Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #22
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 1/20/2007 2:56 PM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2007 : Issue 22
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      WFAA and WBAP Sharing Frequencies in  [ jim taylor <bettylouson@[removed]; ]
      The FBI on Radio and J. Edgar Hover'  [ jim taylor <bettylouson@[removed]; ]
      Re: Radio premium museum              [ Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed]; ]
      old time radio museum                 [ "Scott Livingston" <sdl@gosfgiants. ]
      A revelation about sustained program  [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
      Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Commun  [ Randylarson999@[removed] ]
      1-20 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      Re: Benny Original Quote              [ "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed]; ]
      Re: The Copa in Your [removed]          [ jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns) ]
      This week in radio history 21-27 Jan  [ "Joe Mackey" <joemackey108@adelphia ]
      Re: Jack Benny quote                  [ "Laura Leff" <president@[removed] ]
      Met Broadcast                         [ "Sammy Jones" <sjones69@[removed] ]
      Lone Ranger                           [ "Sammy Jones" <sjones69@[removed] ]
      Greatest OTR loss                     [ KC0PWA <oldradiotimes@[removed]; ]
      Fanny Brice-Frank Morgan              [ <[removed]@[removed]; ]

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:18:02 -0500
    From: jim taylor <bettylouson@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  WFAA and WBAP Sharing Frequencies in Fort
     Worth and Dallas TX

    January 19, 2007

    Dear Old Time Radio Digest readers,
    While listening to some recordings of the JFK
    assassination coverage, aired over radio stations:
    WBAP in Fort Worth [removed] I was reminded of the years
    when WBAP Forth Worth and WFAA in Dallas shared their
    frequencies and 570 am and 820 am. As I remember it,
    570 was an ABC affiliate and 820 was an NBC affiliate.

    How long did the station split and share their
    frequencies for how many hours of the day did WFAA and
    WBAP broadcast on the given frequencies?

    When Television came to the Dallas Fort Worth area,
    did WFAA and WBAP television share their channels?
    Did both Television stations go on the air at the same
    time?

    I know that in other cities two radio stations would
    share the same radio frequencies. For example, in
    Chicago, WLS and WENR shared the frequency of 890 am.
    But was the Dallas Fort Worth situation the only one
    in which two stations with two sets of call letters
    splitting to different frequencies.

    Many Thanks

              Jim Taylor

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:19:14 -0500
    From: jim taylor <bettylouson@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  The FBI on Radio and J. Edgar Hover's opinion
     of the three best known FBI Radio Programs

    January 19, 2007

    Dear Old Time Radio Digest Readers,

    While listening to some recordings of the two best
    known programs about the FBI, "The FBI in Peace and
    War" and "This is your FBI". I was reminded of an OTR
    convention at which on of the writers said the FBI
    director J. Edgar Hover, utterly detested "The FBI in
    Peace and War". I know that the author of "The FBI in
    Peace and War" had attended FBI classes and Mr. Hover
    had written the introduction to the book.

    Before "The FBI in Peace and War" premiered in 1944,
    did CBS try to get Bureau cooperation in producing the
    series and was "This is you FBI", which premiered on
    ABC in April 1945, created because of Bureau
    dissatisfaction with "...Peace and War"?

    And Finally, How did the Bureau feel about the series
    "I was a communist for the FBI"?

    Many Thanks

       Jim Taylor

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 18:24:49 -0500
    From: Dan Hughes <danhughes@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Radio premium museum

    Joe, another thought hit me [removed]

    Get some flat display cases and create a travelling museum.  Instead of
    people coming to you, you go to them.

    1.  Contact some schools, tell them you have an educational program about
    the history of radio, complete with displays that kids will find
    interesting.  Offer to do a free show at their convenience.

    2.  Homes for the elderly are always looking for entertainment for their
    residents.  My daughter used to be in a group that performed OTR scripts
    at old-folks homes, and they were very well-received.  Just be sure the
    homes you contact have self-supporting residents, not those who are too
    far out of it to understand what's going on (my daughter's group hit a
    couple of those, too).

    3.  Call your local libraries - many of them would be excited to have you
    do an evening program.

    5.  Colleges and high schools often offer adult education classes for the
    public at large.  I used to do a three-hour session on the history of
    radio, and I usually had about a dozen people sign up for it (I think
    there was a $10 fee, which was split between me and the college).

