Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #8
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 1/7/2007 4:18 AM

To: [removed]@[removed]

    ------------------------------

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2007 : Issue 8
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      great OTR headphones                  [ Chargous@[removed] ]
      Blacks in OTR                         [ "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed] ]
      More African-Americans on Early Radi  [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Quiet Please                          [ "Frank McGurn" <[removed]@sbcgloba ]
      This week in radio history 7-13 Janu  [ "Joe Mackey" <joemackey108@adelphia ]
      lazy eye                              [ Rentingnow@[removed] ]
      Robert Birchard's KHJ photo of [removed]   [ "Jim Hilliker" <jimhilliker@sbcglob ]
      1-7 births/deaths                     [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]

    ------------------------------

    Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 03:09:04 -0500
    From: Chargous@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  great OTR headphones

    Since 1994 I've been using Sony MDR-7506's for my home headphones.  I
    bought a pair of new Sony Studio Monitors this week - they sound nice too,
    but then I found references to this company from Germany called
    Ultrasone.  I stopped in a local audio store, and they happened to have a
    pair of the HFI-650s - it was a discontinued model so I got it for $[removed]
    (they're basically the same as the HFI-700 ($249)), which was a bargain for
    those specs, 10hz-25,000 khz, 75 ohm impedance, 50 mm titanium driver.  All
    I can say is they're the most incredible headphones I've ever heard.  They
    are probably overkill for OTR, but still sounds great on it!  Modern audio
    drama also does well.  Music - all I can say is wow.  It tears with gusto
    into everything from boom boom music to the softest vocal.  I can't
    recommend it enough, if you have a great soundcard (front drive with full
    size headphone jacks highly recommended) - something like a Soundblaster
    XFI Platinum or better) or a nice sound system.

    Note; for OTR they only work on GOOD recordings.  Hi-end headphones will
    bring out all the gunk of cruddy 32/22's and bad encodes of any bitrate, or
    shows that are poorly cleaned and have a lot of artifacts.

    By the way, I'm going to get their high-end model, the Proline 2500
    (8hz-35,000 khz) for my home puter and use the 650's for my mp3 player.

    Travis

    ------------------------------

    Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 12:34:27 -0500
    From: "Irene Heinstein" <IreneTH@[removed];
    To: "OTR" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Blacks in OTR

    I had made some preliminary and incomplete notes on Blacks in radio quite a
    while ago which follow: - Irene

    Black radio owners, performers

    Clarence Muse referred to in LA Times, Feb 6, 1933 as     'Negro radio
    artist of whom his people are immensely proud.' performing at annual meeting
    of Urban League - 'Negro Banquet"

    NY Times, Feb 14, 1940:  One of the recipients of an award for distinguished
    achievement in the improvement of race relations during 1940 was identified
    as "the Rev. Glen T. Settle of Cleveland, Negro radio broadcast director"

    LA Times, July 19, 1940:  At the Dem Convention Eleanor Roosevelt received a
    nomination for VP by Elder Lightfoot Solomon Michau of Washington DC, a
    Negro radio evangelist

    WA Post, June 5 1942:  refers to 'Wings over Jordan' the nationally known
    Negro radio choir. (Dr. Glen T Settle, founder and president of the choir.)

    NY Times, Dec 18 1942:  mentions Southernaires, Negro radio and concert
    singers"

    WA Post: Aug 21, 1947:  Radio listings:   WFMD  8:15-8:30 - Negro Radio
    Council

    Chicago Tribune:  April 3, 1948:  Application filed for a new radio station
    to serve primarily Negro residents in the Chicago area.  Submitted by the
    Afro-American Broadcasting System, Inc. whose president is Dr. Clifford F.
    Kyle, Negro pastor of the Inter-Racial Fellowship church in Chicago.
    ....the company's attorney said the proposed station would be the first
    'all-Negro' radio outlet in the country.

