April 29 Radio History

➦In 1940..."Young Dr Malone" was first broadcast on the CBS Radio Network. It was an American soap opera which had a long run on radio and television from 1939 to 1963. The producer was Betty Corday who later was a co-creator with husband Ted Corday of NBC Daytime's Days of Our Lives.




Sponsored by General Foods and Post Cereals, the radio serial began on the Blue Network on November 20, 1939. The 15-minute program aired daily at 11:15am, continuing until April 26, 1940. Without a break, it moved to CBS on April 29, 1940, where it was heard for two decades, first airing at 2:00pm weekdays (1940–1944) and then 1:30pm (1945–1960).

In 1945, Procter & Gamble assumed sponsorship of the program.


➦In 1953...Coke Time with Eddie Fisher began a simulcast run on NBC-TV and Mutual radio. Fisher, a pop music singer, was seen and heard on more TV and radio stations in 1954 than any other entertainer.


➦In 1963...KRE-AM in Berkeley CA changed call letters to KPAT.

KRE circa 1922

The Maxwell Electric Company put KRE on the air on March 11, 1922, with studios and transmitter at the Claremont Resort Hotel. In May of that year, KRE was sold to the Berkeley Daily Gazette. It was bought in January 1927 by the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, which moved the studios and built a new transmitter. In January 1930, the Chapel of the Chimes (an Oakland funeral home) bought KRE. Ownership passed in December 1936 to Central California Broadcasters, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chapel of the Chimes.

On June 11, 1972, KRE commemorated its fiftieth anniversary with a huge celebration. In an unusual event, the FCC gave permission to KPAT to revert to its previous three-letter call sign.  However, today the call letters are KVTO 1400 AM and is airing a Chinese format. Licensed to Berkeley, California, USA, the station serves the San Francisco Bay Area.


➦In 1996...the "Howard Stern Radio Show" debuted on KFRR-FM, Fresno, California.