Subject: [removed] Digest V2005 #97
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 3/26/2005 9:17 PM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2005 : Issue 97
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      The Last NBC Announcer                [ "RBB" <oldradio@[removed]; ]
      Latter Days Of The Networks American  [ "Joe" <jpostove@[removed]; ]
      Babe Marks                            [ JackBenny@[removed] ]
      Best sound Effects                    [ skallisjr@[removed] ]
      Re: Eleanor Roosevelt commercial      [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
      SFX                                   [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
      Sound Effects                         [ "Katja and Tom" <kattom@[removed] ]
      Mr Reig/Mrs Roosevelt                 [ Udmacon@[removed] ]
      Joan Tompkins Swenson                 [ Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed] ]
      Sound effects                         [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Superman on This American Life        [ "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@hotm ]
      Thurl                                 [ "Leslie Feagan" <lfeagan@actorsfcu. ]
      Hitchhikers Guide                     [ Henry Howard <hbhoward@[removed] ]
      Paul Henning                          [ Richard Pratz <[removed]@[removed]; ]
      Best SFX                              [ Robert Cockrum <rmc44@[removed] ]
      Re: Good Luck Margarine               [ LBohall@[removed] ]
      WOR - CBS                             [ Michael Shoshani <mshoshani@sbcglob ]
      This week in radio history 3/27-4/2   [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      Another WOR [removed]       [ "Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@hotmail ]
      HAPPY EASTER                          [ "thomas heathwood" <HeritageRadio@m ]

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 16:14:00 -0500
    From: "RBB" <oldradio@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  The Last NBC Announcer

    Noted in my Sunday newspaper today that Howard Reig retired on Friday.  His
    voice was heard saying "This is NBC Nightly News" when viewers turned on the
    program.  At age 84, he is the last NBC staff announcer working through the
    eras of TV anchors John Chancellor, Tom Brokaw and now, Brian Williams.

    Reig's off-camera voice will continue to be heard on tape for awhile. I've
    always been impressed with his enunciating "New York" - pronouncing the
    letter "k" clearly - it's a small thing, but very professional.

    He started at WGY Radio in Schenectady, NY as the first, and the last, staff
    announcer for the General Electric-owned station.  He won a national
    announcing contest which earned him a job at NBC in NYC.
    He had a Midnight til 6 [removed] classical music program at WNBC radio.  In
    1952, he cued an hour long symphony recording on the turntable and he fell
    asleep.  His engineer also dozed off, so did the transmitter engineer!
    Listeners heard the phonograph needle scratching at the end of the record
    for seven minutes.  He wasn't fired, but yelled at, and continued on for a
    62 year career with NBC.

    I remember the stable of staff announcers when I was an NBC Page at the
    Merchandise Mart with NBC in Chicago.  Gregg Donovan, Tom Mercein, Jim
    Hamilton, Wed Howard, Gus Chan, Ed Grennen, Henry Cooke,  George Stone and
    some others. They were all great to be around, especially in the Announcer's
    Lounge.  You really learned about the broadcasting business there from these
    fellas, most of them were with many of the old time radio shows emanating
    from Chicago studios with fabulous stories to tell.

    =Russ Butler  oldradio@[removed]

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 16:58:16 -0500
    From: "Joe" <jpostove@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Latter Days Of The Networks American
     Broadcasting Network (ABN)

    One of my favorite subjects within the OTR field is the state of network
    radio in its latter days, mostly the late 50's and early 60's. Those that
    know the era (Jim Cox has a wonderful book " Say Goodnight Gracie: The Last
    Years of Network Radio") will find an interesting story of the networks
    struggling to maintain a full service for their affiliates, even as almost
    all major talent had left for television and local stations were turning
    more often to disc jockey programming as an alternative to what was seen as
    ineffectual network offerings (and poor ratings).

    Interestingly, in my opinion, some forms of OTR were maturing in the 1950's
    into relevant and realistic art, and were quite well done. Unfortunately by
    this time TV was king and as the radio was relegated to the kitchen, bedroom
    and car, many missed a real blooming of radio into a true alternative to
    television. Drama, in particular, was often adult, well written and often
    acted with a subtly missing from the tube, and just right for radio.

    One of the major events of the late 50's in network radio was the ABC Radio
    Network's attempt to revive it's lagging chain with the introduction of a
    "Live And Lively" format that brought back live variety programming (Don
    McNeill's Breakfast Club, Jim Backus, Jim Reeves, and Merv Griffin were part
    of the nets lineup of variety shows with full bands, singers, and a real
    "Big Time" sound that was rarely heard on network radio by the time this
    format was introduced in 1957). They even changed the name of the network to
    "ABN" the "American Broadcasting Network".

    Evidently the whole idea was ill conceived as the "Live And Lively" format
    was scuttled just five months in and ABC went back to a typical late 50's
    radio network, continuing to struggle with lots of sustained programming. As
    with the other networks ABC would cease wall to wall programming by the
    early 60's.

    The point of this is that I have not seen in all my years of interest in OTR
    any dissertations or much of anything about this intriguing attempt by ABC
    to rivive its flagging fortunes. And I have never heard an aircheck.

    Has anyone here ever read much about or heard airchecks of the "American
    Broadcasting Network"? While a short period in the end days of radio, it
    nevertheless, is an interesting event and I would certainly like to see more
    about it.

    Thanks,

    Joe Postove
    jpostove@[removed]

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 16:58:29 -0500
    From: JackBenny@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Babe Marks

    Norman Flagg writes:

>     Can someone please tell me why, on those rare occasions when  Babe
>     appeared on the Benny show, the audience would burst into  laughter
>     after she'd uttered maybe one or two words (that were not  particularly
>     funny)? Was the part played by a man? Had to be something  that only the
>     studio audience was in on.

