is known for his conversational on-air style with interspersed bits of music trivia, along with "Collectible Cuts" from his extensive record library. Pat has been called a "walking encyclopedia" when it comes to his knowledge of music.

Over the years Pat has had the opportunity to interview all his heroes, from Little Richard to The Beatles, from Eric Clapton to The Rolling Stones, from B.B. King, Freddie King and Buddy Guy to those who he has become friends with like Bob Seger, Leon Russell, and Johnnie Johnson ("Father of Rock'n'Roll" who played piano on almost all of Chuck Berry's recordings and in fact hired Chuck Berry to join his band).




➦In 1964...The Beatles concert at Carnegie Hall with WMCA 570 AM Good Guys. The late promoter Sid Bernstein speaks about Brian Epstein , The Beatles , their first trip to America in 1964 and Carnegie Hall

➦In 1999...Baseball broadcaster Jimmy Dudley, play-by-play voice of the Cleveland Indians for nearly two decades and the lead announcer for the short-lived Seattle Pilots in 1969, died at age 89.

➦In 2015...Longtime L-A Radio personality (KMPC, KFI, KIIS FM, KFWB and KKGO in Los Angeles and KEWB in San Francisco)/TV announcer (Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, The Gong Show, Sesame Street)/actor (Midnight Cowboy, The Love Bug, Diggin' Up Business, Border to Border)/cartoon voicist (Garfield and Friends, Roger Ramjet, Eek! The Cat) Gary Owens died of complications from diabetes at age 80.