May 1 Radio History

➦In 1907...Kate Smith born in Greenville, VA (Died – June 17, 1986).  She was considered to be The First Lady of Radio, best-known for her rendition of Irving Berlin's "God Bless America". She had a radio, television, and recording career spanning five decades, which reached its pinnacle in the 1940s. Smith became known as The Songbird of the South after her endearing popularity during World War II.

Smith was a major star of radio, usually backed by Jack Miller's Orchestra. She began with her twice-a-week NBC series, Kate Smith Sings (quickly expanded to six shows a week), followed by a series of shows for CBS: Kate Smith and Her Swanee Music (1931–33), sponsored by La Palina Cigars; The Kate Smith Matinee (1934–35); The Kate Smith New Star Revue (1934–35); Kate Smith's Coffee Time (1935–36), sponsored by A&P; and The Kate Smith A&P Bandwagon (1936–37).

The Kate Smith Hour was a leading radio variety show, offering comedy, music, and drama with appearances by top personalities of films and theater for eight years (1937–1945). The show's resident comics, Abbott and Costello and Henny Youngman, introduced their comedy to a nationwide radio audience aboard her show, while a series of sketches based on the Broadway production of the same name led to The Aldrich Family as a separate hit series in 1940.

Smith continued on the Mutual Broadcasting System, CBS, ABC, and NBC, doing both music and talk shows on radio until 1960.

➦In 1918...Jack Paar born in Canton, OH (Died at age 85 – January 27, 2004). He is best known for his stint as the second host of The Tonight Show from 1957 to 1962.

He first worked near home as a radio announcer at WIBM in Jackson, Michigan, and later as a humorous disc jockey at Midwest stations, including WJR in Detroit, WIRE in Indianapolis, WGAR in Cleveland, and WBEN in Buffalo. In his book P.S. Jack Paar, he recalled doing utility duty at WGAR in 1938 when Orson Welles broadcast his famous simulated alien invasion, The War of the Worlds, over the CBS network (and its WGAR affiliate). Attempting to calm possibly panicked listeners, Paar announced, "The world is not coming to an end. Trust me. When have I ever lied to you?"

Paar was drafted into the military in 1943 during World War II, interrupting his tenure as host of WBEN's morning show The Sun Greeter's Club (he opted not to return to the station at war's end, instead seeking opportunities in network radio and film). He was assigned to the U.S.O. in the South Pacific to entertain the troops.  He was a clever, wisecracking master of ceremonies whose impersonations of officers  nearly got him into trouble.

After World War II, Paar worked in radio as a fill-in on Don McNeil's  Breakfast Club show and appeared as a panelist on The $64,000 Question. He got his big break when Jack Benny, who had been impressed by Paar's U.S.O. performances, suggested that Paar serve as his 1947 summer replacement.  Paar was enough of a hit on Benny's show that Benny's sponsor, the American Tobacco Company, decided to keep him on the air, moving him to ABC for the fall season.

➦In 1931...Kate Smith began her radio show on the CBS Radio Network.

➦In 1935...the first radio tube to be made of metal was produced in Schenectady, New York.

➦In 1957...Larry King got his first job in radio. The manager of a small station, WAHR (now WMBM) in Miami Beach, hired him to clean up and perform miscellaneous tasks.  When one of the station's announcers abruptly quit, King was put on the air. His first broadcast was on May 1, 1957, working as the disc jockey from 9 a.m. to noon. He also did two afternoon newscasts and a sportscast. He was paid $50 a week.

He acquired the name Larry King when the general manager, Marshall Simmonds, claimed that Zeiger was too ethnic and difficult to remember, so minutes before airtime, Larry chose the surname King, which he got from an advertisement in the Miami Herald for King's Wholesale Liquor. Within two years, he legally changed his name to Larry King.

Larry King

He began doing interviews on a mid-morning show for WIOD, at Pumpernik's Restaurant in Miami.  He would interview whoever walked in. His first interview was with a waiter at the restaurant. Two days later, singer Bobby Darin, in Miami for a concert that evening, walked into Pumpernik's having heard King's radio show; Darin became King's first celebrity interview guest.

King's Miami radio show brought him local notoriety. A few years later, in May 1960, he hosted Miami Undercover, airing Sunday nights at 11:30 p.m. on WPST-TV Channel 10 (now WPLG). On the show, he moderated debates on important local issues of the day.

King credited his success on local television to the assistance of comedian Jackie Gleason, whose national television variety show was being taped in Miami Beach during this time.   

During this period, WIOD gave King further exposure as a color commentator for the NFL Miami Dolphins, during their 1970 season and most of their 1971 season. However, he was dismissed by both WIOD and television station WTVJ as a late-night radio host and sports commentator as of December 20, 1971, when he was arrested after being accused of grand larceny by a former business partner.  The charges were dropped. Eventually, King was rehired by WIOD.  For several years during the 1970s, he hosted a sports talk-show called "Sports-a-la-King" that featured guests and callers.

On January 30, 1978, King went national on a nightly Mutual Broadcasting System coast-to-coast broadcast. King's Mutual show rapidly developed a devoted audience.

King died January 23, 2021.

