April 29 Radio History

➦In 1903...singer Frank Parker was born (Died at age 95 – January 10, 1999). Parker debuted on radio as a substitute singer on The Eveready Hour, and he was a regular on radio and television in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s with personalities including Jack Benny, George Burns and Arthur Godfrey.

Frank Parker

An October 30, 1930, newspaper listing shows Parker singing on the Van Heusen Program on WABC in New York City. Also, in the early 1930s, he was a featured singer with Donald Voorhees and his orchestra on the Bond Sunshine Program on WEAF in New York City.

Beginning September 14, 1935, he had his own program, That Atlantic Family on Tour, with Frank Parker, which was heard on 36 CBS stations.

In September and October 1936, Parker and Ramona were featured on a 15-minute weekly program on WEAF in New York City and WMAQ in Chicago. Beginning June 30, 1937, In the early 1940s, he sang with Andre Kostelanetz on broadcasts over WABC in New York City. He was the featured male singer on Your Home Front Reporter, which was broadcast on CBS in 1943.

➦In 1940...The radio show "Young Dr Malone" moved to the CBS Radio Network.

It was an American soap opera which began on the NBC Blue Network on November 20, 1939.

The producer was Betty Corday who later was a co-creator with husband Ted Corday of NBC-TV  Daytime's Days of Our Lives.

The radio program ended on November 25, 1960, known as "the last day of radio soap opera" because CBS cancelled several other series on that day, including Ma Perkins, The Second Mrs. Burton and The Right to Happiness.

➦In 1953...Coke Time with Eddie Fisher began a run on NBC-TV and Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS).

Coke Time with Eddie Fisher aired NBC on Wednesday nights in early prime time from 1953 to 1957. The program was aired from 7:30 to 7:45 p.m. Eastern Time on Wednesdays and Fridays, and was not seen during the summer months. A radio edition, recorded from previous TV soundtracks, was also heard on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7:45 P.M. Eastern Time over the Mutual Broadcasting System from 1953 through 1955).

➦In 1963...KRE 1400 AM in Berkeley CA changed call letters to KPAT.

KRE - 1922

The Maxwell Electric Company put KRE on the air on March 11, 1922, with studios and transmitter at the Claremont Resort Hotel. In May of that year, KRE was sold to the Berkeley Daily Gazette. It was bought in January 1927 by the First Congregational Church of Berkeley, which moved the studios and built a new transmitter. In January 1930, the Chapel of the Chimes (an Oakland funeral home) bought KRE. Ownership passed in December 1936 to Central California Broadcasters, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chapel of the Chimes.

On June 11, 1972, KRE commemorated its fiftieth anniversary with a huge celebration. In an unusual event, the FCC gave permission to KPAT to revert to its previous three-letter call sign.  However, today the call letters are KVTO 1400 AM and is airing a Chinese format. Licensed to Berkeley, California, USA, the station serves the San Francisco Bay Area.

Tommy James is 76

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Actor Keith Baxter is 90. 
• Singer Bob Miranda of The Happenings is 81. 
• Country singer Duane Allen of The Oak Ridge Boys is 80. 
• Singer Tommy James is 76. 
• Comedian Jerry Seinfeld is 69. 
• Actor Kate Mulgrew (“Orange Is the New Black,” ″Star Trek: Voyager”) is 68. 
• Actor Daniel Day-Lewis is 66. 
• Actor Michelle Pfeiffer is 65. 
• Actor Eve Plumb (“The Brady Bunch”) is 65. 
• Country singer Stephanie Bentley is 60. 
• Actor Vincent Ventresca (TV’s “The Invisible Man,” “Boston Common”) is 57. 
• Singer Carnie Wilson of Wilson Phillips is 55. 
• Actor Paul Adelstein (“Private Practice”) is 54. 
• Actor Uma Thurman is 53. Rapper Master P is 53. 
• Actor Darby Stanchfield (“Scandal”) is 52. 
• Country singer James Bonamy is 51. 
• Singer Erica Campbell of Mary Mary is 51. 
• Bassist Mike Hogan of The Cranberries is 50. 
• Actor Tyler Labine (“New Amsterdam”) is 45. 
• Actor Megan Boone (“The Blacklist”) is 40. 
• Actor Zane Carney (“Dave’s World”) is 38. 
• Singer Amy Heidemann of Karmin is 37. Singer Foxes is 34. 
• Actor Grace Kaufman (“Man with a Plan”) is 21.

✞DEATH ANNIVERSARIES

• In 1980..Alfred Hitchcock, English film director (Psycho; The Birds; Rear Window; Vertigo), dies of renal failure at 80
• In 2014..Paul Goddard, American rock bassist (Atlanta Rhythm Section - "So In To You"), dies of cancer at 68