Radio History: July 12

Milton Berle 1943

➦In 1908...Comedian Milton Berle was born in New York City (Died from colon cancer – March 27, 2002). Berle's career as an entertainer spanned over 80 years, first in silent films and on stage as a child actor, then in radio, movies and television. As the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater (1948–55), he was the first major American television star and was known to millions of viewers as "Uncle Miltie" and "Mr. Television" during the first Golden Age of Television.

From 1934–36, Berle appeared regularly on The Rudy Vallee Hour, and he attracted publicity as a regular on The Gillette Original Community Sing, a Sunday night comedy-variety program broadcast on CBS from September 6, 1936 to August 29, 1937. In 1939, he was the host of Stop Me If You've Heard This One with panelists spontaneously finishing jokes sent in by listeners.

In the late 1940s, he canceled well-paying nightclub appearances to expand his radio career. Three Ring Time, a comedy-variety show sponsored by Ballantine Ale, was followed by a 1943 program sponsored by Campbell's Soups. The audience participation show Let Yourself Go (1944–1945) could best be described as "slapstick radio" with studio audience members acting out long suppressed urges—often directed at host Berle. Kiss and Make Up, on CBS in 1946, featured the problems of contestants decided by a jury from the studio audience with Berle as the judge. Berle also made guest appearances on many comedy-variety radio programs during the 1930s and 1940s.

Howard Duff

 ➦In 1946…"The Adventures of Sam Spade," debuted on ABC Radio.

The show ran for 13 episodes on ABC in 1946, for 157 episodes on CBS in 1946-1949, and finally for 51 episodes on NBC in 1949-1951. The series starred Howard Duff (and later, Steve Dunne) as Sam Spade and Lurene Tuttle as his secretary Effie, and took a considerably more tongue-in-cheek approach to the character than the novel or movie. The announcer was Dick Joy.

The series was largely overseen by producer/director William Spier. In 1947, scriptwriters Jason James and Bob Tallman received an Edgar Award for Best Radio Drama from the Mystery Writers of America.

➦In 1957…DJ Alan Freed - the man who coined the term "Rock and Roll" - started a Rock and Roll program on ABC-TV.

"The Big Beat" with guest performers Frankie Lymon And The Teenagers, the Everly Brothers and Connie Francis. The series was cancelled after the fourth show in which Frankie Lymon was seen dancing with a white girl, something that reportedly offended the management of the network's affiliate stations in southern states. Freed hosted a local version of "The Big Beat" on WNEW-TV New York until late 1959 when he was fired due to payola allegations.

➦In 1976…Ted Mack died (Born William Edward Maguiness February 12, 1904). He was the host of Ted Mack and The Original Amateur Hour on radio and television.

The Original Amateur Hour began on radio in 1934 as Major Bowes' Amateur Hour, and ran until the 1946 death of its creator, Major Bowes. Mack, a talent scout who had directed the show under Bowes, revived it in 1948 for ABC Radio and the DuMont Television Network.

The show lasted on radio until 1952 and until 1970 on television, where it ran on all four major networks, ending as a Sunday afternoon CBS staple. A success in the early days of television, the program set the stage for numerous programs seeking talented stars, from The Gong Show to Star Search to American Idol to America's Got Talent.

Auditions for the show were generally held in New York's Radio City Music Hall. Those who passed the initial screening were invited to compete on the program, featuring amateurs whose performance were judged by viewers, voting via letters and phone calls. Contestants who won three times earned cash prizes, scholarships, or participation in a traveling stage show associated with the program.

Winners who went on to show business careers included singers Gladys Knight, Ann-Margret, Pat Boone, Raul Julia, Teresa Brewer, Irene Cara, The Rock and Roll Trio and Los Concertinos from Puerto Rico.

➦In 1979…A major and oft-mentioned promotional event held at Old Comiskey was "Disco Demolition Night", organized by longtime Chicago radio personality Steve Dahl and White Sox promotions manager Mike Veeck (Bill's son).

Between games of a make-up doubleheader between the White Sox and the Detroit Tigers, Dahl and his crew destroyed a pile of disco records that fans had brought in exchange for a ticket with a discounted price of 98¢ in honor of Dahl's station at that time, WLUP-FM, the frequency of which was 97.9 MHz (98 FM).

