Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #79
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 2/19/2003 8:45 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2003 : Issue 79
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Disk and Wire recorders               [ "rcg" <revrcg@[removed]; ]
      Re: Best WHISTLER?                    [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]
      slightly OT, Lone Ranger on TV        [ "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@earthli ]
      Re: Radio Spirits                     [ Mike Thompson <mthomp86@[removed]; ]
      Re: Radio Spirits                     [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]
      Old KFI building-history              [ "Jim Hilliker" <jimhilliker@sbcglob ]
      Little Orphan Annie                   [ "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@earthli ]
      #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Nig  [ lois@[removed] ]
      women newsies                         [ Donna Halper <dlh@[removed]; ]
      Harry Bartell on Have Gun--Will Trav  [ "evantorch" <etorch@[removed]; ]
      Dragnet Credit                        [ Rob Chatlin <rchatlin@[removed] ]
      Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 21:50:46 -0500
    From: "rcg" <revrcg@[removed];
    To: "Otr Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Disk and Wire recorders

    Going back to the late 1940's and early 1950's my best friend and I pooled
    our money together and purchased a disk recorder as well as a wire recorder.
    They may well have been the best investments of my youth because my pal and
    I had literally hundreds of hours of fun using those now-primitive
    recorders.

    The disk recorder came with a built-in radio and we could record our
    favorite music directly without having to use a microphone or remain totally
    silent. At the time, the pop music of the day was still sold via breakable
    78 RPM records. We bought plastic record blanks, brand name of "Duodisk", by
    the box. The price per blank came to about 15 cents. Since record shops were
    selling the 78's for 89 cents we were able to save lots of money. Another
    advantage was that we could put songs that we wanted on both sides of the
    disk and didn't have to settle for the "B" side songs that, with some
    exceptions, were not very good. On the downside, I recall that we had to
    keep brushing away the fiber that was produced while the cutting needle was
    recording the song. Once in awhile I would accidentally hit the recorder arm
    with the brush and ruin one side of the disk. But, at 15 cents each, we
    managed to stay within our financial means. Network DJ's like  Martin Block,
    Rayburn & Finch, etal, introduced each selection without talking over any of
    the music so our selections were, to us, as good as the ones for sale at
    National Record Mart.

    We utilized our Wire Recorder in two ways, mostly on Sunday's because that's
    when we had the most time to spend on the project. In one case we would
    record entire programs for later listening. We were particularly partial to
    "The Shadow" at 5 PM on Mutual and to "The Greatest Story Ever Told" at 6:30
    PM on ABC. Then on Sunday evenings we would recruit another of our buddies
    and record our own shows, imitating some of the popular programs of the era.
    We would write our  scripts and try  our best to sound professional, in our
    own very humble way. We also did some spoofs. Every week we recorded an
    episode of "Ralph Alexander, Counterspy" (based on an old guy who thought
    the kids in our neighborhood were always spying on him). That title was too
    good to pass up.

    I recall once that there was a brief power failure while we were recording.
    When the power was restored, our reel of wire had unwound and got all
    tangled up. That finished our "broadcasting" for that day as we spent the
    remainder of the evening trying to get our wire back on the reel.

    I wonder if any of you good people have any memories of using disk and/or
    wire recorders in any fashion. I'd sure love to read any recollections that
    you may have.

    Regards

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 23:03:14 -0500
    From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Best WHISTLER?

    In a message dated 2/18/03 8:53:04 PM, Tom Z., one of the nameless terrors of
    which they dare not speak, writes:

>     [removed] played the best Whistler?

>     Joseph Kearns, Gale Gordon, or Bill Forman?

>     I vote for [removed] just seems to have that inflection and attitude down.