    4.  And finally, many cities have Senior Citizens' Centers.  Another
    ideal venue for you to show off your wares, and they would love it
    because many of them probably ordered that stuff as kids.

    If you packed your collection in shallow flat glass-topped cases, you
    could probably get your whole collection in the back seat of your car.

    This way, you don't have to worry about what hours you are open, or will
    anybody drop in today, or any of the other problems presented by a
    stationary museum.

    What do you think?

    ---Dan

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 23:32:38 -0500
    From: "Scott Livingston" <sdl@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  old time radio museum
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    Charlie wrote:

>     Never try to take a man's dreams away from him.  They may be all he has left.
>     Good luck Joe in whatever you decide on in  regards to your museum.
>     Charlie

    I could not agree more. Just so you know Joe, I grew up in Craig Colorado and
    visit the state almost every  month on business even though I now live in
    Queen Creek AZ. You can count on one person that will definitely be stopping
    by once you have your dream museum open.

    Best of luck and I can't wait to see it.

    Scott Livingston

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 23:35:21 -0500
    From: <otrbuff@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  A revelation about sustained programming

    Most readers here know that the advertising agencies wielded big sticks in
    the 1930s and 1940s.  Not only did they put together packages on behalf of
    their clients (sponsors) who underwrote radio shows, they produced, directed
    and staffed those features, including hiring the talent that appeared
    (making those artists "their" employees, not the networks, in most cases).
    They scripted the shows (or hired writers to do it) and -- even more
    important -- guided their clients in making final determinations of what
    would air on the networks, thus become listening habits to American ears.

    In the meantime, those nets had long wanted to wrest away the power over the
    programming they aired that was almost totally vested in the agencies.  With
    CBS chairman William S. Paley among those leading the charge, the phenomenon
    that persisted for more than a decade-and-a-half suddenly began to erode
    during the postwar years.

    During the Second World War, Paley fulfilled a largely ceremonial obligation
    to the U. S. Office of War Information.  As he neared the end of his wartime
    rite of passage, he resolved to change the way he worked and lived.  He had
    a new appreciation of CBS as a worldwide communications medium.  He had seen
    his network from a distance and through the eyes of others.  He knew he had
    to recapture the power he had ceded to the advertising agencies before the
    war.

    In 1946, Paley introduced four CBS-produced half-hour radio shows.  He put
    them on the air while he sought sponsorship.  Instead of permitting
    advertisers to take over production, Paley offered only to sell the
    commercial time, theorizing that a successful CBS-owned show could serve as
    the anchor for an evening's schedule.  Each show was supposed to deliver an
    audience big enough to keep the surrounding programs from defecting to NBC.

    Accustomed to calling all the shots, advertisers resisted Paley's plan.  But
    he refused to budge, and in a matter of months they began to see that Paley's
    format could serve their interests as well.  CBS-produced programs cost less
    and were also less risky for the advertising agencies.  By the end of 1947
    CBS was producing thirty-six of its own programs, fifteen of which had
    commercial sponsorship.

                That's how such consequential features like My Friend Irma, Life
    with Luigi, My Favorite Husband and Our Miss Brooks originally took to the
    ether.  All were huge successes, and all were in-house productions, most
    without sponsorship at their start.  Out of that deal CBS was able to
    acquire the services of its biggest star of several decades, Lucille Ball,
    while transferring many of the series it originated as radio sustainers
    (sans underwriters) to television where they reaped vast audiences and
    generated titanic profits for the web.

    I often wondered about all those sustaining features on CBS Radio in the
    late 1940s and throughout the 1950s and figured that all the advertisers had
    simply abdicated, taking their bankrolls along with most of the audiences to
    television.  While there's no denying that it was the case many times, the
    information presented here reveals another side of the coin.  Paley actually
    "wanted" shows without sponsors in order to re-assume power over his chain's
    schedule.  That clarifies a lot.  Now I don't feel badly that "The Lineup"
    and "Meet Millie" and so many of their counterparts couldn't seem to attract
    anything more than reminders to "Buckle up for safety" and "Give to the
    March of Dimes" as well as incessant CBS program plugs among a plethora of
    public service announcements and an occasional "legitimate" sales message
    (participating sponsorship).  It was part of an overall strategy we
    listeners really knew nothing about and had little reason to know.  We can
    probably credit some of those partially-sponsored series with bringing us
    many additional hours of listening pleasure, extending the golden age as a
    viable entertainment venue for at least another decade.  "Buckle up for
    safety" sounds better when those parameters are supplied.

