Radio History: March 24

➦In 1925...Utah's oldest radio station KSL took over the airwaves at 1160 AM.

KSL/KZN began life as the radio arm of the Deseret News, a Salt Lake City newspaper also owned by the LDS Church. The station's first broadcast aired on May 6, 1922 as KZN.  The broadcast was a talk by then-LDS Church president Heber J. Grant. In 1924 the station was sold to John Cope and his father, F.W. Cope, who formed the Radio Service Corporation of Utah.  Earl J. Glade (later a four-term mayor of Salt Lake City) joined the station in 1925 and guided KSL's operations for the next fourteen years. John F. Fitzpatrick, publisher of The Salt Lake Tribune (owned by the Kearns Corporation) acquired a quarter interest of KSL for a modest price, as did the LDS Church. This was the Tribune's first business partnership with the LDS Church, though the Church later (re)acquired full interest in the station.

In 1924, it changed its call letters to KFPT for one year and then adopted its current call letters in 1925 after they became available, with the "S" and "L" standing for "Salt Lake." (Until that time the KSL call sign had been used by a radio station in Alaska.) A series of power boosts over the next decade brought the station to its current 50,000 watts (daytime broadcast power) in 1932, with a 50,000-watt transmitter being dedicated October 22 of that year.

Soon after becoming a clear-channel station, KSL joined the CBS Radio Network. It remained with CBS until 2005, when it switched to ABC News Radio. The station would also gain a television counterpart in 1949, the CBS affiliate KSL-TV. (KSL-TV switched to NBC in 1995 after KUTV Channel 2 came under the ownership of CBS, following its acquisition by Westinghouse). They remained subsidiaries of the Deseret News until 1964, when Bonneville International Corporation was formed as the parent company for the LDS Church's broadcasting interests.

➦In 1932... A radio variety show is broadcast from a moving train for the first time, when Belle Baker hosts a show on a train traveling around the New York area. It was broadcast on the New York City station WABC (now WCBS-AM) . She talked first about the weather then, about local news regarding home-towns or stations of the train with the radio.

➦In 1935...Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour first aired locally in NYC on WHN in April 1934.  On March 24, 1935, on NBC, Chase and Sanborn chose this show to fill The Chase and Sanborn Hour. This arrangement lasted until September 17, 1936, when the show moved to the CBS Radio Network. The show remained on CBS for the remainder of its run on radio.

Each week, Bowes would chat with the contestants and listen to their performances.

Bowes sent the more talented contestants on "Major Bowes" vaudeville tours, often with several units roaming the country simultaneously. Bowes presided over his radio program until his death on his 72nd birthday, June 14, 1946.

Frank Sinatra was perhaps the best-known alumnus of the Bowes program, having appeared as part of the Hoboken Four quartet. Maria Callas also appeared on the program at age 11, performing as Nina Foresti when she sang a selection from Madame Butterfly.

In 1952, the show, now hosted by Ted Mack, made it to NBC-TV. It would run on various networks until 1970.

➦In 1958...Elvis Presley was finally inducted, starting his day as the King of Rock and Roll, but ending it as a lowly buck private in the United States Army.

Elvis’s manager, “Colonel” Tom Parker, made sure to have a photographer on hand to document every moment of the big day, which began at Graceland before six that morning. The photos show Elvis in dark slacks, an opened-collar shirt and a tasteful plaid sports coat, preparing to depart the house with his similarly well-dressed mom and dad for the short ride to the induction center in downtown Memphis.

Elvis reported to Local Draft Board 86 in Memphis, accompanied by his parents, Gladys and Vernon, as well as longtime friend Lamar Fike. Elvis and 12 other recruits were soon bused to Kennedy Veterans Memorial Hospital and inducted into the U.S. Army, where starting pay was $78 a month.

➦In 1968…Howard Alexander Petrie died (Born - November 22, 1906). He was a radio announcer and actor.

Howard Petrie

Petrie was working as a bank clerk and a securities salesman. While on a sales call to a radio station, his sonorous bass voice landed him a job.

He joined WBZ Radio in Boston in 1929 as a junior announcer. After ten months at the WBZ studios, Petrie left for New York City in June, 1930 where he joined the staff of NBC. Petrie soon became the head announcer for many of the network's shows.

His first major network assignment was on Everything Goes, starring Garry Moore. He was the announcer for scores of shows including Abbie's Irish Rose, Big Sister, Camel Caravan, Blondie, The Ray Bolger Show, The Judy Canova Show, The Jimmy Durante Show, and The Garry Moore Show.

➦In 1977...Jean Shepherd aired his final show on WOR 710 AM NYC.

