Radio History: September 13

➦In 1928...KOH-AM in Reno NV signed-on.

The debut broadcast was to be on November 11, 1928 (to honor Armistice Day)  but on-the-air testing between 4AM and 8AM the morning of October 27, 1928 proved so successful that KOH went directly to full-time broadcasting running 100 watts on 1370 kHz. This early debut also allowed KOH to take advantage of the lucrative political advertising for the upcoming 1928 Presidential Elections in November. In fact, KOH even carried the election returns in a joint effort with the Reno Evening Gazette on November 6, 1928. KOH had a seven man crew, which was the largest for a radio station in Nevada up to that time. KOH was the first professionally operated, commercial radio station in Nevada.

Today the station is KKOH 780 AM is owned by Cumulus Media and airs a News/Talk format.

➦In 1932...Legendary personality Dick Biondi born. (Biondi died June 26, 2023). Calling himself The Wild I-talian, he was one of the original "screamers," known for his screaming delivery as well as his wild antics on the air and off. In a 1988 interview, Biondi related he had been fired 23 times; both fits of temper and jokes gone wrong were part of the tally. Over many years and many frequencies, Dick's close-of-the-program line was, "God bless, bye, bye, Duke. Thanks a million for dialing our way."

Biondi gained national attention in the 1950s and 1960s as a disc jockey on leading AM radio stations in Buffalo, New York; Chicago, Illinois; and Los Angeles, California. Besides being among the first to play Elvis Presley, Jerry Lee Lewis, Gene Vincent, and other early rhythm and blues artists, he was able to meet them also. The early Rock and Roll era meant "record hops" where disc jockeys would make personal appearances at local schools and clubs; they often included appearances by the artists whose records were being played.

Biondi is credited as the first U.S. disc jockey to play the Beatles, on Chicago's WLS 890 AM in February 1963, with the song "Please Please Me".  Later, while working at KRLA 1110 AM in Los Angeles, he introduced the Beatles and Rolling Stones at their Hollywood Bowl concerts.

Dating back to 1984, Biondi was a mainstay on Oldies stations in the city where he first earned his reputation, Chicago.  On 2 May 2010, Dick Biondi celebrated the 50th anniversary of his first Chicago broadcast.  WLS-AM and WLS-FM presented a 5-hour simulcast special from 7 PM to midnight, featuring memorable moments in his career and special celebrity guests, with Biondi as its host.

➦In 1937...the first successful radio soap opera set in the world of doctors and medicine Road of Life debuted on the NBC Red network.  Writer/producer Irna Phillips‘ story of handsome Dr. Jim Brent and his wife Jocelyn ran simultaneously on CBS for much of its 22 year run.

➦In 1960...the FCC formally banned the practice of payola — in which record companies paid disc jockeys to play certain records.

Alan Freed

Prosecution for payola in the 1950s was in part a reaction of the traditional music establishment against newcomers. Hit radio was a threat to the wages of song-pluggers. Radio hits also threatened old revenue streams; for example, by the middle of the 1940s, three-quarters of the records produced in the USA went into jukeboxes. Still, in the 1950s, independent record companies or music publishers frequently used payola to promote rock and roll on American radio; it promoted cultural diversity and disc jockeys were less inclined to indulge their own personal and racial biases.

Radio personality Alan Freed, an early supporter of rock and roll (and also widely credited for actually coining the term), had his career and reputation greatly harmed by a payola scandal. Dick Clark's early career was nearly derailed by a payola scandal, but he avoided trouble by selling his stake in a record company and cooperating with authorities.

Dick Clark

After the initial investigation, radio DJs were stripped of the authority to make programming decisions, and payola became a misdemeanor offense. Programming decisions became the responsibility of station program directors.

A different form of payola has been used by the record industry through the loophole of being able to pay a third party or record promoters, who will then go and "promote" those songs to radio stations. Offering the radio stations "promotion payments", the independents get the songs that their clients, record companies, want on the playlists of radio stations around the country.

This newer type of payola was an attempt to sidestep FCC regulations.  Since the independent intermediaries were the ones actually paying the stations, it was thought that their inducements did not fall under the "payola" rules, so a radio station need not report them as paid promotions.