    ***I agree with your choice of Bill Forman, but you did leave off one
    Whistler ... Bill Johnstone, who played the title role in the 1948 national
    summer series directed by William Robson and sponsored by Household Finance.
    I'd place Bill Johnstone second to Forman in the role, though my ex preferred
    Johnstone's version. --ANTHONY TOLLIN***

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 23:03:27 -0500
    From: "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@[removed];
    To: "OTR List" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  slightly OT, Lone Ranger on TV

    Tonight on the Warner Brothers network during Smallville, there was a
    commercial for the new Lone Ranger movie. It is airing next Wednesday 2/26
    but the time was not given. "Consult local [removed]"

    Joe Salerno

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 23:03:45 -0500
    From: Mike Thompson <mthomp86@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Radio Spirits

    I own many shows from Radio Spirits, and I can assure
    you that there are several episodes that are complete
    with opening and ending titles as well as commercials.
    Yes, there are a lot that don't, but most of these
    seem to be versions of the show that came from the
    Armed Forces Radio Network, which deleted the original
    commercials and often opening and ending sequences. As
    somebody mentioned on this list a week or so ago, a
    lot of collectors hate the Armed Forces Radio Network
    versions for this very reason, but the fact of the
    matter is they're the only surviving versions of a lot
    of OTR episodes.

    Mike

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 23:29:39 -0500
    From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Radio Spirits

    In a message dated 2/18/03 8:53:04 PM, Dixonhayes@[removed] writes:

    << I checked out a couple of Radio Spirits multi-show releases from my local
    library recently, and what I heard was appalling.  In many cases,
    commercials, intros etc. had been purposefully deleted.  I noticed this on
    the "Science Fiction" and "Comedy" releases.  Anyone know why they did this,
    and if they still do it or do it often? >>

    ***It sounds like you borrowed some of the older RSI Smithsonian collections.
     If you check the copyright dates, I suspect you'll discover that they're
    circa 1994-96.  (I know the Smithsonian SCIENCE FICTION collection is of that
    vintage, since it included my first historical booklet for RSI.)  Back then,
    RSI did edit the Smithsonian Collection shows so they could fit all the shows
    on four CDs.  Since then, RSI has changed the practice and for the last few
    years have featured only full, unedited shows in their SMITHSONIAN
    collections (including the Smithsonian LUCILLE BALL, JAMES STEWART, ALFRED
    HITCHCOCK, BURNS & ALLEN and the just-released ABBOTT & COSTELLO sets) just
    as they always did in their larger 60-, 40- and 20-show packages (including
    the recent SHADOW and BOB HOPE collections). That's why the recent
    SMITHSONIAN LEGENDARY PERFORMERS sets include six CDs instead of four.
    --Anthony Tollin***

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

    Date: Tue, 18 Feb 2003 23:33:47 -0500
    From: "Jim Hilliker" <jimhilliker@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Old KFI building-history

    I'd like to add a bit to what Lois Culver had to say about this week's
    demolition of the old KFI/KECA building at 141 North Vermont Ave. in Los
    Angeles.  It was a gorgeous building in it's heyday, but the sad part is how
    bad it looked in recent years with grafitti and other vandalism and effects
    of time on the structure.  It was built by the same firm that built other
    renovated [removed] landmarks such as the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood.

    This was KFI's second home, from August of 1939 until
    October of 1975.   KFI started broadcasting April 16, 1922 from atop founder
    Earle C. Anthony's Packard dealership at 1000 South Hope Street in Los
    Angeles with a 50-watt trasnmitter he built himself.  He reportedly
    hand-carried home two of the first 50-watt radio tubes that RCA made at the
    time for a radio transmitter.

    Anthony was California's leading Packard distributor and dealer at the time.
    Under Anthony's leadership, he helped KFI grow into one of the top radio
    station in Los Angeles and the west coast. During the station's earliest
    years, he tried to choose music and programs he thought would appeal to
    people who would buy his Packard automobiles. He had the dashboard plaques
    in cars his dealership sold  mention KFI radio.

    In 1929, he bought a second radio station in [removed], KPLA, and changed the
    call letters to KECA for his initials.  KFI at 640 on the dial was already
    an NBC affiliate, and the lower-powered KECA, 1,000 watts at 1430 kilocycles
    became the NBC Blue Network affiliate.

    After KFI went to 50,000 watts in 1931, it became one of the most important
    clear channel radio stations in the nation and certainly in the west.  NBC
    tried many times to purchase KFI from Anthony, but he always refused, as he
    told NBC, "I wouldn't sell my wife.  Why would I sell KFI?"

