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

[removed] Digest				Volume 96 : Issue 284

Table Of Contents: 

	 KFI, Los Angeles
	 Re: Clear Channel
	 Clear Channels in New York
	 Re: Earl C. Anthony
	 WWW Page Progress Update
	 Amos' Wedding
	 AM at night
	 OTR [removed]
	 Radio shows on the Web
	 Re:UNSUBSCRIBE
	 Box 13

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

Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 08:59:18 -0400
From: "Michael A. Carraher" <carraher@[removed]>
To: <[removed]@[removed]>
Subject: KFI, Los Angeles
Message-Id: <m0urOXz-000473C@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

>Now, in the 90s NBC radio is essentially dead.

NBC Radio is dead.
In the 80's, NBC's parent company RCA was acquired by GE and GE opted to
get out of radio.
All of NBC's owned and operated stations were sold (WNBC, New York --
originally WEAF, WMAQ, Chicago, WRC, Washington, WKYC, Cleveland, and KNBR,
San Francisco).
NBC ceased radio news operations and sold to Westwood One the right to use
the name "NBC Radio Network."  Westwood One also operates Mutual Radio and
various news and programming services.  It currently has an operating
agreement with CBS/Group W/Infinity (or whatever it will be called when the
dust settles).  Westwood also acquired a second radio network, The Source,
from GE.
Westwood also acquired the right to use audio pick-ups from NBC News but
appears to do so little any more.  Mostly they use sound bites and voice
reports from their own operation (as does Mutual).  In effect, Westwood --
like ABC -- provides multiple news "networks."  The same operation produces
all the news programs -- only the announcers and writing style vary (and
that, not a great deal).
KFI and NBC Hollywood were separate operations.  Like other NBC affiliates,
KFI cleared NBC programs during what was then known as network option time.
 During other periods, KFI broadcast local programs, although KFI
maintained a strong NBC on-air identity so whether a program was network or
local may not have been clear to most listeners.
NBC's Pacific Network was based in San Francisco.  When the predecessor to
the NBC Red Network was set-up in the 20's by AT&T, it was believed that
San Francisco would be the center for West Coast broadcasting.  San
Francisco at the time was a much larger city and was the cultural and
business center (location of corporate headquarters) of the region.  In
addition, the early network set-up -- following AT&T's long distance lines
-- ran from the East to San Francisco and then up and down the coast.  When
NBC was formed (AT&T, GE and Westinghouse formed RCA with NBC as subsidiary
in 1927), the Western Division was based in San Francisco and that is where
NBC had its owned and operated stations.  A few years later, West Coast
broadcasting shifted to LA to take advantage of the talent pool in the film
community and Earl C. Anthony was already in place.
For reasons not clear, NBC allowed Anthony to remain (other broadcasters
NBC and its chairman, David Sarnoff, considered in the way were made
"offers they could not refuse").
KFI was not the NBC Flag Station.  NBC Red programs did not originate at
KFI. NBC broadcast from its studios at Hollywood and Vine.  (In contrast to
New York and Chicago in which one operation served network and local
broadcasts).
It should be noted that NBC did have an owned and operated station in LA. 
The flag station for the NBC Blue Network, which now operates as KABC.

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

Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 10:01:19 -0400
From: Udmacon@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Clear Channel
Message-ID: <960816100117_180400356@[removed]>

I'm a bit confused; on the Grand Ole Opry Fri and Sat nights the announcers
quite often refer to "Clear channel 650, WSM, Nashville Tennessee."

Incidentally, WSM-AM is now also on a sattelite! Now THAT's clear channel!

Ignominiously, Cincinnati's WCKY is now down in the 500s on the dial at a
puny 5,000 watts or so.

Are there any Mexican border blasters on the air anymore?

