Radio History: January 26

➦In 1899...writer/producer Wyllis Cooper was born in Pekin Illinois. He was the creator of NBC Radio’s scary series “Lights Out.” Besides writing, producing and directing, he hosted the show from its start in 1934 to 1936, when Arch Oboler succeeded him. He also was creator/writer/producer of “Quiet, Please!” on Mutual (1947-1948 ) and ABC Radio (1948-1949), and producer/narrator of the early TV series Volume One. He died June 29 1955 at age 56.

1936 group of breakfast-clubbers "start the day with a smile, music and an extra cup of cawfee." L-R: Carl Fasshauer, Bill Short, Earl Roberts, Walter Blaufuss, Helen Jane Behlke, Don, Frank Papile, Clark Dennis, Bill Krenz and Eddie Ballantine.

➦In 1907...bandleader Eddie Ballantine was born in Chicago. He was musical director of the Don McNeill Breakfast Club on NBC Blue/ABC Radio for almost thirty years. When that program ended in 1968 he became a stock market reporter for a Chicago TV station. He died Nov. 14 1995 at age 88.

➦In 1922...pianist Page Cavanaugh was born in Cherokee Kansas. He formed & led his own trio from 1943-1960, which was featured on NBC Radio’s Jack Paar Show in 1947. They worked as backup to Mel Torme recordings, and also were featured repeatedly on CBS Radio’s Songs by Sinatra. He died of kidney failure Dec. 19, 2008 at age 86.

This ad for KNOW appeared in a 1947 edition of Broadcasting

➦In 1932...KUT AM in Austin Texas became KNOW 1490 AM.

On December 7, 1926, the station's first license was originally granted, with the sequentially issued call sign of KGDR. It was owned by a company named "Radio Engineers" and broadcast in San Antonio, Texas. In December 1929, the station was renamed KUT and moved to Austin.That was followed by a call letter change to KNOW on January 26, 1932.

KNOW was owned by the KUT Broadcasting Company. It broadcast at only 100 watts, on 1000 kilocycles. The original KUT moved to Houston and later became KTRH. Today, the KUT call letters are found on the University of Texas' public radio station at 90.5, an affiliate of National Public Radio.

In the 1940s, KNOW moved to its current dial position at 1490 kHz, with the power at 250 watts. It served as Austin's ABC Radio Network affiliate, carrying ABC's schedule of dramas, comedies, news and sports during the "Golden Age of Radio."

In 1949, KNOW was acquired by the Pioneer Broadcasting Company. In the 1950s, it boosted its daytime power to 1,000 watts and remained at 250 watts at night. In the 1960s, it switched to a Top 40 sound. Air Staff in the 70's included P.D. Dave Jarrott, Randall McKee, Jason Wayne. Bill Mayne, Gil Garcia, Jim Gossett, David Gayle, Bill Moss. It call letters where change during the time Hicks Communication owned it from KNOW to KMOW since a mistake was made on giving up the old call letters but were now taken. As contemporary music listening shifted to the FM band in the 1980s, KNOW decided to serve Austin's growing African American community. It flipped to an urban contemporary format. That was coupled with Hicks Communications acquiring the station in 1981.

In 1989, KNOW was sold again, this time to Degree Communications, which switched the format to Oldies. In 1996, the station changed hands again, this time being acquired by San Antonio-based Clear Channel Communications, now iHeartMedia. The call letters were switched to KFON and the format became talk radio {with FON standing for "phone"). It later shifted to sports talk.

In 2005, the station was acquired by Border Media Partners, which owned other stations in Texas, several serving the Latino community. KFON switched to a Classic Regional Mexican music format. There were further call letter changes to KLGO and KTAE, before the current owner Township Media switched the call sign to KTSN, standing for The Sun Network.

The call letters live-on as KNOW-FM and are assigned to Minnesota Public Radio at 91.1 FM.

➦In 1947... “The Greatest Story Ever Told” began a 10-year run on ABC radio. It was the first radio program to dare to simulate the voice of Jesus Christ.

➦In 1969... The Beatles recorded “The Long And Winding Road.” And Ringo Starr wrote “Octopus’s Garden."

When issued as the group's final single in May 1970, a month after the Beatles' break-up, it became the group's 20th and last number-one hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the U-S.

The main recording of the song took place in January 1969 and featured a sparse musical arrangement. When preparing the tapes from these sessions for release in April 1970, producer Phil Spector added orchestral and choral overdubs. Spector's modifications angered McCartney. Later versions of the song with simpler instrumentation were subsequently released.

➦In 1973...actor & movie star Edward G Robinson died of bladder cancer at age 79. Rising to stardom in Warner Bros. movies of the 30’s, his most important broadcast credit was the lead role of crusading newspaperman Steve Wilson in CBS radio’s “Big Town” for 5 years beginning in 1937.