    By the mid-1930s, KFI and KECA were running out of room, as the cramped
    space for broadcasting was on the roof of Mr. Anthony's Packard dealership.
    Anthony also wanted to find a way to increase KECA's signal coverage in
    Southern California.  He decided to buy out Hearst Radio Inc.'s station KEHE
    at 780 on the dial, which had 5,000 watts power day and 1,000 watts at night.

    KEHE made its debut in 1935 in [removed], when Hearst purchased station KTM, and
    changed call letters for one of its newspapers in [removed], the Los Angeles
    Evening Herald Express.  A new broadcasting complex was built to house KEHE
    radio in 1936 at 141 North Vermont.

    I'm not certain on the reasons why, but in 1939, KFI owner Earle C. Anthony
    made a deal with Hearst Radio and bought station KEHE for $400,000.  After
    only about 4 and a half years on the air, KEHE was history.  The FCC
    approved the sale, which allowed KECA to move from 1430 on the dial and take
    KEHE's old frequency of
    780 kc., and have the increased power of the old KEHE transmitter.

    (Did the Hearst radio organization have trouble making money in radio?  If
    not, why would they sell KEHE?  I know they had KYA in San Francisco at the
    time and WINS in New York.  In very early radio in 1922-23, William Randolph
    Hearst's Los Angeles Examiner had radio station KWH,  but that went off the
    air by 1925.
    Hearst also had a newspaper affiliation with KPLA in Los Angeles in the
    late-1920s, before starting KEHE in 1935).

    So, when this took place in August of 1939, KFI and KECA vacated the crowded
    studios at 10th and Hope and moved into the former KEHE building on Vermont,
    which included 5 studios and a 250-seat auditorium for live broadcasts.
    Just a few short years later, in 1944, due to
    duoply rules set by the FCC, Anthony was forced to sell his beloved KECA,
    which eventually became ABC's KABC radio. I wonder what he would think today
    about the multi-station ownerships by huge corporations?

    I know there must have been other dominant, powerful radio station owners
    over the years.  But, Earle C. Anthony (1880-1961) was quite a character and
    force in early Los Angeles radio and other fields of pursuit.

    Here are some facts about Earle C. Anthony, the man who founded KFI radio,
    and owned the station for nearly 40 years.

    Did you know that Mr. Anthony, at age 17, built a working electric car in
    Los Angeles, in 1897?

    Did you know that he invented the first gasoline 'filling station'? The
    symbol for his gas station was the Chevron, and when he sold it to Standard
    Oil Company, they kept ECA's logo and colors of that symbol, still in use
    today.

    Did you know Earle C. Anthony was the first in the United States to buy a
    neon sign in 1923? It was used to advertise his Packard showroom in Los
    Angeles.

    Did you know that a Saturday Evening Post article got him interested in
    communicating back and forth between his car dealerships? This led to a
    hobby of ham radio and building broadcasting station KFI in April of 1922.

    Did you know once ECA offered to send every person writing in to KFI a crate
    of oranges?  He soon found out how popular KFI was. He got so many requests,
    he had to choose the smallest oranges he could find and send only 3 per tiny
    crate to the out of state listeners.

    He had a bit of a feud with fellow radio station owner Don Lee (KHJ, KFRC)
    who was a rival Cadillac dealer.  In one reported instance, KHJ announcer
    Don Wilson (later of Jack Benny fame) tried to buy a car from the Don Lee
    dealership at 7th and Bixel.  When he couldn't make a deal to his
    satisfaction, he went to the Earle C. Anthony's auto dealership and bought a
    car he [removed], when Don Lee saw his employee with a car from the
    "enemy" camp, he fired Wilson, not knowing Wilson failed to make a deal with
    his own [removed] after, Don Wilson applied for and won an announcing
    job at KFI.

    As Lois said, he did write a few Hawaiian songs, including one called "Coral
    Isle" that became fairly popular.  It's true, it was required that any KFI
    engineer who got a phone call late at night from Anthony to play this song,
    immediately put the record on the air!  There was also a copy of "The Blue
    Danube" waltz at every audio mixing console, to be also be played on the air
    whenever Mr. Anthony requested it.  As an early engineer himself, he must
    have known that KFI could not  exceed its 50,000 watts licensed transmitter
    [removed], once on a train trip equipped with an RCA radio for his use
    in a private car, Anthony phoned KFI to tell them to "turn it up louder so I
    can hear it out here."

