Nov 29 Radio History

Thomas Edison - 1878

➦In 1877..U-S inventor Thomas Edison demonstrates his hand-cranked phonograph for the first time.  Edison was one of the great inventors and designers in the history of the world. He invented the first practical light bulb, the motion picture camera and the phonograph. Others had attempted to invent the latter but Edison's was the first to actually reproduce the sound.

The phonograph was Edison's first major invention and the one that earned him the moniker "the wizard of Menlo Park" as the invention was so unexpected by the public as to appear magical. His first invention recorded on tinfoil around a grooved cylinder, and although the recordings could only be played a few times due to low quality, Edison's reputation was cemented.

He demonstrated the device on November 29, 1877, having announced its invention days before. He would patent it later that February. Recalling a demonstration in December, an employee of Scientific American magazine wrote: " "In December, 1877, a young man came into the office of the SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN, and placed before the editors a small, simple machine about which very few preliminary remarks were offered. The visitor without any ceremony whatever turned the crank, and to the astonishment of all present the machine said: "Good morning. How do you do? How do you like the phonograph?" The machine thus spoke for itself, and made known the fact that it was the phonograph..."

Edison did not improve on his design but Alexander Graham Bell invented an improved phonograph using wax cylinders in 1880.

➦In 1913...Announcer and actor Harry Bartell born (Died at age 90 – February 26, 2004). With his rather youthful sounding voice, Bartell was one of the busiest West Coast character actors from the early 1940s until the final end of network radio drama in the 1960s.

He was the Petri Wines announcer who interacted with “Dr. Watson” on 1940’s episodes of “The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes,” and in the ’60’s was the announcer on CBS Radio’s “Dear Abby.”  His TV acting credits include Gunsmoke and Dragnet plus Get Smart, I Love Lucy, Wild Wild West, and The Twilight Zone.

➦In 1917...Announcer George Walsh was born in Cleveland (died from heart failure at age 88 -  Dec 5, 2005). He was also a newscaster at KNX 1070 AM L-A from 1952 to 1986.

Beginning in 1952, Walsh opened the weekly series that was broadcast live on radio with these words: “Around Dodge City and in the territory out West, there’s just one way to handle the killers and the spoilers, and that’s with a U.S. marshal and the smell of ‘Gunsmoke.’ ”

George Walsh

The radio version of “Gunsmoke,” which starred William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon, aired until 1961. When it moved to television in 1955, James Arness took over the starring role but Walsh remained as the show’s announcer.

For 34 years, Walsh worked at KNX as an interviewer, sports reporter, newscaster and announcer for a number of shows, including a fashion show hosted by film costume designer Edith Head.

One show, “Music ‘Til Dawn,” featured mainly classical music and aired overnight from 1952 until about 1970. The show won a Peabody Award in 1966.  Another, “This Is Los Angeles,” aired nightly at 8:15 and earned him a Golden Mike Award in 1961 from the Radio and Television News Assn. of Southern California.


➦In 1917...Merle Robert Travis born in Rosewood, KY (Died from a heart attack at age 65 – October 20, 1983).  He was a country singer, songwriter, and guitarist.

His songs' lyrics often discussed both the lives and the economic exploitation of American coal miners. Among his many well-known songs are "Sixteen Tons," "Re-Enlistment Blues," "I am a Pilgrim," and "Dark as a Dungeon." However, it is his unique guitar style, still called Travis Picking by guitarists, as well as his interpretations of the rich musical traditions of his native Muhlenberg County, KY for which he is best known today. "Travis Picking" is a syncopated style of guitar fingerpicking rooted in ragtime music in which alternating chords and bass notes are plucked by the thumb while melodies are simultaneously plucked by the index finger.

During the '30 and '40s, he was heard regularly on WLW radio Cincinnati as a member of The Drifting Pioneers.
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➦In 1918...Humorist, radio personality ad TV host Herbert Arthur "Herb" Shriner born (Died in a car accident at age 51 – April 23, 1970). He was frequently compared to humorist Will Rogers.

In 1940, Shriner was hired by NBC for occasional radio appearances, which led to a regular spot in 1942 and 1943 on the comedy-variety program Camel Caravan. During World War II, he served in a United States Army special services unit and performed for two years in USO shows for GIs in Europe. After the war, he appeared on a number of radio shows, including The Philip Morris Follies of 1946 with Johnny Desmond and Margaret Whiting.

In 1947 he appeared in a Broadway musical review called Inside U.S.A. The performances were panned by critics, but Shriner's monologues made it a success and carried the show for over a year. Shriner hosted Herb Shriner Time, a CBS Radio weekday program, in 1948 and 1949 with the Raymond Scott Quintet, singer Dorothy Collins, and announcer Durward Kirby. The program was initially titled Alka-Seltzer Time (not to be confused with the later Alka-Seltzer Time that starred Curt Massey and Martha Tilton).  In August 1949, Shriner decided not to continue the program because it was too much work.

➦In 1927...Legendary sportscaster Vin Scully was born in the Bronx NY.

His 60-plus-year tenure with the Brooklyn & LA Dodgers is the longest of any broadcaster with a single club in professional sports history. Scully has called six World Series championships and 14 National League pennants for the club.

Vin Scully cica 50s

After serving in the United States Navy for two years, Scully began his career as a student broadcaster and journalist at Fordham University. While at Fordham, he helped found its FM radio station WFUV (which now presents a Vin Scully Lifetime Achievement Award each year), was assistant sports editor for Volume 28 of The Fordham Ram his senior year, sang in a barbershop quartet, played center field for the Fordham Rams baseball team, called radio broadcasts for Rams baseball, football, and basketball, earned a degree, and sent about 150 letters to stations along the Eastern seaboard. He received only one response, from CBS Radio affiliate WTOP in Washington, which made him a fill-in.

Scully was then recruited by Red Barber, the sports director of the CBS Radio Network, for its college football coverage. Scully impressed his boss with his coverage of a November 1949 University of Maryland versus Boston University football game from frigid Fenway Park in Boston, despite having to do so from the stadium roof. Expecting an enclosed press box, Scully had left his coat and gloves at his hotel, but never mentioned his discomfort on the air.  Barber mentored Scully and told him that if he wanted to be a successful sports announcer he should never be a "homer", never listen to other announcers, and keep his opinions to himself.

In 1950, Scully joined Barber and Connie Desmond in the Brooklyn Dodgers radio and television booths. When Barber got into a salary dispute with World Series sponsor Gillette in 1953, Scully took Barber's spot for the 1953 World Series. At the age of 25, Scully became the youngest man to broadcast a World Series game. Barber left the Dodgers after the 1953 season to work for the New York Yankees. Scully eventually became the team's principal announcer. Scully announced the Dodgers' games in Brooklyn until 1957, after which the club moved to Los Angeles.

➦In 1929...NBC began using the iconic chimes as an identification sounder.



The NBC chimes came to their familiar configuration and sound after several years of on-air development. They were first broadcast over NBC's Red and Blue networks on November 29, 1929. However, there are disagreements about the original source of the idea. One story is that they came from WSB in Atlanta, Georgia, which allegedly used it for its own purposes until one day someone at NBC's headquarters in New York City heard the WSB version of the notes during a networked broadcast of a Georgia Tech football game and asked permission to use it on the national network.

