Subject: [removed] Digest V01 #150
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 5/19/2001 9:10 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                          The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                             Volume 01 : Issue 150
                       A Part of the [removed]!
                               ISSN: 1533-9289

                               Today's Topics:

     Let's Pretend                        [andy ryan <anbryan2000@[removed];  ]
     WOTW B/CASTS;BBC SHORTWAVE           ["Owens Pomeroy" <opomeroy@[removed]; ]
     Re: Radio sets                       [Bill Harris <billhar@[removed];    ]
     Re:  Radio Sets                      [Ken Dahl <kdahl@[removed];       ]
     Re: KQW-San Jose?                    [Rob Spencer <rspencer@[removed];]
     War of the Worlds                    ["Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@]
     Australian radio                     [ajhubin@[removed]                   ]
     antenna grounding                    ["Birdwalk Farms" <pheadoux@[removed]]
     Wither or whether Mutual?            ["jstokes" <jstokes@[removed];    ]
     WJJD Suppertime Frolic               ["Donald & Kathleen Dean" <dxk@nfoli]
     Re: KQW, and more on KDKA            [Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed]]
     Arlene Francis                       [Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed]]
     Radio sets(tv ready                  ["Ed Kindred" <kindred@[removed];  ]
     Re: old radio misic (sic)            [Alan Bell <bella@[removed];]
     Julius La Rosa                       ["Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];]
     Australian OTR.                      ["John A. Southard" <jsouthard@[removed]]

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 08:56:23 -0400
    From: andy ryan <anbryan2000@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Let's Pretend

    Looking for MP3 of all of the available "Let's
    Pretend" shows.
    One of my favorites, but can't find anyone offering
    them on MP3 cd.
    Please reply off-list to:

    andy ryan
    anbryan2000@[removed]
    Thanks

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 08:56:29 -0400
    From: "Owens Pomeroy" <opomeroy@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  WOTW B/CASTS;BBC SHORTWAVE

         To Fred Owens: Do not worry about performing WOTW for your school
    group.  Our OTR Club has been doing it for many years as our Haloween Theme
    Meeting. There are other clubs that use these scripts for their Meetings as
    well, as does the FOTR Convention. We also just performed a Fred Allen Show
    last Saturday Night.

    * *******************************************************************

       Your wrong, Mike. I was able to pull in the Short Wave stationd as late
    as the early Seventies until the two main tubes blew.  The antenna was
    grounded to a water pipe, an later we hopoked it up to my daughter's CB
    antenna.  Worked ...[removed] [removed]!!

    Owens Pomeroy

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 08:57:22 -0400
    From: Bill Harris <billhar@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Radio sets

    "John Sloan" <jdsloan@[removed]; wonders:

>     A lodge brother has been telling me about a radio his parents had that  had
>     a small viewing screen built in.   This screen was there so tv could be
>     added when it was available.  My question is, was there such a set or is my
>     leg being pulled.

    Some early sets of the 1930's vintage had a jack and switch on the rear
    chassis marked "television". Usually you see this feature on console
    sets which tend to have a better audio section and larger speaker than
    table models. This jack was simply an input to the audio amplifier of
    the radio. The idea being that television sets would be manufactured
    with an audio output that could be fed to the radio for better quality
    sound. If I remember correctly, I think either Zenith or Philco, maybe
    both, had plans for tv sets that would not have an audio section driving
    a speaker, but you would just feed the audio to the radio "television"
    input. This was a cost reduction feature and I am not sure if any of
    these were ever manufactured. I am currently restoring an 11 tube Zenith
    console that has such a jack and switch for that purpose.

    As far as a built in viewing screen for television, I have never heard
    of that. Perhaps what your lodge brother is referring to is a "movie
    dial" set. The dial on these sets consisted of a small translucent glass
    screen, the stations markings being on a circular celluloid strip that
    was projected onto the screen. Turning the tuning knob rotated the strip
    and the station markings would move across the screen. When the set was
    turned off, it would look much like a small tv screen. My first
    remembrances of radio was one of these console sets in our living room,
    it was an Airline.