➦In 1957...WBBR (Watchtower Brooklyn Broadcasting Radio) changed call letters to WPOW, NYC.  The station is now known as WWRV and airs Spanish Christian music and teaching format.

➦In 1972...the Mutual Black Radio Network launched.

The network signed on May 1, 1972 with 32 affiliates, including flagship New Jersey station WNJR, KCOH Houston, KWK St. Louis, and WIGO Atlanta. It was an easy start-up: vice-president Stephen McCormick said all he had to do was hire the staff - 15 black newsmen, six editors, supervisors and salesmen. The news director was Shelton Lewis, once of New York's WPAT; working with him in New York was Robert Nichols, Joe White and Gerald Bentley. Staffing the Washington bureau was Ed Castleberry, Larry Dean, John Askew and Abby Kendrick.

The network fed five-minute news and sports broadcasts hourly from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. each day, some 100 programs a week. By June 1972, the 32 affiliates had grown to 55; by September, there were more than 80.

Among MBN's program offerings: "Dr. Martin Luther King Speaks," a weekly 20-minute program produced by the Southern Christian Leadership Conference featuring excerpts from Dr. King's speeches, along with comments of black leaders such as Jesse Jackson, Ralph Abernathy, and Benjamin Hooks; and "The Black Experience," a daily feature profiling black Americans and their contributions to American life.

Jonathan Schwartz

➦In 1976...NYC Personality Jonathan Schwartz aired his final show on WNEW 102.7 FM.

Schwartz worked at New York's WNEW-FM from 1967 to 1976, followed by stints at WNEW, WQEW, and eventually WNYC-FM. Schwartz also served as programming director for XM Satellite Radio's now-defunct High Standards channel, and later appeared on Sirius XM's Siriusly Sinatra and '40s on 4 channels. His last SiriusXM program was on August 2, 2013.

Here's an audio clip from Sept. 2013, Schwartz talks about the old WNEW-AM and personality Ted Brown:

In his talk during the shows, Schwartz will discuss many famous pop songwriters and singers, and jazz artists.

➦In 1982...First WCBS-FM NYC Top 20 Countdown (1966).

Joe McCoy

The Countdown debuted during the tenure of Joe McCoy as program director. In 1981, began to gradually shift its focus to the 1964–1969 era, but would also feature a more pre-1964 oldies than most other such stations. The station continued to also feature hits of the 1970s and some hits of the 1980s while cutting future gold selections to one per hour.

Also in the 1980s, after WABC 770 AM and later WNBC 660 AM abandoned music in favor of talk, WCBS-FM began employing many disc jockeys who were widely known on other New York City stations (and sometimes nationally), most notably Musicradio WABC alumni Ron Lundy, Dan Ingram, Bruce "Cousin Brucie" Morrow, Chuck Leonard and Harry Harrison, as well as Dan Daniels and Jack Spector.

➦In 1984...Gordon Hill Jenkins died of Lou Gehrig's disease at age 73. (Born May 12, 1910), He was an arranger, composer and pianist who was an influential figure in popular music in the 1940s and 1950s, renowned for his lush string arrangements. Jenkins worked with The Andrews Sisters, Johnny Cash, The Weavers, Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Judy Garland, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday, Harry Nilsson, and Ella Fitzgerald, among others.

He had been very active in network radio and also worked as musical director at Decca & Capitol Records where he recorded with some of the top stars of the day, including Frank Sinatra & Nat Cole.

➦In 1988...the man who played “Fibber McGee” on network radio for more than a quarter century, Jim Jordan, died at age 91.

➦In 2006...Seattle’s  KSLY 92.5 FM closed down their Adult Top 40 format at noon with Semisonics’s “Closing Time.”  Then the call letters changed to KQMV (MOVIN’); its first song was The C&C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now.)”

Abby Huntsman is 36

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Singer Judy Collins is 83. 
• Actor Stephen Macht (“Suits,” ″General Hospital”) is 80. 
• Singer Rita Coolidge is 77. 
• Singer-bassist Nick Fortuna of The Buckinghams is 76. 

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  Rita Coolidge is 77

  Actor Dann Florek (“Law and Order: SVU”) is 71. 
• Singer-songwriter Ray Parker Jr. is 68. 
• Actor Byron Stewart is 66. 
• Actor Maia Morgenstern (“The Passion of the Christ”) is 60. 
• Actor Scott Coffey (“Mulholland Drive,” ″The Outsiders”) is 58. 
• Country singer Wayne Hancock is 57. 
• Actor Charlie Schlatter (“Diagnosis Murder”) is 56. 
• Country singer Tim McGraw is 55. 
• Bassist D’Arcy Wretzky (Smashing Pumpkins) is 54. 
• Director Wes Anderson is 53. 
• Actor Julie Benz (“No Ordinary Family,” “Dexter”) is 50. 
• Singer Tina Campbell of Mary Mary is 48. 
• Actor Darius McCrary (“Family Matters”) is 46. 
• Actor Jamie Dornan (“Fifty Shades of Grey”) is 40. 
• Actor Kerry Bishe (“Argo”) is 38. 
• TV personality Abby Huntsman (“The View”) is 36. 
• Actor Lizzy Greene (“A Million Little Things”) is 18.