NBC Xylophone circa 1930

The company tested the chimes during 1927 and 1928, when it experimented with several possible combinations of notes. The first sequence consisted of the seven notes G-C-G-E-G-C-E. However, since the original NBC chime was an actual set of four-note chimes made by the J.C. Deagan Company, which the announcer would play 30 seconds before the end of every half-hour to signal the end of a program, it was left to the announcers to play this trademark sequence without error, which was unavoidable with such a lengthy cue. The chime sequence was shortened to G-C-G-E and then, on November 29, 1929, the cue was shortened for the final time, and the three well-known notes G-E-C were heard on NBC radio for the first time.

Despite the relative simplicity and efficiency of the new, shorter chime sequence, problems still existed in other musical aspects of the sequence, such as the tempo, rhythm, and volume at which it was played, as well as the musical tone of the set chimes. Therefore the NBC chimes were mechanized in 1932 with a unit that could play the sequence perfectly and consistently. Richard H. Ranger, a former Radio Corporation of America (RCA) engineer who also invented an early form of the modern fax machine, invented the NBC chime machine that generated the notes by means of finely tuned metal reeds that were plucked by fingers on a revolving drum, much like a music box.

The technical purpose of the mechanical chimes was to send a low level audio signal of constant amplitude that would be heard by the various switching stations manned by NBC and AT&T engineers, but not disturb the listening audience. This would serve as the system cue for switching the myriad local stations between the NBC Red Network and NBC Blue Network feeds as scheduled, as well as signalling the pause for local station identification immediately thereafter. In essence, it was the audio equivalent of a traffic signal. Because of fears of offending commercial sponsors by cutting their live network programs off mid-sentence, the mechanized chimes were always rung by an announcer pushing a button in conjunction with the program’s conclusion; they were never set to an automatic timer, although heavy discussions on the subject were held between the Engineering and Programming departments throughout the 1930s and 1940s.

On November 20, 1947, NBC filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to make the chimes a registered service mark for identification of radio broadcasting services, the first such audible service mark to be filed with that office. Registration was granted on April 4, 1950; the registration number was 0523616, serial number 71541873. This registration expired on November 3, 1992, as NBC Radio became part of broadcasting history. However a separate service mark registration was made in 1971 for identification of television broadcasting services (serial 72349496, registration 0916522). While this registration is still active, the chime was heard for the final time on the NBC television channel in 1976, the 50-year anniversary of the chime; the chime is now used only for various smaller purposes on the network.

The Fourth Chime

The variant sequence B - D + G = G, based on a G-major arpeggio in second inversion, was known as "the fourth chime". An NBC Interdepartment Correspondence memo, dated April 7, 1933, documents the conception and initial purpose of the fourth chime.

The memo states "In anticipation of the Spring and Summer months, when many in key positions will not always be available at home telephones, the following Emergency Call System will go into effect on Monday morning, April 16."

The memo goes on to say that whenever a fourth tone is heard on the network chimes rung at 15-minute intervals, it will indicate that someone on an attached list is wanted. Upon hearing this fourth chime, all personnel on the list are instructed to call in to the PBX operator to ascertain whether or not the Emergency Call is for them. The chime would continue at 15-minute intervals over stations WEAF and WJZ until the wanted person communicated with the PBX operator. The list contained the names of the following NBC executives:

The "fourth chime" was also used to notify affiliates and their employees of pending urgent programming. This variant saw such use during wartime (especially in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor) and other disasters, most notably the Hindenburg disaster in 1937. According to NBC historians, the last official use of the "fourth chime" was in 1945, shortly after the end of World War II. However, according to a handwritten note appended to an NBC internal memo originally dated 1964 on the history and usage of the standard chime, this chime variant was used one final time in 1985 to symbolize the merger with GE.

➦In 1933...one of the earliest police ‘true crime’ radio dramas 'Calling All Cars' debuted on the CBS West Coast network. Calling All Cars is an old-time radio police drama in the United States. It also aired on the Mutual-Don Lee Network.   November 29, 1933 - September 8, 1939 and carried by transcription on stations in other areas.

➦In 1941...the passenger ship, "Lurline", sent a radio signal after sighting a Japanese war fleet in the Pacific.  Lurline was half-way from Honolulu to San Francisco on 7 December 1941, when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. The ship's alleged reception of radio signals from the Japanese fleet became part of the Pearl Harbor advance-knowledge conspiracy theory.

➦In 1963..."I Want to Hold Your Hand" single released by the Beatles in the United Kingdom

➦In 1964...Dean "Dino On Your Radio" Anthony debuted on Top40 WMCA 570 AM, NYC.
He then went to an FM station for a while, then to Top 40 WWDJ in Hackensack NJ in 1971. He has since has worked for a variety of stations including mornings at WTFM in New York. Dean lives on Long Island where he is program director for WHLI, which he programmed for years.

Before coming to WMCA, Anthony was program director and afternoon personality at WPGC Washington, D.C., from 1960 to 1964 as Dean Griffith. Prior to that, he was at WGH Norfolk, Va.

Anthony died in October 2003 at age 68 from cancer.

Gene Rayburn

➦In 1999...Gene Rayburn, host of the TV game show Match Game and a host on the NBC Radio Weekend Show 'Monitor', died at 81 (Born December 22, 1917).

Before appearing in television, Rayburn was a very successful actor and radio performer. He had a popular morning drive time radio show in New York City, first with Jack Lescoulie (Anything Goes) and later with Dee Finch (Rayburn & Finch) on WNEW (now WBBR). Radio history pegs Rayburn's pairings with Lescoulie and Finch as the first two-man teams in morning radio.  When Rayburn left WNEW, Dee Finch continued the format with Gene Klavan.

Rayburn later landed the lead in the Broadway musical Bye Bye Birdie when Dick Van Dyke left the production to star in his eponymous classic sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show.  Listen to an aircheck from 1964 with Rayburn hosting NBC Radio Network's weekend Monitor Show. Click Here.

➦In 2001...Beatle George Harrison died of lung cancer at the age of 58. In May 2001, it was revealed that Harrison had undergone an operation to remove a cancerous growth from one of his lungs, and in July, it was reported that he was being treated for a brain tumour at a clinic in Switzerland.

Speaking outside his home northwest of London, Paul McCartney said, "I am devastated and very, very sad." Ringo Starr, speaking from Vancouver, British Columbia said, "We will miss George for his sense of love, his sense of music and his sense of laughter."

➦In 2008...Pioneering "Boss Radio" programmer Bill Drake, died of lung cancer at age 71.

Bill Drake

Born Phillip Yarbrough, he chose his last name from among his relatives' surnames, because it rhymed with "WAKE", the station in Atlanta, where he worked as a programmer and disc-jockey in the late 1950s.  Later, Bartell Broadcasting, who owned WAKE that he had programmed to number one, transferred him to KYA in San Francisco, which also became number one.

It was later at KYNO in Fresno, California that he met Gene Chenault, who became his business partner. Together, the pair developed highly influential radio programming strategies and tactics, as well as working with future "Boss Jocks".