    Bill Harris

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:01:31 -0400
    From: Ken Dahl <kdahl@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re:  Radio Sets

    I can remember in 1940 my parents purchased a floor model Philco radio.  It
    was beautiful and made of wood.  Remember real wood?  Anyway, the instruction
    book said that if TV ever made an appearance we could contact a Philco dealer
    and they would convert our radio to a TV set.  I assume they would remove the
    dial plate and insert a picture tube.  Ken Dahl

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:01:33 -0400
    From: Rob Spencer <rspencer@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: KQW-San Jose?

    SacChief@[removed] asked about KQW San Jose and its claim to have been the
    first commerical broadcast station.  You know, I had this exact same
    question myself, and this is what led me to join the Airwaves Radio Journal
    in the first place, back before the OTR Digest was even a twinkle in Bill
    Pfeiffer's eye.  My dad, who grew up in San Jose, frequently recounted the
    story of some guy named Herrold and a station that he had up an running a
    decade before KDKA.  But I could find nothing about Herrold or KQW in any
    reference work.  Thus, I asked this question of the list back on June 17,
    1994, and of the various answers I got, this was the most pertinent:

    * * *

    Subject: Re: History of broadcast radio
    From: dk@[removed] (David A. Kaye)

    Spencerob (spencerob@[removed]) wrote:

    : What's the real story on KQW?  Was it the first station to air
    : regular broadcasts?  When did it start?

    April 1, 1909, by Dr. Charles David Herrold, who owned the Herrold School,
    an electronics school in downtown San Jose.  The station was in the Garden
    State Bank building at 1st and San Fernando.  Herrold's station had many
    firsts.  The big differentiation between his station and others of the era
    was that he specifically had set it up to reach the public, not
    point-to-point (such as ship-to-shore) as others had done.  His wife was
    also the first DJ, trading records from a local store for air mentions. . .
     .
    * * *

    The whole story of "Doc" Herrold's life and work is told in a PBS
    documentary, "Broadcasting's Forgotten Father: The Charles Herrold Story",
    which was researched, produced, written, and directed by Mike Adams.  It is
    really quite a gripping tale.  I'm hoping Mike Adams is lurking somewhere
    out there, and will take over this thread with much more authority than I
    can offer.

    Rob Spencer

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:01:36 -0400
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  War of the Worlds

    David Easter, speaking of an upcoming film version of War of the Worlds
    by Pendragon Pictures, notes,

> >     This implies that Pendragon Pictures must own, at least, the screen

    [removed];<

    Possibly.  It might also be that the novel could be in the public domain.
     I doubt anyone has screen rights to, say, Hamlet or King Lear.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:01:39 -0400
    From: ajhubin@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Australian radio

    I thought someone (probably Ian Grieve) mentioned
    that a book called "Australian Radio Series 1930s to 1970s"
    had been published by Screensound and could be ordered
    from its web site ([removed]).  However, I went
    all over that site without finding any sign of such a book.  Did
    I misunderstand something?

    Al Hubin

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:01:50 -0400
    From: "Birdwalk Farms" <pheadoux@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  antenna grounding

> >     Of course, now you would need an outside (CB? HAM?) audio
> >     antenna. (In the 30's all we did was take the ground wire and attach it

    to

> >     a water pipe).

>     If a water pipe worked in the 1930's, it would work now

    'taint so, McGee

    there are at least four types of plastic plumbing in common usage now and in
    many jurisdictions there is by law a plastic section just before either the
    water meter or point of exit for the precise purpose of cutting the ground
    circuit.  Without testing even a copper water system cannot be presumes a
    good ground.

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:01:53 -0400
    From: "jstokes" <jstokes@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Wither or whether Mutual?