Shepherd began his broadcast radio career on WSAI in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1948. From 1951 to 1953 he had a late-night broadcast on KYW in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, after which he returned to Cincinnati for a show on WLW. After a stint on television, he returned to radio. "Shep," as he was known, settled in at WOR 719 AM  New York City on an overnight slot in 1956, where he delighted his fans by telling stories, reading poetry (especially the works of Robert W. Service), and organizing comedic listener stunts.

Jean Shepherd

The most famous of the last involved creating a hoax about a non-existent book, I, Libertine, by the equally non-existent author "Frederick R. Ewing", in 1956. During a discussion on how easy it was to manipulate the best seller lists, which at that time were based not only on sales but demand, Shepherd suggested that his listeners visit bookstores and ask for a copy of I, Libertine which led to booksellers attempting to purchase the book from their distributors. Fans of the show eventually took it further, planting references to the book and author so widely that demand for the book led to it being listed on The New York Times Best Seller list.

Shepherd, Theodore Sturgeon and Betty Ballantine later wrote the actual book, with a cover painted by illustrator Frank Kelly Freas, published by Ballantine Books.

Throughout his radio career, he performed entirely without scripts. His friend and WOR colleague Barry Farber marveled at how he could talk so long with very little written down. Yet during a radio interview, Shepherd once claimed that some shows took several weeks to prepare.

He died October 16, 1999 at the age of 78.

In 2005, Shepherd was posthumously inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame, and in November 2013 he was posthumously inducted into the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia Hall of Fame.

➦In 1980...Harry Harrison began hosting mornings on Oldies WCBS 101.1 FM in NYC. In 1984, with Lundy joining the station, they were once again heard back-to-back as they were on Musicradio 77WABC.

Harrison would interact with Morning Crew engineer Al Vertucci, Phil Pepe, who reported sports, and joke about "wacky weather" and toupee warnings with Irv “Mr. “G” Gikofsky (weather), Mary Jane Royce, and Sue Evans. At 7:20 AM, Harrison opened the "birthday book" and announced listener and celebrity birthdays.

On April 25, 1997 New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani issued a proclamation, naming April 25 "Harry Harrison Day" in honor of the second "Mayor."

On March 19, 2003, after a 44-year career in New York radio, Harrison left WCBS-FM, saying "I am not retiring." His farewell to his loyal radio friends (from 5:30 to 10:00am) was held before a live audience at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York City. It offered old airchecks plus guest appearances by WCBS-FM colleagues Don K. Reed, Bobby Jay, Steve O'Brien, Randy Davis and Dan Taylor, his replacement, as well as his son and daughter, Patti. Harrison took phone calls from Bob Shannon, Mike Fitzgerald, Ed Baer, and Ron Lundy. Songs included Gladys Knight's "Neither One of Us (Wants to Be the First to Say Goodbye)" and the Little River Band's "Reminiscing," before closing with "That's What Friends Are For."

Shortly after he left WCBS-FM, Harrison's long-time wife, Patti, who he had always referred to as "Pretty Patti" on the air, died.  Harrison was indicted into the National Radio Hall of Fame November 2019 and died in January 2020.

➦In 1990...Radio personality Ray Goulding died at age 68 of kidney failure (Born - March 20, 1922)  Goulding with Bob Elliott formed the comedy duo of Bob and Ray, their career spanned five decades.

Ray Goulding & Bob Elliott

Their format was typically to satirize the medium in which they were performing, such as conducting radio or television interviews, with off-the-wall dialogue presented in a generally deadpan style as though it were a serious broadcast.

Elliott and Goulding began as radio announcers (Elliott a disc jockey, and Goulding a news reader) in Boston with their own separate programs on station WHDH-AM, and each would visit with the other while on the air. Their informal banter was so appealing that WHDH would call on them, as a team, to fill in when Red Sox baseball broadcasts were rained out. Elliott and Goulding (not yet known as Bob and Ray) would improvise comedy routines all afternoon, and joke around with studio musicians.

Elliott and Goulding's brand of humor caught on, and WHDH gave them their own weekday show in 1946. Matinee with Bob and Ray was originally a 15-minute show, soon expanding to half an hour. (When explaining why Bob was billed first, Goulding claimed that it was because "Matinee with Bob and Ray" sounded better than "Matinob with Ray and Bob".) Their trademark sign-off was "This is Ray Goulding reminding you to write if you get work"; "Bob Elliott reminding you to hang by your thumbs".

They continued on the air for over four decades on the NBC, CBS, and Mutual networks, and on New York City stations WINS, WOR, and WHN. From 1973 to 1976 they were the afternoon drive hosts on WOR, doing a four-hour show. In their last incarnation, they were heard on National Public Radio, ending in 1987.

