Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #96
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 3/2/2003 4:03 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2003 : Issue 96
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Vintage Radios                        [ William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed]; ]
      Beware the spark                      [ Richard Carpenter <sinatra@ragingbu ]
      APEX 1100W DVD                        [ Paulurbahn@[removed] ]
      The Lone Ranger's Real Name           [ "Jim Nixon" <ranger6000@[removed] ]
      Peggy Ann Garner                      [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
      talk radio                            [ "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed]; ]
      Mae West radio scandal                [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
      March 2nd Birthdays                   [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      radio talk shows                      [ Donna Halper <dlh@[removed]; ]
      Re: Los What?                         [ Michael Shoshani <shoshani@[removed] ]
      KDKA Talk Show                        [ "rcg" <revrcg@[removed]; ]
      Tuning In Yesterday                   [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      Shirer as reporter                    [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
      NTR                                   [ lawrence albert <albertlarry@yahoo. ]
      Entertainment today and Yesterday     [ "Nichole Baxter" <lovingchrist19@ho ]

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

    Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 20:25:31 -0500
    From: William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Vintage Radios

    I have been reading with interest regarding the restoration of vintage
    radios and the condenser problems, bringing back memories. During my high
    school years (I graduated in 1933) I had become interested  in the
    legitimate theater and was the lighting director for a local little
    theater (our star actor was a young Cleveland architect by the name of
    Louis VanRooten). The husband of one of our members had opened a local
    radio repair shop and was dabbling in sound systems, which intrigued me,
    so I got involved with his operation. I would regularly  ride along with
    him on his radio service calls, and although I was not interested in that
    end of  the business I learned a lot about radio circuits. My home town,
    Chagrin Falls (just East of Cleveland), had quite severe winters at that
    time. Consequently the many affluent residents would close up their homes
    and head for their Florida residences for the winter months, leaving
    behind their unheated homes and their expensive big console radios. When
    they returned my friend Howard was flooded with service calls. I would
    accompany him, quite often getting excused from high school.  What was
    the problem usually? You guessed it, shorted condensers. The 110 volt
    house current fed through a "power" transformer that had two windings, a
    low voltage winding that fed usually six volts to the tube filaments, and
    a high voltage winding that fed through a rectifier tube (usually an '80)
    to deliver  direct current voltage to the "plates" of the tubes by-passed
    with filter condensers, usually 8mfd electrolytics. The coupling
    condensers were paper, rated at several hundred volts. Also there were
    mica condensers. I think they were used for "by-pass".

    Many moons have passed but think my memory is correct.

    Bill Murtough

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

    Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 20:25:51 -0500
    From: Richard Carpenter <sinatra@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Beware the spark

      Discussion of repairing old-fashioned radios has
    inspired me to mention that whether radios or other
    electronic devices are old or new, beware of static
    electricity. Sparks from my hand killed a very nice
    modern radio of mine yesterday. And a  couple of
    months ago, static electricity destroyed some of the
    controls on my Rio Volt (fortunately, I can access
    them through the remote control). Good advice, which I
    obviously have not heeded, is to touch something
    metallic and discharge any static electricity before
    approaching your beloved electronic devices.

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

    Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 20:26:08 -0500
    From: Paulurbahn@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  APEX 1100W DVD

    I know this is a little off subject but I need help and I know quite a few
    people on this list have purchased the cheap APEX 1100W DVD machines from
    WAL-MART because they play MP3 audio files.
    I can't figure out what numbers to program into my RCA Remote to work the DVD
    player. The remote that comes with the player works but the buttons are small.
    If anyone uses a remote (other than the APEX one) with this player please
    email me your code numbers (privately) so I can try them.
    Thanks!
    Paul Urbahns
    paulurbahn@[removed]

