January 5 Radio History

➦In 1923...Sun Records founder Sam Phillips was born in rural Alabama.  His Memphis record studio will always be remembered as the first professional home of Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins.  He died July 30, 2003 at age 80.

➦In 1935...Phil Spitalny‘s All-Girl Orchestra was featured on the debut of CBS radio’s “The Hour of Charm”.  It ran on various networks until 1946.




➦In 1940...Edwin H. Armstrong demonstrated FM broadcasting in a long-distance relay network, via five stations in five States.  FM radio was assigned the 42 to 50 MHz band of the spectrum in 1940. There was interest in the new FM band by station owners.

➦In 1965...55 years ago this week

Clark Weber was also on the air at WCFL, WMAQ, WIND, WJJD and WAIT. He later ran Clark Weber & Associates, an advertising agency specializing in radio advertising.

➦In 1973…, Bruce Springsteen released his debut album ‘Greetings from Asbury Park, NJ.’ It sold only about 25,000 copies in its first year of release.  Two tracks from the album, "Blinded By The Light" and "Spirit In The Night," were released as singles but neither made a dent in the charts.

➦In 1979...Third Class operator requirements for radio were eliminated by the FCC.

➦In 1998...Rep. Sonny Bono (R-Calif.), the one-time singer/songwriter who gained fame as half of the vocal duo Sonny and Cher, died from head injuries after hitting a tree while skiing at South Lake Tahoe, Calif. He was 62.

➦In 2004...the first HD Radio receiver - a Kenwood KTC-HR 100 model - went on sale commercially in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

➦In 2014…baseball player-turned- broadcaster Jerry Coleman,  who spent 71 years in the game on the diamond and later in the broadcast booth, passed away after brain surgery. He was aged 89.  Coleman, a WW2 hero,  was the play-by-play voice of the San Diego Padres for nearly 40 years beginning in 1972.