Radio History: January 24

➦In 1916...longtime Chicago baseball announcer Jack Brickhouse was born in Peoria Illinois.

He started his first job when he was only eleven, delivering the Peoria Journal and Peoria Star, and he began his long broadcasting career when only eighteen, at Peoria radio station WMBD in 1934. Chicago radio station WGN hired him in 1940 to broadcast Cubs and White Sox games, largely on the recommendation of their top announcer, Bob Elson. His was the very first face shown when WGN-TV, Chicago's Channel 9, began broadcasting in 1948.

Brickhrouse served as a U.S. Marine Corps in World War II. and he missed the 1945 Cubs season. He broadcast both Cubs and White Sox games until 1967, which he was able to do because they almost never played at home on the same day. He retired in 1981.

He died at age 82 on Aug 6, 1998 after suffering a heart attack while undergoing surgery.

➦In 1942... “Abie’s Irish Rose” was first heard on NBC radio, replacing “Knickerbocker Playhouse”. The program was a takeoff on the smash Broadway play that ran for nearly 2,000 performances. Among the cast members were a young Clayton ‘Bud’ Collyer and Mercedes McCambridge. The show aired for 2½-years.

➦In 1962...Brian Epstein signed with the Beatles as their manager and began to direct their image away from leather jackets. He led them toward a smarter stage presentation, with matching suits and bows to the audience. Epstein was to receive 25 per cent of the Beatles’ gross earnings, the normal management deal was 10 per cent.

Beatles' Manager Brian Epstein is interviewed in New York City by Murray the K for WOR-FM Radio in 1967.

➦In 1962...the Billboard album chart reflected the current Twist dance craze, with four of the Top Ten LPs belonging to Chubby Checker: “For Twisters Only,” “Let’s Twist Again,” “Your Twist Party,” and “Bobby Rydell/Chubby Checker.”

➦In 1984...Apple started selling the Macintosh 128K. Apple aired a commercial during the third quarter of a Super Bowl broadcast that aired on CBS on January 22, 1984. Sales of the Macintosh were strong from its initial release and reached 70,000 units on May 3, 1984.

➦In 1992...choral director & composer Ken Darby died of heart problems in Sherman Oaks, Calif., at age 82. In 1929 he formed the King’s Men vocal quartet featured for years on the Fibber McGee & Molly radio show. He also won three Oscars, & wrote the Elvis Presley hit “Love Me Tender.”

He also had a choral group, the Ken Darby Singers, who sang backup to Bing Crosby on the original 1942 recording of "White Christmas".

➦In 2001... bandleader Les Brown died at age 88. His “Band of Renown” introduced Doris Day to North American audiences, and played radio, TV & live events for Bob Hope including 18 USO tours, for almost 50 years.

➦In 2015…Pioneering radio-television talk show host Joe Franklin, who hosted his own TV show in New York City for more than 40 years, died of prostate cancer at the age of 88.

At 14, Franklin began writing skits for The Kate Smith Hour and at 16, Franklin officially began his entertainment career as a record picker on radio sensation Martin Block's Make Believe Ballroom where he became known as "The Young Wreck with the Old Records".

Neil Diamond is 83

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Fiddler Doug Kershaw is 88. 
• Singer Ray Stevens is 85. 
• Singer Neil Diamond is 83. 
• Singer Aaron Neville is 83. 
• Actor Michael Ontkean (TV’s “Twin Peaks,” film’s “Slap Shot”) is 78. 
• Country singer-songwriter Becky Hobbs is 74.
• Comedian Yakov Smirnoff is 73. 
• Actor William Allen Young (“Code Black,” “Moesha”) is 70. 
• Keyboardist-turned-TV personality Jools Holland (Squeeze) is 66. 
• Actor Nastassja Kinski is 63. 
• Drummer Keech Rainwater of Lonestar is 61.
• Comedian Phil LaMarr (“Mad TV”) is 57. 
• Singer Sleepy Brown of Society of Soul is 54. 
• Actor Matthew Lillard (“Scooby-Doo,” ″She’s All That”) is 54. 
• Actor Merrilee McCommas (“Friday Night Lights,” ″Family Law”) is 53. 
• Singer Beth Hart is 52. 
• Actor Ed Helms (“The Office”) is 50. 
• Actor Christina Moses (“A Million Little Things”) is 46. 
• Actor Tatyana Ali (“The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”) is 45. 
• Actor Carrie Coon (“The Gilded Age,” “Leftovers”) is 43. 
• Actor Daveed Diggs (“black-ish”) is 42. 
• Actor Justin Baldoni (“Jane the Virgin”) is 40. 
• Actor Mischa Barton (“The O.C.”) is 38.

✞REMEMBRANCES

• In 1973..Larry Fine, Actor and comedian (3 Stooges), dies at 72
• In 1995...David Cole, American songwriter ( C+C Music Factory - "Gonna Make You Sweat"), and record producer (Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, James Brown), dies at 32.
• In 1998...Justin Tubb, American country singer (Grand Ole Opry), dies at 62
• In 2010..Pernell Roberts, Actor (Bonanza- "Adam"; Trapper John, M.D.), dies at 81
• In 2015..Joe Franklin, Radio host, TV personality and New York institution (The Joe Franklin Show), dies of prostate cancer at 88