Subject: [removed] Digest V2002 #219
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 6/15/2002 7:07 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2002 : Issue 219
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Re: 24-hour operation                 [ Bill Jaker <bilj@[removed]; ]
      children of OTR                       [ "William Strom" <stromman@[removed] ]
      Hawaii Calls                          [ "Richard Carpenter" <sinatra@raging ]
      Re: OTR Progeny                       [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
      Hawaii Calls!                         [ "Peter H. Vollmann" <vollmann@hawai ]
      SUSPENSE - "Dead Ernest" Controversy  [ HERITAGE4@[removed] ]
      Death of Cassettes                    [ LSMFTnolonger@[removed] ]
      Bertha Brainard                       [ Donna Halper <dlh@[removed]; ]
      the 1996 Telecommunications Act       [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
      Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      Frances Langford Show ditto           [ bloodbleeds@[removed] ]
      more offsprings of the stars          [ Jer51473@[removed] ]
      Captain Marvel radio show and premiu  [ User310378@[removed] ]
      Dead Earnest                          [ "Tony Bell" <t_bell61@[removed]; ]
      Re: opera plots from Dallas           [ "Henry R. Hinkel" <hinkel@[removed] ]
      RADIO HELD HOSTAGE BY GREED           [ PURKASZ@[removed] ]
      Peg Lynch                             [ Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed]; ]
      Hal Willard Information               [ Tom and Susan Kleinschmidt <tomkle@ ]
      New Halls Of Ivy mp3 CDs              [ N&B Brickman <nbb@[removed]; ]
      radio offspring                       [ Frank Absher <fabsher@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 22:38:54 -0400
    From: Bill Jaker <bilj@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: 24-hour operation

>     Is any one aware of any radio stations broadcasting 24 hours a day in the
>     golden days?  I notice in 1944 that NBC went off the air at 3 AM eastern
>     time.  Thus I imagine station would need to provide other programs during 3
>     AM to dawn hour in order to broadcast all hours.

    There have been several responses to this query and no one has yet
    mentioned WNEW, New York and the “Milkman’s Matinee”.  “Radio’s original
    all-night entertainment” (according to “the station that invented music
    and news” – the Big W hyped itself with energy and style, like it did
    everything) premiered in the early hours of 6 August 1935 and remained
    on the schedule more or less continually until the station’s lamented
    demise in 1992.  The original milkman was Stan Shaw, later Art Ford had
    a long stretch, and then there was a respectable parade of deejays,
    including Dick Shepherd, Al “Jazzbeaux” Collins and Alison Steele (“the
    Nightbird”).

    Other stations may have had 24-hour schedules earlier than WNEW, and
    when “Milkman’s Matinee” debuted it actually rounded out a schedule that
    was already about 20 hours a day.  Such an expansion required a second
    transmitter to be on standby as well as expansion of facilities and
    staff, including a phone operator to take listener requests.  But the
    “Milkman’s Matinee”, even if not the first was in many ways an
    original.  It became the favorite program for many night people,
    including musicians getting home from their gigs as well as overnight
    hospital workers, postal workers and even milkmen.  It created a kind of
    nocturnal fraternity in “the city that never sleeps”.  With a select
    listenership tuned to that very special independent station, the big
    network stations in New York would forego overnight operation till the
    need for wartime readiness caused some of them to extend the broadcast
    day, or night.

    "...'Round the Milky Way each morning,
    Dance your cares away till dawning.
    Everything's Grade-A
    at the Milkman's Matinee".

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

    Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 23:28:57 -0400
    From: "William Strom" <stromman@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  children of OTR

    This is in response to the children of OTR. How about Ozzie and Harriet 2
    children Ricky and David?

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 00:10:50 -0400
    From: "Richard  Carpenter" <sinatra@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Hawaii Calls

      A question was raised about the "Hawaii Calls" radio show, and a very
    nice show it was, bringing the music of the islands to the world for three
    decades beginning in 1935. (I believe there have been revivals of the show
    from time to time.) You can listen to some of the shows in real audio and
    even order CDs of it at:

    [removed]

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 00:13:13 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: OTR Progeny

    Derek Tague wrote:

>     child
>     actor-turned-TV producer Richard Correll (son of Charles "Andy" Correll)

    I might also add Rich's older brother, Charles J. Correll Jr., who is an
    Emmy-winning cinematographer (and who also has done some feature film
    work, including one of the "Star Trek" films.). CJC the younger is also a
    TV director, but while Rich specializes in sitcoms, Charles Jr. tends to
    handle hour-long dramas -- he directed many episodes of (of all things)
    "Beverly Hills 90210" and "Melrose Place."