    He put on channel 9 in [removed] in the late '40s and an early FM station, but it
    was too early for TV and FM to make money, so he sold both ventures.

    After his 1961 death, his estate ran KFI until selling it in [removed]'s
    50th Anniversary was celebrated at the historic Vermont studios in 1972,
    with an all-day broadcast and on-air memories of ECA and KFI from former and
    long-time employees and golden age of radio personalities.
    It was the last hurrah on the old building for KFI, which passed its 80th
    year in 2002, but not one mention of this feat was made by the radio station
    on their anniversary last year!!

    So, here's to the grand old KFI building on Vermont, which will be no more
    this week, where KFI spent 36 years of broadcasting.   May you live on in
    our memories and in radio history.  For more information and pictures
    related to the demolition of the old KEHE/KFI building, you can check out
    this link:

    [removed]

    Jim

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

    Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 00:02:48 -0500
    From: "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@[removed];
    To: "OTR List" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Little Orphan Annie

    I just received my copy of the Little Orphan Annie Premiere Collection from
    the
    First Generation Radio Archives. I am ASTOUNDED at the sound quality of
    these 1936 programs. I did the transfer from the original transcriptions and
    the difference is like - forgive the cliché - night and day. The special
    pricing thing (five audio CDs with 21 uncirculated shows for $[removed]
    including postage)
    is available for about another 2 weeks, so if you collect these kinds of
    programs
    I strongly urge you to look into it by requesting a free newsletter
    subscription
    at [removed].

    Joe Salerno

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

    Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 04:52:03 -0500
    From: lois@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  #OldRadio IRC Chat this Thursday Night!

    A weekly [removed]

    For the best in OTR Chat, join IRC (Internet Relay Chat), StarLink-IRC
    Network, the channel name is #OldRadio.  We meet Thursdays at 8 PM Eastern
    and go on, and on! The oldest OTR Chat Channel, it has been in existence
    over six years, same time, same channel!

    Our numerous "regulars" include one of the busiest "golden years" actors in
    Hollywood; a sound man from the same era who worked many of the top
    Hollywood shows; a New York actor famed for his roles in "Let's Pretend" and
    "Archie Andrews;" owners of some of the best OTR sites on the Web;
    maintainer of the best-known OTR Digest (we all know who he is)..........

    and Me

    Lois Culver
    KWLK Longview Washington (Mutual) 1941-1944)
    KFI Los Angeles (NBC) 1944 - 1950
    and widow of actor Howard Culver

    (For more info, contact lois@[removed])

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

    Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 10:36:35 -0500
    From: Donna Halper <dlh@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  women newsies

>     Chris asked about Pauline Frederick--
>     Is that story about Ed Murrow telling her to take a
>     hike true?  That's a hoot, if so, and all the richer
>     considering Murrow repeatedly allowed his own wife to
>     broadcast from London during the war.

    Umm, well not exactly.  He may have "allowed" her to broadcast, but only
    under certain conditions, when he felt it was necessary, and from several
    sources I have read, he did everything he could to make sure she did NOT
    have a career in broadcasting.  Great journalist and humanitarian though he
    was, he was quite an old-fashioned male chauvinist, I am told.  Cary
    O'Dell's book, "Women Pioneers in Television" cites the letter Murrow sent
    to Pauline Frederick telling her that women did not have a suitable sound
    for news and that she ought to consider another line of work.  Years later,
    Pauline still had that letter.  To be fair, Murrow was typical of the men
    of his generation in his insistence that only the male voice sounded right
    doing news.  [removed] Kaltenborn said the same thing and so did Walter
    Cronkite, and I'd be happy to give you citations for those quotes.

>     Chris wrote--
>     I think some of the recent posters on this topic are
>     committing the same error that many historians
>     do--counting Murrow and CBS as the whole of radio
>     journalism, which they most certainly were not.

