Radio History: February 2

Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll

➦In 1890...Charles James Correll born in Peoria, IL (died at age 82 September 26, 1972). He and Freeman Gosden gave birth to the 1930’s radio sensation ‘Amos ‘n’ Andy’.  The two developed ‘Sam & Henry’ in 1926 for WGN Chicago, which they renamed ‘Amos ‘n’ Andy’ when they jumped to WMAQ in 1928. They would be staples of network radio for more than 30 years, with Correll throughout portraying Andy Brown.  Later, for the early TV cartoon show ‘Calvin & the Colonel,’ he was the voice of Calvin.

➦In 1940...Frank Sinatra made his professional singing debut with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 150 million records worldwide.

➦In 1946... the radio quiz show “Twenty Questions” debuted on the Mutual network. Bill Slater was the quizmaster, and newscaster Fred Vandeventer, his wife Florence & son Bobby made up the panel. The latter two adopted different surnames to mask the nepotism. it was a major Monday night hit via delayed broadcast on CKWX Vancouver. The show ran for 8 years on radio & 6 more on TV.

Radio listeners sent in subjects for the panelists to guess in 20 questions.

➦In 1958...‘Frontier Gentleman‘ starring John Dehner debuted on CBS Radio. Frontier Gentleman is a short-lived radio Western series originally broadcast from February 2 to November 16, 1958,

➦In 1959...Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper made what turned out to be their last public appearances at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, Iowa. They died in a plane crash a few hours later.  Admission to the show was just $1.25. On September 6, 2011, The Surf Ballroom was added to the National Register of Historic Places

Ritchie Valens, The Big Bopper, Buddy Holly

Holly, Valens and Richardson left The Surf immediately after the show, going to the nearby Mason City airport and chartering a small plane to take them to Fargo, North Dakota to prepare for their next show at the Moorhead Armory in Moorhead, Minnesota.

The plane took off at 12:55 AM Central Time on Tuesday February 3, 1959. Shortly after takeoff, young pilot Roger Peterson, in a combination of spatial disorientation and misinterpretation of a flight instrument, flew the plane into the ground, killing everyone aboard. According to the report, Peterson was not certificated to fly commercially at night, nor was he qualified to fly in the adverse weather (IFR) conditions which prevailed at the time of the flight. Although Peterson underwent formal IFR training, he failed his final check ride weeks before the accident.

A concrete monument was erected outside The Surf, and the ballroom is adorned with large pictures of the three musicians. A street flanking the facility's east property line is named Buddy Holly Place in his honor.

➦In 1985...FLASHBACK...From The Pages of Radio&Records R&R....

Birch Advances

➦In 1992...radio/TV host Bert Parks lost his battle with lung cancer at age 77.  He is best remembered as the singing host of The Miss America Pageant on TV for 25 years. (“There she is, Miss America….”)

Parks entered radio broadcasting at age 16, for Atlanta's WGST. Three years later, he moved to New York City and was hired as a singer and straight man on The Eddie Cantor Show, then becoming a CBS Radio staff announcer. Parks was the host of Break the Bank, which premiered on radio in 1945 and was telecast from 1948 to 1957, as well as Stop the Music on radio in 1948 and television from 1949 to 1952. With other celebrities, he hosted NBC radio's Monitor during the 1960s.

➦In 1995...actor Willard Waterman, the second man to play the lead in NBC radio’s The Great Gildersleeve, died at age 80.  He had been a founding member of the radio actors’ union in 1937.Actor Willard Waterman died at age 80.  He began his radio career at WIBA in Madison, WI singing in a quartet that performed "musical interludes between programs." and came to NBC in Chicago in early 1936.

➦In 2009...Laurie Cantillo started as PD at WABC NYC.  She told the Business Journals May 2014, "When I was a victim of consolidation after working in New York at WABC, the very first email I got after the story came out was from Jim Farley at WTOP in Washington, DC, and he said, “Anything I can do to help?” And I said, “Sure, hire me,” with a smiley-face, kinda just kidding. He wrote back and said, “Well, we may have something, why don’t you come down to see us.” So I jumped on the train. I was so impressed with the team here, and what they told me was a transition plan that would allow him to retire.  Cantillo is now believed to be working for NASA in DC.

➦In 2016…The surviving half of the outstanding radio comedy team ‘Bob & Ray’, Bob Elliott, succumbed to throat cancer at age 92.  Ray Goulding had died 26 years earlier (1990).

➦In 2017...Entercom announced that it had agreed to merge with CBS Radio stations, but not its radio networks. The deal gave Entercom operations in 23 of the top 25 markets, and made it the second-largest owner of radio stations in the United States, behind only iHeartMedia. Entercom is now known as Audacy Communications.

Christie Brinkley is 70

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Singer Graham Nash is 82. 
• Singer Howard Bellamy of the Bellamy Brothers is 78. 
• TV chef Ina Garten (“Barefoot Contessa”) is 76. 
• Actor Jack McGee (“The McCarthys”) is 75. 
• Actor Brent Spiner (“Star Trek: The Next Generation”) is 75. 
• Bassist Ross Valory of Journey is 75. 
• Model Christie Brinkley is 70. 
• Actor Michael Talbott (“Miami Vice”) is 69. 
• Actor Kim Zimmer (“Guiding Light”) is 69. 
• Actor Michael T. Weiss (“The Pretender”) is 62. 
• Comedian Adam Ferrara (“Rescue Me”) is 58. 
• Bassist Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots is 58. 
• Actor Jennifer Westfeldt (“Kissing Jessica Stein”) is 54. 
• Rapper T-Mo (Goodie Mob) is 52. 
• Actor Marissa Jaret Winokur is 51. 
• Actor Lori Beth Denberg (“The Steve Harvey Show”) is 48. 
• Steel guitarist Jesse Siebenberg of Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real is 48. 
• Singer Shakira is 47. 
• Actor Rich Sommer (“Mad Men” Film: “The Devil Wears Prada”) is 46. 
• Actor Zosia Mamet (“Girls”) is 36.

✞REMEMBBRANCES

• In 1969..Boris Karloff, English actor (The Mummy, Frankenstein), dies of pneumonia at 81
• In 1992..Bert Parks [Jacobson], TV host (Miss America), dies of lung cancer at 77
• In 1996..Gene Kelly, Dancer, singer, actor, choreographer and film director (An American in Paris; On The Town; Singin' in the Rain), dies of a stroke at 83
• In 2007..Billy Henderson, Singer (The Spinners - "The Rubberband Man"), dies at 67
• In 2016..Bob Elliott, Comedian (Bob & Ray, Get a Life), dies at 92