Drake-Chenault perfected the Top 40 radio format, which had been created by Todd Storz, Gordon McLendon and other radio programmers in the late 1950s, which took a set list of popular songs and repeated them all day long, ensuring the widest possible audience for the station's music. Jingles, news updates, traffic, and other features were designed to make Top 40 radio particularly attractive to car listeners. By early 1964, the era of the British Invasion, Top 40 radio had become the dominant radio format for North American listeners.

Drake streamlined the Top 40 format, using modern methods, such as market research and ratings demographics, to maximize the number of listeners. He believed in forward momentum, limiting the amount of disc jockey chatter, the number of advertisements and playing only the top hits, as opposed to less-organized programming methods of the past. Drake created concepts such as 20/20 News and counter programming, by playing music sweeps, while his competitors aired news. Drake-Chenault controlled everything from the specific DJs that were hired, to radio contests, visual logos, promotions and commercial policy. Drake essentially put radio back into the hands of programming, instead of sales. Drake hired the Johnny Mann Singers to produce the Boss Radio jingles, ensuring a bright, high-energy sound that engaged the listener, while providing a bridge from song to song.



After turning around the fortunes of Fresno's KYNO, Drake applied similar tactics to take KGB, from 14th to 1st in San Diego. KGB's owner, Willett Brown, suggested to his fellow RKO board members, that Drake could turn KHJ around.

In the Spring of 1965, Drake-Chenault were hired to turn KHJ in Los Angeles, from a financial and ratings loser into a success. Drake hired Ron Jacobs as program director, Robert W. Morgan in the mornings and "The Real Don Steele" in the afternoons. KHJ quickly jumped from near-obscurity, to the number one radio station in Los Angeles. Although it was criticized, "Boss Radio" moved faster and sounded more innovative than the competition, making it the #1 choice over competitors in Southern California.



Bill Drake also programmed KFRC in San Francisco, WOR-FM in New York, KAKC in Tulsa, WHBQ in Memphis, WUBE (AM) in Cincinnati, WRKO in Boston and 50,000 watt CKLW, in Windsor, Ontario, across the Detroit River from the city of Detroit.

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAY:

• Blues musician John Mayall is 87. 
• Actor Diane Ladd is 85. 
• Musician Chuck Mangione is 80. 
• Country singer Jody Miller is 79. 
• Singer-keyboardist Felix Cavaliere of The Rascals is 78. 
• Actor Jeff Fahey (“Lost,” “The Marshal”) is 68. 
• Director Joel Coen is 66. 
• Actor-comedian Howie Mandel is 65. 
• Actor Cathy Moriarty is 60. 
• Actor Kim Delaney (“NYPD Blue”) is 59. 

• 

  Anna Faris is 44
  

  Actor Tom Sizemore is 59. 
• Actor Andrew McCarthy is 58. 
• Actor Don Cheadle is 56. 
• Actor-producer Neill Barry (“Friends and Lovers”) is 55. 
• Singer Jonathan Knight of New Kids on the Block is 52. 
• Actor Larry Joe Campbell (“According to Jim”) is 50. 
• Keyboardist Frank Delgado of Deftones is 50. 
• Actor Paola Turbay (“True Blood”) is 50. 
• Contemporary Christian singer Crowder is 49. 
• Actor Gena Lee Nolin (“Sheena,” ″Baywatch”) is 49. 
• Actor Brian Baumgartner (“The Office”) is 48. 
• Actor Julian Ovenden (“Downton Abbey”) is 45. 
• Actor Anna Faris (“Mom,” ″Scary Movie”) is 44. 
• Gospel singer James Fortune is 43. 
• Actor Lauren German (“Lucifer,” ″Chicago Fire”) is 42. 
• Rapper The Game is 41. 
• Drummer Ringo Garza of Los Lonely Boys is 39. 
• Actor-comedian John Milhiser (“Saturday Night Live”) is 39. 
• Actor Lucas Black (“NCIS: New Orleans,” ″Sling Blade”) is 38. 
• Actor Diego Boneta (“Scream Queens”) is 30. 
• Actor Lovie Simone (“Greenleaf”) is 22.

Nov 28 Radio History

➦In 1917...Elliott Lewis was born in New York City (Died from cardiac arrest at age 72 – May 23, 1990). He was active during the Golden Age of Radio as an actor, writer, producer and director, proficient in both comedy and drama. These talents earned him the nickname "Mr. Radio".

Elliott Lewis made his radio debut in 1936, at the age of 18, in a bit part on a True Boardman-produced biography of Simon Bolivar. Lewis' role was to scream and bang metal chairs, in an earthquake scene.

Elliott Lewis - 1954

As an actor, Lewis was in high demand on radio, and he displayed a talent for everything from comedy to melodrama. He gave voice to the bitter Harvard-educated Soundman on the 1940-41 series of Burns and Allen and several characters (Rudy the radio detective, the quick-tempered delivery man, and Joe Bagley) on the 1947-48 series, many characters on The Jack Benny Radio Show (including the thuggish "Mooley", and cowboy star "Rodney Dangerfield"), a variety of comic and serious characters on the Parkyakarkus show, and Rex Stout's roguish private eye Archie Goodwin, playing opposite Francis X. Bushman in The Amazing Nero Wolfe (1945). He played adventurer Phillip Carney on the Mutual Broadcasting System's Voyage of the Scarlet Queen, and appeared on many episodes of Suspense and The Whistler.

But perhaps Lewis' most famous role on radio was that of the hard-living, trouble-making left-handed guitar player Frankie Remley on NBC's The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show.

During the run of The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show, Lewis took over as a director of the well-known radio series Suspense.

In the 1970s, Lewis produced radio dramas during a brief reincarnation of the medium. In 1973-74, he directed Mutual's The Zero Hour, hosted by Rod Serling. In 1979, he and Fletcher Markle produced the Sears Radio Theater, with Sears as the sole sponsor. Lewis wrote the episodes "The Thirteenth Governess" and "Cataclysm at Carbon River" (the latter was pulled by CBS due to its subject matter of a nuclear disaster, and was never aired), and acted on the episodes "Getting Drafted", "The Old Boy", "Here's Morgan Again", "Here's Morgan Once More", and "Survival". [11]

In 1980, the series moved from CBS to Mutual and was renamed The Mutual Radio Theater, sponsored by Sears and other sponsors. Lewis scripted the episodes "Yes Sir, That's My Baby" and "Our Man on Omega", and acted on the episodes "Interlude", "Night", "Hotel Terminal", and "Lion Hunt".

George Hay

➦In 1925..."The Grand Ole Opry" debuted on WSM, Nashville under the name "Barn Dance". The first artist to perform on the show was fiddler Uncle Jimmy Thompson.

In June 1928, the Opry got its name by an unusual coincidence: Soon after Program Director George D. Hay started his show, WSM radio joined the NBC radio network. Since the program followed a performance on the network called the Metropolitan Grand Opera. So, Hay decided to call his program the Grand Ole Opry.

