Radio History: April 22

➦In 1920...Hal March was born in San Francisco (Died at age 49 from lung cancer – January 19, 1970).  In 1944, March first came to note as part of a comedy team with Bob Sweeney. The duo had their own radio show for a time and performed, in the early 1950s, as "Sweeney & March" on CBS Radio.   He also partnered with actor/comic Tom D'Andrea in the early years of television in a series entitled The Soldiers.

He also appeared on Burns and Allen, The Imogene Coca Show and I Love Lucy. He was best known as the host of CBS TV’s $64,000 Question from 1955 to 1958. As a result of the quiz show scandals, the show was canceled and March was out of a job for nearly a decade. He started hosting another show, It’s Your Bet in 1969.

NY Times Radio Listing 4/22/1946

➦In 1946...Tex McCrary and (wife) Jinx Falkenburg debuted an morning show on WEAF 660 AM. The show was called, Hi, Jinx, which evolved into The Tex & Jinx Show.

The McCrary's radio show was broadcast five mornings a week on New York radio station WEAF, and became a hit with critics and the public for tackling controversial issues like the A-Bomb, the United Nations and venereal disease along with talk about theatre openings and New York nightlife. Their guests would be a mix of popular entertainers such as Mary Martin, Ethel Waters and Esther Williams and public figures such as Bernard Baruch, Eleanor Roosevelt, Margaret Truman, industrialist Igor Sikorsky and Indian statesman Krishna Menon.

McCrary wrote the scripts and taught Falkenburg the art of interviewing and the basics of broadcast journalism. Over time she was considered the better interviewer, eliciting candid responses, often from the show's more intellectual guests. Her technique was to ask questions until she understood the answer and so presumably, did all the housewives at home listening to her.  "They developed an audience that was ready to start thinking at breakfast," wrote New York Times columnist William Safire who as a teenager was hired by McCrary to do pre-show interviews of guests.

WEAF later became WNBC and now Sports WFAN.

➦In 1985...Comedian Soupy Sales started at WNBC 660 AM. His program was between the drive time shifts of Don Imus (morning) and Howard Stern (afternoon), with whom Sales had an acrimonious relationship.

An example of this was an incident involving Stern telling listeners that he was cutting the strings in Sales' in-studio piano at 4:05 p.m. on May 1, 1985. On December 21, 2007, Stern revealed this was a stunt staged for "theater of the mind" and to torture Sales; in truth, the piano was never harmed.  Sales' on-air crew included his producer, Ray D'Ariano, newscaster Judy DeAngelis, and pianist Paul Dver, who was also Soupy's manager.

➦In 1996...Paul 'Cubby' Bryant started at WHTZ 100.3 FM Z100 NYC.

Paul Cubby Bryant

Bryant began his radio career in his hometown of Virginia Beach, VA at WGH-FM (97 Star) in 1988, there was where he inherited his current radio name Cubby (a name given to him by WGH DJ's Tony Macrini and Jeff Moreau) for being so young (at the time 16) and in radio.

Then, Bryant joined 104.1 KRBE in Houston, TX as Night Host and Music Director from 1990-1996.

In 1996, Bryant began his tenure at WHTZ (Z100) in New York as Afternoon Drive Host and Music Director.

In mid-2006, Bryant announced he would be leaving WHTZ after a ten-year run with the station to co-host 'Wake Up With Whoopi' on WKTU. the show was in November 2007.

In January 2008, Bryant returned to WKTU, this time as the station's morning host.

Today, he is hosting mornings on iHeartMedia's WLTW Lite106.7 FM

➦In 2019...Jim Dunbar, a News Talk format pioneer who dominated the San Francisco morning ratings for more than three decades on KGO 810 AM, died at age 89.

Singer Mel Carter is 85

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Actor Jack Nicholson is 87. 
• Singer Mel Carter is 85. 
• Country singer Cleve Francis is 79. 
• Director John Waters is 78. 
• Singer Peter Frampton is 74. 
• Singer Paul Carrack (Squeeze, Mike and the Mechanics) is 73. 
• Actor Joseph Bottoms is 70. 
• Actor Ryan Stiles (“The Drew Carey Show”) is 65. 
• Comedian-turned media mogul Byron Allen is 63. 
• Actor Chris Makepeace is 60. 
• Guitarist Fletcher Dragge of Pennywise is 58. 
• Actor Jeffrey Dean Morgan (“The Good Wife,” ″Grey’s Anatomy”) is 58. 
• Actor Sheryl Lee (“Twin Peaks”) is 57. 
• TV personality Sherri Shepherd (“The View”) is 57. 
• Country singer Heath Wright of Ricochet is 57. 
• Country singer Kellie Coffey is 53. 
• Actor Eric Mabius (“Ugly Betty”) is 53. 
• Bassist Shavo Odadjian of System of a Down is 50. 
• Singer-guitarist Daniel Johns of Silverchair is 45. 
• Actor Malcolm Barrett (TV’s “Timeless”) is 44. 
• Actor Cassidy Freeman (“Longmire,” “Smallville”) is 42. 
• Actor Zack Gottsagen (“The Peanut Butter Falcon”) is 39. 
• Actor Amber Heard is 38. 
• Drummer Tripp Howell of LANCO is 35. 
• Musician Machine Gun Kelly is 34.

✞REMEMBRANCES

• In 1968..Stephen H Sholes, American record producer (Elvis) and label executive (RCA Victor, 1929-68), dies of a heart attack at 57
• In 1994..Richard Nixon, American politician (37th US President (Republican 1969-74; Vice-President, 1953-61; US Senator from California, 1950-53) and navy veteran, dies of a stroke at 81
• In 2004..Pat Tillman, Football player & U.S. Army Ranger, killed in action at 27
• In 2008..Paul Davis, Country-rock-pop singer-songwriter and piano player ("I Go Crazy"; "65 Love Affair"), dies of a heart attack at 60
• In 2013..Richie Havens, Singer-songwriter, and guitarist who opened the Woodstock Festival ("Freedom"; "Here Comes The Sun"), dies from a heart attack at 72
• In 2017..Erin Moran, Actress (Happy Days, Joanie Loves Chachi), dies at 56