The Original Amateur Hour began on radio in 1934 as Major Bowes' Amateur Hour, and ran until the 1946 death of its creator, Major Bowes. Mack, a talent scout who had directed the show under Bowes, revived it in 1948 for ABC Radio and the DuMont Television Network.
The show lasted on radio until 1952 and until 1970 on television, where it ran on all four major networks, ending as a Sunday afternoon CBS staple. A success in the early days of television, the program set the stage for numerous programs seeking talented stars, from The Gong Show to Star Search to American Idol to America's Got Talent.
➦In 1909,...singer/producer Barry Wood was born in New Haven Conn. He was the singing star of radio’s Lucky Strike Hit Parade in the early 40’s just ahead of Frank Sinatra, and went on to perform in lesser-known radio shows. In the TV era he was host of several shows including Places Please & Backstage with Barry Wood, and producer for The Bell Telephone Hour & Wide Wide World. He died July 19 1970 at age 61.
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| Ken Roberts- 1945 |
His first announcing job was at WMCA in New York lasting three weeks. Next at WLTH in Brooklyn. In an interview for the book The Great American Broadcast, Roberts told Leonard Maltin that he had started at the Brooklyn station in 1930, where his responsibilities included answering phones and sweeping the floors, in addition to on-air roles playing piano and reading poetry.
During the 1930s and 1940s, at the height of the radio era, Roberts' voice appeared widely in live programming to introduce programs, moderate game shows and do live reads for commercials. Despite his Errol Flynn-like good looks and the frequent broadcasts featuring his voice, as often as several times each day, few listeners knew who he was or would have recognized him in public.
Radio credits include The Shadow (including the 1937-38 season on the Mutual Broadcasting System with a 22-year-old Orson Welles starring in the role of Lamont Cranston), the comedy Easy Aces, along with soap operas Joyce Jordan, M.D. and This is Nora Drake. In 1941, he achieved his goal of hosting his own quiz show, with Quick As a Flash on the Mutual network.
He also announced or hosted a number of game shows, such as What's My Name? and the parody It Pays to Be Ignorant, in which he would pose questions to actors portraying contestants such as "Who came first: Henry I or Henry VIII?" that would be answered incorrectly.[3] At various times, he performed on eponymous programs for Fred Allen, Milton Berle, Victor Borge and Sophie Tucker.[2]
In 1941, he achieved his goal of hosting his own quiz show, with Quick As a Flash on the Mutual network.
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| Del Sharbutt |
His first appearance on radio was in 1929 as a singer on WBAP in Fort Worth, Texas.He soon became an announcer and from that point on, he made his career in broadcasting
Old-time radio shows for which Sharbutt was an announcer included The Man I Married, Lavender and Old Lace, Guy Lombardo, Jack Pearl, Ray Noble, Bob Hope, The Song Shop, Hobby Lobby, Myrt and Marge, The Hour of Charm, Melody and Madness, Colgate Ask-It-Basket, Lanny Ross, Amos 'n' Andy, Club Fifteen, The Jack Carson Show, Lum and Abner, Your Hit Parade, The Campbell Playhouse, Request Performance, Meet Mr. McNutley and Meet Corliss Archer.
In 1958,Sharbutt became a disc jockey on 77WABC in New York City. He and another old-time radio announcer, Tony Marvin, began "hosting afternoon record shows in their distinctively deep voices." Other on-air activities in radio for Sharbutt included being a newscaster for the Mutual Broadcasting System.
He died April 26, 2002 at the ripe old age of 90.
➦In 1924…The Eveready Hour was the first commercially sponsored variety program in the history of broadcasting. It premiered February 12, 1924 (other sources: December 4, 1923 or November 4, 1923) on WEAF Radio (now WFAN) in New York City. Radio's first sponsored network program. it was paid for by the National Carbon Company, which at the time owned Eveready Battery
In early 1924 The Eveready Hour began to be carried simultaneously by a second station, WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, and the number of outlets was expanded to a group of Eastern and Midwestern stations "as quickly as WEAF could add stations" to its "WEAF chain" radio network. On election night, November 4, 1924, the program, hosted by Wendell Hall, was carried by 18 stations, with Will Rogers, Art Gillham, Carson Robison and the Eveready Quartet entertaining between election returns given by Graham McNamee. Joseph Knecht led the Waldorf-Astoria Dance Orchestra.
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| The Bowery Boys were featured on the Eveready Hour |
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| Calvin Coolidge |
While Coolidge was a radio pioneer, the American president most associated with radio is Franklin D. Roosevelt. From 1933 to 1944, Roosevelt delivered 30 “fireside chats,” in which he addressed the American people in a friendly, plainspoken manner about his efforts to bolster the depressed economy through innovative government programs and about global challenges in the run-up to World War II.