Hay was born in Attica, Indiana. In Memphis, Tennessee, after World War I, he was a reporter for the Commercial Appeal, and when the newspaper launched its own radio station, WMC, in January 1923, he became a late-night announcer at the station. His popularity increased and in May 1924 he left for WLS in Chicago, where he served as the announcer on a program that became National Barn Dance.

On November 9, 1925 he moved on to WSM in Nashville. Getting a strong listener reaction to 78-year-old fiddler Uncle Jimmy Thompson, Hay announced the following month that WSM would feature "an hour or two" of old-time music every Saturday night. He promoted the music and formed a booking agency.

In the 1930s the show began hiring professionals and expanded to four hours; and WSM, broadcasting by then with 50,000 watts, made the program a Saturday night musical tradition in nearly 30 states. In 1939, it debuted nationally on NBC Radio. The Opry moved to a permanent home, the Ryman Auditorium, in 1943. As it developed in importance, so did the city of Nashville, which became America's "country music capital". The Grand Ole Opry holds such significance in Nashville that its name is included on the city/county line signs on all major roadways. The signs read "Music City | Metropolitan Nashville Davidson County | Home of the Grand Ole Opry".

Membership in the Opry remains one of country music's crowning achievements. Such country music legends as Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Marty Robbins, Roy Acuff, the Carter family, Bill Monroe, Ernest Tubb, Kitty Wells and Minnie Pearl became regulars on the Opry's stage. In recent decades, the Opry has hosted such contemporary country stars as Dolly Parton, Alan Jackson, Garth Brooks, Reba McEntire, Josh Turner, Carrie Underwood, Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Dierks Bentley, Blake Shelton and the Dixie Chicks. Since 1974, the show has been broadcast from the Grand Ole Opry House east of downtown Nashville, with an annual three-month winter foray back to the Ryman since 1999.

The Grand Ole Opry is broadcast live on WSM 650 AM at 7 p.m. CT on Saturday nights.

The Opry can also be heard live on Willie's Roadhouse on channel 59 on Sirius XM Satellite Radio. A condensed radio program, America's Opry Weekend, is syndicated to stations around the United States. The program is also streamed on WSM's website.

➦In 1932...Groucho Marx performed on radio for the first time. Besides, his film work Marx is best know for  his show 'You Bet Your Life' debuted in October 1947 on ABC radio (which aired it from 1947 to 1949) and then on CBS (1949–50), and finally NBC. The show was on radio only from 1947 to 1950; on both radio and television from 1950 to 1960; and on television only, from 1960 to 1961.

The show proved a huge hit, being one of the most popular on television by the mid-1950s. With George Fenneman as his announcer and straight man, Marx entertained his audiences with improvised conversation with his guests. Since You Bet Your Life was mostly ad-libbed and unscripted—although writers did pre-interview the guests and feed Marx ready-made lines in advance—the producers insisted that the network prerecord it instead of it being broadcast live.

There were two reasons for this: prerecording provided Marx with time to fish around for funny exchanges and any intervening dead spots to be edited out; and secondly to protect the network, since Marx was a notorious loose cannon and known to say almost anything.

The television show ran for 11 seasons until it was canceled in 1961.

➦In 1960...The CBS Radio Network expanded its Top of the Hours newscasts from 5 to 10 minutes.



➦In 1987...Pat St. John debuted on WNEW 102.7 FM, New York City. He was previously at WPLJ. In April 1973, St. John began an almost 15-year stint at New York's WPLJ. For most of his years at WPLJ he was rated by Arbitron as the most-listened-to afternoon radio personality in America. 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 while continuing his mid-day show until being asked to do morning-drive (which he did from 1994 through 1996) and then moved to afternoons where then followed Scott Muni who moved to mid-days). St. John remained with the station until it switched to a hot talk format in 1998.

➦In 1993...Radio, TV host Garry Moore died of emphysema at age 78 (Born - January 31, 1915).

Starting in 1937, he worked for Baltimore radio station WBAL as an announcer, writer and actor/comedian.  He began a long career with the CBS network on radio in the 1940s and was a television host on several variety and game shows from the 1950s through the 1970s.

He hosted several daytime and prime time TV programs titled The Garry Moore Show, and the game shows I've Got a Secret and To Tell the Truth. He was instrumental in furthering the career of comedic actress Carol Burnett. He became known for his bow ties and his crew cut fashion  early in his career.

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAY:

• 

  Elizabeth Winstead is 36

  Motown Records founder Berry Gordy Jr. is 91. 
• Singer-songwriter Bruce Channel is 80. 
• Singer Randy Newman is 77. 
• Musician Paul Shaffer (“Late Show With David Letterman”) is 71. 
• Actor Ed Harris is 70. 
• Actor S. Epatha Merkerson (“Law and Order”) is 68. 
• Country singer Kristine Arnold of Sweethearts of the Rodeo is 64. 
• Actor Judd Nelson is 61. 
• Director Alfonso Cuaron (“Roma,” “Gravity”) is 59. 
• Drummer Matt Cameron (Pearl Jam, Soundgarden) is 58. 
• Actor Jane Sibbett (“Friends, “Herman’s Head”) is is 58. 
• Comedian Jon Stewart (“The Daily Show”) is 58. 
• Actor Garcelle Beauvais (“NYPD Blue,” ″The Jamie Foxx Show”) is 54. 
• Singer Dawn Robinson (En Vogue, Lucy Pearl) is 52. 
• Actor Gina Tognoni (“The Young and the Restless”) is 47. 
• Musician apl.de.ap of Black Eyed Peas is 46. 
• Actor Malcolm Goodwin (“iZombie”) is 45. 
• Actor Ryan Kwanten (“True Blood”) is 44. 
• Actor Aimee Garcia (“Lucifer”) is 42. 
• Rapper Chamillionaire is 41. 
• Actor Daniel Henney (“Criminal Minds”) is 41. 
• Keyboardist Rostam Batmanglij (Vampire Weekend) is 37. 
• Singer-keyboardist Tyler Glenn of Neon Trees is 37. 
• Singer Trey Songz is 36. 
• Actor Mary Elizabeth Winstead (“Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter,” “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World”) is 36. 
• Actor Scarlett Pomers (“Reba”) is 32. 
• Actor-rapper Bryshere Gray (“Empire”) is 27.

Nov 27 Radio History

M-C: Taking A Break..will Return Monday, Nov. 30th

➦In 1901...Early radio sportscaster Ted Husing was born in the Bronx NY.

Ted Husing

At age 16, he joined the National Guard and during World War I was assigned to stand watch over New York's harbor. Following the war, he floated between jobs such as carnival barker and payroll clerk. After he won an audition over 500 other applicants for announcer at New York City radio station WHN, Husing found his life's calling. He was schooled under the tutelage of pioneer broadcaster Major J. Andrew White. There he covered breaking news stories and political conventions and assisted White during football commentaries.

By 1926, Husing was working at WJZ and his  rapid manner of speech earned him the nickname Mile a Minute Husing. His use of descriptive language combined with a commanding voice made his broadcasts must-listen events. By 1927, he was voted seventh most popular announcer in a national poll. Following a pay dispute, he moved to Boston, where he broadcast Boston Braves (now Atlanta Braves) baseball games.

