August 24 Radio History

➦In 1911...announcer/host Durward Kirby was born in Covington Kentucky.  After war service starting in 1946 he co-hosted Club Matinee with Garry Moore on NBC Blue, then moved to TV in ’49 and worked on Garry Moore & Perry Como’s TV shows throughout the ’50′s.  In the ’60′s he co-hosted Candid Camera with Allen Funt.

Durward Kirby

Kirby was born in Covington, Kentucky. His family moved to Indianapolis, Indiana, when he was 15. Kirby graduated from Arsenal Technical High School in Indianapolis, then entered Purdue University to study engineering. However, he dropped out to become a radio announcer. He served in the United States Navy during World War II. Following the war, he hosted Club Matinee in Chicago with Garry Moore on the NBC Blue radio network before moving to television in 1949 as an announcer. He was a regular on Moore's television shows from 1950 to 1968. Kirby also appeared as a host, announcer, or guest on other television programs, including serving as one of NBC Radio's Monitor.

Kirby stood 6 ft 4 in tall and had a mellow personality that served well as a foil for the stars with whom he worked. A versatile performer, he acted in sketches, sang, and danced. He moved with ease from slapstick to suave sales pitches for the sponsor's product. Critic John Crosby called him "one of the most versatile muggers and comedians on the air."

Durward Kirby died of congestive heart failure in Fort Myers, Florida, in 2000 at the age of 88.

➦In 1917...TV announcer/host Dennis James was born in Jersey City New Jersey.

Dennis James

Born in Jersey City, New Jersey, James began his career in radio with WNEW (now WBBR) and moved to television in 1938, working for the soon-to-become-DuMont Television Network station WABD, which helped to found the DuMont network in 1946. (WABD is now WNYW.) James became the host of many game shows, such as the ABC version of Chance of a Lifetime (1952–53) and served as commentator for DuMont's wrestling and boxing shows, such as Boxing From Jamaica Arena (1948–49) and other DuMont boxing and wresting shows such as Amateur Boxing Fight Club (1949–50). He hosted the DuMont daytime variety show Okay, Mother (1948–51) with Julia Meade.

James often addressed the TV audience as "Mother", a practice he had begun when discussing the finer points of wrestling during his sports broadcasts. He feared the men in the audience would be insulted by the implication that they didn't already know the rules (even if they didn't), but would accept that James was merely explaining things for the benefit of women viewers.

Known as the "Dean of Game Show Hosts", James started his game show hosting career by hosting the first network game show, Cash and Carry on the Dumont network from 1946 to 1947. During the 1953–54 season, James was the announcer of the quiz program Judge for Yourself, which aired on NBC, with Fred Allen as the emcee.

He died of lung cancer June 3, 1997 at age 79.

➦In 1950...the summer replacement radio show for Suspense, titled Somebody Knows, was heard for the final time on CBS Radio. The program offered a reward of $5,000 for information that led to the solving of crimes. Somebody Knows began with the introduction, “You out there. You, who think you have committed the perfect crime — that there are no clues, no witnesses — listen. Somebody knows.”

➦In 1999...actress Mary Jane Croft, who frequently appeared in Lucille Ball’s TV & film projects, died of natural causes at age 83. She was a much-in-demand Hollywood radio regular from the 1940′s through the 70′s, with supporting roles in dozens of series such as One Man’s Family, Suspense, Sam Spade, Our Miss Brooks and Sears Radio Theatre.

Dale Sommers

➦In 2012...legendary radio truck show host Dale Sommers, The Truckin’ Bozo died of complications from diabetes and Addison’s disease at age 68.  For 20 years beginning in 1984 he hosted an overnight show for truckers on WLW Cincinnati, then went to XM Satellite Radio with an afternoon talk show also geared toward long distance truck drivers.

Born Glen Council in Humboldt, Tennessee, Sommers moved to Cincinnati with his family at the age of 15. The next year (1959), be began working for WAEF. Sommers worked for other local radio stations in Cincinnati, as well as in Evansville, Indianapolis, Seattle, San Diego, Miami, and Kansas City, before settling back at WLW in 1984.His nickname "The Truckin' Bozo" reportedly came from his former boss at WLW, Randy Michaels. During a station remodeling, Michaels saw Sommers kick a wall. Unfortunately, its supports had been removed and it came crashing down across a desk, prompting Michaels to call Sommers “a bozo.”  Sommers retired from WLW in 2003 but shortly thereafter assumed work at XM, joining the Open Road channel in a daytime slot. Sommers would remain with the channel through its merger with Sirius's Road Dog Trucking channel up until shortly before his death.

"The Bozo" made national headlines when he helped to catch a robber at a convenience store in Camilla, Georgia. Sommers was talking live on the air with regular caller Linda Driskill, known as "Mississippi Lady" to listeners, when he heard Driskill admonish someone not to come behind her counter. She then hung up the phone. Sommers was concerned for her safety, so he called the Camilla police (who knew Driskill from Sommers' show). The police responded to Driskill's store and quickly apprehended the robber.

Jay Thomas

➦In 2017...Jay Thomas, a comic actor and radio personality whose work on the television series “Murphy Brown” won him two Emmy Awards in the early 1990s, died.