February 25 Radio History

➦In 1928... Charles Jenkins Laboratories of Washington, DC, became the first holder of a television license from the Federal Radio Commission.

➦In 1943...George Harrison born (Died 29 November 2001 from cancer at age 58).  He was an English musician, singer-songwriter, music and film producer who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of The Beatles.

Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian culture and helped broaden the scope of popular music through his incorporation of Indian instrumentation and Hindu-aligned spirituality in the Beatles' work.



Although the majority of the band's songs were written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, most Beatles albums from 1965 onwards contained at least two Harrison compositions. His songs for the group included "Taxman", "Within You Without You", "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Here Comes the Sun" and "Something".

➦In 1995... Frank Sinatra  sang for the very last time, before a live audience of 1200 select guests at the Palm Desert Marriott Ballroom, on the closing night of the Frank Sinatra Desert Classic golf tournament. Esquire reported of the show that Sinatra was "clear, tough, on the money" and "in absolute control"

He died on May 14, 1998.

➦In 2004...The controversy surrounding the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show (Nipple-Gate), aired live on February 1, 2004 and led to the government's crackdown on indecency in radio and television following a surge in audience complaints.

The situation prompted tighter control over content by station managers which made Stern feel "dead" creatively.

On this date, Clear Channel dropped The Howard Stern Show from its station after it and Viacom were fined for content the FCC deemed indecent.

 The situation culminated on October 6, 2004, when Stern announced the signing of a five-year deal with Sirius Satellite Radio, a subscription-based satellite radio service exempt from the FCC's broadcast regulations, starting in 2006. It is a move that has been regarded as the start of "a new era of radio." Stern's final live show on terrestrial airwaves aired on December 16, 2005.

Bert Lee

➦In 2004...Bertram Lebhar Jr., a retired radio and television station operator, who formerly broad cast sports here under the name of Bert Lee and who was long a leading tournament bridge player, died at age 65.

He gave up a law career to go into radio advertising sales. He got his initial training with the Columbia Broadcasting System, switched to WOR for four and a half years, and for four years was vice president of WMCA. In 1939, he became director of sales for WHN.

Bert Lee, sportscaster, broke into sports announcing while at WMCA, when he had to pinch hit for an announcer who was ill. He did one of the earliest New York Rangers hockey broadcasts.

At WHN, doubling as sales director and sportscaster, he did the shows “Warm‐Up Time” and “Sports Extra” before and after the Brooklyn Dodgers’ baseball games.

On his WHN sports program “Today's Baseball,” with Marty Glickman, he gave listeners a play‐by‐play description of the best games of the day—all crowded into a quarter of an hour with sound effects.

He sold the idea of this specially compressed baseball game to a sponsor, not expecting to take part in it himself. But when the sponsor was not satisfied with the work of several announcers who auditioned for the job, he stepped up to the mike to show them how it should be done.

In his enthusiastic play‐by play description of a game he hadn't seen, Bert Lee would draw with such enthusiasm on his vivid imagination that he sometimes ran over his allotted time. When listeners, not interested in sports, sent in letters of complaint, Bertram Lebhar, executive, wrote hack apologies for Bert Lee, sportscaster.

Radio station WHN for a period was WMGM, of which Mr. Lebhar was named director in 1949.

From 1957 to 1964 he was a partner in and general manager of WEAT radio and television station in West Palm Beach. He continued as a part owner until 1966. From 1968 to 1970 he operated radio station WXVI in Riviera Beach, Fla.


➦In 2014…Radio, TV personality Jim Lange died of an apparent heart attack at age 81 (born: August 15, 1932).

He was an American game show host and disc jockey. He was known to listeners in the San Francisco and Los Angeles radio markets with stints at several stations in both markets, racking up over 45 years on the air. Lange was also known to television viewers as the host of several game shows, including The Dating Game.

Lange began his radio broadcasting career in the Twin Cities after winning an audition as a teenager.

After graduating from the University of Minnesota and serving in the Marines, Lange moved to San Francisco. After making his Bay Area broadcast debut as "The All-Night Mayor" on KGO, he moved to afternoons on KSFO in 1960.

Lange's network television career began in San Francisco with The Ford Show in 1962, where he was the announcer for, and sidekick to, host Tennessee Ernie Ford. Three years later he would sign on to host The Dating Game (1965–1980). While still on-air at KSFO, he commuted to Los Angeles to tape the TV program.

Lange was introduced to Los Angeles local audiences on KMPC in 1970, in order to limit his commute while taping The Dating Game. He returned to Gene Autry/Golden West-owned KSFO by 1971 and remained there until the station was sold in 1983. He then returned to KMPC, where he did mornings and afternoons (at different times) until the end of the decade.

In the early 1990s, Lange returned to full-time radio in the Bay Area. During that period he initially worked afternoons on 610/KFRC. He eventually accepted an offer to broadcast weekday mornings on "Magic 61," by then owned by real estate magnate Peter Bedford (Bedford Broadcasting). Magic 61 was formatted as "American pop standards" (Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, Harry Connick, Jr., Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald, et al.). After the sale of KFRC AM and FM (99.7) FM (the new owners decided to simulcast the FM "oldies" format on 610 AM), Jim and the show decamped for a run on KKSJ, San Jose.

In 1997, Lange became morning host of The Lange Gang on KABL in San Francisco. Lange retired in 2005 after KABL went off the air.