January 19 Radio History

➦In 1903..the first Transatlantic Radio broadcast took place. King Edward VII and President Theodore Roosevelt spoke with one another in a coded radio transmission between Cape Cod, Massachusetts and Cornwall, England.

➦In 1905...Anne Hummert Schumacher born  (Died  at age 91 – July 5, 1996) was the leading creator of daytime radio serials or soap opera dramas during the 1930s and 1940s, responsible for more than three dozen series.

With her husband Frank she produced some of radio’s most memorable melodramas, including Our Gal Sunday, The Romance of Helen Trent, Mr Keen Tracer of Lost Persons, Betty & Bob, and Backstage Wife.  The Hummerts also produced several simple down-home musical series, like Waltztime and The American Album of Familiar Music. Their “radio factory” produced as many as 125 series, 61 of them soap operas.

➦In 1908...comic singer Ish Kabibble was born Merwyn Bogue in rural Pennsylvania.  He sang and played trumpet with Kay Kyser’s Kollege of Musical Knowledge on radio & record in the 30’s and 40’s. His dim witted characterization was said to be a later inspiration for Jerry Lewis. He died June 5, 1994 at age 86.

➦In 1922..Radio, TV Actor Guy Madison born Robert Ozell Moseley( Died at age 74 – February 6, 1996) was an American film, television, and radio actor. He is best known for playing Wild Bill Hickok in the Western television series The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok from 1951 to 1958.  During his career, Madison was given a special Golden Globe Award in 1954 and two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.

George Klein

➦In 1923...WMC 790 AM in Memphis, Tennessee signed-on. WMC was first owned by The Memphis Commercial Appeal and its call letters reflect the M and C from its owner's initials. In the 1930s, WMC carried the NBC Radio Red Network, while rival WMPS, owned by the Memphis Press-Scimitar, aired the NBC Blue Network. Starting in the 1930s, the station used a riverboat whistle as its sounder, a nod to Memphis' location on the Mississippi River—a practice that continued well into the 1990s.  The station currently airs ESPN and Fox Sports Radio.

In addition to sports talk shows, WMC-AM features longtime Memphis disc jockey George Klein's weekly tribute program to Elvis Presley. Klein and Presley were close friends and confidantes during the latter's lifetime and the former's long stint on WHBQ-AM.

Now, airing sports the license is currently held by Audacy Inc, which it purchased from CBS in September 2006.

➦In 1927...KGRC-AM (now KONO) San Antonio signed-on. KONO is the fourth-oldest radio station in San Antonio, officially signing on in January 1927. KONO began as a hobby for Eugene Roth in a room over his garage in downtown San Antonio. As the broadcasting industry grew, Eugene Roth's son, Jack Roth, began working with his dad, later inheriting the station. At first, KONO was powered at only 100 watts, broadcasting on 1370 kilocycles and having to share time on the air with other stations. It later moved to AM 1400 before relocating to its current home on AM 860.

In February 1947, an FM station was added, KONO-FM at 92.9 MHz.  The FM station later took the call sign KITY. Eugene Roth served as the president of Mission Broadcasting while Jack was the station's general manager.

In the 1950s, KONO's format was country & western music. In 1957, Mission Broadcasting put Channel 12 KONO-TV (now KSAT-TV) on the air. It was San Antonio's third television station, an ABC Network affiliate.

In the 1960s and 70s, KONO, "The Big 86," was one of the leading Top 40 stations in San Antonio. Some of the on air personnel were Howard Edwards, Don Couser, Woody Roberts, Skinny Don Green, Lee 'Baby' Simms, Dave Mitchell, Johnny Shannon, Charlie Scott, Nick St John and Frank Jolley. KONO won national awards in the 60s for its popularity and creativity. In 1965, Bob Pearson and Howard Edwards were selected as two of the top radio personalities in the country. KONO and its sister station KITY, would remain at 317 Arden Grove, attached to the KSAT 12 building, until the early 1990s, when they moved to a location on NE Loop 410.