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

    Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 20:27:29 -0500
    From: "Jim Nixon" <ranger6000@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  The Lone Ranger's Real Name
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    In reply to Rick Keating, who muses about the origin of the name "John Reid"
    and how it got tagged to The Lone Ranger, I can tell you that Fran Striker, as
    Anthony Tollin correctly pointed out, never intended that the Ranger have a
    first name.  As far as I know, "John Reid" as the Ranger's full name first
    appeared in David Rothel's book.  And of course, once something appears in
    print from someone who knows as much about the program as David, others, most
    notably John Dunning, pick it up and report it as gospel, and so it
    proliferates until it becomes accepted, even though it isn't true.
        That said, there is quite a bit of uncertainty surrounding the name Reid
    as applied to the Ranger.  Yes, Fran Striker, in the radio series when the
    Ranger finds his nephew in 1943, reveals that Reid is the masked man's last
    name.  But Dave Holland, with help from Terry Salomonson, in his book "From
    Out of the Past", tells us that Ernie Winstanley swore on a stack of bibles
    that he played the young Dan Reid character during the 1930's, and that Dan
    was the Ranger's nephew then.  The Green Hornet, with hero Britt Reid, debuted
    on WXYZ in January, 1936, and John Todd, who played Tonto on the Ranger, took
    occasional turns as old "Dan Reid", Britt's father, during the program.  John
    Dunning goes on to tell us that a young Dan Reid appeared on the Ranger
    program during that period, which supports Ernie Winstanley's version.
    However, none of the script synopses that Terry Salomonson meticulously
    prepared for his "Lone Ranger Log" mentions young Dan during this time.  Also,
    Dick Osgood, in his book "Wyxie Wonderland", states that one time when Earle
    Graser was trying to get management to grant him a salary increase, H. Allen
    Campbell, who negotiated these matters for George Trendle, said to Graser, "We
    might even have him (The Lone Ranger) die and his nephew could take his
    place-the kid, Dan Reid."  Sadly, we do not have transcriptions of the Ranger
    until early in 1938, so we don't know the full story.  But it seems strange
    that Fran Striker would wait until 1943 to detail the connection between the
    two characters if it was so well established from earlier programs.
        If anyone has some additional information they'd like to contribute, it
    would be very welcome.

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    Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 20:27:45 -0500
    From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Peggy Ann Garner

    Hi Everybody, the last coupled of days I been receiving email question about
    Peggy Ann Garner.  Asking about what happen to her career, did she do
    commercials?  Frank Bresee believe she pass away a few years ago.  I recall
    that she did a Screen Guild Radio Theater with Barbara Whiting base on JR
    Miss on 9-30-46, and I believe she was on the command Performances show with
    Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby four boys, Elizabeth Taylor.  Nancy Sinatra had a
    picture of that show and ask me to help pin point the show.  She remember
    going to the radio studio with her dad that day.  So if any one could come
    up with a little history of Peggy, I would enjoy reading it, and pass it
    along.  Take care,

    Walden Hughes

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

    Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 20:27:51 -0500
    From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  talk radio

    Hi Everybody, I believe the first talk Radio station was KABC around 1960.
    So we could say that format was part of the tail end of Golden Days of
    Radio.  People who live in the [removed] area could help give us some more
    background on those earlier days.  I understand in the mid 1960s that Pamela
    Mason was a host on the air.  George Putnum who started in radio 1934 move
    to NBC of NY in 1939, and was the host of the Army hour is is a talk show
    host two hours a day now over at KPLS in Orange County 5 days a week. George
    started his talk radio format in 1974.  Ray Bream who started his career in
    radio 1945 and was a host of the Breakfast Club when Don was on vacation one
    time, had a long career over 30 years as probably the first over night host
    for 30 years on KABC.  I believe Ray show is not on the air right now over
    KRLA.  He was doing a Sunday even show for a while over at KRLA on Sunday
    evening that was running in to last year.  I know that Larry King radio
    career started in 1957, but I do not know when he started his radio talk
    show in Miami.  Take care,

    Walden Hughes

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

    Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 20:28:11 -0500
    From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Mae West radio scandal

    I know I am a little late, but as requested and promised about three weeks
    ago, the article about Mae West and the Charlie McCarthy scandal from 1938
    is now on-line (thanks to Terry Salmonson).

    The web-site for anyone who wants to check it out is:
    [removed]

    Terry has been archiving various bits of info and articles I wrote in the
    past for his "articles" page and there will be many more added as the months
    pass.

    Also of interest (just archived on the site this weekend):

    1. A short history and broadcast log for the first season of GANGBUSTERS
    (also known as G-MEN during the first few weeks).
    2. An article and episode guide for the 17 "lost" episodes of THE CAVALCADE
    OF AMERICA - very important - if anyone can help solve this mystery, do
    contact me or the web-site owner!
    3. Trivia about INNER SANCTUM MYSTERY from my INNER SANCTUM book (which is
    due to arrive within the next couple weeks, thankfully).

    Hope the article about Mae West sheds insight to a popular recording rarely
    covered from the production and media end, most notably from Arch Oboler who
    wrote the script.

    Martin Grams, Jr.

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

    Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 20:28:20 -0500
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  March 2nd Birthdays

    If you born on March 2nd, you share your birthday with:

    1917 - Desi Arnaz - Santiago, Cuba
    1919 - Jennifer Jones - Tulsa, Oklahoma

    Ron Sayles
    Milwaukee, Wisconsin
    Make your day, listen to an Olde Tyme Radio Program

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

    Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 21:34:57 -0500
    From: Donna Halper <dlh@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  radio talk shows

    it was asked:

>     Listening to KDKA talk shows of the 70's and 80's it was sometimes

    0>mentioned that a version of a talk show was heard there but was only one

>     way.  I got the impression it was on in the 50;s at least and perhaps even
>     the 40's.  It was said that a caller could not be put on air as it broke
>     some FCC rule.  The host, Windy someone as I recall, would converse with
>     the caller and provide enough information so the listeners could follow the
>     conversation.  The show might have had "Party" as part of the name.