    Chicago Tribune, June 5, 1949:  "Honor Negro Broadcaster on WAAF program
    today"  Jackie Cooper, pioneer Negro radio producer and showman to be
    honored for contributions to the field of broadcasting

    Chicago Tribune, July 30, 1949; reports that a $5,000 Negro Radio Station
    Tower Falls as Band Cuts Cable"  (Birmingham, Alabama)  The cable supporting
    the tower had been sawed through and fell last night within 10 seconds after
    the cable had been cut.  Witnesses said a car with five white men in it
    drove to the tower, Two got out and did the dirty deed.   J. Ed Reynolds,
    president of the Magic City Broadcasting company, which will operate the
    station, WEDR, said a new tower has been ordered.

    NY Times, July 30, 1949 reported the same story, but added that 'the station
    is to be operated with Negro personnel for Negro patronage, Mr. Reynolds
    said.  It will be devoted to education, music and religious programs, with
    nothing 'of a controversial nature' on the air, he added.

    WA Post, April 8, 1950:  Drew Pearson column:  'Ed Rivers son of Georgia's
    pro-Klan former Governor is now operating a pro-Negro radio station in
    Decatur, GA.  Young Rivers has had such response to having Negroes give
    their own programs that he has started a similar station in Savannah -
    despite local radio opposition.

    Chicago Tribune, Feb 4, 1957:  Jesse Owens, the Olympic track star, signed
    with WAAF as early morning disk jockey -- at $25,000 per annum.  He replaces
    the Magnificent Montague, who goes to San Francisco as production chief of a
    new, all-Negro radio station out there.

    Other names of Negros who appeared on radio
    Etude Ethiopian Chorus

    ------------------------------

    Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 12:34:44 -0500
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  More African-Americans on Early Radio

    To add to those programs and personalities already named, here are more --

    There are mentions of the jazz pianist Earl "Fatha" Hines making an
    appearance over KDKA, Pittsburgh as early as 1921, but this may not have
    been the first instance of a black performer on radio -- defining
    "firsts" in the earliest days of radio is a very risky proposition,
    because there's so little solid documentation available. I've seen a
    Ethel Waters-Fletcher Henderson joint appearance over WGV New Orleans
    dated 1921 or 1922 -- although WGV wasn't licensed until March of '22,
    the appearance could have taken place over an experimental  transmitter
    prior to the granting of the license.

    Also in 1922, newspaperman Jack L. Cooper made his radio debut over WCAP
    in Washington DC as a "one man minstrel show."  Cooper went on to become
    a towering figure in African-American broadcasting -- appearing as an
    actor, a master-of-ceremonies, a comedian, a newscaster, a sportscaster,
    and a disc-jockey on various Chicago stations until 1961. He wrote,
    produced, directed and sold advertising for all of his various shows, and
    eventually established Jack L. Cooper Radio Productions Inc. By the
    1940s, Cooper was taking out ads in Variety proudly promoting himself as
    "The Highest Paid Negro In Radio."

    I've also seen mentions of Bert Williams, the legendary Ziegfeld star,
    making at least one broadcast in 1921, possibly in connection with his
    role in the Broadway revue "Shuffle Along," but I've not seen any
    documentation for this. Williams died in early 1922 -- had he lived
    longer, he undoubtedly would have been a significant figure in
    broadcasting.

    Duke Ellington was involved in radio very early on -- his orchestra was
    being heard regularly over WHN in remote broadcasts from the Cotton Club
    as early as 1924, and these were probably the first regularly-scheduled
    broadcasts by African-American performers in New York.

    Ellington's remotes were being heard regularly over CBS by 1929, but the
    first non-musician black performers to have a regular network series seem
    to have been the comedy team of Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles, who had
    a brief run over CBS in 1931-32. Miller and Lyles had a stage career
    dating back to the turn of the century, emphasising traditional blackface
    material -- and this may have been their biggest weakness. Although CBS
    clearly hoped they would offer stiff competition to "Amos 'n' Andy," the
    series failed -- most likely because A&A's appeal had less to do with
    "blackface comedy" than it did with the attraction of a continuing serial
    story. Miller and Lyles, by contrast, offered minstrel-style jokes and
    routines -- with little to set them apart from the army of white
    blackface comics then on the air.