Later in 1927, he returned to New York and helped his mentor, J. Andrew White, start the new CBS chain.  After cigar mogul William S. Paley bought the cash-strapped network in 1928, Ted Husing rose to new heights of glory and fame.

At CBS, Husing took on a wide variety of events. In 1929, he was named studio director of WABC (the CBS flagship station) in addition to continuing his work as an announcer for the network.

In addition to his sports preeminence, Husing also did news/special events coverage for the CBS Radio Network. In the 1930s, he gave early tutelage to a budding CBS Radio announcer, Mel Allen, who, like Husing, would become a legendary sportscaster. (And, like Husing, Allen would also understudy in news, with Robert Trout.) In 1933-1934, he was host of the Oldsmobile Program, providing sports news to complement music from other participants on the program.

In both sports and special events areas, Husing developed a bitter rivalry with rising NBC announcer Bill Stern. When the two became the sports stars of their rival networks (and eventually their networks' sports directors), they would battle fiercely not only for events but also for broadcast position.

Husing could be arrogant, coarse, and opinionated. He was the first to bring a candid, editorial style to sports play-by-play.

1939 Advertisement

In 1946, Husing moved from CBS to WHN 1050 (later WMGM) to pursue a career as a disk jockey. (He was succeeded as CBS Radio's sports director by Red Barber.) Husing's popular music show the Ted Husing Bandstand ran from 1946 to 1954. He continued to busy himself with sports assignments, including boxing on CBS and DuMont television, one year (1950) as the radio voice of New York Giants football, and as host of DuMont's Boxing From Eastern Parkway from May 1952 to March 1953. Perhaps he was best known as the voice of Army football from 1947 to 1953. By that time, Husing's yearly salary was close to half a million dollars.

In the spring of 1954, an operation to treat a malignant brain tumor left him blind and forced him to retire. He died at age 60 in 1962.

In 1963, Husing became the second inductee of the National Sportscasters and Sportswriters Association Hall of Fame.  In 1984, Husing was part of the American Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame’s inaugural class which included sportscasting legends Red Barber, Don Dunphy, Graham McNamee and Bill Stern.

➦In 1926...KXL AM in Portland, Oregon signed-on with 50 watts of power. Today, the station is owned by Alpha Media, it calls are KXTG and the station airs sports talk at 750 AM.  KXL-FM airs news/talk on 101.9 FM.

➦In 1930...“First Nighter” was first heard on NBC. It was a long-running 30-minute radio anthology comedy-drama series broadcast from November 27, 1930, to September 27, 1953. The host was Mr. First Nighter (Charles P. Hughes, Macdonald Carey, Bret Morrison, Marvin Miller, Don Briggs and Rye Billsbury (later known as Michael Rye).

Ad for FM Radio, NY Times 11/27/60; The price?  $24.95

➦In 1960...the CBS Radio Network canceled "Have Gun Will Travel".  It was a Western series that was produced and originally broadcast by CBS on both television and radio from 1957 through 1963.

The television version of the series was rated number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings every year of its first four seasons, and it is one of the few shows in television history to spawn a successful radio version.  That radio series debuted November 23, 1958, more than a year after the premiere of its televised counterpart.

This series follows the adventures of a man calling himself "Paladin" (played by Richard Boone on television and voiced by John Dehner on radio), taking his name from that of the foremost knights in Charlemagne's court. He is a gentleman investigator/gunfighter who travels around the Old West working as a mercenary for people who hire him to solve their problems.

NY Times article 11/27/60

➦In 1960...Veteran announcer, newsman Tony Marvin joined the Mutual Broadcasting System.

Tony Marvin - 1950

Marvin's first job in radio was at WNYC in New York City. From there, he went to CBS as a staff announcer, beginning October 1, 1939.  A 1959 article in Radio and Television Mirror reported that at CBS "Tony did everything from daytime serials to symphonies and in 1946, when the Arthur Godfrey morning show was sustaining, Tony was assigned to it." When Godfrey's activities expanded from Arthur Godfrey Time to include Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts and Arthur Godfrey and his Friends, Marvin did the announcing for those shows as well.

Godfrey at times stirred controversy with his firing of his show's personnel. Marvin was the last of Godfrey's supporting players to go. He had been with Godfrey 12 years when he learned in 1959 that Godfrey would not need an announcer for the coming year.  Marvin's departure was widely perceived as a more amicable parting than Godfrey's previous dismissals of cast members, which were often abrupt.

Marvin branched out in 1958, adding a two-hour, Monday-Saturday disc jockey show on WABC to his other duties.

➦In 1962...In London, the Beatles recorded their first BBC radio session, performing "Twist and Shout," "Love Me Do," and "P.S. I Love You." The tracks aired later on the BBC program "Talent Spot."

➦In 1975...Bill Winters WCBS 101.1 FM personality died at age 35.

Bill Winters

Winters worked in Tampa Bay in the early to mid 1960’s, first at WALT (mid-days) in 1963-64, and then WLCY. He also went on to work at Miami’s WQAM. During his short career, he held down shifts at some pretty impressive stations, including wakeup duty beginning in early 1968 at WPOP Hartford. There, he achieved the station’s highest Pulse ratings ever and, as a pivotal member of its “BOSS”ketball team, once broke two toes during a benefit game.

During a year out to serve with Uncle Sam, Bill worked part-time at WFBS in Spring Lake, NC, and then returned to mornings at WPOP. This time, he was billed as “The Big Kahuna – World Champion Surfer and 14th Degree Black Belt with Red Strikers.”

Early in his career, Bill worked at some fairly small stations, paying his dues at WCEC, WFMA-FM, and WEED AM/FM, all in Rocky Mountain, North Carolina, WGAI Elizabeth City, North Carolina, and WHAP Hopewell, Virginia. Later stops (and bigger stations) included WKYC Cleveland, CKLW Detroit, WCAO Baltimore, WBZ Boston, WCBS-FM New York (mid-days), and WIBG Philadelphia.



➦In 1979...Chuck Leonard aired his last show at WABC.  During his over 40-year career in broadcasting, Leonard worked virtually every shift and played all styles of music at stations including WWRL, WABC, WXLO, WRKS, WBLS, WQEW, WNSW-AM and WJUX. He has been inducted in the Museum of Television & Radio and is known as the first African-American disc jockey to work on a mainstream radio station.

Leonard was at WWRL for just seven weeks, before WABC's Dan Ingram heard him and convinced WABC to hire him. He was the first African-American broadcast personality on a major market Top 40 station.

Leonard began at ABC's flagship New York radio station, Musicradio 77 WABC (AM), under program director Rick Sklar in 1965. He broke the color barrier for all who followed — the first African-American to cross over from black R&B radio to (then-mostly white) mass-appeal radio.

Leonard began in the 11 p.m. to midnight slot, and continued working late nights and Sundays at the station until November 27, 1979. He did the 10:30 p.m. to 1:00 a.m. shift following “Cousin” Bruce Morrow and later George Michael. He also gladly handled weekend and fill-in work.

Leonard was the host of "Sneak Preview," a five-minute Monday-through-Saturday evening program on ABC's American Contemporary Radio Network, which featured newly released songs. After WABC, he worked at WXLO and WRKS.