BILL KNOWLTON, "BLUEGRASS RAMBLE", WCNY-FM, SYRACUSE NY

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

Date: 16 Aug 96 10:16:12 EDT
From: "Robert I. Scherago" <[removed]@[removed]>
To: Old Time Radio <[removed]@[removed]>
Subject: Clear Channels in New York
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

On August 15th, Andy Blatt wrote:
In NYC:  we have several clear channels stations:

>660 WFAN (formerly WNBC, WEAF, WRCA)
>710  WOR
>770 WABC (in the early days of radio, this was
>known as WCBS)
>1010 WINS (directional) may not have
>always been clear channel.

Actually, 770, WABC war originally WJZ.
WCBS was/is another clear channel
station at 880.

I lived in the New York area in the 50's, and 
at that time the call letters were as follows:

I believe, from my feeble memory, that WNBC
(660), WJZ (later WABC 770) and WCBS (880)
were the only clear channel stations in New
York; that is, the only stations with exclusive
rights to their frequencies at night. 

WABC was told years ago by the FCC that
it was not a clear-channel station, and must
use a directional antenna to protect another 
50KW station. WABC refused and challenged
the FCC for years - I don't know if it was ever
resolved.

WINS, WOR, WMGM (nee and later
WHN) were 50 KW, but shared the nighttime
air with at least one other 50 KW station.
There were many of these around the country
where two 50 KW stations would be non-
directional daytime, and go directional at
night to protect each others signal.
(These would be listed as 50KW DA-N;
a station with two different directional patterns
for day and night would be DA-2).

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

Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 10:51:23 -0400
From: GOpp@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Earl C. Anthony
Message-ID: <960816105122_180431107@[removed]>

>Arthur asked me to post a few questions in case someone out there in the
>cyberspace ether might have info he needs for his book; so here goes:
> . . . 
>3/ Why 2 non-operational radio towers were designed for and built on top of
>the San Francisco Anthony Packard dealership? Were these intened for a
>station that was never started?
>
>Ken G.

Hi, Ken.  

I've got the answer to one of Arthur's questions:

"One of the prevailing attitudes at all of the Don Lee stations was the 
fierce sense of competition between Don Lee and Earl C. Anthony. Like 
Lee, Anthony was the Packard distributor with locations in San Francisco 
and Los Angeles. And, he also invested in radio with his two Los Angeles 
stations, KFI and 
KECA. Of course, the feeling of competition wasn't as fierce in San 
Francisco as it was at KHJ, but it was still very much a factor. The most 
glaring reminder of Anthony's competition was his auto dealership, 
located almost directly across the street from the Don Lee Building, in 
an empressive edifice with marble 
columns. The competition was so intense that, because KFRC's antenna was 
atop the Don Lee Building, Anthony had to have one on top of HIS 
building! Thus, a giant radio antenna was constructed, and the letters 
"KFI" mounted on the towers. Of course, there was no station attached to 
the antenna, but it was a fine antenna."

"Paul C. Smith, later a broadcast arts instructor at the California State 
University at San Francisco, told an interesting anecdote in connection 
with the dummy antenna. In his early teens he had become fascinated 
by radio, and had just finished a tour of the KFRC facility when he 
spotted the Anthony towers. He crossed the street to the showroom and 
asked to see the radio station that was attached to the towers. The 
salesman on the floor smiled and said, "I'll show you what's attached to 
those towers". He led Smith up the grand mezzanine staircase and to the 
back of the building. He showed Smith into an office where a wire 
protruded from the wall and led to the back of a little Remler Scotty 
radio. "But the sign says KFI", Smith protested. "Right", said the 
salesman, "and it picks up KFI really well!" (The KFRC antenna was 
dismantled in 1958, when the transmitter was moved to Islais Creek. But, 
the KFI towers stayed until 1972. It was ironic that the last of the 
scores of old-style T-type antennas once scattered about San Francisco 
was the only one never actually used for broadcasting.)"