    The first network variety program to be hosted by an African-American
    performer was Louis Armstrong's Harlem Revue, sponsored over NBC by
    Fleischmann's Yeast in 1937. Armstrong got this job at the insistence of
    Rudy Vallee, who was probably the most color-blind personality in radio
    at the time -- he regularly featured black talent on his own program, and
    many important performers of the era, from Josephine Baker to Paul
    Robeson, had appearances on the Vallee hour.

    A couple of programs mentioned by Jack French deserve more detailed
    mention.
    "Americans All -- Immigrants All" was not exclusively about
    African-Americans, but rather on the whole range of immigrant groups that
    make up the US population. Each episode focused  week on the story of a
    specific ethnic or racial group: how members of that group first came to
    the US, and how they've contributed to the growth of the nation.
    Advocates of identity politics would probably be appalled by the
    melting-pot point of view expressed in this series, but for 1938-39 it
    was an earnest, intelligently-presented effort at exploring racial and
    ethnic subject matter. CBS was so proud of this series that it
    distributed transcriptions of the program to school systems for classroom
    use for several years after the series aired.

    "Freedom's People," however, did specifically focus on African-American
    history and culture. Each program focused on the contribution of black
    citizens to specific areas of American life -- science, commerce,
    technology, the arts, and so forth. There was an impressive roster of
    guests on this series -- just about everyone who was anyone in Black
    America circa 1941, from A. Philip Randolph to Fats Waller. It wasn't
    quite as self-importantly full of itself production-wise as "Americans
    All--Immigrants All,"  but like the earlier series, NBC distributed
    recordings for classroom use. Like any depiction of blacks in the mass
    media during this period, the program walked a very fine line in order to
    avoid offending the sensibilities either of northern blacks or white
    southerners, so a lot of issues, including segregation, voting rights,
    and racial violence were glossed over or not mentioned at all.

    It's interesting to listen to these series and compare them with "New
    World A'Comin'" and "Destination Freedom." Both of these later series are
    widely praised in discussions of racial progressivism in broadcasting --
    perhaps excessively so, because one should keep an important fact in
    mind: these were NOT network programs. "New World" was heard exclusively
    in the greater New York area, over WMCA, and "Destination Freedom" was a
    local WMAQ production heard in Chicago and the surrounding areas of the
    midwest. Because of that restricted audience, the producers of these
    programs had far more freedom than they would have had -- there was no
    need to blunt the programs' message to avoid offending southern racial
    attitudes, or more specifically the racial attitudes of the men who were
    in positions of authority in the corporations that ran Southern radio
    stations. On the whole, black participation in radio during the OTR era
    was far more common at the local level, in communities with substiantial
    African-American populations, than on the network level or in areas with
    little or no black population.

    As far as surviving recordings of African-American programs are
    concerned, there is only one known recording extant from the 1920s -- a
    1928 excerpt of the NBC "Eveready Hour" featuring the Hall Johnson Choir
    and blues singer Martha Copeland, an excerpt that puts the lie to the
    common assumption that blacks were completely closed out of network radio
    until the 1930s. This recording was preserved by the Edison Historic Site
    in New Jersey, and they can be contacted for further information about it.

    1930's material is also scarce, other than segments from the Rudy Vallee
    program. Unfortunately, Vallee's collection was scattered among several
    collectors after his death, and many of the programs that do exist have
    yet to become available.

    Other than prestige programs like New World and Destination Freedom,
    practically none of the local programming featuring African-American
    talent survives -- local radio of the OTR era, in general, has an
    extremely poor track record for preservation.

    Elizabeth

    ------------------------------

    Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 12:35:29 -0500
    From: "Frank McGurn" <[removed]@[removed];
    To: "The Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Quiet Please

>     I recorded "The Thing on Fourble Table" in 1984 and hadn't heard until a few
>     day ago when  I read, in OTR DIGEST, how great it is. Well I didn't like it
>     in 1984 and I still don't like it in 2007."

    The above is what started my last entry of OTR Digest # 6, and here is my
    amplification of my Opinion of  "The Fourble Table" and "Quiet Please" I
    don't care if it was the greatest radio program in the world written by best
    writer in the world. I don't like it fantasy, science fiction or melodramas.
    I don't eat sea food either, nor do I believe in Santa Clause.
    I wish I had the ability to write as well as Patricia, and other
    contributors to OTR Digest.