➦In 1984...Radio personality, Jack Carney, died. He is best remembered for his stints at WIL and KMOX in St. Louis.

Jack Carney

Carney took his first radio job in New Mexico and moved from job to job at small stations throughout the southwest early in his career. Carney then became a rock n’ roll disc jockey serving up the hits to teens in Milwaukee, Atlanta, and Boston.

Carney’s first job in St. Louis came on WIL Radio from 1958-1960. While at WIL, Carney came up with his alter ego character “Pookie Snackenburg.” Carney was lured away from WIL to work for a short time at WABC Radio/New York.

Carney’s second stint in St. Louis was at KMOX where he established a following. Taking over the morning spot from Jack Buck in 1971, Carney was an instant hit.

During his KMOX years, virtually every celebrity that passed through St. Louis stopped by to say hello to Jack Carney. His show was a fixture in St. Louis for 13 years. Jack Carney died of a sudden heart attack at age 52.

Jack Carney was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2001.


➦In 2006...Sportscaster and radio sports talk host Kenneth "Casey" Coleman, Jr., son of play-by-play announcer Ken Coleman and a broadcaster in Cleveland for almost 30 years, died after a 14-month struggle with pancreatic cancer. He was 55.

Casey Coleman

Coleman began his broadcasting career in Fall River, MA, hosting an evening sports talk show on WSAR 1480 AM. In 1978, he arrived Cleveland to host a radio sports talk show on WERE 1300 AM (now at 1490 AM), where he ended each broadcast by saying, "I'm rounding third and heading home.", a phrase he would carry over in to his TV career.

From 1984-1996, Coleman worked for WJW TV 8 as the main sports anchor. He was awarded four Cleveland Emmy Awards while at WJW.

Following the death of Browns play-by-play voice Nev Chandler, Coleman became the team's main announcer in 1994, and held that job for the final two seasons of the Art Modell era before Modell moved the team to Baltimore in 1996 and renamed them the Ravens.

Coleman joined WTAM 1100 AM in July 1997, and became a part of the morning talk show "Wills, Webster and Coleman in the Morning" in October 1998.

After the Cleveland Browns returned to the NFL in 1999 as a new expansion franchise, Coleman served as radio sideline reporter for WMJI (and WTAM's coverage of the its games until 2005, when he began showing signs of the illness which would ultimately cause his premature death.

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAY:

• 

  Elizabeth Marvel is 52

  Director Kathryn Bigelow (“The Hurt Locker”) is 69. 
• TV personality Bill Nye (“Bill Nye the Science Guy”) is 65. 
• Actor William Fichtner (“Invasion”) is 64. 
• Guitarist Charlie Burchill of Simple Minds is 61. 
• Actor Michael Rispoli (“The Rum Diary,” “To Die For”) is 60. 
• Jazz musician Maria Schneider is 60. 
• Drummer Charlie Benante of Anthrax is 58. 
• Drummer Mike Bordin (Faith No More) is 58. 
• Actor Fisher Stevens (TV’s “Early Edition,” film’s “Short Circuit”) is 57. 
• Actor Robin Givens is 56. 
• Actor Michael Vartan (“Alias”) is 52. 
• Actor Elizabeth Marvel (“Homeland,” “House of Cards”) is 51. 
• Rapper Skoob of DAS EFX is 50. 
• Actor Kirk Acevedo (“Fringe,” “Oz”) is 49. 
• Rapper Twista is 48. 
• Actor Jaleel White (“Family Matters”) is 44.

Nov 26 Radio History

Eric Sevareid

➦In 1912...CBS newsman & commentator Eric Sevareid was born in Velva, ND (Died at age 79 from stomach cancer  – July 9, 1992). He was one of a group of elite war correspondents who were hired by CBS newsman Edward R. Murrow and nicknamed "Murrow's Boys". Sevareid was the first to report the Fall of Paris when the city was captured by the Germans during World War II.

Traveling into Burma during the war, his aircraft was shot down, and he was rescued from behind enemy lines by a search and rescue team that had been established for that purpose. He was the last journalist to interview Adlai Stevenson II before his death.

He followed in Murrow's footsteps as a commentator on the CBS Evening News for 12 years, for which he was recognized with Emmy and Peabody Awards.

At the age of 18, Sevareid entered journalism as a reporter for the Minneapolis Journal, while a student at the University of Minnesota in political science. He continued his studies abroad, first in London and later in Paris at the Sorbonne, where he also worked as an editor for United Press. He then became city editor of the Paris Herald Tribune. He left that post to join CBS as a foreign correspondent, based in Paris; he broadcast the fall of Paris, and followed the French government from there to Bordeaux and then Vichy, before leaving France for London and finally Washington.

➦In 1913...actor/announcer Bill Baldwin was born in Pueblo Colorado. He became the radio and television voice of hundreds of products, and was a war correspondent for the NBC Blue network in WWII.   He served as national president of the American Federation of Radio & TV Artists (AFTRA) in the early 70’s. As an actor he appeared in a number of TV series, including ‘Hawaii Five-O,’ ‘Ironside,’ ‘The Beverly Hillbillies,’ and ‘Marcus Welby, M.D.’  He succumbed to cancer Nov. 17 1982, nine days short of his 69th birthday.

➦In 1933...singer Robert Goulet was born Stanley Applebaum  in Lawrence, Mass,  but within months his family moved to Northern Alberta.

He worked as disk jockey on Edmonton’s CKUA for two years and was a semi-finalist on CBC TV’s “Pick the Stars” in 1952.  He spent a summer at Vancouver’s Theatre Under the Stars.  In 1955 he became a regular on CBC TV’s Cross Canada Hit Parade. He was awarded a Grammy as the best new artist of 1962.  His best-selling album was the million-selling 1964 release “My Love Forgive Me,” which reached No. 5.

Goulet died awaiting a lung transplant Oct. 30 2007 at age 73.

➦In 1945...the daily radio program, “Bride and Groom”, debuted on the NBC Blue network. It is estimated that 1,000 newly-wed couples were interviewed on the program before it left the airwaves in 1950.


➦In 1962…At EMI's Abbey Road studios in London, the Beatles recorded "Please Please Me" and "Ask Me Why."

➦In 1969…At EMI's Abbey Road studios in London, John Lennon spent the afternoon mixing the Beatles songs "What's The New Mary Jane" and "You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)" with the intention of releasing them as the two sides of a Plastic Ono Band single. When this plan fell through, "Number" was released as the b-side of the Beatles' "Let It Be" single making it the last song of the Fab Four that John worked on.

➦In 2003...Eddie Gallaher, 88, the veteran radio broadcaster whose reassuring baritone was familiar to generations of Washington, DC listeners, died Nov. 26 of complications from hip surgery.

Gallaher (dcrtv photo)

Gallaher's career began on WTOP-AM in 1947. He stayed on the air in one market for 53 years, working at two other stations before retiring in 2000.was the last of the low-key gentleman deejays who dominated Washington's radio scene in its heyday. When he retired from WGAY in 2000, he was the only one from that era still hosting a daily show. He survived major changes in the broadcasting industry, managing to stay on the air for 53 years despite losing vision and mobility in his final decade.