    Jim Cox

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 23:35:50 -0500
    From: Randylarson999@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Chicago's Museum of Broadcast Communications
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    Sorry to have correct my fellow Chicagoan who recently replied that the
    Museum of Broadcast Communications will be opening at the new, beautiful
    location
    he described by THIS SUMMER.  No such luck.  Promised funding from the State
    of
    Illlinois did not materialze, and all construction came to a grinding halt in
    May of 2006.  The once optimistic opening date of late 2007/early 2008, is
    now deconstructed.  We don't when state funds will be resumed, along with the
    construction.

    Randy Larson  (Who toured the facility when it was 1/3 finished a year ago!)

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 23:35:56 -0500
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  1-20 births/deaths

    January 20th births

    01-20-1878 - Finlay Currie - Edinburgh, Scotland - d. 5-9-1968
    actor: John H. Watson "BBC Home Theatre"
    01-20-1894 - Harold Gray - Kankakee, IL - d. 5-9-1968
    cartoonist: Creater of "Little Orphan Annie"
    01-20-1895 - Roscoe Ates - Grange, MS - d. 3-1-1962
    stuttering comedian: "Shell Chateau"; "Comedy Stars of Hollywood"
    01-20-1896 - George Burns - NYC - d. 3-9-1996
    comedian: "Advs. of Gracie"; "George Burns and Gracie Allen Show"
    01-20-1896 - Rolfe Sedan - NYC - d. 9-15-1982
    actor: "Escape"; "Suspense"; "Mystery in the Air"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    01-20-1898 - Norma Varden - London, England - d. 1-19-1989
    actor: "Crime Classics"; "NBC University Theatre"
    01-20-1898 - Tudor Owen - Wales, UK - d. 3-13-1979
    actor: Jocko Madigan "Pat Novak for Hire"; Editor "Alias Jane Doe"
    01-20-1899 - Joseph Buloff - Vilnius, Lithuania - d. 2-27-1985
    actor: Barney Glass "House of Glass"
    01-20-1900 - Colin Clive - [removed], France - d. 6-26-1937
    actor: "Hollywood Hotel"
    01-20-1903 - Leon Ames - Portland, IN - d. 10-10-1993
    actor: "Earplay"; "Screen Guild Theatre"; "Screen Director's Playhouse"
    01-20-1907 - L. A. "Speed" Riggs - Silverdale, NC - d. 2-1-1987
    tobacco auctioneer: "Jack Benny Show"; "Kay Kyser Show"
    01-20-1912 - Paula Stone - NYC - d. 12-23-1997
    moderator: "Leave It to the Girls"
    01-20-1914 - Roy Plomley - Kingston-upon-Thames, England - d. 5-28-1985
    announcer: Desert Island Discs"; "We Beg to Differ"; "One Minute Please"
    01-20-1920 - DeForest Kelley - Atlanta, GA - d. 6-11-1999
    actor: "Suspense"
    01-20-1922 - Connie Haines - Savannah, GA
    singer: "Abbott and Costello Show"; "Rhapsody in Rhythm"
    01-20-1922 - Ray Anthony - Bentleyville, PA
    band eader: Band remotes for CBS 1951-1952
    01-20-1926 - Patricia Neal - Packard, KY
    actor: "Hollywood Star Preview"