    Frank McGurn

    ------------------------------

    Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 14:12:41 -0500
    From: "Joe Mackey" <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: "otrd" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  This week in radio history 7-13 January

        From Those Were The Days --

    1/7
    1926 - A famous marriage that endured for many years is remembered this day.
    It's the wedding anniversary of George Burns and Gracie Allen who were
    married by a Justice of the Peace in Cleveland, Ohio.

    1940 - The gate to Gene Autry's Melody Ranch opened. The 'singing cowboy'
    would entertain on CBS radio for the next 16 years.

    1941 - The NBC Blue network presented the first installment of Inner
    Sanctum.

    1950 - Ernest Tubb made his first appearance at The Grand Ole Opry in
    Nashville, TN. Ernest also did a 15-minute radio program each day that
    became very popular in West Texas. So popular, in fact, that he bought the
    radio station that had aired the program for years and years: KGKL in San
    Angelo, Texas.

    1/10

    1943 - The quiz show, The Better Half, was first heard on Mutual this day.
    The program brought four married couples to compete in stunts involving
    traditional concepts of 'manhood' and 'womanhood
    1/11

    1947 - Amazing Mr. Malone (aka Murder and Mr. Malone) starring Frank
    Lovejoy, debuted on ABC.

    1/12

    1926 - Sam 'n' Henry debuted on WGN in Chicago, Illinois. The show's name
    was later chhanged to Amos 'n' Andy, with the voices of its creators,
    Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll.

    1932 - Ed Sullivan joined CBS radio in a program of gossip and interviews.

    1/13

    1906 - Hugh Gernsback of the Electro Importing Company advertised radio
    receivers for sale for the low, low price of just $[removed] in Scientific
    American magazine. The first ad selling the gizmos guaranteed reception of
    about one mile.

    1910 - Enrico Caruso and Emmy Destinn were heard via a telephone
    transmitter; rigged by DeForest Radio-Telephone Company to broadcast from
    the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City.

    Joe

    ----
    Visit my homepage: [removed]~[removed]

    ------------------------------

    Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 14:13:46 -0500
    From: Rentingnow@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  lazy eye

    Whoa! Did I open a can of worms with my off hand comment about 3-D.

    The concept of prospective and 3-D is  interesting to because of my  switch
    from 30 years of nursing to full time (with my wife Brooke) photography  and
    videography.) I noticed standing in the corner of a Hanifords grocery  store
    the
    vanishing point demonstrated by the way the lights were  arranged.  Would be
    a great place to have an art class to have them sketch  the scene. This isn't
    true 3-D of course but was fascinating to see how the  illusion is
    demonstrated.

    Lazy eye  a complicated problem and is  best explained in this site. It is
    worth knowing about as it is a serious visual  problem.
    [removed]

    My daughter  had strabismus which was corrected at age 3. She developed no
    lazy eye  problem.

    If you have seen a well baby exam you will notice a penlight is shown  in the
    baby's eyes.  It should be roughly in the middle of both  pupils.  When it
    doesn't, there may be a problem which should be monitored  and possibly
    followed
    by a specialist.

    Larry Moore

    ------------------------------

    Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 23:52:51 -0500
    From: "Jim Hilliker" <jimhilliker@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Robert Birchard's KHJ photo of [removed] Griffith

    Hi again!

    I think I may have found the source of Robert Birchard's photo of [removed]
    Griffith next to a KHJ-Los Angeles microphone standing next to a blind
    person  and others in a group.

    After doing a search in the Los Angeles Times historical archives for any
    articles around 1922-1930 that had the name [removed] Griffith linked to KHJ
    radio, I found a newspaper story from the [removed] Times radio page column which
    seems to fit the bill or at least comes close, I think.

    This short article is from November 2, 1929 written by Times radio columnist
    John S. Daggett (who was KHJ's first station manager/announcer from
    1922-1927 when the Times owned KHJ).  But, you have to subscribe to ProQuest
    to get the full article, or look it up from microfilm copies of the [removed]
    Times.

    Anyway, the headline reads, GRIFFITH LAUDS RADIO OUTLOOK, "Opportunity"
    Described As Broadcast Keynote Film Man Says All Seek To Express
    Themselves".