        Per Dick Slack, whatever did happen to Mutual?   Way back in otr, Mutual
    would tag their newscasts as the nation's largest network.   And there was
    Mutual's Game of the Day.   And The Mysterious Traveler.   The network
    flagship station was WOR in New York.
        I recall Mutual's newscasts.   They would bring many correspondents
    overseas via shortwave radio.   The reports would weave in and out.   Many
    years later, when I worked at the old WLOL-AM, then a Mutual affiliate, here
    in Minneapolis, the joke going around the studio was that all the Mutual
    overseas correspondents were actually sitting in the same announcer booth
    there in New York.
        We all figured that the "overseas correspondents" were actually sitting
    in the Mutual studio in New York.   On cue, the "overseas" reporter would
    cup his hand and move it from side to side over his mouth, giving that
    far-flung shortwave radio news sound!
        Try it!   See what I mean!
        At the time in the late 60's when I was at WLOL, there was a
    correspondent out of Washington, DC, who had several reports on EVERY Mutual
    newscast.   I can hear his voice to this day saying, "Pye Chamberlain,
    Capitol Hill."   If he got paid even a dollar for every time he was on
    Mutual -- with sometimes THREE reports per five minute newscasts -- he must
    be a multi-millionaire!
        That voice lives on, by the way, in training slidetapes and films put
    out by the army!   What the heck ever happened to him?   There is no Mutual
    station here anymore.
        Besides Pye Chamberlain, the Mutual newscasters were an interesting lot.
    I recall the lively style of Frank Singheiser (spelling), Tony Marvin
    (somewhere I have a dub of the night he was drunk during a newcast), Bill
    Stern (great, great showman.)   He gets an A+++ for his interesting style on
    the Bill Stern Sportsreel.
        Did somebody write a book on Mutual?   I would like to read it!   Years
    ago there was a news story called (no kidding!) "Who Owns Mutual?"   That
    was after 3M sold it.
        Speaking of 3M owning Mutual, I recall the zillions of Wollensak
    Recorder spots (3M product) -- "What you want is a Wollensak!"   These
    recorders were sold by the zillions and were always in the repair shop.
    The power of advertising!
        And "Scotch Brand tape" spots were in great abundance when 3M owned
    Mutual.
        KSDN, Aberdeen, SD, carried Mutual for a while.   Then my first radio
    job out of college was as a summer replacement at KWAT in Watertown.   That
    was back in the summer of 1960.   KWAT only ran the newscasts.   Game of the
    Day was a but a memory then.
        After I got out of the army (big mistake, I should have stayed in!), I
    worked for KVOX, Moorhead, Minnesota.   Again Mutual!   The station carried
    a neat late night program called "Music from Beyond the Stars."   Very well
    programmed what we used to call "light music" (which was killed by rock and
    roll, by the way).
        Anyone reading this recall what the lovely theme music was for that
    show?   I found the theme on an LP years ago, but can't recall what it was.
        Well that's enough "Mutual Memories" for now.

    :)

    Jim Stokes

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:29:27 -0400
    From: "Donald & Kathleen Dean" <dxk@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  WJJD Suppertime Frolic

    David Chamberlain of Memphis, TN posted the following  on
    the last Digest # 149.

>     I have fond memories of listening to WJJD and the "Suppertime Frolic" as
>      a youngster.  I would dearly love to have just one recording of this
>      show for reasons of nostalgia.  Could anyone direct me to a possible
>      sour for excerpts from this program or possibly a full evenings
>      program from the 40's ?  Thanks.

    David, I have a few excerpts from the "Suppertime Frolic" but it only
    runs around 10 minutes or less and the sound quality is only fair. It has
    a song by The Herrington Sisters, etc. with announcer Randy Blake (I
    believe that was his name). I too listened to this program as a youngster
    and would love to have more recordings of it also. Contact me for further
    details.
    Don Dean - N8IOJ

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 10:01:58 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: KQW, and more on KDKA

    bob wonders,

>     However, many years ago
>     there was a station with call letters KQW. It was the predecesor to KCBS-San
>     Francisco, However, I believe that KQW was licensed to San Jose and that KQW
>     used also claim credit as the first station on the air/ Anybody know anything
>     about this?

    KQW is in the same category as KDKA, WWJ, and many other pioneer stations
    -- a broadcast outlet that evolved from an experimental amateur station,
    and it very clearly pre-dates both KDKA and WWJ in experimentation with
    broadcasting. The station had its origin in the experimental work of
    Charles Herrold of San Jose, a scientist who operated the "Herrold
    College of Wireless and Engineering."