    Well there was a rule about "point to point communication" but I think this
    was also about technology-- the experts on this list will undoubtedly
    correct me, but I recall articles from the 40s and 50s wherein it was said
    that putting a caller on the air really sounded horrible-- there was just
    no easy way to make it sound as if the person were right there in the
    studio, so people trying to do talk back then would re-state what the
    caller had said.  The show to which you refer was "Party Line", I
    believe.  A husband and wife, Ed and Wendy King, hosted it.

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

    Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 21:34:26 -0500
    From: Michael Shoshani <shoshani@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Los What?

    Jim Alton wrote:

>     In OTR shows the announcer and/or actor pronounces Los Angeles with a hard G
>     and indeed, I remember friends of ours who visited us in the summer from Los
>     Angeles when I was a kid -- truly a kid -- did so.  However today and
>     beginning about fifty years ago, the common pronunciation is Los Angeles with
>     a soft G.   How did this occur and when and why?

    It's not just the hard G versus soft G, but also the final vowel and
    consonant. Modern pronunciation is "loss ANN-jell-iss", but most OTR
    announcers I have heard say "lohs ANN-geh-leez".

    Michael Shoshani
    Chicago IL

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

    Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 22:47:47 -0500
    From: "rcg" <revrcg@[removed];
    To: "Otr Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  KDKA Talk Show

    There have been a couple of posts regarding a talk show heard on KDKA
    Pittsburgh many years ago.
    The program started sometime in the 1940's, was broadcast in a late night
    time slot after the 11 PM news, and was called "Party Line". It was hosted
    by Ed King and his wife Wendy.

    Because the caller's comments were not heard, Ed  would have to repeat
    everything that they said in addition to his own comments. I don't know, nor
    do I care, why the caller's could not be heard but, I can say this. Because
    of that format, the show was extremely boring and tedious. But, it had a big
    audience because it was on KDKA. Most of the other AM stations in Pittsburgh
    transmitted such a weak signal at night that listening to them was akin to
    hearing an out of town station. KDKA was definately "top dog" at the time.

    Ed King was very beloved in Pittsburgh. He passed away several years ago. As
    far as I know, Wendy is still alive and residing in Western Pennsylvania.

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

    Date: Sat, 1 Mar 2003 22:48:15 -0500
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Tuning In Yesterday

    There has been some discussion about OTR and old radios.  There are two
    approaches to doing this.

    One is to "modify" the radio.  If there is enough space in the cabinet of
    an older radio, a tape or CD player could be added.  The audio output
    lines to the speaker could be attached so that one of them could be on
    one pole of a SPDT (or DPDT if you want to use both poles) switch, with
    the other -- old radio -- output line(s) on the other pole(s).  Switched
    one way, the radio would feed to the speaker; the other way, the player.
    (I'd include a simple diagram, but the mailing won't accept it.)  As long
    as the speaker uses a permanent magnet, the result would be easy.

    If the radio still works, it's possible to find or build a "phono
    oscillator."  The phono oscillator is a tiny AM transmitter that can
    broadcast to very nearby radios.  With a phono oscillator and a working
    Old Radio, one can come closest to duplicating for the radio, an OTR
    environment.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 17:49:53 -0500
    From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Shirer as reporter

    OK, I am going to have to bite at my friend, Chris Chandler's carrot on his
    assessment of William L. Shirer as radio reporter.

    Chris says that he finds "Shirer one of the more boring radio reporters I
    ever heard."  Though he defends his statement, I think one first of all has
    to look at Shirer as "on-air personality."  In the current scheme of news
    reporting - [removed] news reporter as entertainer (A trend I deplore - why is
    it we feel we have to be entertained by our reporters?), certainly Shirer's
    delivery could be deemed "boring."  But one has to look beyond delivery at
    content.

    For this, Chris attempts to defend with "where NBC's Berlin correspondents
    Charles Lanius and Theodore Knaut infuse their work with military
    communiques, anecdotes on wartime life, little sidebars quite capable of
    grabbing your attention, Shirer by and large does little more than
    regurgitate supper club gossip and Berlin newspaper editorials."

    But you need to really listen to a lot of Shirer's broadcasts to realize
    this was not the case. True, there were slow days and we do not have the
    luxury currently of truly comparing side by side on a day to day listening
    since there is much more of Shirer's broadcasts available compared to many
    of the NBC reporters Chris mentions.  Shirer's writing was quite superb and
    is "infused" much more with a sense of history than much of what I hear
    from the other reporters. For example, at Compiegne on June 21, 1940,
    Shirer broadcasts : "Here a few feet from where we're standing, in the very
    same old wagon-lit railroad coach where the Armistice was signed on that
    chilly morning at 5 [removed] on November 11, 1918, negotiations for another
    armistice, the one to end the present war between France and Germany, began
    at 3:30 [removed] German summer time this afternoon."  Here is a print journalist
    at his finest in a broadcast medium.