    Before going into cinematography, Charles Jr. wanted to be a
    rock-and-roll drummer, and while still in high school he formed a
    California surf band called "The Cornells," which recorded at least one
    very obscure album. (One of his fellow Cornells stuck with the music
    business -- guitarist Peter Lewis is better known for his work with Moby
    Grape. Also in the band was Bob Linkletter, son of Art.)

>     singer Billy Preston, son of Ernestine
>     "Sapphire" [removed]

    Oh, how I wish this was true -- it would make for a wonderful story. But,
    alas, it's an urban myth -- which got started because Preston once told
    an interviewer that his mother "was Sapphire." What he meant was that his
    mother was an assertive, take-no-backtalk woman *like* Sapphire, not
    Sapphire herself -- "Sapphire" was in fact a generic Black English slang
    term for just such a woman -- but the interviewer didn't sense the
    distinction.

    Ernestine Wade herself seems to have been greatly amused by this story --
    especially after it found its way into a few "authoritative" rock
    encyclopedias.  As she once put it, "If I gave birth to Billy Preston, I
    wasn't there at the [removed]"

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 15:05:28 -0400
    From: "Peter H. Vollmann" <vollmann@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Hawaii Calls!

    I used to listen to it in Berlin, Germany, on AFN. It was on some time in
    the morning, I think on Saturdays. Listening to the beautiful music, the
    surf in the background, and the romantic description of the scenery must
    have instilled a longing for the islands in me, for here I am. 40 years
    later, on the beautiful island of Kauai, enjoying the warm breeze, sunshine,
    and (from time to time) Hawaiian music.

    Many if the local big names appeared on the show - I recall Alfred Apaka as
    one of them. There are several commercial cd's with excerpts from "Hawaii
    Calls" available.

    Peter from Hawaii

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 15:05:52 -0400
    From: HERITAGE4@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  SUSPENSE -  "Dead Ernest"  Controversy

    This show was broadcast on March 24, 1949  as Program #333 - The story of a
    man,
    Mr. Bowen, hit on thge head in an auto accident and believed to be dead by
    the police - taken to the morgue -  :Listen to hear the exciting conclusion.
    The show starred: Wally Maher, Elliott Lewis, Lou Merrill, Pat O'Brien, Larry
    Thor and Tommy Bernard.   Paul Frees was the announcer on the show.

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 15:08:39 -0400
    From: LSMFTnolonger@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Death of Cassettes

    Chris Holm says,

>     Automakers are still putting tape decks in cars by the
>     millions.

    I don't believe that is true anymore. When I bought my Chrysler Sebring
    last year, it was only offered with a radio and CD player. When my
    friend bought a Mitsubishi Eclipse this year, it also came with a radio
    and CD player.

    I really feel that within 2 years, no carmaker will offer new
    automobiles with cassette players, only CD and MP3 players.

    I'm afraid cassette players will eventually join Betamax VCRs and rotary
    telephones.

    Greg

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: Hey! I have a Sony SL-60 Betamax VCR connected to my
    [removed] I still use a candlestick rotary-dial telephone connected to
    the non-DSL side of the phone splitter. You mean there's something different?
    --cfs3]

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 15:09:30 -0400
    From: Donna Halper <dlh@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Bertha Brainard

>     Rich P. asked--
>     I need help from OTR sleuths. I'm researching Bertha Brainard. Bertha who
>     you say? Well, she is sometimes called "The First Lady of Radio"....although
>     I believe there were others. She went on the air in 1921 at WJZ (Newark)
>     with her show "Broadcasting Broadway" consisting of theatre reviews and news
>     of upcoming theatre events. It was the first time a woman had been on the
>     air at WJZ. She went on to become the first woman executive at NBC
>     (Producer, Programming Manager, National Commercial Manager) and retired in
>     1948 after a 27-year career in radio.

    Since she died in 1946, she couldn't have retired in 1948.  I know all
    about her life and career, her retirement and even her marriage to Curt
    Peterson, a guy she had known for 20 years.  Her nickname was Betty, at one
    time she wanted to be either an actress or a nurse (she drove an ambulance
    during WW1), and I have several pictures of her, since she is mentioned a
    multitude of times in my book, "Invisible Stars:  A Social History of Women
    in American Broadcasting."  Despite her many important contributions to NBC
    in a number of capacities-- most of which no women had ever achieved at any
    network-- and despite her long (and from all accounts, very respected)
    tenure, when NBC submitted its history to Variety in 1956, she wasn't even
    mentioned.  Two weeks later, a letter of apology from her former PD was
    printed, and a paragraph about her achievements was added in.  Rather than
    bore everyone on the list with all sorts of things about her, and a long
    list of articles in which she was quoted, I invite the questioner to
    contact me off-list.