    Herrold made his first voice transmissions in the spring of 1909, using
    the self-assigned call sign of "FN." Beginning in 1912, he began
    broadcasting (without any official sanction) as "SJN," offering a regular
    -- but very limited -- schedule of voice and recorded music. Herrold's
    phonograph and records were donated by the Wiley B. Allen Company of San
    Jose, and promotional acknowledgements were given over the air. In
    addition to Herrold himself, his wife Sybil and a colleague by the name
    of Emil Portal are known to have announced these programs. Herrold's
    activities were widely reported in the Northern California newspapers,
    and he became sufficiently prominent that "public receiving sets" were
    used to recieve his broadcasts for curious headphone-wearing listeners at
    the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915.

    Herrold's amateur station was licensed by the Department of Commerce in
    1916 as 6XF, with an additional mobile transmitter licensed as 6XE, and
    programs of recorded music were presented on a regular weekly schedule.
    He was forced to close down his operations -- along with all other radio
    amateurs -- in 1917, as a result of wartime restrictions on the use of
    radio --and he resumed operations in 1919, still as 6XF/6XE. In 1921, he
    was granted a broadcast-class license as KQW. The station remains in
    operation to this day, having become KCBS in 1949. Herrold had sold the
    station in 1925, but remained active in Bay Area radio for several years
    as an engineer, advertising salesman, time broker, and occasional air
    personality. He died in 1948.

    Herrold's advocates present a very strong case for him being "the first
    broadcaster" if you define broadcasting as being the presentation of
    entertainment programs on a regularly-scheduled basis. There is ample
    documentation in the regional press that Herrold and his associates were
    doing this between 1912 and 1917.

    It has been argued by KDKA advocates that true "broadcasting" could not
    exist until ready-made radio sets were being sold to the general public.
    This is a clear case of special pleading. Plans and parts for building
    home-brew receivers were widely available in the pre-war era, and radio
    was well on its way to becoming a mainstream hobby before 1917. This
    argument also glosses over the fact that even though the marketing of
    ready-made sets for broadcast listening began on a very limited basis by
    Westinghouse in 1920, the use of such sets was far outweighed by
    home-brew equipment thruout the first half of the 1920s. It wasn't until
    1924-25 that ready-made receiving equipment made any real impression on
    the public -- the radio craze of 1921-23 was fueled all-but-entirely on
    home-brew equipment constructed by "amateurs." In other words, attempts
    to define the beginning of broadcasting by drawing a sharp line in 1920
    between the end of the "amateur" era and the beginning of the "broadcast"
    era are both arbitrary and artificial.

    As another aside on this debate, a distinction should be made between
    "commercial" licenses and "standard broadcast" licenses, because they
    were not the same thing. The license issued to KDKA in 1920 was a
    "Limited Commercial" license, and it was *not* the first "Limited
    Commercial" radio license to be issued by the Bureau of Navigation. This
    classification dated back to 1912, and "Commercial" in the sense that it
    was used here has nothing whatsoever to do with "commerical
    broadcasting." It refers to the use of radio for business purposes, such
    as in ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship communications. Many such licenses
    had been issued by the DOC to shipping companies, and in fact KDKA's call
    letters fall within the sequence of call signs assigned to shore-to-ship
    stations during late 1920. Westinghouse made no secret of the fact that
    it intended to use this license for broadcasting purposes -- but
    nevertheless, it was in no sense specifically designated as a
    "broadcasting" license.

    The "broadcast service" as a category of license **did not exist until it
    was formally created by the Department of Commerce on December 1, 1921**
    -- this was a Limited Commercial class license with a rider restricting
    the licensee to operation on specified wavelengths of 360 or 485 meters,
    for broadcasting of "news, concerts, lectures, and like matter." While
    several broadcasters operating prior to this date had operated on 360,
    and Westinghouse's WBZ in Springfield had actually been assigned to use
    this wavelength in September of 1921, the first license to specify an
    operating wavelength for broadcast use -- it wasn't until this December
    1921 action that the Government actually took the first formal step
    toward creating a "broadcast band." (For the record, the first license
    assigned after this change took place was to the Portable Wireless
    Telephone Company in Stockton, California for station KWG. Charles
    Herrold received his broadcast license for KQW on December 9th.) It
    wasn't until 1922 that the Department of Commerce began to file
    broadcasting stations seperately from "coast stations" in its records,
    and it wasn't until 1922 that broadcasting under an amateur-class license
    was offically prohibited.