More than 50,000 fans were in attendance, along with another 20,000 who crashed the gates even though the game was sold out.  The demolition tore a huge hole in center field and several thousand fans, many of them intoxicated, stormed the field, stole equipment, and destroyed the infield.

The nightcap was postponed, but league officials ruled it a forfeit the next day, the fourth in American League history, all in the 1970s.  Later, some blamed Dahl; some blamed Veeck. Howard Cosell even blamed then-White Sox announcer Harry Caray, saying Caray contributed to a "carnival" atmosphere. In reality, a handful of rowdies had taken advantage of a situation for which stadium security was woefully unprepared.

"I never thought that I, a stupid disc jockey, could draw 70,000 people to a disco demolition", Dahl said in a Tribune interview. "Unfortunately, some of our followers got a little carried away." That was the last anti-disco rally for WLUP. But it brought Dahl national attention and established him as a radio superstar in Chicago.

➦In 1996...NBC news anchor John Chancellor succumbed to stomach cancer at age 68.

➦In  2008… Former White House press secretary, radio-TV newsman and program host (Fox News, CNN, NPR) Tony Snow died of colon cancer at 53.

➦In 2008… New York Yankees outfielder and baseball broadcaster Bobby Murcer died of brain cancer at age 62.

Cheryl Ladd is 72

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Actor Denise Nicholas (“In the Heat of the Night”) is 79. 
• Singer Walter Egan is 75. 
• Fitness guru Richard Simmons is 75. 
• Actor Cheryl Ladd (“Charlie’s Angels”) is 72. 
• Singer Ricky McKinnie of The Blind Boys of Alabama is 71. 
• Actor Mel Harris (“thirtysomething”) is 67. 
• Gospel singer Sandi Patty is 67. 
• Guitarist Dan Murphy of Soul Asylum is 61. 
• Actor Judi Evans (“Days of Our Lives”) is 59. 
• Singer Robin Wilson of the Gin Blossoms is 58. 
• Actor Lisa Nicole Carson (“Ally McBeal”) is 54. 
• Country singer Shannon Lawson is 50. 
• Rapper Magoo is 50. 
• Actor Anna Friel (“Monarch,” “Pushing Daisies”) is 47. 
• Singer Tracie Spencer is 47. 
• Actor Alison Wright (“The Americans”) is 47. 
• Actor Steve Howey (“Reba”) is 46. 
• Actor Topher Grace (“That ’70s Show”) is 45. 
• Actor Michelle Rodriguez (“The Fast and The Furious” films, “Lost”) is 45. 
• Actor Kristen Connolly (“Zoo”) is 43. 
• Singer-guitarist Kimberly Perry of The Band Perry is 40. 
• Actor Matt Cook (“Man with a Plan”) is 39. 
• Actor Natalie Martinez (“Under the Dome”) is 39. 
• Actor Ta’Rhonda Jones (“Empire”) is 35. 
• Actor Melissa O’Neill (“The Rookie”) is 35. 
• Actor Rachel Brosnahan (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” ″House of Cards”) is 33. 
• Actor Erik Per Sullivan (“Malcolm in the Middle”) is 32.

✞DEATH REMEMBRANCES

• In 1973..Lon Chaney Jr, American actor (Larry Talbot-The Wolf Man, Lennie Small-Of Mice and Men), dies of heart failure at 67
• In 1976..Ted Mack, American TV host (The Original Amateur Hour), dies at 72
• In 1979..Minnie Ripperton [Andrea Davis], American pop, R&B, and disco singer-songwriter ("Lovin' You"), dies of breast cancer at 31
• In 1996..John Chancellor, American journalist and news anchor (Voice Of America, 1965-67; NBC Nightly News, 1970-82), dies at 68
• In 2008..Bobby Murcer, Baseball outfielder (5-time MLB All Star), dies of brain cancer at 62
• In 2008..Tony Snow, former speechwriter for Presidents George H. W. Bush and press secretary for George W. Bush, dies of colon and liver cancer at 53
• In 2011..David Carr, British rock keyboardist (The Fortunes, 1963-68 - "You've Got Your Troubles"; "Here It Comes Again"), dies at 67
• In 2020..Kelly Preston, American actress (Mischief, Twins, A Tigers Tale), dies of breast cancer at 57