Radio History: July 21

Himan Brown

➦In 1910...Himan Brown born (Died  at age 99 – June 4, 2010). Known as Hi Brown, he was a producer of radio and television programs. Over seven decades, Brown produced more than 30,000 radio shows, including for major radio networks and syndication.

A recipient of the American Broadcast Pioneer and Peabody Awards, Brown was inducted in 1990s into the National Radio Hall of Fame.

Brown produced The Adventures of the Thin Man, The Affairs of Peter Salem, Bulldog Drummond, CBS Radio Mystery Theater, City Desk, Dick Tracy, Flash Gordon, The General Mills Radio Adventure Theater, Grand Central Station, Green Valley, USA, The Gumps, Inner Sanctum Mysteries, Joyce Jordan, M.D., Marie, the Little French Princess, The NBC Radio Theater, The Private Files of Rex Saunders, Terry and the Pirates and numerous daytime soap operas.

When television arrived, Brown produced 26 episodes of the syndicated Inner Sanctum TV series, plus a daytime show, Morning Matinee. Realizing that "all these guys making TV, they have to have a set," he profited by acquiring the studios in Chelsea; they were used for 35 years by New York TV production firms.

Through his non-profit educational foundation, Brown produced They Were Giants, radio programs dramatizing the lives of such literary figures as Walt Whitman and H. G. Wells, and We, The Living, fact-based dramas about the lives of senior citizens.

After the end of most network radio programming in the early 60’s Brown persisted with such series as the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, thereby keeping the art of radio drama alive for another generation.

➦In 1980...WMCA 570 AM, New York, hosted a reunion of The Good Guys featuring Joe O'Brien, Harry Harrison, Dan Daniels, Jack Spector and B Mitchel Reed.

In 1960, WMCA began promoting itself by stressing its on-air personalities, who were collectively known as The Good Guys. Led by program director Ruth Meyer, the first woman to hold the position in New York City radio,  this was the era of the high-profile Top 40 disc jockey with an exuberant personality aimed at a certain audience segment.

In the early 1960s, the top 40 format was still young, and the field was crowded in New York City. Two major 50,000-watt stations, WMGM 1050 (now WEPN) and 1010 WINS, had battled each other, playing pop music for years. Then in 1960, 77WABC joined the action. Ultimately, it was WMCA's earnest competition with rival WABC that forced WMGM (in early 1962) and then WINS (in spring 1965) to abandon Top 40.

➦In 2011...WRXP 101.9 FM NYC changed call letters to WEMP

➦In 2013…Page Morton died at age 97. She was a cabaret singer who married William Black, founder of the catering and coffee business Chock full o'Nuts. As Page Morton Black she was known for singing the "Heavenly Coffee" jingle on the company's radio and TV advertisements and sponsored broadcasts. When Black died in 1983, she took over his charitable work with the Parkinson's Disease Foundation.

➦In 2016…Roger Ailes stepped down as CEO/Chairman of Fox News in the wake of sexual harassment allegations made by former Fox anchor Gretchen Carlson and as many as 20 other current or former female employees of the cable news network.

➦In 2016...Bill Cardille, the broadcaster known as “Chilly Billy,” who filled Pittsburgh airwaves for six decades as a newsman, television host, radio personality, actor and producer, died of pneumonia at age 87. His nickname originated from his host role on the weekly TV movie feature, “Chiller Theatre.”

Singer Yusuf Island (Cat Stevens) is 75

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Movie director Norman Jewison (“Moonstruck,” “Fiddler on the Roof”) is 97. 
• Actor Leigh Lawson (“Tess”) is 80. 
• Singer Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) is 75.
• Cartoonist Garry Trudeau (“Doonesbury”) is 75. 
• Actor Jamey Sheridan (“Homeland”) is 72. 
• Singer-guitarist Eric Bazilian of The Hooters is 70. 
• Comedian Jon Lovitz is 66. 
• Actor Lance Guest (“Lou Grant”) is 63. 
• Actor Matt Mulhern (“Major Dad”) is 63. 
• Singer Emerson Hart of Tonic is 54. 
• Singer Fitz of Fitz and the Tantrums is 53. 
• Actor Alysia Reiner (“Orange is the New Black”) is 53. 
• Country singer Paul Brandt is 51. 
• Keyboardist Korey Cooper of Skillet is 51. 
• Actor Ali Landry is 50. 
• Comedian Steve Byrne (“Sullivan and Son”) is 49. 
• Percussionist Tato Melgar of Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real is 46. 
• Actor Justin Bartha (“The Hangover”) is 45. 
• Actor Sprague Grayden (“Jericho,” “24”) is 45. 
• Actor Josh Hartnett is 45. 
• Contemporary Christian singer Brandon Heath is 45. 
• Reggae singer Damian Marley is 45. 
• Singer Brad Mates of Emerson Drive is 45. 
• “American Idol” runner-up Blake Lewis is 42. 
• Singer Romeo Santos is 42. 
• Keyboardist Johan Carlsson of Carolina Liar is 39. 
• Actor Vanessa Lengies (“Stick It,” ″American Dreams”) is 38. 
• Actor Betty Gilpin (“GLOW,” “Nurse Jackie”) is 37.

✞DEATH REMEMBRANCES

• In 1967..Basil Rathbone, South African born British actor (Sherlock Holmes), dies of a heart attack at 75
• In 1967..Jimmie Foxx, Baseball HOF first baseman (9 x MLB All Star; World Series 1929, 30; AL MVP 1932, 33, 38; Triple Crown 1933; Philadelphia A's, Boston RS), dies after choking on food at 59
• In 1982..Dave Garroway, American TV host (Today Show, 1951-61), dies of self-inflicted gunshot wound at 69
• In 1998..Alan Shepard, Astronaut and 1st American in space, dies of leukemia at 74
• In 1998..Robert Young, Actor (Father Knows Best, Marcus Welby, M.D.), dies at 91
• In 2004..Jerry Goldsmith, Pianist and composer (The Twilight Zone; Planet Of The Apes), dies of colon cancer at 75
• In 2010..Ralph Houk, Baseball catcher, coach, manager and executive (World Series champion 1947, 52-53, coach, 58; mgr 1961-62; NY Yankees), dies at 90
• In 2015..Theodore Bikel, Austrian-American stage and screen singer and actor (The Sound of Music; Fiddler On The Roof; The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming; 200 Motels), folk singer (co-founder Newport Folk Festival), and political activist, dies at 91