November 25 Radio History

Norman Tokar

➦In 1919...actor/director Norman Tokar was born in Newark, New Jersey. At the age of 22 he took over the starring role of Henry on NBC radio’s The Aldrich Family when Ezra Stone enlisted in 1942.  In TV he directed the series Leave it to Beaver, The Bob Cummings Show and The Donna Reed Show, and the drama Naked City. He   found his greatest success directing over a dozen films for Walt Disney Productions, spanning the 1950s to the 1970s.  Tokar died April 6 1979. aged just 59.

WJAX mics at March 1936 news event. Future FL Gov. Warren Fuller is third person from the right

➦In 1925...the City of Jacksonville FL installed a broadcast station. The city appropriated $19,960 to put the station on the air and operate it through 1926. The station manager/engineer, John T. Hopkins was paid $250 a month and his assistant, James Brock made $165. The station, WJAX, made its first broadcast on Thanksgiving 1925 operating on 890 Kc. with 1000 watts using an antenna wire strung between two large tapered towers. WJAX shifted to 880 Kc. in 1928 and 900 Kc. in 1930.(Jacksonville radio historian Billy Williams).   Today, the station is WFXJ, branded as Sports Radio 930 AM and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc.


➦In 1949...“Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” first appeared on the music charts and became THE musical hit of the Christmas season. Although Gene Autry‘s rendition is the most popular, 80 different versions of the song have been recorded, with nearly 20,000,000 copies sold.


➦In 1960...radio actors were put out of work when CBS radio axed five daytime serials from the airwaves. We said so long to The Second Mrs. Burton (after 14 years), Whispering Streets, Young Dr Malone & Right to Happiness (both after 21 years) and Ma Perkins (after 27 wonderful years.)  In 1940, the high point for radio soap operas, there were as many as 45 on the air each day!


➦In 1960..."Amos 'n' Andy," in its final incarnation as "Amos 'n' Andy's Music Hall," was heard for the last time on CBS Radio. Created, written and voiced by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, the show had been heard nationally since March of 1928. It ran as a nightly serial from 1928 until 1943, as a weekly situation comedy from 1943 until 1955, and as a nightly disc-jockey program from 1954 until 1960.

Show from 1941...




➦In 1976...a Viking 1 radio signal from Mars help to prove Einstein's general theory of relativity.