    Agreed, but the ATTITUDE of Murrow about women was shared by many male
    executives, and they were the ones who did the hiring.  If Eleanor
    Roosevelt had not insisted upon being covered by women journalists, many
    newspapers and radio stations of that era might not have even tried to hire
    female reporters.  But even there, the belief was that women reporters
    should only cover president's wives or address such deep subjects as what
    the candidates were wearing.  Nancy Dickerson and Pauline Frederick had a
    tough time persuading their bosses to let them cover harder news.  And the
    print media of the day regularly referred to women journalists as "news
    hens", not exactly a ringing vote of confidence.

    Yes, some women overcame it and got on the air-- Elizabeth Bemis did the
    news for WLW in Cincinnati, for example, and Kathryn Cravens went from KMOX
    in St. Louis to a successful network stint with CBS-- but they had her
    doing mainly human interest stories-- her show was called "News Through a
    Woman's Eyes."  Only Dorothy Thompson seemed to be given the opportunity to
    do commentary on "hard news" issues; Variety, a very traditional
    publication, praised her for her strong delivery and how clearly she
    interpreted world events.  Gannett's May Craig, a print journalist, did
    some radio commentary too, if I recall correctly, and she was the Helen
    Thomas of her day, always asking the president the tough questions.

    But during World War 2, most women correspondents not only found they were
    regularly given less pay than their male colleagues for doing the same
    dangerous work;  in some cases, the women who did the actual reporting then
    found that their network had a male voice read it and take credit for it--
    CBS did this to Betty Wason during WW2, because they said her voice was
    "too feminine".   Several books about women war correspondents have been
    written, and this is discussed in detail.

    As for who will be on the front lines in Iraq if we go to war, I am sure we
    will see the 'usual suspects'-- everyone from Dan Rather to Geraldo
    Rivera-- but the international corps also includes CNN's Christiane
    Amanpour, who has covered just about every conflict since CNN hired
    her.  She is an excellent and credible reporter.

    One change I do notice is how today's women reporters are depicted in the
    media-- I have many 1950s and 60s newspaper articles about both Pauline
    Frederick and Nancy Dickerson (and other women reporters from that era),
    and invariably, the person writing about them refers repeatedly to their
    clothes, their hair, their makeup, etc.  But I cannot recall one article
    about Ms Amanpour which describes her jewellery or her hairstyle-- the
    emphasis is always on her reporting skills, which is exactly as it should
    be, wouldn't you agree?

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

    Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 10:37:59 -0500
    From: "evantorch" <etorch@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Harry Bartell on Have Gun--Will Travel

    I am accustomed to seeing Harry Bartell on everything from I Love Lucy to
    Dragnet, but this last Saturday, on the Hallmark Channel (DISH 185) was
    particularly enjoyable.
    Along with Harry Morgan, Bartell played one of two perpetually disputacious
    gold miners. Harry's character hires Palladin to protect his interests. In
    the end Morgan's character tries to kill Boone and Bartell.
    I mention all of this because a) Harry seems to be having a great time and
                                                     b) they rerun these
    episodes a lot
    I have seen a lot of OTR actors on Have Gun- Will Travel and Marshall Dillon
    ( the repackaged half hour Gunsmoke. The two hours air every Saturday at
    noon EST.

    Evan Torch, MD
    etorch@[removed]

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

    Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 10:38:20 -0500
    From: Rob Chatlin <rchatlin@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Dragnet Credit

    Watching the new TV is enough to know it's far removed from the Dragnet
    of radio
    and the Jack Webb shows.  However, I was surprised Webb doesn't recieve
    any credit -
    created by, inspired by, etc. on the new show.  This is even more
    shocking considering
    they do credit Walter Schuman and another for the original music.
    Does anyone know if the Webb estate still owns the rights to the shows,
    or if Universal has total ownership and control of the property?

    rob

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

    Date: Wed, 19 Feb 2003 10:38:34 -0500
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Today in radio history

>     >From Those Were The Days --

    1922 - Ed Wynn became the first big-name vaudeville talent to sign on as
    a radio talent. Previously, top talent had not considered radio a
    respectable medium.

      Joe

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

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #79
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