October 4 Radio History

➦In 1922...Baseball's World Series first aired on radio over WJZ NYC and WGY Albany NY.  the announcers were Grantland Rice and W. O. McGeehan.

➦In 1925...The Atwater Kent Radio Hour debuted on WEAF NYC and carried by 11 other stations.  It was a top-rated radio concert music program heard on NBC and CBS from October 4, 1925, to December 17, 1934, with stars of the Metropolitan Opera often making appearances. Classical music was performed by a large symphony orchestra.

➦In 1939...a barber from Canonsburg (near Pittsburgh) recorded 'That Old Gang of Mine' with the Ted Weems Orchestra. That singer was the feature of the Weems band for many years before going solo as a radio, TV and stage star. We know him as The Incomparable Mr. C, Perry Como.

His string of hits for RCA Victor spans four decades. He was an NBC mainstay (radio & TV) for almost as long.  According to Billboard, Como's last Top10 hit was "It's Impossible" in 1970.

➦In 1948..."The Railroad Hour," starring Gordon MacRae in "The World's Greatest Musical Comedies," began a one-year run on ABC Radio. The series moved to NBC in 1949 and continued until June 1954. Marvin Miller was the announcer.

➦In 1957...The comic strip and radio show “Blondie" made the transition to TV, starring Pamela Britton in the title role, and Arthur Lake as Dagwood.

➦In 1986...CBS newsman Dan Rather was mugged in New York City as he was walking along Park Avenue in Manhattan to his apartment. He was attacked and punched from behind by a man who demanded to know, "Kenneth, what is the frequency?" while a second assailant also chased and beat him. As the assailant pummeled and kicked Rather, he kept repeating the question over and over again.

Ten years later, Rather's primary attacker was identified as William Tager, who shot and killed an NBC technician outside the "Today" show studios in 1994.

➦In 2014...Paul Revere, the organist and since 1958 leader of the rock band “Paul Revere & the Raiders,” died from cancer at age 76. With Mark Lindsay as lead vocalist they scored the hits “Kicks” (1966), “Hungry” (1966), “Him Or Me – What’s It Gonna Be?” (1967) and the Platinum-certified No. 1 single “Indian Reservation” (1971).

HAPPY BIRTHDAY:

• Country singer Leroy Van Dyke is 91. 
• Actor Felicia Farr (“The Player,” “Kotch”) is 88. 
• Author Roy Blount Jr. is 79. 
• Author Anne Rice is 79. 
• Actor Lori Saunders (“Petticoat Junction”) is 79. 
• Actor Clifton Davis (“Madam Secretary,” “Amen”) is 75. 
• Actor Susan Sarandon is 74. 
• Actor Armand Assante is 71. 
• Actor Alan Rosenberg (“Cybill,” ″L.A. Law”) is 70. 
• Actor Christoph Waltz (“Inglourious Basterds,” ″Water for Elephants”) is 64. 
• Actor Bill Fagerbakke (“Coach,” ″Spongebob Squarepants”) is 63. 
• Actor Kyra Schon (“Night of the Living Dead”) is 63. 

• 

  Dakota Johnson is 31

  Rap producer Russell Simmons is 63. 
• Actor Wendy Makkena (“Sister Act” films) is 62. 
• Keyboardist Chris Lowe of The Pet Shop Boys is 61. 
• Keyboardist Gregg “Hobie” Hubbard of Sawyer Brown is 60. 
• Actor David W. Harper (“The Waltons”) is 59. 
• Singer Jon Secada is 59. 
• Media personality John Melendez (AKA “Stuttering John”) is 55. 
• Actor Jerry Minor (“Dr. Ken,” ″Community”) is 53. 
• Actor Liev Schreiber (“The Manchurian Candidate,” ″Scream 2″) is 53. 
• Actor Abraham Benrubi (“Men In Trees,” ″ER”) is 51. 
• Country singer-guitarist Heidi Newfield (Trick Pony) is 50. 
• Singer-guitarist M. Ward of She and Him is 47. 
• Actor Alicia Silverstone is 44. 
• Keyboardist Robbie Bennett of The War on Drugs is 42. 
• Actor Dana Davis (“Franklin and Bash,” “10 Things I Hate About You”) is 42. 
• Actor Phillip Glasser (“Hang Time”) is 42. 
• Singer-guitarist Marc Roberge of O.A.R. is 42. 
• Actor Rachel Leigh Cook (“Josie and the Pussycats,” ″She’s All That”) is 41. 
• Singer Jessica Benson of 3LW is 33. 
• Actor Melissa Benoist (“Supergirl,” ″Glee”) is 32. 
• Actor Dakota Johnson (“Fifty Shades Of Grey”) is 31. 
• Singer Leigh-Anne Pinnock of Little Mix is 29.