➦In 1975...The NBC Radio Networks aired “Monitor” broadcast for the last time with (John Bartholomew Tucker as host.

Monitor spent its last 12 hours looking back on its 20-year history with hosts Big Wilson and John Bartholomew Tucker.

Big Wilson, JB Tucker

Many clips were played, including Dave Garroway's interview with Marilyn Monroe on the show's first day, Frank McGee's talk with Martin Luther King Jr. in the early 1960s, Bob and Ray spoofing "Miss Monitor" and reporter Helen Hall riding on a roller-coaster.

On January 26, Big Wilson hosted from noon to 3pm (Eastern) while Tucker hosted from 3-6 pm. The program's last guest was Hugh Downs, who talked about his earlier days on Monitor with Tucker. The final sound heard on Monitor was of the "Beacon", followed by the NBC chimes at 5:58:50pm.

📻Click Here for Monitor's final six hours.

On June 12, 1955, the NBC Radio Network had inaugurated "Monitor". On the following Saturday, June 18, "Monitor" began broadcasting 40 consecutive hours each weekend, from 8:00 AM on Saturday to midnight on Sunday. The show aired from a mammoth NBC studio in New York City called Radio Central, created especially for the program, on the fifth floor of the RCA Building.

"Monitor" offered a mix of news, sports, comedy, variety, music, celebrity interviews, and other short segments.

📻Click Here for the History of Monitor.

➦In 2007...Former disc jockey/recording artist/songwriter and promoter Tommy Donaldson, who as Tommy Dee recorded his tribute to Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper (The Three Stars), died at age 73.

Bob Green and Anita Bryant at a 1977 press conference in Des Moines, where she was famously
"pied" on camera by a gay-rights activist.

➦In 2012... onetime WINZ Miami disc jockey Bob Green, who married pop singer (and Florida citrus spokesperson) Anita Bryant, then followed her into anti-gay activism, was found dead at his Miami Beach home at age 80. The activism ultimately destroyed their careers — and marriage in 1980.

Bob Uecker is 89

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Sports announcer-actor Bob Uecker is 89. 
• Actor Scott Glenn (“Secretariat,” “The Right Stuff”) is 85. 
• Actor Richard Portnow (“Trumbo,” ″The Sopranos”) is 77. 
• Drummer Corky Laing of Mountain is 76. 
• Actor David Strathairn is 75. 
• Musician Lucinda Williams is 71. 
• Percussionist Norman Hassan of UB40 is 66. 
• Comedian Ellen DeGeneres is 66. 
• Keyboardist Charlie Gillingham of Counting Crowes is 64. 
• Singer Jazzie B of Soul II Soul is 61. 
• Guitarist Andrew Ridgeley of Wham! is 61. 
• Actor Paul Johansson (“One Tree Hill”) is 60. 
• Actor Bryan Callen (“The Goldbergs”) is 57. 
• Gospel singer Kirk Franklin is 54. 
• Actor Nate Mooney (“American Odyssey,” ″It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia”) is 52. 
• Actor Jennifer Crystal (“House,” “Once and Again”) is 51. 
• Drummer Chris Hesse of Hoobastank is 50. 
• Actor Matilda Szydagis (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) is 50. 
• Actor Gilles Marini (“Sex and the City”) is 48. 
• Actor Sara Rue (“Mom,” ″Less Than Perfect”) is 46. 
• Actor Colin O’Donoghue (“Once Upon a Time”) is 43. 
• Guitarist Michael Martin of Marshall Dyllon is 41.

✞REMEMBRANCES

• In 1983..Paul "Bear" Bryant, College football coach (Alabama), dies at 69
• In 2017..Barbara Hale, Actress (Della Street in Perry Mason), dies at 94
• In 2017..Mike Connors [Krekor Ohanian], Actor (Mannix), dies at 91
• In 2019..Michel Legrand, French composer, film score arranger and jazz musician (Summer of '42; "Windmills of Your Mind"), dies at 86
• In 2020..Bob Shane, American folk vocalist (Kingston Trio - "Tom Dooley"), dies at 85
• In 2020..Kobe Bryant,  American Basketball Guard (NBA champion 2000–02, 09-10; NBA MVP 2008; 18 x NBA All Star; LA Lakers; Olympic gold 2008, 12), dies in a helicopter crash at 41
• In 2022.. Janet Mead, Australian Catholic nun and pop-rock singer (The Lord's Prayer), dies of cancer at 84
• In 2023..Billy Packer, American college basketball broadcaster (Raycom Sports, NBC, CBS), dies of kidney failure at 82