Radio History: February 15

Mary Lee Robb

➦In 1926...radio actress Mary Lee Robb was born in Illinois.

She made her radio debut in 1947 on the “Lum and Abner” program, but it was a small part in a 1948 episode of NBC radio’s “The Great Gildersleeve” that led to her full-time role as Gildy’s niece Marjorie, which she played until 1954.

She also appeared on “The Penny Singleton Radio Show,” “Father Knows Best,” “Burns and Allen” and others before retiring to raise her daughter and son.

She died of heart failure Aug. 26 2006 at age 80.

➦In 1932… George Burns and his delightfully ditsy wife Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on “The Guy Lombardo Show” on CBS radio.  The couple was so popular that by Sept. 1934, they would have their own show “The Adventures of Gracie” on CBS.  Two years later it evolved into the “Burns & Allen Show.”  George and Gracie continued on radio for 14 more years before making the switch to TV. They were headliners on radio and TV combined for more than 30 years.

 Burns and Allen's radio show was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1994.

➦In 1943…The radio drama 'My True Story was first heard on the  ABC Radio Network. It was the start of a 19-year run on daily radio.  

➦In 1965…Singer Nat King Cole died in 1965 from cancer at age 45.

On November 5, 1956, The Nat 'King' Cole Show debuted on NBC TV . The variety program was one of the first hosted by an African American, and started at a length of fifteen-minutes but was increased to a half-hour in July 1957. Rheingold Beer was a regional sponsor, but a national sponsor was never found.

Joe McCoy

➦In 1975...Joe McCoy started as a disc jockey at WCBS 101.1 FM in NYC.

He eventually became Program Director in 1981.  In his 23 years as Program Director at WCBS-FM in New York City the station was # 1 (12+) 5 times as well as a leader for many years in the all-important 25-54 demo.

He's now retired enjoying traveling, jazz and baseball.

➦In 2002... former CBS Radio correspondent and ABC TV anchorman Howard K. Smith died of pneumonia at age 87. He was one of the original members of the team of WW2 correspondents known as the Murrow Boys.

Howard K Smith

Upon graduating, Smith worked for the New Orleans Item, with United Press in London, and with The New York Times. In January 1940, Smith was sent to Berlin, where he joined the Columbia Broadcasting System under Edward R. Murrow.

He visited Hitler's mountain retreat at Berchtesgaden and interviewed many leading Nazis, including Hitler himself, Schutzstaffel or "SS" leader Heinrich Himmler and Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels.

When Smith refused to include Nazi propaganda in his reports, the Gestapo seized his notebooks and threw him out of the country. He left for Switzerland on December 6, 1941, the day before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.

Angelo Henderson

➦In 2014…Detroit print and radio journalist and community activist Angelo Henderson, whose daily ‘Your Voice’ talk show on WCHB AM1200 was devoted to Detroit issues, died at age 51.

At the time of his death he was recovering from surgery conducted a month earlier. Henderson died from venous thromboembolism – a blood clot that starts in a vein – that included pulmonary embolism, when the clot breaks free and travels to the lung.

In 1999, Henderson won the Pulitzer Prize for Distinguished Feature Writing. Henderson remains the only African American journalist to win the Pulitzer Prize for The Wall Street Journal.

➦In 2019..Apollo Global Management announced a deal with Cox Enterprises to buy a majority stake in its television stations and its Ohio radio and newspaper properties.

She is 73 today

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Actor Claire Bloom is 93. 
• Songwriter Brian Holland (Holland-Dozier-Holland) is 83. 
• Drummer Mick Avory of The Kinks is 80. 
• Jazz saxophonist Henry Threadgill is 80. 
• Actor Marisa Berenson (“Barry Lyndon”) is 77. 
• Singer Melissa Manchester is 73. 
• Actor Jane Seymour is 73. 
• Actor Lynn Whitfield (“Madea’s Family Reunion”) is 71. 
• Cartoonist Matt Groening (“The Simpsons”) is 70. 
• Model Janice Dickinson is 69. 
• Actor Christopher McDonald (“Harry’s Law,” “Family Law”) is 69. 
• Singer Ali Campbell (UB40) is 64. 
• Actor Joseph R. Gannascoli (“The Sopranos”) is 65. 
• Bassist Mikey Craig of Culture Club is 64. 
• Actor Steven Michael Quezada (“Breaking Bad”) is 61. 
• Country singer Michael Reynolds of Pinmonkey is 59. 
• Actor Michael Easton (“General Hospital”) is 57. 
• Actor Alex Borstein (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel”) is 53. 
• Actor Renee O’Connor (“Xena: Warrior Princess”) is 53. 
• Actor Sarah Wynter (“24″) is 51. 
• Singer Brandon Boyd of Incubus is 48. 
• Drummer Ronnie Vannucci of The Killers is 48. 
• Singer-guitarist Adam Granduciel of The War On Drugs is 45. 
• Singer Conor Oberst of Bright Eyes is 45. 
• Guitarist Gary Clark Jr. is 40. 
• Actor Natalie Morales (“The Grinder,” ″90210″) is 39. 
• Actor Amber Riley (“Glee”) is 37. 
• Rapper Megan Thee Stallion is 28. 
• Actor Zach Gordon (“Diary of a Wimpy Kid” films) is 25.

✞REMEMBRANCES

• In 1984..Ethel Merman, Tony and Grammy Award-winning stage and screen singer ("There's No Business Like Show Business"), and actress (It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World), dies of brain cancer at 76
• In 1987..Jimmy Holiday, Soul singer ("How Can I Forget"; Baby I Love You"), and songwriter ("Put A Little Love In Your Heart"), dies of heart failure at 42
• In 1991..Gary Gears, Chicago disk jockey, dies at 46 of a heart attack
• In 1996..Tommy Rettig, Actor (Jeff's Collie, Lassie), dies of a heart attack at 54
• In 1996..McLean Stevenson, American actor (M*A*S*H, 1972-75 - "Col. Henry Blake"; Hello Larry), dies of a heart attack at 66
• In 2023..Raquel Welch, American stage and screen (Myra Breckenridge; One Million Years B.C.; 100 Rifles), and nightclub singer, dies at 82.