    January 20th deaths

    01-27-1914 - Alexander Albert Avola - Boston, MA - d. 1-20-2000
    guitarist/arranger: Artie Shaw Orchestra; Tommy Dorsey Orchestra
    02-18-1903 - Jacques Fray - Paris, France - d. 1-20-1963
    pianist, disc jockey: "Fray and Braggiotti"
    03-17-1918 - Bill Felton - Greenland, MI - d. 1-20-2005
    newscaster, disc jockey: "Valley Varieties"; "Recreation Room"
    04-06-1927 - Gerry Mulligan - NYC - d. 1-20-1996
    jazz saxophonist: "Sound of Jazz"; "White House Jazz Festival";
    "Voice of Vista"
    05-03-1880 - Horace Murphy - Finley, TN - d. 1-20-1975
    actor: Buckskin Blodgett "Red Ryder"
    05-04-1929 - Audrey Hepburn - Brussels, Belguim - d. 1-20-1993
    actor: "[removed] Story"; "Stagestruck"
    05-29-1894 - Beatrice Lillie - Toronto, Canada - d. 1-20-1989
    commedienne: "Beatrice Lillie Show"
    06-02-1904 - Johnny Weissmuller - Windber, PA - d. 1-20-1984
    actor: Movie Tarzan and Jungle Jim
    07-11-1922 - Bernard Punsly - NYC - d. 1-20-2004
    actor: (The Dead End Kids) "Texaco Star Playhouse"
    07-16-1907 - Barbara Stanwyck - Brooklyn, NY - d. 1-20-1990
    actor: "Prudential Family Hour of Stars"; "This Is My Story"
    08-05-1917 - Don Stanley - Stoughton, WI - d. 1-20-2003
    announcer: "Advs. of Nero Wolfe"; "Out of the Deep"; "The Saint"
    09-14-1890 - Anthony Frome - Bellaire, OH - d. 1-20-1962
    as "The Poet Prince" he sang and read poetry over NBC Blue in early
    1930s
    10-24-1891 - Nila Mack - Arkansas City, KS - d. 1-20-1953
    director: "Helen and Mary"; "Let's Pretend"
    11-14-1906 - Mercer McCloud - d. 1-20-1993
    actor: Fran Cummings "Second Husband"
    11-26-1911 - Robert Donley - Carmichaels, PA - d. 1-20-2004
    actor: "Lieutenant Carpenter "Front Page Farrell"
    12-05-1922 - Alan Freed - Johnstown, PA - d. 1-20-1965
    disc jockey: "Moondog Show"; "Alan Freed Show"; "Camel Rock and Roll
    Party"

    Ron Sayles

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

    Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2007 23:36:30 -0500
    From: "Brian L Bedsworth" <az2pa@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Benny Original Quote

    >From the "Unsourced" section of Jack's WikiQuote page:

    [removed]

    "I don't deserve this award, but I have arthritis and I don't deserve that
    either."

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

    Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 10:41:26 -0500
    From: jameshburns@[removed] (Jim Burns)
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: The Copa in Your [removed]

    Hey, the Copa was just off of Fifth Avenue, on 60th, and was around for
    much longer than people generally realize, into the '80s.

    Sardi's has never gone away, and, in fact, in terms of this
    conversation, has returned a bit to its roots.  WOR's Joan Hamburg
    frequently does live broacasts on her live morning show, interviewing
    Broadway [removed]

    And the restaurant frequently makes a small nook on the second floor,
    available to those looking for a nice backdrop for a short TV interview.

    It's been a stopping off point for me to [removed]

    (The real Broadway actor action, however, has switched to some other
    swell places: Angus McIndoe's, Joe Allen'[removed])

    The site of The Stork Club, however, is now a lovely man-made waterfall,
    taking up some expensive real estate between two office buildings.

    The only Lindy's you'll find, is a fake chain restaurant; Howard
    Johnson's on 46th (in the backdrop of many a famous Times Square photo),
    closed last year, and there hasn't been a jazz spot on 52nd Street, for
    a couple of decades.

    But you can still buy Pastrimi at the Carnegie Deli, strudel at the
    Stage--

    And pay too much for a shot of Jack Daniels, at the 21 Club!

    ;-)

    Jim Burns

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

    Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 10:42:00 -0500
    From: "Joe Mackey" <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: "otrd" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  This week in radio history 21-27 January

    >From Those Were The Days --

    1/21

    1927 - The first opera to be broadcast over a national radio network was
    presented in Chicago, IL. Listeners heard selections from Faust.

    1946 - The Fat Man debuted on ABC. J. Scott Smart, who played the portly
    detective, weighed in at 270 pounds in real life.

    1/22

    1956 - Raymond Burr starred as Captain Lee Quince in the Fort Laramie debut
    on CBS. The program was said to be in "the Gunsmoke tradition."

    1/23

    1937 - In an article published in Literary Digest, Edgar Bergen mentioned
    that he made his dummy pal, Charlie McCarthy, the beneficiary of a $10,000
    trust fund to keep him in serviceable condition and repair.

    1/24

    1930 - Ben Bernie (Benjamin Anzelwitz) began a weekly remote broadcast from
    the lovely Roosevelt Hotel in NYC.

    1942 - Abie's Irish Rose was first heard on NBC this day replacing
    Knickerbocker Playhouse. The program was based on the smash play from
    Broadway that ran for nearly 2,000 performances. Sydney Smith played the
    part of Abie. Rosemary Murphy was played by Betty Winkler.

    1/25

    1937 - NBC presented the first broadcast of The Guiding Light.