In the 1970s, KONO and 550 KTSA battled in the Top 40 format. Although KONO's more recurrent-based style frequently played second-fiddle to the more current-oriented KTSA, it continued to do well. The two stations provided a nice 1-2 punch that made WOAI regret its brief flirtation with the top-40 format in the mid-'70s

KONO began the 1980s with the same recurrent-heavy Top 40 format it had in the 1970s but with a softer sound than before. KONO's days as a true contemporary hits station were numbered, as AM Top 40 stations were rapidly losing audience to FM upstarts. KONO began to evolve to a gold-based Adult Contemporary sound while its Top 40 format on KONO-FM replaced the AC format on sister 92.9 KITY.

Today, KONO AM / FM are owned by Cox Media Group.  860 AM airs a 60s & 70s oldies format, while KONO-FM usually leads the market with its Classic Hits format.

➦In 1943...the FCC endorsed Restricted Radio Operator Permits.

➦In 1998...Rockabilly singer Carl Perkins died. He was 65.

➦In 2000...Actress Hedy Lamarr died in Casselberry FL (Born - November 9, 1914). She was also an inventor who was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

At the beginning of World War II, Lamarr and composer George Antheil developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes, intended to use frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology to defeat the threat of jamming by the Axis powers.  Although the US Navy did not adopt the technology until the 1960s, various spread-spectrum techniques are incorporated into Bluetooth technology and are similar to methods used in legacy versions of Wi-Fi.

Recognition of the value of this work resulted in the pair being inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.

➦In 2005...Clear Channel Radio began its rollout of HD Digital Radio Multicasts in 28 Markets.

➦In 2006...Singer Wilson Pickett died. He was 64.

Shelley Fabares is 79

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Actor Tippi Hedren is 93. 
• Journalist Robert MacNeil is 92. 
• Director Richard Lester (“A Hard Day’s Night,” “Superman II and III”) is 91. 
• Actor-singer Michael Crawford is 81. 
• Actor Shelley Fabares is 79. 
• Country singer Dolly Parton is 77. 
• TV chef Paula Deen is 76. 
• Singer Martha Davis of The Motels is 72. 
• Singer Dewey Bunnell of America is 71. 
• Actor Desi Arnaz Jr. is 70. 
• Actor Katey Sagal (“Sons of Anarchy,” ″Married...With Children”) is 69. 
• Comedian Paul Rodriguez is 68. 
• Keyboardist Mickey Virtue (UB40) is 66. 
• Actor Paul McCrane (“ER”) is 62. 
• Singer Whitfield Crane of Ugly Kid Joe is 55. 
• Singer Trey Lorenz is 54. 
• Actor Shawn Wayans (“White Chicks,” ″Scary Movie”) is 52. 
• Singer-guitarist John Wozniak of Marcy Playground is 52. 
• Actor Drea de Matteo (“Joey,” ″The Sopranos”) is 51. 
• Comedian Frank Caliendo (“Frank TV,” ″Mad TV”) is 49. 
• Actor Drew Powell (“Gotham”) is 47. 
• Actor Marsha Thomason (“Las Vegas”) is 47. 
• Actor Bitsie Tulloch (“Grimm”) is 42. 
• Actor Jodie Sweetin (“Full House”) is 41. 
• Actor Shaunette Renee Wilson (“The Resident”) is 33. 
• Actor Briana Henry (“General Hospital”) is 31. 
• Actor Logan Lerman (“Percy Jackson” films) is 31. 
• Rapper Taylor Bennett is 27. 
• Actor Lidya Jewett (“Hidden Figures”) is 16.

✞DEATH ANNIVERSARIES:

• In 1998..Carl Perkins, Rock and rockabilly singer-songwriter ("Blue Suede Shoes"; "Honey Don't"), dies at 65
• In 2006..Wilson Pickett, R&B singer ("In The Midnight Hour"; "Funky Broadway"), dies of a heart attack at 64
• In 2008..John Stewart, Pop-folk singer, guitsrist, banjo player (Kingston Trio, 1961-67), and songwriter ("Daydream Believer"), dies of a stroke at 68
• In 2008..Suzanne Pleshette, Actress (b. 1937)