➦In 1923...Prolific songwriter Bert Kaempfert born in Hamburg, Germany. He wrote "Strangers in the Night" for Frank Sinatra, "Spanish Eyes" by Al Martino, "Danke Schoen" for Wayne Newton, "L-O-V-E" by Nat King Cole, and many others) and performed "Wonderland By Night" in 1960 and signed The Beatles to a recording contract.
➦In 1939...Listeners first heard "The Right to Happiness” to the NBC Blue Network. The 15-minute daytime drama turned out to be one of the longest-running radio shows of its kind. It moved over to CBS in 1941, then back to NBC in 1942. Fourteen years later “Right to Happiness” returned to CBS where it stayed until its final days in 1960
➦In 1951...Singer Richard Penniman, known as Little Richard, made his first recordings for RCA Camden at the studios of WGST Radio in Atlanta. It took another four years and working in New Orleans' French Quarter to turn him into a rock 'n' roll star.
➦In 1954...Elvis Presley made his famous first radio appearance on the KWKH Louisiana Hayride in Shreveport, LA. He appeared weekly for $18. His sidemen, Bill Black and Scotty Moore, were paid $12 each.
➦In 1960...Sportscaster Arch McDonald died at age 59 from a heart attack (Born - May 23, 1901). He served as the voice of Major League Baseball's Washington Senators from 1934 to 1956 (with the exception of 1939, when he broadcast the New York Yankees and Giants).
He was best known, however, for his studio re-creations of road games—a common practice in the 1930s, when line charges were too expensive for live road coverage. The radio listeners would hear the click of the ticker tape code for HR, and the announcer would convey, "It's a long fly ball to deep center, going, going ....... gone. It's a Home Run" For many years, it was common for Senators fans to crowd around McDonald's studio at a drug store on G Street to watch his recreations.
In 1939, he became the first full-time voice of the Yankees and Giants, working the second half of the season alongside a young Mel Allen. In that same year, he aired the opening of the Baseball Hall of Fame on CBS. However, his homespun style didn't play well in New York, and he was back in Washington for the 1940 season.
For the most part, McDonald called losing baseball; the Senators only finished higher than fifth four times during his tenure. However, he was named "Announcer of the Year" again in 1942. During the 1940s, he began calling Washington Redskins and college football games.
McDonald was forced off Senators broadcasts by a sponsor change in 1956, but remained behind the mic for the Redskins.
➦In 1984…Announcer Kenneth Lee Carpenter died at age 84 (Born - August 21, 1900). He was best known for being the announcer for singer and actor Bing Crosby for 27 years.
