June 21 Radio History

➦In 1900...Edward Samuel "Ted" Rogers born  (Died – May 6, 1939).  He was a Canadian pioneer in the radio industry and the founder of the Rogers Vacuum Tube Company and CFRB radio station.

He is regarded as the founder of Rogers Communications, although it was established in 1967, almost three decades after his death.

Rogers first became interested in radio when he saw a receiver at age 11. By 1913, he was noted in local newspapers for his skill at operating a radio station, which at the time was an impressive technical accomplishment. Rogers worked as a radio officer on Great Lakes passenger ships during the summers of 1916-1919 inclusive. In 1921, Rogers operated the only Canadian (and only spark-gap) station to successfully compete in the first amateur trans-Atlantic radio competition. Rogers held the amateur radio call sign 3BP, and joined the Canadian chapter of the American Radio Relay League in 1921.

In the early 1920s, radio transmitters and receivers ran on large and expensive batteries to provide the high voltages needed for the vacuum tubes used. Early attempts at producing a radio receiver to operate on household alternating current were unsuccessful, since tubes designed for the low current supply from batteries were unsatisfactory when operated on 25- or 60-hertz alternating current. The batteries were also extremely large and bulky.

In April 1924, Rogers traveled to the United States and saw experimental AC receiving tubes at the laboratories of Westinghouse in Pittsburgh. He purchased the patent rights to the experimental alternating current tubes of Frederick S. McCullough. After further development, Rogers produced a design of vacuum tube that would operate on alternating current.

By 1925, Rogers had introduced not only a complete radio receiver using the new tubes, but had also produced a "battery eliminator" (power supply) that could be used with other manufacturers' receivers to eliminate the expensive batteries. By August 1925, the Rogers batteryless radio was in commercial sales, the first radio receiver in the world to operate from household current. At a time when a schoolteacher might earn $1,000 per year, the top-of-the-line Rogers radio sold for $370. Rogers formed the company "Standard Radio Manufacturing" (later Rogers Vacuum Tube Company) to produce radio receivers using the new design of vacuum tubes.

In 1927, Rogers founded CFRB (Canada’s First Rogers Batteryless) radio station. The station is owned today by Bell Media.

He later started Canada’s first FM station, simulcasting CFRB-AM on the original 42 MHz FM band with 50 watts.

➦In 1948...CBS-TV debuts its new variety show, entitled Toast Of The Town, hosted by an New York Daily News entertainment columnist and critic named Ed Sullivan.

From 1948 until its cancellation in 1971, the show ran on CBS every Sunday night from 8–9 p.m. E.T., and is one of the few entertainment shows to have run in the same weekly time slot on the same network for more than two decades (during its first season, it ran from 9 to 10 p.m. E.T.). Virtually every type of entertainment appeared on the show; classical musicians, opera singers, popular recording artists, songwriters, comedians, ballet dancers, dramatic actors performing monologues from plays, and circus acts were regularly featured. The format was essentially the same as vaudeville and, although vaudeville had undergone a slow demise for a generation, Sullivan presented many ex-vaudevillians on his show.

The show was first titled Toast of the Town, but was widely referred to as The Ed Sullivan Show for years before September 25, 1955, when that became its official name. In the show's June 20, 1948 debut, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis performed along with singer Monica Lewis and Broadway composers Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II previewing the score to their then-new show South Pacific, which opened on Broadway in 1949.

The Ed Sullivan Show was originally broadcast via live television from CBS-TV studio 51, the Maxine Elliott Theatre, at Broadway and 39th St. before moving to its permanent home at CBS-TV Studio 50 in New York City (1697 Broadway, at 53rd Street), which was renamed the Ed Sullivan Theater on the occasion of the program's 20th anniversary in June 1968. The last original Sullivan show telecast (#1068) was on March 28, 1971, with guests Melanie, Joanna Simon, Danny Davis and the Nashville Brass and Sandler & Young.

➦In 1948...Edward Wallerstein, the president of Columbia Records, demonstrated a long-playing record developed by Peter Goldmark of CBS Laboratories. The microgroove record played at 33-and-a-third revolutions per minute, in contrast to the standard 78 RPM, and could contain a maximum of 23 minutes of music a side, versus the approximately three minutes that could be squeezed onto a 78.

Columbia offered to share its technology with its main competitor, RCA Victor, but RCA opted to market its own version of the microgroove record — one that played at 45 R-P-M. But the battle of the speeds ended in 1950, when RCA announced it also would produce 33-and-a-third rpm long-playing records. Soon all major record companies were producing both 45’s and 33’s, spelling the end of the 78 RPM record.

➦In 1981…Lee Arnold departed Country WHN 1050 AM to capitalize on TV and radio syndication opportunities.

Lee Arnold

Arnold, born in Scranton, PA, was the best known air personality at WHN, New York, the most listened to Country radio station of all time.

After working at WSCR in his hometown of Scranton, he continued his broadcasting career at WAVY radio and TV and WNTA AM/FM/TV, both in Norfolk. Lee became Music Director and Air Personality at Country formatted WJRZ, Hackensack New Jersey, (1965-1971) which served the New York City metropolitan area. He joined WHN radio (1971-1981), and was there when it changed from an Adult Contemporary to a Country format in 1973.