    1944 - The character, a black maid named Beulah and played by a white man,
    Marlin Hurt, aired for the first time on Fibber McGee and Molly. The
    spinoff, Beulah, became a radio series in 1945.

    1/26

    1947 - The Greatest Story Ever Told was first heard on ABC.

    1/27

    1931 - NBC introduced listeners to Clara, Lu 'n' Em on its Blue network. The
    show became the first daytime radio serial when it was moved from its
    original nighttime slot.

    1948 - Wire Recording Corporation of America announced the first magnetic
    tape recorder. The 'Wireway' machine with a built-in oscillator sold for
    $[removed] (This would be $1,[removed] in 2005 dollars.
    [removed])

    1956 - The CBS Radio Workshop was heard for the first time. This first
    broadcast featured Aldous Huxley narrating his classic, Brave New World.

    Joe

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

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

    Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 14:39:25 -0500
    From: "Laura Leff" <president@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Jack Benny quote

    George Tirebiter asks:

>     When his last illness became terminal, he was bombarded with financial
>     support from readers. He paraphrased comedian Jack Benny to thank them,
>     saying: "I do not deserve this, but I also have severe leg problems and I
>     don't deserve them either." ...
>     What Jack Benny quote exactly is being paraphrased?  It's not familiar to
>     me.

    It's "I do not deserve this award, but I also have arthritis and I don't
    deserve that either."  I probably have information somewhere on the exact
    event where Jack said this, but relying on memory, it may have been the
    Heart Fund Man of the Year award.

    --Laura Leff
    President, IJBFC
    [removed]

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

    Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 14:39:45 -0500
    From: "Sammy Jones" <sjones69@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Met Broadcast

    Good afternoon, Opera Lovers!

    Is anyone listening to the Met's broadcast of Lucia di Lammermoor by
    Donizetti?  It's Maria Callas's only Met broadcast appearance.

    It's a repeat of the Dec 8, 1956 broadcast (on ABC radio), so it certainly
    qualifies as OTR.

    Sadly they seem to have edited out the original intermission features, as
    well as Milton Cross's commentary.  Oh, well, you can't have it [removed]

    Still, an exciting way to spend a Saturday [removed] tradition going
    back 76 years to NBC [removed]

    Sammy Jones

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

    Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 14:40:02 -0500
    From: "Sammy Jones" <sjones69@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Lone Ranger

    Does anybody out there have access to any Lone Ranger recordings with the
    original commercials intact?

    The bulk of what's circulating comes from the ETs that WXYZ sent out for
    syndication, and therefore have the long musical interludes in place of
    where commercials for Silver Cup Bread, or Merita, or whatever would have
    been heard.

    I've heard rumors that a run of recordings with Merita commercials does
    exist, but I've never seen or heard [removed]

    Thanks,
    Sammy Jones

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

    Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 15:56:57 -0500
    From: KC0PWA <oldradiotimes@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Greatest OTR loss

    I'm wondering what readers of this Digest feel has
    been the greatest loss to today's OTR fans in regards
    to an entire series or large block of a series.
    Fortunately, many of the classic shows have survived
    in long runs (Benny, Gunsmoke, Suspense, etc.) What
    one series or large portion of a series to you most
    wish had survived? For me, I think the miniscule
    number of Amos and Andys that have survived from the
    daily serialized format is the greatest loss. I really
    enjoy those few episodes that we have. I bet the lost
    ILAMs might be near the top of many lists.
    Ryan

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

    Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 16:58:12 -0500
    From: <[removed]@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Fanny Brice-Frank Morgan

    I have an OTR show "The Fanny Brice-Frank Morgan Show"  it's an AFRS
    rebroadcast, and I don't Have a date. I have surfed the web looking for a
    log I found on with 3 show, not the one  I have.  Does anyone know of a log
    or can put a date on my show.

    Frank Morgan does a comedy bit about his bird training, and Baby Snooks
    (Fanny Brice) and Daddy (Hanley Stafford) Check into a Hollywood Hotel.
    Cast: John Conte, Frank Nelson, Harlow Wilcox. circa 1944-45

    Maybe I have the wrong Name It could be "Maxwell Coffee Time"  but that
    title leads to Burns & Allen. have checked Dining's "On The Air", Jay
    Hickerson's "The Ultimate History" and OTR Researrchers Group's Logs No
    help. "Radio's Golden Index" listed 3 shows  with no dates.

    Frank McGurn

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #22
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