- From THE HISTORY OF KFRC 
SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA 
AND THE DON LEE NETWORKS 
by John F. Schneider, 1996 
Seattle, Washington

I got the above-quoted material off of John Schneider's web page.  Here's 
the URL:

                     [removed]~rfs

John's web page is full of fascinating articles about early radio, 
particularly in San Francisco, and also has some great downloadable rare 
photographs, including a nice shot of Mr. Anthony's twin radio towers!

------
NEW SUBJECT

I've been looking high and low for a "44" mike with a CBS flag on it for 
the "radio comedy" display case in the "Lucy" exhibit that I'm helping 
the San Francisco Airports Commission put on in the SFO South Terminal 
Gallery this October (running through next January).  Ken Ackerman 
offered to lend me a microphone, but the CBS flag was harder to come by.  
Yesterday I went over to CBS and asked for their help.  Guess what the 
Assistant Director of Technical Operations had sitting on his desk.  A 
CBS flag for a "44" mike!  Problem solved.

Take care.

- Gregg Oppenheimer
----------------------------------------------------------
Laughs, Luck . . . and Lucy: 
How I Came to Create the Most Popular Sitcom of All Time
By Jess Oppenheimer, with Gregg Oppenheimer 
Syracuse University Press - Oct. 1996 (ISBN # 0-8156-0406-8)
Hardcover/280 [removed]$[removed] - includes 65-min. CD of Lucy's radio 
performances
"A must for radio buffs" - Ralph Edwards / "Thoroughly enjoyable" - 
Leonard Maltin
----------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 11:14:48 -0500
From: Lou Genco <lgenco@[removed]>
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: WWW Page Progress Update
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Visitors to the Original Old-Time Radio WWW pages may have noticed few if
any changes over the past few weeks.  Coincidentally, as Bill was moving the
OTR Digest to a new site, I too had started to move the [removed] domain
to a new provider, and have been busy updating things at the -new- old-time
site (is that an oxymoron)?

The changeover should be transparent to the casual visitor.  The old site
will remain active until after the switchover, the URL will remain the same
([removed]), the pages will appear very similar, but the
response time should be improved.  For some reason, even the soundbytes seem
to sound better at the new site.

Current status:  all files successfully cloned to the new site.  We are now
awaiting the InterNIC to "push the button" that does the switchover
(something like changing one's phone number).  Hopefully this will happen by
the end of the month, and y'all will be able to enjoy some real Texas
hospitality at the new site.
 
With all this preparation for the switch, I'm sure nothing can go wrong ...
nothing can go wrong ...  nothing can go wrong ...  nothing can go wrong ...
nothing can go wrong ...  nothing can go wrong ...  nothing can go wrong ...
[aaaak!]


Lou
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WWW page on "Old Time Radio":                   [removed]
------------------------------------------------------------------------

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

Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 16:26:52 GMT
From: j_jake_g@[removed] (James J. Gray)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Amos' Wedding
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>

Does anyone out there have an Amos 'n' Andy show entitled "Amos' Wedding". 
The show aired December 25th, 1935.  I have an original script from that
show, but I do not have that particular show.  The script says it is
episode 2225.   
 
The script apparently was mailed out to a limited number of listeners, and
had never been done before.  My mother was one of those listeners to
receive the script.  I happened to find it while rummaging around thru some
boxes of books and papers on her attic back in Pennsylvania earlier this
summer.  See says there is lots of other stuff up there, I just have to
come home more often and find it. 
 
I have typed out the text of the script on the computer to share with those
who are interested, so if anyone would like, I will email them a copy.  

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

Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 09:27:22 -0700 (PDT)
From: roy547@[removed] (Roy Trumbull)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: AM at night
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Length:       1195

The propagation of radio signals has always been 1 part
science to 1 part mystery. Ground conductivity plays
a large part in it and we have reasonable math for making
[removed] to a point. There is evidence that
underground strata may play a role. Engineers all have stories
of antenna patterns which work on paper but not in fact.

