➦In 1941...WOR-AM moved from Newark NJ to NYC.
WOR began broadcasting on February 22, 1922, using a 500-watt transmitter on 360 meters (833 kc.) from Bamberger's Department Store in Newark, NJ. The station's first broadcast was made with a home made microphone which was a megaphone attached to a telephone transmitter, while Al Jolson's "April Showers" was played. Louis Bamberger's sale of radio sets to consumers explained their affiliation with the station.
The WOR call sign was reissued from the U.S. maritime radio service. The station initially operated limited hours, sharing time with two other stations, WDT and WJY, which also operated on 833 kc.
WOR changed frequency to 740 kc. in June 1923 and shared time with WJY until July 1926, when WJY signed off for good and WOR received full use of the frequency. In December 1924, WOR acquired a studio in Manhattan. On June 17, 1927, as a result of General Order 40, WOR moved to 710 kc., the channel it currently occupies (unlike most stations, it was not affected by NARBA).
Later in 1926, WOR moved from its New York City studio on the 9th floor of Chickering Hall at 27 West 57th Street to 1440 Broadway, two blocks from Times Square.
➦In 1954...WNBC 660 AM NYC switched from classical to pop
WNBC signed on for the first time on March 2, 1922, as WEAF, owned by AT&T Western Electric. It was the first radio station in New York City.
The calls are popularly thought to have stood for Western Electric AT&T Fone or Water, Earth, Air, and Fire (the 4 classical elements). However, records suggest that the call letters were assigned from an alphabetical sequence. The first assigned call was actually WDAM; it was quickly dropped, but presumably came from the same alphabetical sequence.
➦In 1969.. in Memphis, Elvis Presley recorded what would be his last #1 song, “Suspicious Minds.” During the 8th take, the producer used a premature fade-out and fade back in near the end of the track. He felt the fade out, fade in reflected the way Elvis performed the song during his Las Vegas acts.
➦In 1969...working at the Apple studios in London, The Beatles (with Billy Preston on keyboards) recorded ten takes of ‘Get Back.’ However, Preston performances were never used. Four days later, 14 more takes of the song were recorded and eventually Take 11 was spliced together with the best take recorded a day later.
➦In 1977... Carole King‘s landmark album, “Tapestry”, became the longest-running album to hit the charts, as it reached its 302nd week on the album lists. In 2020 it remains #5 on the longevity list.
➦In 1978....founder and guitarist Terry Kath of the band Chicago died after accidentally shooting himself in the head with a pistol he didn’t think was loaded. He was a week short of his 32nd birthday.
➦In 1984...In NYC....Country WKHK 106.7 FM in became WLTW "Lite FM".
In 1980 Viacom bought the Sonderling chain, and the station adopted a country music format. The station was known as "Kick 106.7 FM." The format change, from jazz to country, took place in the middle of the night. The change brought many protests from New York jazz fans, and a petition to the FCC to deny the station's license renewal, which was denied. (The WRVR calls were moved to a radio station in Memphis, TN, that had once been owned by Viacom, but is now owned by Entercom.) However, ratings were low, as they were unable to compete with WHN, which also had a country music format at the time.
Then, on January 23, 1984, Viacom dropped country and changed the calls to WLTW. The station became an MOR station known as "Lite FM 106.7 WLTW". Initially, they were an easy listening station without anything that would be classified as "elevator music". At this point, the station played music from such artists as Barbra Streisand, Frank Sinatra, the Carpenters, Dionne Warwick, Kenny Rogers, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, Barry Manilow, Simon & Garfunkel, James Taylor, and the Stylistics. The station also played softer songs from such artists as Elton John, Elvis Presley, the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, the Righteous Brothers and Billy Joel. The station wouldn't play any new music except for new songs by artists that were familiar to listeners of the station. With this format change, ratings did increase from its previously low levels.
(Almost immediately after the call letter switch, the WKHK calls were picked up by an FM station at 95.3 in Colonial Heights, Virginia that was also doing a country format. That station still has the WKHK calls and is now Heritage-owned Richmond, Virginia Country station "K95".)
By the late 1980s, WLTW started to play songs from such artists as Whitney Houston, Chicago, Foreigner, the Doobie Brothers and Bruce Springsteen. As other competing New York City stations changed their focus, the station stayed with their Soft/AC format, even though they were phasing out songs from artists such as Frank Sinatra, Barry Manilow, and the Carpenters. At this point, the station's ratings were at or near the top compared with other New York City radio stations.
➦In 1987... Bob "Bob-A-Loo" Lewis - WABC - WABC FM - WCBS FM died at age 49.
Lewis possessed a very unique and natural delivery with a little show business, which is a style people liked.
A native of Queens, Bob began doing the overnight show which he called The All-Night Satellite - at Musicradio77 in 1962 after making stops at WNHC in New Haven, Conn; and WMGM and WINS in New York City.