While at WHN, Lee hosted the weekly nationally syndicated shows "Country Cookin'" and "Country Line" (1972-1976). Later, he hosted the Mutual Broadcasting System's "On A Country Road" (1981-1991) and was the voice of "Country In The Air", an in-flight airline Country Music channel.

He was honored by both Billboard Magazine, The Country Music Association (1976) and The Academy of Country Music (1983) as Major Market Country Disc Jockey of the Year. Lee Arnold appears as announcer on two landmark live Country albums "Buck Owens and The Buckeroos' Carnegie Hall Concert " and "Country Comes To Carnegie Hall". He then joined Country formatted WYNY New York (1991-1993).

Lee Arnold was inducted into The Country Music D J Hall of Fame in 2002. He joined the Sirius Satellite Network in 2001. He is also co-anchor analyst for ESPN's dog show series in addition to Animal Planet's dog show series. July of 2002, he debuted a new syndicated weekly show as host of "Country CloseUP" on Triumph Radio Network.

➦In 1981… WXLO-FM changed its call letters to WRKS Kiss 98.7 in 1994, Emmis bought WRKS, and changed the format to a Gold-Based Urban format. By 1999, WRKS had evolved into a Hot Urban AC. On April 26, 2012 it was announced that "Kiss FM" was ending its 30 year run on 98.7 and moving to 107.5 WBLS. Today 98.7 FM is home to WEPN-FM, ESPN Sports.

Dan Daniel

➦In 2016…Retired radio personality "Dandy" Dan Daniel died one day after a fall in his home at age 82.

Daniel was one of the 'Good Guys' while working for the New York radio station WMCA 570 AM during its heyday as a Top 40 station.

He started as a disc jockey at age seventeen on Armed Forces Radio with the US Navy. His first commercial job was at KXYZ in Houston in 1955 and he then worked at WDGY in Minneapolis before moving to WMCA in 1961.

His first broadcast at WMCA was on August 18, 1961. He started on the graveyard shift overnight but from 1962 to 1968 he played the top 40 hits from 4 pm to 7 pm — the evening drive home slot.

The station produced a survey of the current sales in New York record stores and Dandy Dan gave the countdown of the week's best sellers every Wednesday in this late afternoon slot. In 1966, he participated in a tour of Africa to celebrate the fifth anniversary of the Peace Corps. Then, from 1968 to 1970, he did the early morning drive-to-work slot before leaving WMCA after nearly nine years; his final broadcast was on 11 July 1970.

Dan was also heard coast-to-coast on NBC Radio's "Monitor" in the summer of 1973.



He subsequently worked on WYNY-FM where he hosted the mid-day slot and later morning and afternoon drives. He then did a stint at WHN playing country music before returning to WYNY-FM. Finally, he moved to WCBS-FM in 1996. He retired from WCBS on December 31, 2002.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY:

Kathy Mattea is 61

• Actor Bernie Kopell (“The Love Boat”) is 87. 
• Actor Monte Markham is 85. 
• Actress Mariette Hartley is 80. 
• Comedian Joe Flaherty (“SCTV”) is 79. 
• Musician Ray Davies of The Kinks is 76. 
• Actress Meredith Baxter (“Family Ties”) is 73. 
• Actor Michael Gross (“Family Ties”) is 73. 
• Guitarist Joey Molland of Badfinger is 73. 
• Drummer Joey Kramer of Aerosmith is 70. 
• Guitarist Nils Lofgren is 69. 
• Cartoonist Berke Breathed (“Opus,” ″Bloom County”) is 63. 
• Actor Josh Pais (“Ray Donovan”) is 62. 
• Country singer Kathy Mattea is 61. 
• Actor Marc Copage (“Julia”) is 58. 
• Actor Doug Savant (“Desperate Housewives,” ″Melrose Place”) is 56. 
• Guitarist Porter Howell of Little Texas is 56. 
• Actor Michael Dolan (“Hamburger Hill,” “Biloxi Blues”) is 55. 
• Filmmaker Lana Wachowski (“The Matrix,” “Speed Racer”) is 55. 
• Actress Carrie Preston (“The Good Wife”) is 53. 
• Country singer Allison Moorer is 48. 
• Actress Juliette Lewis is 47. 
• Actress Maggie Siff (“Mad Men”) is 46. 
• Bassist Justin Cary (Sixpence None the Richer) is 45. 
• Guitarist Mike Einziger of Incubus is 44. 
• Actor Chris Pratt (“Jurassic World,” ″Guardians of the Galaxy”) is 41. 
• Singer Brandon Flowers of The Killers is 39. 
• Actor Jussie Smollett (“Empire”) is 38. 
• Actor Michael Malarkey (“The Vampire Diaries”) is 37. 
• Singer Kris Allen (“American Idol”) is 35. 
• Singer Lana Del Rey is 35. 
• Actor Jascha Washington (“Big Momma’s House” films) is 31. 
• Bassist Chandler Baldwin of LANCO is 28. 
• Singer Rebecca Black is 23.