Gallaher also worked for the stations WWDC and WASH. He did Washington Redskins play-by-play and entertainment broadcasting for WTOP-TV.  Gallaher spent 21 years at WTOP, when WTOP switched to a news and talk format in 1968, Gallaher moved to WASH-FM.

His radio programs were beamed largely to the mainstream, attracting admirers of orchestrated music and of acts that included Frank Sinatra, the Mills Brothers, Patti Page and the Carpenters. In the 1950s and '60s, he was credited with helping turn records into local hits, playing songs by Percy Faith, Lawrence Welk and Ella Fitzgerald well before his rivals secured copies. He was a devoted fan of Broadway musicals.

Jian Ghomeshi

➦In 2014…After surrendering to Toronto police, former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi was charged with four counts of sexual assault and one of choking in a sexual assault investigation. The CBC had fired the 47-year-old broadcaster a month earlier amid sexual misconduct allegations against him and what the company termed  "graphic evidence" that he had physically injured a woman.   After a trial in February 2016, the judge acquitted Ghomeshi of all charges saying there was insufficient evidence to establish proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAY:

• Impressionist Rich Little is 82. 
• Singer Tina Turner is 81. 
• Singer Jean Terrell (The Supremes) is 76. 
• Bassist John McVie of Fleetwood Mac is 75. 
• Actor Marianne Muellerleile (Film’s “Memento,” TV’s “Life With Bonnie”) is 72. 
• Actor Scott Jacoby (“That Certain Summer”) is 64. 

• 

  Linda Davis is 58

  Actor Jamie Rose (“Falcon Crest,” “St. Elsewhere”) is 61. 
• Country singer Linda Davis is 58. 
• Actor Scott Adsit (“30 Rock”) is 55. 
• Actor Kristin Bauer (“True Blood”) is 54. 
• Actor Peter Facinelli (“Nurse Jackie”) is 47. 
• Actor Tammy Lynn Michaels (”The L Word,” “Popular”) is 46. 
• Hip-hop artist DJ Khaled is 45. 
• Actor Maia Campbell (“In the House”) is 44. 
• Country singer Joe Nichols is 44. 
• Musicians Randy and Anthony Armstrong of Contemporary Christian band Red are 42. 
• Actor Jessica Bowman (“Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman”) is 40. 
• Singer Natasha Bedingfield is 39. 
• Actor Jessica Camacho (“Taken,” “The Flash”) is 38. 
• Singer-guitarist Mike Gossin of Gloriana is 36. 
• Drummer Ben Wysocki of The Fray is 36. 
• Singer Lil Fizz of B2K is 35. 
• Singer Aubrey Collins (Trick Pony) is 33. 
• Singer-actor Rita Ora is 30. 
• Actor Aubrey Peeples (“Nashville,” “Sharknado”) is 27.

The AM Rundown: Biden Says 'America Is Back'

NY Times 11/25/20

BIDEN INTRODUCES NATIONAL SECURITY TEAM: President-elect Joe Biden introduced his national security team Tuesday, stating, "Together, these public servants will restore America globally, its global leadership and its moral leadership. It’s a team that reflects the fact that America is back, ready to lead the world, not retreat from it." The team stood spaced apart and wearing face masks behind Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris at a theater in Wilmington, Delaware. Their names had largely been reported on Monday, including: former deputy secretary of state and deputy national security adviser Antony Blinken as secretary of state; Alejandro Mayorkas as homeland security secretary; Linda Thomas-Greenfield as ambassador to the United Nations; Jake Sullivan as national security adviser; and Avril Haines, a former deputy director of the CIA as director of national intelligence. Former Secretary of State and 2004 Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry will be given the administration's lead role in fighting climate change.

President-elect Joe Biden on just-announced national security team: "They'll tell me what I need to know—not what I want to know." https://t.co/h1dJXOjieE pic.twitter.com/mFXGJwgK4n

— ABC News (@ABC) November 24, 2020

Meanwhile, one day after the General Service Administration ascertained Biden as the "apparent winner," finally clearing the way for the transition process to begin, President Trump signed off Tuesday on allowing Biden to receive the presidential daily brief, the highly classified intelligence briefing. Biden said in an NBC Nightly News interview about the start of transition process since the approval was given: "[T]he outreach has been sincere. There has not been begrudging so far. And I don’t expect it to be." However, Trump is still not conceding, tweeting yesterday, "[T]he GSA does not determine who the next President of the United States will be." His legal team also continued to bring challenges to the vote count in battleground states, none of which have been successful so far, even as Pennsylvania and Nevada certified their election results yesterday with wins for Biden.

Gee, where did we read this 1st?

Almost no Trump voters consider Biden the legitimate 2020 election winner https://t.co/BJoVzOWTxx

— Rasmussen Reports (@Rasmussen_Poll) November 24, 2020

Biden previews plans for first 100 days, including prioritizing Immigration and executive action https://t.co/ztmPHZy0Nz pic.twitter.com/W4zJSnvA1t

— The Hill (@thehill) November 25, 2020

➤U.S. HAS MOST DAILY CORONAVIRUS DEATHS SINCE EARLY MAY: There were nearly 2,100 Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. on Tuesday amid the continued fall surge, the highest daily number of deaths since May 6th, as nine states also all reported a record number of deaths, the Washington Post reported. That grim news came as hospitalizations continue to rise. The Covid Tracking Project reported that there were more than 88,000 people hospitalized with Covid-19 across the country yesterday, setting a new record for the 14th day in a row. Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said on Fox News yesterday that the surge is mainly being driven by asymptomatic people gathering indoors. He said, "The real driver of this epidemic now is not the public square. It really is driven by the silent epidemic -- the asymptomatic infections largely in individuals between the ages of say 12 and 35." 

➤GRANDPARENTS ARE LYING TO THEIR KIDS SO THEY CAN SEE THEIR GRANDCHILDREN :The pandemic has now lasted over eight months, and people are getting tired of the ever-changing local guidelines, loneliness, mask-wearing, and limited social contact. But it seems grandparents are perhaps having the hardest time with it. A Google search reveals there are a number of guides aimed at helping adults navigate their frustrations when their parents fail to adhere to mask mandates and social distancing guidelines. It turns out older adults are also more likely to believe conspiracy theories about COVID-19, as well as buy into anti-mask propaganda. Psychiatry professor, Dr. Jessi Gold explains, “When it comes down to those decisions, if you haven’t been super good about it, and your kids have, I think what happens is [grandparents] are like, Well, I don’t have COVID, so it’s not like I’m going to give [my family] COVID, so what’s the harm in me just saying I’m cool, come over, we’ll social distance and hang out?” Gold encourages families to keep themselves safe, but also to approach their frustrated parents with grace. She adds, “It doesn’t help to scream and it doesn’t help to yell and it doesn’t help to shame. I think it helps to try to understand and have conversations, and that often is starting from a place of empathy. I think that it’s appropriate to continue to have boundaries and enforce them—it’s your children and your choice. But I think that you also probably want to take into consideration the health of your parent and think about why they might be lying.”