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 15:12:12 -0400
    From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  the 1996 Telecommunications Act

>     Did it all start with the 1996 Telecommunications Act under Clinton?
>     Or is it more complicated than that? Is there any hope of undoing this
>     sorry situation, or should we give up on traditional broadcast radio and
>     turn our hopes toward satellite radio instead?

    The "reform" Act was passed by a Republican House of Representatives & a
    Republican Senate, and signed by President Clinton on assurances from "the
    industry" that its premise, deregulation, would encourage competition and
    wider choice for consumers in the marketplace.  The opposite has happened.
    This "sorry situation" could be undone with gutsy actions on the part of
    Congress, the President, the FCC, etc. ... but I don't expect that to
    happen soon. The media oligarchs are now more influential than ever, with a
    Republican House, a Republican executive branch, and a weak (Democrat) Senate.
    By the way, I am SOOO sick of all the ills of the modern world being laid
    at Bill Clinton's door!
    I heard a talk show host on a San Diego station today tell his listeners
    that Clinton is responsible for the sex crisis in the Catholic Church. (Of
    course, under the new rules, he might have been speaking, last week, from
    Memphis or somewhere.)

    Herb Harrison

    [ADMINISTRIVIA: Ok, kids, let's take it a little easy on this, please.
    Republicans and Democrats are all dependant on industry money, so there's
    plenty of blame to spread bipartisanly.  --cfs3]

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 15:12:21 -0400
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Today in radio history

      From Those Were The Days --

    1936 - Al Jolson and Ruby Keeler starred in Burlesque on the Lux Radio
    Theatre.

    Today's birthday --

    1910 - David Rose d. Aug 23, 1990

      Joe

    --
    Visit my home page:
    [removed]~[removed]

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 15:12:31 -0400
    From: bloodbleeds@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Frances Langford Show ditto

    I too would like a bunch of these if anyone has them. Not even Frances
    herself has many
    shows these days.

    Ben

    The Great Gildersleeve book
    [removed]

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 15:12:43 -0400
    From: Jer51473@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  more offsprings of the stars

     morton downy annd jr., liz and lynn anderson, rex allen and jr., dottie west
    and daughter, alan and jack jones, jack and tim holt, steffinni zimbalist,
    alan hale and jr., roy rogers and jr., trigger and jr., and the list goes on!
    One more, lon chaney and jr.

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 15:13:21 -0400
    From: User310378@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Captain Marvel radio show and premium
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Does anyone know if there ever was a Capt. Marvel radio show produced in the
    early 1940s?  He was, of course, Fawcett Publication's answer to Superman,
    and most of us know the outcome of that battle.  But as to the radio show, I
    have a couple of early Capt. Marvel comic books, #s16 and 19 from late 1942,
    that feature notices to the kids that Capt. Marvel may soon be on the air.
    The first one, found in issue #16, tells kids to send in a preprinted coupon
    to Capt. Marvel saying they would like to hear such a show.  It includes a
    space for the kids to write the call letters of their favorite station.  The
    first 500 received get a free copy of America's Greatest Comics.

    Then, in issue #19, another notice states that thousands of kids responded
    and the free comic has been sent to the first 500 received.  Capt. Marvel
    thanked all who responded but there is no mention of the radio program.  I
    don't have any further issues of the comic during that period so don't know
    if the issue was addressed or not.  My suspicion is that the DC Comics suit
    against Fawcett and Capt. Marvel caused the idea to die on the vine, but if
    anyone has more on this subject, I would appreciate any information you have.

    As a follow-on to the above, some premium collectors have touted a compass
    ring as being a Capt. Marvel premium.  I think its because its red and gold
    in color and has a lightning bolt on the side, surely a dead giveaway.  But
    there has never been any documentation that I know of tying the ring to the
    Big Red Cheese.  Again, any help would be appreciated.

    Charles Sexton

      *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
      ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 15:13:39 -0400
    From: "Tony Bell" <t_bell61@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Dead Earnest

    I stand corrected as to the identity of the "not-so-dead" man on the
    "Suspense" episode titled "Dead Earnest"...it was indeed,as a number of
    posters pointed out, Wally Maher who played that role on at least a couple
    separate occasions, according to J. David Goldin's
    "[removed]"...Marc Stevens, who I incorrectly identified, played in
    "Tree of Life" which aired January 2, [removed] think my confusion came about
    because of a 24 show "Suspense" compilation I own in which both episodes are
    featured.