Eventually Bob insisted on being taken off the demanding all-night shift and spent much of the rest of his tenure at the station, which lasted until 1969, doing weekends and fill-in work.
Bob also spent some time working at WABC-FM in the late 1960s, which is now WPLJ-FM, and was among the first wave of progressive air personalities in the Big Apple. FM offered an opportunity, and he was the kind of person who could adapt very easily. He loved all kinds of music. Bob later worked at WCBS-FM, before it adopted an oldies format, and then went to WNEW-FM as it emerged as a leader in the progressive rock movement.
Bob Lewis was one of the best jocks ever to work for WABC. Bob wanted his freedom and he wanted to be on his houseboat, which was docked near 72nd Street. Bob wasn't interested in being a superstar. He was happy with what he was doing with his radio work and with his voiceover career. He became one of the top voiceover artists, handling work for clients like Certs, Volkswagen and IBM.
➦In 2005...late-night TV icon Johnny Carson died from complications from emphysema in Los Angeles. He was 79.
Carson began his broadcasting career in 1950 at WOW radio and television in Omaha. Carson soon hosted a morning television program called The Squirrel's Nest. One of his routines involved interviewing pigeons on the roof of the local courthouse that would report on the political corruption they had seen. Carson supplemented his income by serving as master of ceremonies at local church dinners, attended by some of the same politicians and civic leaders whom he had lampooned on the radio.
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| Johnny Carson - 1970 |
In 1954, Skelton accidentally knocked himself unconscious during rehearsal an hour before his live show began. Carson then successfully filled in for him. In 1955, Jack Benny invited Carson to appear on one of his programs during the opening and closing segments. Carson imitated Benny and claimed that Benny had copied his gestures.
Carson hosted several shows besides Carson's Cellar, including the game show Earn Your Vacation (1954) and the CBS variety show The Johnny Carson Show (1955–1956). He was a guest panelist on the original To Tell the Truth starting in 1960, later becoming a regular panelist from 1961 until 1962. After the primetime The Johnny Carson Show failed, he moved to New York City to host ABC-TV's Who Do You Trust? (1957–1962), formerly known as Do You Trust Your Wife? There, Carson met his future sidekick and straight man, Ed McMahon. Although he believed moving to daytime television would hurt his career, Who Do You Trust? was a success. It was the first show where he could ad lib and interview guests, and because of Carson's on-camera wit, the show became "the hottest item on daytime television" during his six years at ABC.
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| Anita Baker is 66 |
- Actor Chita Rivera is 91.
- Actor-director Lou Antonio (“Cool Hand Luke”) is 90.
- Jazz vibraphonist Gary Burton is 81.
- Actor Gil Gerard is 81.
- Bassist-keyboardist Bill Cunningham of The Box Tops is 74.
- Actor Richard Dean Anderson (“MacGyver”) is 74.
- Singer-guitarist Robin Zander of Cheap Trick is 71.
- Singer Anita Baker is 66.
- Bassist Earl Falconer of UB40 is 65.
- Actor Peter Mackenzie (“black-ish”) is 63.
- Actor Boris McGiver (“House of Cards,” ″Boardwalk Empire”) is 62.
- Actor Gail O’Grady (“American Dreams,” ″NYPD Blue”) is 61.
- Actor Mariska Hargitay (“Law and Order: Special Victims Unit”) is 60.
- Singer Marc Nelson (Az Yet) is 53.
- “CBS Evening News” anchor Norah O’Donnell is 50.
- Actor Tiffani Thiessen (“Beverly Hills, 90210”) is 50.
- Bassist Nick Harmer of Death Cab For Cutie is 49.
- Actor Lindsey Kraft (“Living Biblically”) is 44.
- In 1978..Terry Kath, American rock guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist (Chicago - "Make Me Smile"), accidentally shoots himself in head at 31
- In 1990..(Larken) Allen Collins, Southern rock guitarist, and songwriter (Lynyrd Skynyrd - "Free Bird"; "Gimme Three Steps"; Rossington-Collins Band - "Don't Misunderstand Me"), dies from chronic pneumonia, a complication of the paralysis suffered in a drunk driving accident, at 37
- In 1995..Bill Horton, American doo-wop singer (The Silhouettes - "Get A Job"), dies at 65
- In 2004..Bob Keeshan, Actor (Captain Kangaroo), dies at 76
- In 2005..Johnny Carson, American comedian and TV host (The Tonight Show, Who Do You Trust), dies of respiratory failure arising from emphysema at 79
- In 2017..Bobby Freeman, Singer (Do You Want to Dance), dies at 76
- In 2021..Larry King, American radio and TV host ("Larry King Live", CNN), dies of sepsis and renal failure at 87
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