    There are carefully-documented accounts of the evolution of the broadcast
    service at Thomas White's U. S. Early Radio History website,
    [removed]~whitetho/, including reproductions of original
    government source materials. KDKA's own 1920 record card is especially
    interesting: the only references to "broadcasting" on the original card
    are brief notations at the top and bottom -- which look like they might
    have been added as afterthoughts.

    Elizabeth

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 16:56:14 -0400
    From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];
    To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Arlene Francis

    Jim Cox writes graciously about one of my favorite performers, Arlene
    Francis. She deservedly commands respect for her participation in radio,
    theater, television, and the movies. I remember a discussion two years ago
    in this forum about  Arlene's participation on a talk show.  The poster
    stated that Arlene spoke disparagingly of the late  Dorothy  Kilgallen when
    the interview was over.

    I rose to Arlene's defense.  Even in her autobiography, written with friend
    Florence Rome, she doesn't denigrate Kilgallen.  They were both on
    television's "What's My Line" and were frequently compared. But what
    emerges most about Arlene is her kindness and compassion. She visited
    Portland, Oregon, in the late seventies, and made a speech to a group of
    Rotarians and Kiwanians. She was a "class act" to her core; no
    self-obsession (quite the opposite) and no pretense.  Everyone discovered
    her to be warm and cordial.

    I believe Jim Cox would agree that her finest hour is now.  Even though
    suffering a debilitating illness, she is participating in an Artworks
    program,  and some of  her paintings (which are part of her therapy) have
    been placed on view. Once again, she has proved that she has tremendous
    heart and spirit.

    Dennis Crow

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 17:32:11 -0400
    From: "Ed Kindred" <kindred@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Radio sets(tv ready

    In the late 40's early 50's, maybe Summer of 1950 Simmon's Electric Company
    in Phoenix advertised Packard Bell Consoles with the opening for TV when it
    became available. Phoenix was not the sixth largest city in the US then,
    maybe 100th and was late in the TV game. KPHO was the only channel (they
    called them channels then) and featured programming from the four major TV
    networks ABC,CBS,NBC and Dumont. The TV's that were offered initially
    featured round tubes of 7" and for the extremely wealthy the massive drum
    roll please  10" screen.
    Ed Kindred

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

    Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 19:04:27 -0400
    From: Alan Bell <bella@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: old radio misic (sic)

    "Birdwalk Farms" <pheadoux@[removed]; wrote

>     radio 1530  W???  uses the 'music of your life format and is now mixing such
>     things as 'Under the Boardwalk' and some of the Elvis ballads mixed in with
>     Peggy Lee and Glenn Miller.

>     My first reaction was surprise, second was this might gain some younger
>     audience and help keep the older cuts spinning.

    Uhh, "younger" audience? You mean those under 80? I don't know how to
    break this to you, but those of us who listened to Under the
    Boardwalk and Elvis in our youth are well into our 50s.

    But hey, thanks for the compliment. I usually have to go visit my
    parents--who ARE in their 80s--to hear someone call ME young.
    --
    Alan Bell
    Grandville, MI
    bella@[removed]

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

    Date: Sat, 19 May 2001 01:03:11 -0400
    From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Julius La Rosa

    Does any one have information on other radio shows that Julius La Rosa
    worked on besides Godfrey?  I am in the process in putting together my notes
    for my interview of Julius La Rosa for this Sunday on YUSA, Walden.

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

    Date: Sat, 19 May 2001 01:03:14 -0400
    From: "John A. Southard" <jsouthard@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Australian OTR.

    My name is John and I have been reading the Digest for a year now and enjoy
    it very much. My background is in teaching history at high school and
    college level. I have been collecting OTR for about thirty years. I recently
    purchased a MP3 CD on E-bay of the Fat Man radio program. I knew immediately
    from the music and the voice that this was not the Fat Man program I knew.
    The lead actor was not J. Scott Smart. I believe it is the Australian
    version.  That is all right because there are few of the Smart programs
    available. What I would like to know is who played Brad Runyon in Australia,
    and did they use American scripts?
    John Southard     jsouthard@[removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V01 Issue #150
    *******************************************

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