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 15:14:20 -0400
    From: "Henry R. Hinkel" <hinkel@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re:  opera plots from Dallas

    On Digest Issue #216, Robert Angus asked about:

>     ....... In the early 1950s, one of the Texas clear-channel stations
>     ---I think in Dallas---had a DJ who played classical music late
>     in the evening.  His shtick was opera, and during the program he'd
>     do a plot summary of a popular opera in a down-at-the-old corral
>     drawl which was hilarious.  ........ Can anybody help me identify
>     the station, the program, the performer? ........

    The program you remember was called -- "Reuben Reuben" (Hey Maw ... it's
    that man again), then going into theme music with the march from Carmen.
    Jay Hickerson has it listed in his book from December 1952 to March 1953 on
    NBC.

    I seem to recall it from 1954 -- but am probably wrong unless the network
    gave it another 13 weeks as a fill in.  I thought it was great.  What better
    way for a "youngster" from a mill town family to learn something about
    opera.  I must have tuned in on program #11 because it was gone in just a
    few weeks -- what a disappointment.

    I heard it on the NBC station WGY in Schenectady, NY, but it was probably on
    much longer on a local station in Texas before it made the NBC network.
    Reaching back into "the fog zone" I seem to recall the closing credits
    saying it was produced for NBC in San Antonio.  I have been looking for some
    of these shows for a long time without any success.  No one seems to know
    anything about this program.  Hopefully somebody, somewhere, may have a few
    shows "buried" in their collection.

    Hank Hinkel

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 15:15:03 -0400
    From: PURKASZ@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  RADIO HELD HOSTAGE BY GREED

        John Mayer voice his concern and disappointment about radio's current
    state for all of us.
        I quote from an article:
        June 10, 2002 issue of New York Magazine.

        Radio's almost effortless cash flow, and mom-and-pop organization
    (there were once 5,133 owners of [removed] radio stations), made it ripe
    for consolidation, which began in the mid-eighties and was mostly
    completed as soon as Congress removed virtually all ownership limits
    in 1996. A handful of companies now control nearly the entirety of
    [removed] radio, with Clear Channel and its more than 1,200 stations
    being the undisputed Death Star. (Clear Channel is also one of the
    nation's major live promoters, and uses its airtime leverage to
    force performers to use its concert services, as Britney Spears and
    others have charged.)

    Radio, heretofore ad hoc and eccentric and local, underwent a
    transformation in which it became formatted, rational, and
    centralized. Its single imperative was to keep people from moving
    the dial -- seamlessness became the science of radio.

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 16:02:55 -0400
    From: Kenneth Clarke <kclarke5@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Peg Lynch

              As I recall, she (Peg Lynch) was also a radio
    writer.  She not only starred in "The Couple Next Door"
    but was one of it's writers.  Please correct  me should
    I be wrong.

    Kenneth Clarke

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 18:44:04 -0400
    From: Tom and Susan Kleinschmidt <tomkle@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Hal Willard Information

    I was contacted yesterday by the son of Hal Willard, who was a singer on
    radio in the 1940's. He is looking for any information or programs
    featuring his father. I only had one show from 7/12/47 which has Hal
    singing songs saluting the gay 90's and got him a copy of that. He does
    have a few transcriptions from his fathers show sponsored by Carters Liver
    Pills, but no equipment to play them on. I suggested he contact the First
    Generation Radio Archives and loan the discs to them for their library and
    have them transfer them, but meanwhile he is looking for any other
    recordings. Hal's son Tom can be contacted at cootontop1@[removed] if you
    have any information or recordings on Hal Willard.

    Tom

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 19:40:31 -0400
    From: N&B Brickman <nbb@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  New Halls Of Ivy mp3 CDs

    	I posted some information a few days ago on new Halls of Ivy episodes
    that have been discovered and made available in mp3 format along with an
    improved set of the "regular" episodes on 2 CDs.  As I said at that time
    Ryan Ellett is kindly handling the distribution of the CDs, and he has
    asked me to post this message on the listserver.

    	"I am setting up a distribution for Norman's 'Halls of Ivy' 2-disk set.
    If you are interested in participating in this distribution, please
    email me at ryanellett@[removed]. The deadline for contacting me is
    Monday at noon. Not to be a jerk, but I will not respond to requests
    received after that time. Before then, send me your address and tell me
    whether you can make two copies to send to others. I will set up a
    distribution schedule so everyone can get a copy. Regards, Ryan"

    Thanks.
    	Norman Brickman

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

    Date: Sat, 15 Jun 2002 21:06:57 -0400
    From: Frank Absher <fabsher@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  radio offspring

    Isn't Mel Blanc's son doing all the Looney Toons voices now?

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #219
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