➤REPORT: TRUMP SAYING PLANS TO PARDON FLYNN: President Trump has told confidants that he plans to pardon his former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, who pled guilty in December 2017 to lying to the FBI about his Russian contacts during the transition after Trump's 2016 election, Axios reported last night, citing two unnamed sources. The sources further said Flynn's pardon will be one of a series of pardons Trump will issue before he leaves office in January. More than two years after Flynn's sentencing was delayed because of his cooperation with Special Counsel Robert Mueller's Russia investigation, Flynn in January 2020 sought to withdraw his guilty plea. A federal prosecutor appointed to review the case by Attorney General Bill Barr recommended that the charges be dropped. However, Judge Emmet Sullivan asked for outside legal experts to weigh in on the highly unusual request to drop the case. An appeals court in August sided with Sullivan on allowing him to review the request. 

Prosecutors say California's system for paying unemployment benefits is so dysfunctional that the state approved more than $140 million for at least 20,000 prisoners. https://t.co/zXPhpX0gdN

— FOX News Radio (@foxnewsradio) November 25, 2020

➤PURDUE PHARMA PLEADS GUILTY IN OXYCONTIN CRIMINAL CASE: OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma pled guilty Tuesday to three criminal charges for its part in fueling the opioid epidemic, acknowledging it hadn't maintained an effective program to prevent prescription drugs from being diverted to the black market, even though it had told the Drug Enforcement Administration that it had, and that it gave misleading information to the DEA as a way to boost manufacturing quotas. It also admitted paying doctors through a speakers program to prod them to write more OxyContin prescriptions, and paying an electronic medical records company to send doctors information on patients that encouraged them to prescribe opioids. The guilty pleas were part of a settlement announced last month between the company and the U.S. Justice Department, which has angered critics that say Purdue owners and officials should be held legally accountable, not just the company. While the deal includes $8.3 billion in penalties and forfeitures, the company only has to pay $225 million to the government. 

➤DOW JONES CLOSES ABOVE 30,000 FOR FIRST TIME: The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above 30,000 for the first time Tuesday, rising 455 points, or 1.5 percent, to close at 30,046. According to the AP, factors in yesterday's surge included progress in the development of coronavirus vaccines, news that the presidential transition to President-elect Joe Biden was finally beginning, and reports that Biden will choose former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen as treasury secretary.

🦃WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE A NAP ON THANKSGIVING: Go ahead and take a nap on Thanksgiving tomorrow. Sleep scientist Sara Alger says that naps have a stigma attached to them when you’re an adult—society says we should only take them if we’re sick or if we're lazy. She adds that she's all for naps, except for those who suffer with insomnia. But the idea that we should be constantly productive during what we now consider normal working hours is fairly new. Anthropologist Matthew Wolf-Meyer says in the 1800s farmers and tradespeople could choose to rest in the hottest part of the day, and might do simple tasks during a wakeful period in the middle of the night, between two distinct bouts of sleep. Eventually staying asleep all night came to be seen as normal, and with that came society’s expectation that we should be highly productive during the day. Wolf-Meyer adds, “Even on a holiday, we’re not exempt from those expectations about productivism. Even on Thanksgiving. You’re supposed to be doing something, even if it’s watching TV. Our labor on holidays is to interact with our relatives. So the nap is kind of a problem.” So give yourself permission to shake society’s expectations and enjoy a nice nap, or two, on Thanksgiving this year if you’re so inclined.

🦃POLL: 61 PERCENT HAVE CHANGED THANKSGIVING PLANS:  While many Americans are planning to go forward with plans to get together with extended family and friends for Thanksgiving despite the warnings against it, a new poll finds that a majority have gotten the message and have changed their plans for the holiday because of the ongoing fall surge of the coronavirus across the country. In the Axios-Ipsos survey out yesterday, 61 percent said they'd changed their Thanksgiving plans. The most common changes reported were only celebrating with immediate household members and having a smaller dinner than originally planned. Nine percent even said they're no longer planning to celebrate at all. There was a partisan divide in the results, however, with 75 percent of Democrats saying they've changed their Thanksgiving plans, compared to 49 percent of Republicans.

🏀OPENING WEEK OF COLLEGE BASKETBALL, DISRUPTED BY PANDEMIC, BEGINS TODAY: The college basketball season begins today, but the opening week has already been disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, with cancellations and postponements across the country. Number 2 Baylor, Number 9 Duke, and the Number 3 UConn women are just a few teams that have canceled games because of the coronavirus. The NCAA is trying to play the season after last season's March Madness championship tournaments for both men and women were canceled in March at the start of the pandemic.

Tampa Bay star Randy Arozarena was detained in Mexico after an incident in which he allegedly tried to take his daughter from her mother and assaulted the woman’s father, sources told ESPN, confirming a Yucatán Ahora report. MLB’s Department of Investigations is looking into it.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) November 24, 2020

⚾RAYS OUTFIELDER AROZARENA ARRESTED IN MEXICO, RELATED TO CUSTODY DISPUTE: Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Randy Arozarena has been arrested in Mexico for issues related to an apparent custody dispute. The Yucatan state prosecutors' office said Tuesday that Arozarena was arrested, quote, "for problems relating to his ex-partner." While the office didn't say what those problems were, ESPN said social media video suggested it may have involved a dispute over a child. Arozarena won the Babe Ruth award for Most Valuable Player in the postseason two weeks ago, after his rookie year. Arozarena hit .377 with 10 homers and 14 RBIs in 20 postseason games for the Rays, who lost the World Series to the L.A. Dodgers.

🏈THANKSGIVING NFL SCHEDULE:

• Houston Texans at Detroit Lions - 12:30 p.m. ET (CBS)
• Washington Football Team at Dallas Cowboys - 4:30 p.m. ET (Fox)
• Baltimore Ravens at Pittsburgh Steelers - 8:20 p.m. ET (NBC)

🏈MINNESOTA-WISCONSIN FOOTBALL GAME CANCELED, ENDING 113-YEAR STREAK: This Saturday's scheduled football game between Wisconsin and Minnesota has been canceled due to positive coronavirus cases in Minnesota's program. Under Big 10 policy, the game won't be rescheduled and will be ruled a no contest. That ends the longest uninterrupted series in FBS history, with Minnesota and Wisconsin having played for 113 consecutive years from 1907 to 2019.

🏀ADEBAYO AGREES TO FIVE-YEAR, $163 MILLION EXTENSION WITH HEAT: Bam Adebayo has agreed to a five-year, $163 million extension with the Miami Heat, the NBA team and his agent said TuesdaY. The deal will be the richest contract in terms of total value in Heat history. The extension will begin after the final year of Adebayo's rookie contract this season. He averaged 15.2 points, 10.2 rebounds and 5.1 assists this past season, numbers matched only by two-time reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks.

⚾BRAVES SIGN MORTON TO ONE-YEAR, $15 MILLION DEAL: The Atlanta Braves signed veteran pitcher Charlie Morton to a one-year, $15 million deal on Tuesday (November 24th). The 37-year-old, two-time All-Star helped the Houston Astros win the World Series in 2017, and helped the Tampa Bay Rays reach the World Series this season.