Directional antennas produce some interesting results. KCBS,
San Francisco was once KQW licensed to San Jose. When they
went to 50,000 watts they had to provide a certain signal
level to San Jose. They were on 740 and were protecting a
station to the north. Their night pattern, from Novato (north
of SF) , was sharply to the south. The result was you could
drive all the way to LA and hear them at night. At the time,
the often had a better signal over downtown LA than KNX did,
their sister station.
KGO, San Francisco, is located south of the city in Newark.
Their night northern pattern can be heard in Alaska.

On the truly local channels, such as 1400, there are over 200
stations in the US, Canada, and Mexico. Try listening to one
just before sunset and you'll hear them fade in and out and
beat with the nearest local station on that frequency. 

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

Date: Fri, 16 Aug 96 12:45:00 -0500
From: [removed]@[removed] (GRAHAM NEWTON)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR [removed]
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

 [removed]@[removed] [removed]

 OTR> Subject: Scarlet Pimpernel Theme
      Ron Hare

 OTR> The Scarlet Pimpernel theme seems to be two different production music
 OTR> bridges connected by a tympani solo.
I've never heard the Pimpernel theme so I can't comment directly on [removed]

 OTR> Sidney Torch, an
 OTR> English composer and former theater organist wrote and conducted most
 OTR> of the bridge and theme music for Lang-Worth.
Are you sure of that?  He did reams of work for Chappell, but I never knew he
did work for LangWorth.

 OTR> These music tracks were popular as bridges in the early '50s. You can
 OTR> hear them and similar ones on X-1, Dimension X and Black Museum
 OTR> programs, to mention just a few.
I know that virtually ALL the bridges on the Black Museum were from
Chappell, and THAT, I know for a [removed] I have most of the original Chappell
music discs that the cues came from.
The X-1 opening theme was also from [removed] it was a 78 played at 33 rpm
to get the blast-off effect.



... How do you get a musician off your doorstep?  Pay him for the pizza!
___ Blue Wave/QWK [removed]

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

Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 12:11:20 -0700
From: alvo@[removed] (Alan Voorhees)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Radio shows on the Web
Message-Id: <v01530500ae3a0249eb77@[[removed]]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
content-length: 702

If you have a craving for old-time radio while sitting in front of your
computer, drop by

[removed]

for several episodes of classic programs. Currently available are Jack
Benny, Burns & Allen, Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge, Philo
Vance, and Jimmy Durante (three more shows will be added next week).

The shows are in Shockwave Audio, a real-time streaming audio format. To
listen to them you need to have the Shockwave Plug-in (available free from
[removed]), a 68040 Mac/486 PC (or better) and a [removed] or
faster internet connection.

As both the format and our use of it are new, if you encounter any unusual
problems, please let me know at alvo@[removed]

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

Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 14:48:37 -0600
From: [removed]@[removed] (Don Busenbark)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re:UNSUBSCRIBE
Message-Id: <v01510100ae3a8eea4cba@[[removed]]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I am changing addresses and will subscribe when I receive a new address.
Thanks for the Digest

Don Busenbark

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

Date: Fri, 16 Aug 1996 14:19:04 -0700
From: Jim Kitchen <jkitchen@[removed]>
To: Old Time Radio Digest <otr@[removed]>
Subject: Box 13
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

"Adventure wanted: will go anywhere, do anything--Box 13"   So, began 
the adventure series staring Alan Ladd as Dan Holiday which appeared on 
radio 1948 - 1949.  I recently got the Box 13 album from Adventures in 
Cassettes, and just got the Radio Spirits Box 13 album during their 
Summer Sale.   Four episodes: "Look Pleasant Please"; "The Sad Night"; 
"The Better Man"; and "Last Will and Nursery Rhyme"  are duplicates.   
Box 13 is light hearted adventure in the vein of Yours Truly Johnny 
Dollar.   Alan Ladd does a great job!  One of the joys of our hobby, is 
discovering a program you never knew existed, and finding it to be 
enjoyable listening!  

Jim Kitchen




--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V96 Issue #284
*******************************************

