➦In 1903...legendary broadcaster Arthur Godfrey was born in New York City. From the late 40’s into the 1970’s Godfrey was a unique force in daytime radio, at his peak occupying three hours of CBS network time daily. He espoused & successfully pioneered the concept of talking to just one listener, which was particularly effective in his commercial delivery. He died of emphysema March 16 1983, just two weeks short of his 80th birthday.
➦In 1908...Lester Joseph "Les" Damon born in Providence, RI (Died at age 54 from an apparent heart attack – July 21, 1962). He was a character actor best known for his nearly 30 years performing on radio. Out of all his appearances on radio, Damon was best remembered for his roles as Nick Charles on The Adventures of the Thin Man from 1941-1943 and again from 1946-1950 on NBC then CBS and as Michael Waring on The Falcon from 1950-1953 on Mutual.
➦In 1915...Henry Morgan born as Henry Lerner Van Ost Jr. (Died at age 79 – May 19, 1994).
He first became familiar to radio audiences in the 1930s and 1940s as a barbed but often self-deprecating satirist; in the 1950s and later, he was a regular and cantankerous panelist on the game show I've Got a Secret as well as other game and talk shows. Morgan was a second cousin of Broadway lyricist and librettist Alan Jay Lerner.
 |
| Henry Morgan |
He began his radio career as a page at New York City station WMCA in 1932, after which he held a number of obscure radio jobs, including announcing. In 1940, he was offered a daily 15-minute series on Mutual Broadcasting System's flagship station, WOR. This show was a 15-minute comedy, which he opened almost invariably with "Good evening, anybody; here's Morgan."
In his memoir, Here's Morgan (1994), he wrote that he devised that introduction as a dig at popular singer Kate Smith, who "...started her show with a condescending, 'Hello, everybody.' I, on the other hand, was happy if anybody listened in." He mixed barbed ad libs, satirizing daily life's foibles, with novelty records, including those of Spike Jones. Morgan stated that Jones sent him his newest records in advance of market dates because he played them so often.
Morgan appeared in the December 1944 CBS Radio original broadcast of Norman Corwin's play, The Plot to Overthrow Christmas, taking several minor roles including the narrator, Ivan the Terrible and Simon Legree. He repeated his performance in the December 1944 production of the play.
Later, he moved to ABC in a half-hour weekly format that allowed Morgan more room to develop and expand his topical, often ad-libbed satires, hitting popular magazines, soap operas, schools, the BBC, baseball, summer resorts, government snooping, and landlords. His usual signoff was, "Morgan'll be here on the same corner in front of the cigar store next week."
Life Savers candy, an early Morgan sponsor, dropped him after he accused them of fraud for what amounted to hiding the holes in the famous life saver ring-shaped sweets. "I claimed that if the manufacturer would give me all those centers," Morgan remembered later, "I would market them as Morgan's Mint Middles and say no more about it."
 |
| Earle C Anthony |
➦In 1922...KFI-AM, Los Angeles signed-on.
In 1922 Earle C. Anthony was the founder and owner of what eventually became 50,000 watt KFI 640 AM, a station he controlled until his death in 1961.
From 1929 to 1944, he also owned KECA 790 AM, now KABC. The E.C.A. in KECA stood, of course, for Earle C. Anthony.
He was an early president of the National Association of Broadcasters and, during his term, oversaw the establishment of the organization's first paid staff.
He was also a founder of one of the earliest television stations in Los Angeles, KFI-TV, channel 9, and KFI-FM, both of which were disposed of in 1951.
The original KFI station used a 50-watt transmitter (above) and was made out of a crank telephone. Early on, Anthony operated the station from his garage, and later from atop his Packard automobile dealership. In its early days, it was typically on the air for only four and a half hours a day.
.jpg)