    Backing up in time, on Sept. 3, 1939: "The world war is on. The newsboys
    have ceased shouting it. The radio, too, because now the radio is playing a
    stirring piece from the Fourth Symphony of Beethoven. Sometimes the music
    stops and the proclamations which the German Fuhrer issued at noon today
    are re-read - his proclamations to the East Army, to the Army of the West,
    to the German people and last of all, to his own party, the National
    Socialist German Worker's Party, to give it its full name. Then the music
    goes on and people huddle close to their sets for the next piece of news
    that this tragic day of September 3, 1939, may bring."

    Again, excellent writing with a sense of history behind it.

    Finally, from September 24th, 1939 on the battle in Poland: "And all
    through the battle  you got the impression of the German army moving with
    machine-like precision, like a steamroller, but a fast one. Not the
    slightest sign of strain or excitement among the German officers at our
    observation post. They reminded me of the coaches of a championship
    football team who sit calmly on the sidelines and watch the machine they've
    created do its stuff."

    There are many more examples, but the issue is that one needs to see Shirer
    in print to really appreciate the power of his words. From the perspective
    of the broadcast journalist of today, the delivery is slow, his voice not
    very attractive. But from the perspective of 1938-1940, his words were (and
    are) powerful.

    I have seen a number of CBS-reporter bashings in this digest in the past.
    Yes, CBS did have a rather high opinion of their news department. They had
    probably a better PR machine than did the other networks. But like a number
    of other journalists from the other networks, they had a larger group of
    reporters with a truer sense of history of events in my opinion. I like Max
    Jordan, I like Fred Bate (both of NBC). As reporters they were excellent.
    But when I look at broadcast journalism from the power of the word - I
    think CBS' reporters had it hands down. I think CBS knew this and
    understood the historical significance much much better and earlier on.

    When Shirer quoted the newspapers he had a purpose - not just to
    regurgitate printed news, as Chris implies, but rather to report on that
    which the common German citizen saw and read and how stilted and incorrect
    it was. For me, Shirer was telling us, this is what they read (German
    citizen's information sources were limited) and how they reacted based upon
    this "propaganda."  Shirer was an ardent anti-Nazi in a Nazi world. I think
    the German High Command knew this as well as Shirer. He was closely watched
    yet he tried constantly to get his opinion heard. It wasn't easy.

    Jim Widner
    jwidner@[removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 17:51:35 -0500
    From: lawrence albert <albertlarry@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  NTR

>     With the Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound promotion of
>     Imagination Theatre being new time radio's longest
>     running weekly dramatic show, I did a little digging.

>     Unshackled, still being produced and running to this
>     day, began in 1950.
>     Adventures in Odyssey began national distribution in
>     Jan 1987.

     Good point, however I'm willing to bet that
    Imagination Theatre is the longest running NTR show
    being produced under a commercial contract with AFTRA,
    the performers union, originally AFRA, that most of
    OTR actors were members of. Adventures in Odyssey,
    which my daughter loves, only recently signed a
    contract with the union. So I guess that gives us some
    sort of weird distinction. But since this is a site
    for OTR it really doesn't matter.
                        Larry Albert

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

    Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 17:52:12 -0500
    From: "Nichole Baxter" <lovingchrist19@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Entertainment today and Yesterday
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from text/html

    This is probably a mute point im sure but ive gotta get it off my chest
    so-to [removed] anybody realized today that we close our eyes to, what 80
    years ago, people in radio land would have vetoed out of the Viewing (or
    listening) public? We watch tv today, and i dont have WB so i didnt get a
    chance too watch the Lone Ranger, [removed] if we think about it, from the
    reviews ive [removed] In the days of Jack Benny, when the sketch "Adam and
    Eve" Was 'Too Hot For Radio",why do we make apologies for what the
    broadcasting does too good solid entertainment of yester year? If it was
    good for one generation, couldnt it be good for another generation? [removed]
    times change!But have they changed so drastically that PG13 is just the
    same as G?I was watching TV, and a movie tonight. And i couldnt help but
    think about the differences and couldnt help but want a little [removed]
    the polls prooved yet that people want more clean entertainment? Offical
    polls have been given. And in the long run, family movies get the best
    [removed] 20 years old and have been intrested in Radio since i was 10. If
    im just babbling [removed] but i just had to make a [removed] funny what we
    refused too close our eyes too how many years ago was it? And [removed] when
    there's a movie out that shows a little more than what we like we just
    close our eyes too?Whats wrong with going back too the 1930's era?When
    the Lone Ranger was just that! The Lone Ranger!

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    End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #96
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