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Saturday, December 1, 2018

December 1 Radio History





➦In 1931...Gene Autry's first radio show debuted on WLS Chicago. From 1940 to 1956, Autry had a huge hit with a weekly show on CBS Radio, Gene Autry's Melody Ranch. His horse, Champion, also had a CBS-TV and Mutual radio series. He also sold several radio stations he owned, including KSFO in San Francisco, KMPC in Los Angeles, KOGO in San Diego, and other stations in the Golden West radio network.

Autry is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and is the only person to be awarded stars in all five categories on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for film, television, music, radio, and live performance.

➦In 1941...WNEW (now WBRR) moved to 1130 AM. WNEW was located on 1250 AM and shared time with Newark station WHBI. In March 1941, WNEW and WHBI were both reassigned to 1280. Then, on December 1, 1941, a swap of call letters and frequency took place between WNEW on 1280 and WOV on 1130. WOV moved to 1280 (to later become WADO) and WNEW moved to 1130 and assumed full-time status.

➦In 1972...Wings released "Hi, Hi, Hi." The BBC banned the song for its supposedly suggestive lyrics and because of their assumption that the title phrase, "We're gonna get hi, hi, hi," was a drug reference. The sexual line the Beeb objected to is the one they heard as "get you ready for my body gun." McCartney has said the correct lyrics are "get you ready for my polygon," an abstract image.


➦In 1995...FCC eliminated the Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit requirement to operate a broadcast station.

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