➦In 1940…The Adventures of Superman made its debut on radio. It was a long-running serial that originally aired from 1940 to 1951 featuring the DC Comics character Superman.
The serial came to radio as a syndicated show on New York City's WOR. On Mutual, it was broadcast from August 31, 1942, to February 4, 1949, as a 15-minute serial, running three or, usually, five times a week. From February 7 to June 24, 1949, it ran as a thrice-weekly half-hour show. The series shifted to ABC Saturday evenings on October 29, 1949, and then returned to afternoons twice a week on June 5, 1950, continuing on ABC until March 1, 1951. In all, 2,088 original episodes of The Adventures of Superman aired on American radio.
The Man of Steel first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938. When Superman was first heard on radio less than two years after the comic book appearance, the character took on an added dimension with Bud Collyer in the title role.
During World War II and the post-war years, the juvenile adventure radio serial, sponsored by Kellogg's Pep, was a huge success, with many listeners following the quest for "truth and justice" in the daily radio broadcasts.
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| St. John, Age 18 |
➦In 1951...Radio Personality, Pat St. John, was born in Detroit.
In early 1969, at the age of 18, he landed his first gig as a radio personality on Windsor's CKLW, where he also worked for CKLW's 20/20 news doing newscasts one day a week, and part-time booth announcing on CKLW-TV Channel 9. In late 1970 he moved across the border to WKNR and was then hired in early 1972 at the ABC-owned album-oriented rock (AOR) station WRIF until 1973.
In April 1973, St. John began an almost 15-year stint at New York's WPLJ. He survived the station's transition from AOR to top 40 in 1983.
He left WPLJ in 1987, and returned to his rock roots on WNEW-FM, which had been WPLJ's rival during its AOR years. He became the station's program director in the early 1990s. St. John remained with the station until it switched to a hot talk format in 1998.
After the demise of WNEW's rock format, St. John was one of the first programmers hired by CD Radio in October 1998 as the Director of classic Rock Programming. CD Radio would later change its name to Sirius Satellite Radio, and then after acquiring XM Satellite Radio become known as SiriusXM, where he remains today as one of their most popular personalities on its Sixtie On Six channel.
He also joined WCBS 101.1 FM in 2002, followed by moving to WAXQ in 2004 where he stayed until late 2006. In July 2007, he returned to the re-incarnated WCBS-FM. For the first decade of the new century he was the announcer for Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. He continues to do voiceover work for radio and TV commercials as well as station imaging for radio and television as well as narration.
In March 2015, St. John announced that he was leaving WCBS-FM and that he and his wife were moving to California to be closer to their grandson. He aired his final show on April 12, 2015 marking the end to a legendary career in New York City radio.
In March 2015, St. John announced that he was leaving WCBS-FM and that he and his wife were moving to California to be closer to their grandson. He aired his final show on April 12, 2015 marking the end to a legendary career in New York City radio.
He is now heard daily on several SiriusXM's 60s on 6 channel 3 to 6pm (Eastern).
St. John is known for his conversational on-air style with interspersed bits of music trivia, along with "Collectible Cuts" from his extensive record library. Pat has been called a "walking encyclopedia" when it comes to his knowledge of music.
➦In 1964...The Beatles made their third appearance in the U-S. This time at NYC's Carnegie Hall hosted by the WMCA 570 AM Good Guys. The band’s fee was $6,500 for two shows at Carnegie Hall — an amount just under $49,000 in today’s money.
The late promoter Sid Bernstein speaks about Brian Epstein, The Beatles , their first trip to America in 1964 and Carnegie Hall.
➦In 1999...Baseball broadcaster Jimmy Dudley died at age 89.
He beganbroadcasting in the late 1930s, starting out at a Charlottesville radio station. He moved up to calling Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox games from 1938–1941 before serving as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.
Dudley was the Cleveland Indians' lead announcer from 1948 until his firing by the club in January 1968. In 1969, Dudley broadcast for the expansion Seattle Pilots; when the club moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers the following year, he did not join them.
Dudley broadcast for a number of minor league teams in the 1970s before retiring. As an announcer, Dudley was known for his friendly, homespun style and his signature catchphrases: "Hello, baseball fans everywhere" (to start a broadcast), "The string is out" (describing a full count on a hitter), "A swing and a miss!-he struck him out", "That ball is going...going...gone!" (to describe a home run) and "So long and lots of good luck, you hear?" (signing off at the game's end). Dudley called the 1954 World Series and All-Star Game for the Mutual network, and 1961's first All-Star Game for NBC Radio.
In addition to baseball, Dudley also broadcast football at various times for the Ohio State University, the University of Washington, and the NFL's Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions and Baltimore Colts.
