Radio History: Oct 24

➦In 1861…The transcontinental telegraph line across the United States was first completed.

Rudy Vallee

➦In 1929...one of radio’s first “really big shows” The Fleishmann Hour starring Rudy Vallee was broadcast for the first time over NBC radio. Actually, the Rudy Vallee show had several different titles over the years, all of which were referred to by the public as The Rudy Vallee Show. Megaphone-totin’ Rudy and his Connecticut Yankees band were mainstays on radio into the late 1940s.

➦In 1930...Jiles Perry "J. P." Richardson Jr. born (Died – February 3, 1959). He was known as The Big Bopper, he was a musician, songwriter, and disc jockey. His best known compositions include "Chantilly Lace" and "White Lightning", the latter of which became George Jones' first number-one hit in 1959. 

He was killed in a plane crash in Iowa in 1959, along with fellow musicians Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens and the pilot Roger Peterson. The accident was famously referred to as "The Day the Music Died" in Don McLean's 1971 song "American Pie".

Richardson worked part-time at Beaumont, Texas radio station KTRM (now Gospel KZZB). He was hired by the station full-time in 1949 and quit college. He soon was promoted to supervisor of announcers at KTRM.

In March 1955 he was drafted into the United States Army and did his basic training at Fort Ord, California. He spent the rest of his two-year service as a radar instructor at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas.

Richardson returned to KTRM radio following his discharge as a corporal in March 1957, where he held down the "Dishwashers' Serenade" shift from 11 am to 12:30 pm, Monday through Friday. One of the station's sponsors wanted Richardson for a new time slot, and suggested an idea for a show. Richardson had seen college students doing a dance called The Bop, and he decided to call himself "The Big Bopper". His new radio show ran from 3:00 to 6:00 pm, and he soon became the station's program director.

From the Dick Clark Saturday Night Show on ABC-TV in 1958...

Richardson is credited for creating the first music video in 1958, and recorded an early example himself.

➦In 1989...Hank Ballard, Bobby Darin, the Four Tops, the Four Seasons, Holland-Dozier-Holland, the Kinks, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, the Platters, the Who, plus Simon & Garfunkel were all inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

➦In 2002...Atlantic Records producer/engineer Tom Dowd died of emphysema. In his 77 years he’d recorded albums by many top artists including: Eric Clapton, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Rod Stewart, Aretha Franklin, Cream, Lulu, Chicago, The Allman Brothers Band, The J. Geils Band, Meat Loaf, Sonny & Cher, Willie Nelson, Diana Ross, Kenny Loggins, Dusty Springfield, The Drifters and Otis Redding.

➦In 2003...Radio Personality-Programmer, Dean Anthony died from cancer at age 68. He programmed WHLI-AM, Long Island for 22 years.

Anthony played country music at WJRZ (later WWDJ) in Hackensack, N.J., from 1970 until 1971 when he began a 10-year stint at WTFM New York. During a labor strike at WTFM in 1981, Anthony picked up part-time work at WHLI Hempstead, N.Y. He stayed there 22 years, twice being named program director of the year by Barnstable Broadcasting.

He was so well-liked that WHLI held a 10-hour tribute to him on the fifth anniversary of his death.

Anthony was also one of the original jocks during the '60's hey days of NYC radio at WMCA (Aircheck: Click Here) . Known by his listeners as 'Dean-O On The Radio' he was an original "WMCA Good Guy" who welcomed the Beatles, Rolling Stones, plus the entire Motown and British Invasion into the "Big Apple", as well as into the USA.

Before coming to WMCA, Anthony was program director and afternoon personality at WPGC Washington, D.C., from 1960 to 1964 as Dean Griffith. Prior to that, he was at WGH Norfolk, Va.

➦In 2016...Bobby Vee, the 60’s teen idol who had Hot 100 hits with “Take Good Care of My Baby,” “Run to Him” and “Rubber Ball,” died following a five-year bout with Alzheimer’s disease at age 73. In 2013 Bob Dylan called Vee “the most meaningful person I’ve ever been onstage with.”

➦In  2017...Fats Domino, a pioneer of rock & roll, died in his hometown of New Orleans at age 89. A contemporary of Elvis, Chuck Berry and Jerry Lee Lewis, Domino was among the first acts inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, thanks to a titanic string of 11 top ten hits between 1955 and 1960.

Bill Wyman is 88

🎂HAPPY BIRTHDAYS:

• Former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman is 88. 
• Actor F. Murray Abraham is 85. 
• Director David S. Ward (“Sleepless in Seattle,” “The Sting”) is 79. 
• Actor Kevin Kline is 77. 
• Drummer Billy Thomas of McBride and the Ride is 71. 
• Actor Doug Davidson (“The Young and the Restless”) is 70. 
• Actor B.D. Wong is 64. 
• Actor Zahn McClarnon (“Reservation Dogs,” “Hawkeye”) is 58. 
• Singer Michael Trent of Shovels and Rope is 47. 
• Drummer Ben Gillies of Silverchair is 45. 
• Singer Monica is 44. 
• Singer-actor Adrienne Bailon Houghton of 3LW (“The Cheetah Girls”) is 41. 
• Actor Tim Pocock (TV’s “Camp,” film’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine”) is 39. 
• Rapper-actor Drake is 38. 
• Actor Shenae Grimes (“90210”) is 35. 
• Actor Eliza Taylor (“The 100”) is 35. 
• Actor Ashton Sanders (“Moonlight”) is 29. 
• Actor Hudson Yang (“Fresh Off the Boat”) is 21.

✞REMEMBRANCES

• In 1972..Jackie Robinson, American Baseball HOF second baseman (1st African-American MLB player Brooklyn Dodgers; 6 × MLB All-Star; World Series 1955; NL MVP 1949), dies from a heart attack at 53
• In 1991..Gene Roddenberry, American creator of Star Trek, dies of cardiac arrest at 70
• In 2005..Rosa Parks, American civil rights activist who refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white passenger, dies of natural causes at 92
• In 2014..Marcia Strassman, American actress (M*A*S*H; Welcome Back, Kotter - "Julie Kotter"), dies from breast cancer at 66
• In 2015..Maureen O'Hara, Irish-American actress (Miracle on 34th Street; The Quiet Man; Only The Lonely), and singer, dies at 95
• In 2016..Bobby Vee [Velline], American pop singer ("Devil Or Angel"; "Take Good Care Of My Baby"), dies at 73
• In 2016..Pete Burns, English singer (Dead or Alive, "Spin Me Round"), dies of a cardiac arrest at 57
• In 2017..Fats Domino,b American rhythm & blues piano player, singer, and star of the early rock ’n’ roll era ("Blueberry Hill"; "Blue Monday"; "Walkin' To New Orleans", dies from natural causes at 89
• In 2017..Robert Guillaume [Williams], American actor (Rafiki- The Lion King, Sports Night, Benson, Soap), dies at 89
• In 2018..Tony Joe White, American blues and swamp rock singer ("Polk Salad Annie"), and songwriter ("Rainy Night In Georgia"), dies of a heart attack at 75
• In 2022..Leslie Jordan, American Emmy Award-winning actor (Will & Grace - "Beverly"), and writer, dies in a car crash at 67