    A short summary of the start of the article begins this way: "D. W.
    Griffith, motion-picture producer, paid a tribute to music and radio at KHJ
    Thursday night, when Calvin Hendricks, the blind singer, and Floy Hamlin,
    soprano, were presented as the Southern California winners of the Atwater
    Kent foundation, that sounded "[removed]"

    Judging by Robert's description of the people seen in his photo at KHJ, this
    sounded like it may be the source of the publicity photo for this event,
    broadcast over KHJ radio at the Don Lee Cadillac Building at 7th and Bixel
    in Los Angeles on the date listed above.

    Hope this helps, Robert.

    Jim Hilliker
    Monterey, CA

    ------------------------------

    Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2007 23:52:57 -0500
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  1-7 births/deaths

    January 7th births

    01-07-1873 - Adolph Zukor - Ricse, Austria-Hungary - d. 6-10-1976
    film executive: "Time Capsule"; "Flashback"; "Cavalcade of Stars"
    01-07-1888 - Myrtle Vail Damerel - Joilet, IL - d. 9-18-1978
    actor: Myrtle Spear "Myrt and Marge"
    01-07-1889 - Robert Hilmar ([removed]) Baukhage - La Salle, IL - d. 1-31-1976
    commentator: "Four Star News"; "News and Comments"
    01-07-1896 - Arnold Ridley - Bath, Somerset, England - d. 3-12-1984
    actor: Arthur 'Doughy' Hood "The Archers"; Charles Godfrey "Dad's Army"
    01-07-1898 - Art Baker - NYC - d. 8-26-1966
    announcer, emcee: "People Are Funny"; "Dinah Shore Show"
    01-07-1903 - Alan Napier - Birmingham, England - d. 8-8-1988
    actor: "Campbell Playhouse"
    01-07-1903 - Betty Hanna - d. 10-25-1976
    actor: Deborah Matthews "Ma Perkins"; Luella Hayworth "Step Mother"
    01-07-1906 - Betty Bolton - England - d. 4-2-2005
    performed on British radio in the 1930s
    01-07-1908 - Eliot Daniel - Massachusetts - d. 12-6-1997
    music: "Fabulous Dr. Tweddy"; "The King's Men"; "Rudy Vallee Show"
    01-07-1910 - Joe Bigelow - d. 2-20-1976
    writer, producer: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"
    01-07-1913 - Shirley Ross - Omaha, NE - d. 3-9-1975
    actor, singer: "Raleigh and Kool Cigarette Program with Tommy Dorsey"
    01-07-1922 - Vincent Gardenia - Naples, Italy - d. 12-9-1992
    actor: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
    01-07-1929 - Terry Moore - Los Angeles, CA
    actor: Shirley 'Bumps' Smith "Smiths of Hollywood"
    01-07-1930 - Douglas Kiker - Griffin, KS - d. 8-14-1991
    nbc newsman: "Meet the Press"

    January 7th deaths

    01-28-1904 - Irene Beasley - Whitehaven TN - d. 1-7-1980
    actor: Old Dutch Girl "Red Hook 31"
    02-08-1905 - Don Ball - Block Island, RI - d. 1-7-1974
    staff announcer for CBS during the 1930s.
    03-13-1896 - Leona Powers - Salida, CO - d. 1-7-1970
    actor: Mrs. Bixby "My Son Jeep"; [removed] Brown "Aldrich Family"
    04-29-1901 - Emperor Hirohito (Showa) - Tokyo, Japan - d. 1-7-1989
    emperor: End of war speech
    08-30-1905 - Sarah Selby - St. Louis, MO - d. 1-7-1980
    actor: Grace Graves "Junior Miss"; Wife "My Mother's Husband"
    09-26-1912 - Jacqueline de Wit - Los Angeles, CA - d. 1-7-1998
    actor: Ruth Thompson "Meet Mr. McNutley"; Valerie "Second Husband"
    09-29-1913 - Trevor Howard - Cliftonville, England - d. 1-7-1988
    actor: "London Playhouse"

    Ron Sayles

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #8
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