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| May 26 |
➦In 1886..iconic performer Al Jolson born Asa Yoelson (Died at age 64 - October 23, 1950) was a Russian-born American singer, comedian, and actor. At the peak of his career, he was dubbed "The World's Greatest Entertainer". In the 1920s, Jolson was America's most famous and highest-paid entertainer.
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| Al Jolson - 1938 |
Although best remembered today as the star of the first talking picture, The Jazz Singer (1927), he starred in a series of successful musical films during the 1930s. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was the first star to entertain troops overseas during World War II.
After a period of inactivity, his stardom returned with The Jolson Story (1946), for which Larry Parks played Jolson, with the singer dubbing for Parks. The formula was repeated in a sequel, Jolson Sings Again (1949). In 1950, he again became the first star to entertain GIs on active service in the Korean War, performing 42 shows in 16 days. He died weeks after returning to the U.S., partly owing to the physical exertion of performing. Defense Secretary George Marshall posthumously awarded him the Medal for Merit.
➦In 1903...Canadian radio pioneer Reginald Fessenden was granted a patent for the liquid barretter microphone.
➦In 1920...singer Peggy Lee, whose real name is Norma Delores Egstrom, was born in Jamestown, North Dakota.
She was among the few singers who can handle any type of song — pop, ballad, country, rhythm-and-blues or jazz. Benny Goodman gave her her stage name when she performed with his band from 1941 to ’43. Lee went out on her own after marrying Goodman’s guitarist, Dave Barbour. Her hit records included “Manana (mahn-YAH’-nah),” ”Fever” — a cover of Little Willie John’s r-and-b song — and ”Is That All There Is?” Peggy Lee died of a heart attack January 21st, 2002. She was 81.
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| Jimmie Rodgers |
➦In 1933...Jimmie Rodgers, the “Father of Country Music,” died of tuberculosis in New York City at age 35, just two days after making his final recording.
He was so ill during his final recording sessions that he had to rest between takes on a cot. Jimmie Rodgers recorded his first million-seller “T for Texas,” also known as “Blue Yodel,” in 1927, becoming country music’s first superstar. He never appeared on any major radio show or played the Grand Ole Opry. But he, Hank Williams and songwriter-publisher Fred Rose were the first to be elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1961.
➦In 1940...CBS Radio first presented “Invitation to Learning”. The 30-minute Sunday morning program that featured a discussion of great books, with Lyman Bryson as host, continued for 15 years.
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| Joe Kelly |
➦In 1959...Chicago-based radio host Joe Kelly, who MC’d the WLS National Barn Dance & NBC’s Quiz Kids (1940-53), died at age 57.
➦In 1962...the original version of “Twist and Shout,” by the Isley Brothers, was released. The song was revived two years later by the Beatles.
➦In 1971...Don McLean was in New York to record his soon-to-be iconic signature song “American Pie.”
➦In 1989...Radio stations staged 30 seconds of silence at 7:42 AM (EST), to honor Radio.
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| Carleton Morse |
➦In 1993...Radio dramatist, Carleton Morse, best known for "One Man's Family", died at age 91.
"One Man's Family" centered on a family in the well-to-do Sea Cliff area of San Francisco, overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge. The tribulations of its main characters, Fanny, Henry and Jack Barbour, dominated the national airwaves from the time the show began in 1932 until it went off the air in 1959 after 3,256 episodes.
He covered radio and police news for The Sacramento Union before moving to San Francisco, where he worked for several newspapers, including The Call, The Bulletin and The Chronicle. He took a writing job at NBC in 1929 and went on to became a legendary radio pioneer.
At its peak, "One Man's Family" rivaled "Amos 'n' Andy" in popularity.
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| Dan Daniel - WCBS-FM |
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In 1996...Dan Daniel started at Oldies WCBS 101.1 FM NYC
He started as a disc jockey at age seventeen on Armed Forces Radio with the US Navy. His first commercial job was at KXYZ in Houston in 1955 and he then worked at WDGY in Minneapolis before moving to WMCA in 1961.
His first broadcast at WMCA was on August 18, 1961. He started on the graveyard shift overnight but from 1962 to 1968 he played the top 40 hits from 4 pm to 7 pm. The station produced a survey of the current sales in New York record stores and Dandy Dan gave the countdown of the week's best sellers every Wednesday in this late afternoon slot.
From 1968 to 1970, he did the early morning drive-to-work slot before leaving WMCA after nearly nine years; his final broadcast was on 11 July 1970.
Dan was heard coast-to-coast on NBC Radio's "Monitor" in the summer of 1973.
He subsequently worked on WYNY-FM where he hosted the mid-day slot and later morning and afternoon drives. He then did a stint at WHN playing country music before returning to WYNY-FM. Finally, he moved to WCBS-FM in 1996. He retired from WCBS on December 31, 2002.
Daniel died on June 21, 2016 after falling in his home the previous day. He was 81.
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