➦In 1986...Bob “Bob-A-Loo” Lewis aired last radio show.

He was best known as one of the “All Americans” on 77WABC. Lesser known was the fact that he was also heard on the FM side. WABC-FM 95.5 was airing Progressive Rock. The format was called “Love”. It featured tons of album cuts from all the heavies of the time, Hendrix, the Doors, the Who, and many more similar artists which would become the staples of AOR and later, Classic Rock stations.  Courtesy of the musicradio77.com website, Aircheck from 1965: Click Here.

➦In 1999...WNEW 102.7 FM flipped to 'extreme' talk format.

➦In 2017...WFAN sports radio talk show host Craig Carton resigned as co-host of ‘Boomer and Carton.  He served prison time in Lewisburg PA for his involvement in a ticket scam. He was released in late June 2020.

Peter Cetera is 79

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Actor Barbara Bain (TV’s “Mission: Impossible”) is 92. 
• Actor Eileen Fulton (“As the World Turns”) is 90. 
• Singer David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat and Tears is 82. 
• Singer Peter Cetera (Chicago) is 79. 
• Actor Jacqueline Bisset (BIH’-seht) is 79. 
• Actor Christine Estabrook (“Mad Men,” “Desperate Housewives”) is 73. 
• Actor Jean Smart is 72. 
• Singer Randy Jones of the Village People is 71. 
• Record producer-musician Don Was (Was (Not Was)) is 71. 
• Actor Isiah Whitlock Jr. (“The Wire,” “BlacKkKlansman”) is 69. 
• Actor Geri Jewell (“The Facts of Life,” ″Deadwood”) is 67. 
• Country singer Bobbie Cryner is 62. 
• Singer-guitarist Dave Mustaine of Megadeth is 62. 
• Radio and TV personality Tavis Smiley is 59. 
• Comedian Jeff Ross (“Sneaky Pete”) is 58. 
• Actor Louis Mandylor (“My Big Fat Greek Wedding”) is 57. 
• Drummer Steve Perkins of Porno for Pyros and Jane’s Addiction is 56. 
• Actor Roger Howarth (“General Hospital,” “One Life to Live”) is 55. 
• Actor Dominic Fumusa (“Nurse Jackie”) is 54. 
• Actor Louise Lombard (“CSI”) is 53. 
• Guitarist Joe Don Rooney of Rascal Flatts is 48. 
• Singer Fiona Apple is 46. 
• Guitarist Hector Cervantes of Casting Crowns is 43. 
• Actor Ben Savage (“Boy Meets World”) is 43. 
• Singer Niall Horan is 30. 
• Actor Mitch Holleman (“Reba”) is 28. 
• Actor Lili Reinhart (“Riverdale”) is 27.

✞REMEMBRANCES

• In 1977..Leopold Stokowski, British conductor (Philadelphia Orchestra, 1912-39; Disney's Fantasia), dies of a heart attack at 95
• In 1982..Philip Ober, American actor (General Stone-I Dream of Jeannie), dies at 80
• In 1996..Tupac Shakur, American rapper and actor (Juice, Bullet), dies of internal bleeding after a drive-by shooting at 25
• In 1998..George Wallace, American politician (Gov-D-Ala) and presidential candidate, dies of septic shock at 79
• In 2001..Dorothy McGuire, American actress (Gentlemen's Agreement, Old Yeller, Summer Magic), dies of cardiac arrest following a short illness at 85
• In 2009..Paul Burke, American actor (Naked City, Thomas Crown Affair, Neal-Dynasty), dies at 83
• In 2015..Moses Malone, Basketball Hall of Fame center (NBA MVP 1979, 82-83; NBA Finals MVP 1983; 12 x NBA All Star; Houston Rockets, Philadelphia 76ers), dies of heart disease at 60
• In 2019..Eddie Money [Mahoney], American rock singer-songwriter ("Two Tickets To Paradise"; 'Take Me Home Tonight"), dies of esophageal cancer at 70
• In 2022..Ken Starr, American lawyer who investigated sitting US President Bill Clinton (Starr Report), dies from complications after surgery at 76