April 15 Radio History

Jim and Marian Jordan

➦In 1898...radio actress Marian Jordan was born in Peoria Illinois. She is  most remembered for portraying  Molly McGee, the patient, common sense, honey-natured wife of Fibber McGee on the NBC radio comedy hit Fibber McGee and Molly from 1935–1959. She starred on this series opposite her real-life husband Jim Jordan.  She died of cancer April 7 1961 at age 62.

➦In 1912…After midnight, two wireless radio operators at Cape Race, Newfoundland heard the last of the RMS Titanic's distress calls.



At 2:27 a.m., the "unsinkable" ocean liner sank in the North Atlantic after hitting an iceberg the evening before.

There were 711 survivors. A total of 1,517 people died, of which 328 bodies were recovered. Those too badly damaged or deteriorated were buried at sea, and the remaining 209 were taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where they were claimed from the morgues or buried over an 11-day period starting May 3.


➦In 1956…Columbia Records music director Mitch Miller, disc jockey Alan Freed, and two psychiatrists appeared on Eric Sevareid's TV program "CBS Sunday News" to discuss the "potentially negative effects of rock 'n' roll on teenagers."


➦In 1970...pioneer record company owner George Goldner died in New York City at 52. Goldner was one of the first to recognize that black groups could score on the pop charts if their records were produced with the white audience in mind. Starting with “Crying in the Chapel” by the Orioles in 1953, Goldner had great success with New York street corner groups. Some of the other acts he recorded included Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, the Crows and the Chantels. Goldner eventually gambled away most of the fortune he made with his dozen or more record labels.


➦In 1994...In Cleveland, WMMS-FM's Jeff & Flash, & entire station staff, were fired.



WMMS, aka "The Buzzard", ruled the Cleveland airwaves through much of the 1970s and 80s. The morning team of Jeff Kinzbach and Ed "Flash" Ferenc were at the top of the ratings until their departure in 1994.

➦In 2013…In Boston, two bombs exploded near the finish line of the annual Boston Marathon, killing three people and causing injury to more than 260 others, the worst act of terrorism in America since 9/11. Two prime suspects were identified later that day as Chechen brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Tamerlan was shot by police. An unprecedented manhunt led to Dzhokhar's capture on April 19. According to FBI interrogators, Dzhokhar and his brother were motivated by extremist Islamic beliefs, but "were not connected to any known terrorist groups."