Bob and Ray were inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 1995. Bob and Ray were inducted into the National Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in the radio division.

➦In 2005...Former WCCO Minneapolis radio personality Jim Rogers died at age 64. He began his career working for KLWW in Cedar Rapids while attending Coe College. He went on to host programs for WMT in Cedar Rapids and WCAU in Philadelphia before moving to WCCO where he worked from 1983 to 1996.

➦In 2016...Former CBC radio personality Jian Ghomeshi was acquitted of all charges in the first of two trials resulting from sexual assault allegations made by various women against the Toronto-based broadcaster.

Rich Fisher

➦In 2017…Longtime Detroit news anchor Rich Fisher died after a battle with cancer of the esophagus. He was 67.

Fisher was known to many Metro Detroiters as the back-up to former Channel 7 anchor Bill Bonds until the early 1990s, when CBS lured him away as their principal anchor at WJBK-TV. When Fox-TV bought out Channel 2 in 1994, Fisher stayed with the new network until leaving in 1997 to spend more time with his family.  He later anchored the 11 p.m. nightly news at WWJ (Channel 62) until 2002.

Fisher started his broadcast career with an Alpena radio station in 1968 and was the recipient of awards including the 1993 Michigan Associated Press Award and a 1986 national award from the American Bar Association, according to WJBK-TV (Channel 2). He also secured an Emmy for his broadcasting.

Megyn Price is 53

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Harmonica player Lee Oskar of War is 76. 
• Singer Nick Lowe is 75. 
• Bassist Dougie Thomson of Supertramp is 73. 
• Actor Robert Carradine (“Revenge of the Nerds”) is 70. 
• Actor Donna Pescow is 70. 
• Actor Kelly LeBrock is 64. 
• DJ Rodney “Kool Kollie” Terry of Ghostown DJs is 63. 
• TV personality Star Jones is 62. 
• Guitarist Patterson Hood of Drive-By Truckers is 60. 
• Actor Peter Jacobson (“House”) is 59. 
• Actor Lauren Bowles (“True Blood”) is 54. 
• Actor Lara Flynn Boyle is 54. 
• Singer-violinist Sharon Corr of The Corrs is 54. 
• Rapper Maseo (aka P.A. Pasemaster Mase) of De La Soul is 54. 
• Actor Megyn Price (“Rules of Engagement,” “Grounded For Life”) is 53. 
• Actor Jim Parsons (“The Big Bang Theory”) is 51. 
• Drummer Chad Butler of Switchfoot is 50. 
• Actor Alyson Hannigan (“How I Met Your Mother,” “Buffy The Vampire Slayer”) is 50. 
• Actor Amanda Brugel (“The Handmaid’s Tale”) is 47. 
• Actor Olivia Burnette (“Sons of Anarchy”) is 47. 
• Actor Jessica Chastain (“Zero Dark Thirty,” “The Help”) is 47. 
• Actor Amir Arison (“The Blacklist”) is 46. 
• Actor Lake Bell (“The Practice”) is 45. 
• Bassist Benj Gershman of O.A.R. is 44. 
• Bassist Jesse Phillips of St. Paul and the Broken Bones is 44. 
• Actor Philip Winchester (“Chicago Justice,” “Chicago Med”) is 43. 
• Dancer Val Chmerkovskiy (“Dancing with the Stars”) is 38. 
• Actor Keisha Castle-Hughes (“The Nativity Story,” “Whale Rider”) is 34.

✞REMEMBRANCES:

• In 1982..Goodman Ace, Writer, radio presenter, actor and humorist (Better of Goodman), dies at 83
• In 1984..Sam Jaffe, Actor (The Asphalt Jungle; Gunga Din; Dr Zorba), dies of cancer at 93
• In 1997..Harold Melvin, Soul and R&B singer (The Blue Notes - "If You Don't Know Me By Now"), dies at 57
• In 2010..Johnny Maestro, Rock vocalist (Crests - "16 Candles"; Brooklyn Bridge), dies at 70
• In 2010..Robert Culp, Actor, screenwriter, voice actor, and director (I Spy, Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice), dies at 79
• In 2016..Garry Shandling, Comedian (It's Garry Shandling's Show, Larry Sanders Show), dies at 66
• In 2016..Earl Hamner Jr., Creator and narrator of TV show "The Waltons", dies at 92
• In 2018..Lawrence K. Grossman, News executive (PBS, NBC-TV) and author (The Electronic Republic), dies of Parkinson’s disease and cancer at 86