Dudley was presented with the prestigious Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.
➦In 2015...Longtime Radio personality Gary Owens died at age 80.
Owens started his radio career in 1952 as a news reporter at KORN, Mitchell, South Dakota and two years later was promoted to news director. In 1956, he left KORN for a newscaster job at KMA, Shenandoah, Iowa before moving on to a disc jockey job at KOIL, Omaha, Nebraska. He also worked in Dallas, New Orleans, St. Louis, and at KIMN in Denver before relocating to California in 1959, working at KROY in Sacramento and KEWB in Oakland before finally settling in Los Angeles.
Owens moved to KEWB's sister station KFWB in Los Angeles in 1961. From there, he joined the staff of KMPC in 1962, where he remained for the next two decades working the 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. shift Monday through Friday. A gifted punster, Owens became known for his surrealistic humor. Among his trademarks were daily appearances by The Story Lady (played by Joan Gerber); the Rumor of the Day; myriad varieties of "The Nurney Song"; and the introduction of the nonsense word "insegrevious", which was briefly included in the Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary.
Owens also did amusing radio promotions, such as sending in for "Yours", which turned out to be a postcard from him at the radio station which simply said "Yours" on it; autographed pictures of the Harbor Freeway in Los Angeles; and his famous "Moo Cow Report", in which Gary and his character Earl C. Festoon would describe where cows were moving inbound on the crowded freeways of Los Angeles.
Owens became more widely known as the voice of the eponymous television cartoon characters in Roger Ramjet and Space Ghost; the excitable narrator/announcer from The Perils of Penelope Pitstop; and perhaps most well-known, as the hand-on-the-ear announcer in the booth on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, all the while continuing his show on KMPC.
➦Click Here for more Historical Events that occurred on Feb 12.
He beganbroadcasting in the late 1930s, starting out at a Charlottesville radio station. He moved up to calling Chicago Cubs and Chicago White Sox games from 1938–1941 before serving as a pilot in the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II.
Dudley was the Cleveland Indians' lead announcer from 1948 until his firing by the club in January 1968. In 1969, Dudley broadcast for the expansion Seattle Pilots; when the club moved to Milwaukee and became the Brewers the following year, he did not join them.
Dudley broadcast for a number of minor league teams in the 1970s before retiring. As an announcer, Dudley was known for his friendly, homespun style and his signature catchphrases: "Hello, baseball fans everywhere" (to start a broadcast), "The string is out" (describing a full count on a hitter), "A swing and a miss!-he struck him out", "That ball is going...going...gone!" (to describe a home run) and "So long and lots of good luck, you hear?" (signing off at the game's end). Dudley called the 1954 World Series and All-Star Game for the Mutual network, and 1961's first All-Star Game for NBC Radio.
In addition to baseball, Dudley also broadcast football at various times for the Ohio State University, the University of Washington, and the NFL's Cleveland Browns, Detroit Lions and Baltimore Colts.
Dudley was presented with the prestigious Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1997.
➦In 2015...Longtime Radio personality Gary Owens died at age 80.
Owens started his radio career in 1952 as a news reporter at KORN, Mitchell, South Dakota and two years later was promoted to news director. In 1956, he left KORN for a newscaster job at KMA, Shenandoah, Iowa before moving on to a disc jockey job at KOIL, Omaha, Nebraska. He also worked in Dallas, New Orleans, St. Louis, and at KIMN in Denver before relocating to California in 1959, working at KROY in Sacramento and KEWB in Oakland before finally settling in Los Angeles.
Owens moved to KEWB's sister station KFWB in Los Angeles in 1961. From there, he joined the staff of KMPC in 1962, where he remained for the next two decades working the 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. shift Monday through Friday. A gifted punster, Owens became known for his surrealistic humor. Among his trademarks were daily appearances by The Story Lady (played by Joan Gerber); the Rumor of the Day; myriad varieties of "The Nurney Song"; and the introduction of the nonsense word "insegrevious", which was briefly included in the Funk & Wagnalls Dictionary.
Owens also did amusing radio promotions, such as sending in for "Yours", which turned out to be a postcard from him at the radio station which simply said "Yours" on it; autographed pictures of the Harbor Freeway in Los Angeles; and his famous "Moo Cow Report", in which Gary and his character Earl C. Festoon would describe where cows were moving inbound on the crowded freeways of Los Angeles.
Owens became more widely known as the voice of the eponymous television cartoon characters in Roger Ramjet and Space Ghost; the excitable narrator/announcer from The Perils of Penelope Pitstop; and perhaps most well-known, as the hand-on-the-ear announcer in the booth on Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, all the while continuing his show on KMPC.
➦Click Here for more Historical Events that occurred on Feb 12.
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