    No, Babe was played by the real Babe [removed] least in the appearances
    that I've heard.  Can you give an example of this ([removed], show date)?   I know
    Babe's voice was deeper than Mary's, but not so much that it was  ridiculous.
    Perhaps it was a buildup of the Babe character, and finally  having her appear.

    --Laura Leff
    President, IJBFC
    [removed]

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 17:02:48 -0500
    From: skallisjr@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Best sound Effects

    Bob Reynolds notes,

>     I don't think there has been a discussion re: the OTR shows that had
>     the best sound effects.

    Well, I've mentioned such things in the past but one might ask, what one
    means by "best."  The Lone Ranger's sound team had, IMHO, the most
    detailed sound effects.  A running person's footfalls would change sounds
    as the surface they were running on changed ([removed], inside a building to
    wooden sidewalk to dirt street); likewise with hoofbeats.  The sound
    effects of that program were extraordinarily painstaking.

    In one of the few remaining Ovaltine sponsored episodes of Captain
    Midnight, "The Return of Ivan Shark," when the Secret Squadron party was
    being charged by a band of ape-men, they fired a volley over their heads,
    and all ran out of bullets from their clips.  One can hear the clicks of
    empty chambers.  They then slipped in new clips and resumed firing.  This
    was just presented: no narrator explained this;  it was just presented.
    (Likewise, in the aerial combat sequences, the aircraft involved had
    their engine and prop noises Dopplered as they engaged.)

    There are also OTR conventions.  Nighttime outdoors, no matter whether
    desert or suburbs, had a background of crickets chirping.  If somebody
    shoots a pistol, it goes off with a loud report.  If somebody shoots a
    rifle, it generally was less loud, and almost invariably was accompanied
    with the sound of a ricochet.  Are these "good" sound effects?

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 17:03:00 -0500
    From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Eleanor Roosevelt commercial
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    In a message dated 3/26/05 3:17:29 PM Central Standard Time,
    [removed]@[removed] writes:

>     Rather obtuse! Anyone have some thoughts on this "commercial."

    I've seen the TV counterpart to that before on a special devoted to bloopers
    and commercials.  It aroused some controversy at the time too.  Supposedly she
    donated her money to charity.

    Dixon

      *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
      ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:32:47 -0500
    From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
    To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  SFX

    Bob Reynolds asks for nominees for best radio sound effects.  How about
    GUNSMOKE for starters?

    And for more modern ears, I nominate the Merison/Williams SHERLOCK HOLMES
    from the BBC.

    Ted Kneebone / 1528 S. Grant St. / Aberdeen, SD  57401

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:33:14 -0500
    From: "Katja and Tom" <kattom@[removed];
    To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Sound Effects

    Gunsmoke. Hands down.

    Tom Zotti
    Wolfeboro, NH

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:33:39 -0500
    From: Udmacon@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Mr Reig/Mrs Roosevelt

    WGY, Schenectady NY interviewed Howard Reig for its newscasts today.

    Mrs Roosevelt's commercial for Good Luck Margerine was actually a TELEVISION
    spot! She received lots of flack for it at the time, even though she said the
    money for the commercial would be donated to charity.

    Bob Dole and Tip O'Neill followed suit but far more crassly IMHO

    BILL KNOWLTON: "Bluegrass Ramble," WCNY-FM ([removed]) Syracuse, WUNY ([removed])
    Utica; WJNY ([removed]) Watertown NY. On the web: [removed]. Sundays: 9 pm to
    midnight EST (since 1973) 315-457-6100

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:34:21 -0500
    From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];
    To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Joan Tompkins Swenson

    Stuart Lubin mentions the unfortunate passing of Joan Tompkins Swenson, a
    great actress by any standard.

    I'll never forget when she came to Pacific University in Forest Grove,
    Oregon, in the early sixties. With her husband, Karl, she performed in
    "John Brown's Body."  Each actor stood on opposite sides of the stage and
    alternately  recreated the poetic text.  During the performance, an
    audience member walked out rather rudely.  Karl Swensen stopped in
    mid-sentence, waited until the patron neared the exit, and stated clearly,
    "please close the door when you leave."  That was what we used to call   "a
     teachable moment."

    Joan Tompkins performed so many roles, but I somehow remember her best as
    Edmond O'Brien's secretary in an early NBC Television show, "Sam Benedict."
     She had a continuing, featured part, of which she made the best possible
    use.

    Dennis Crow

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:34:55 -0500
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Sound effects

    Bob Reynolds asks:

>     discussion re: the OTR shows that had the best sound effects.

    Hands down, GUNSMOKE! Nuff said.

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:37:30 -0500
    From: "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Superman on This American Life

    Hello All,

    The Superman radio show is mentioned (and an excerpt is played) on this
    weekend's edition of NPR's This American Life program.  If you missed it it
    will be available in a couple of days via free streaming audio at TAL's
    website located at:

    [removed]

    The Superman story comes right at the top of the program and runs for about
    7 or 8 minutes.

    George

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 18:37:50 -0500
    From: "Leslie Feagan" <lfeagan@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Thurl

    If you'd like to see what Thurl looks like, check out the DVD for THE MUSIC
    MAN starring Robert Preston. He's not in the quartet, but he's the River City
    townsperson who sings bass in the chorus numbers.
    Yours,
    Leslie Feagan

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 19:14:09 -0500
    From: Henry Howard <hbhoward@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Hitchhikers Guide

      Jim Meadows wrote:

>     Douglas Adams' books continue on
>     past the story line in the radio and TV series, but I
>     think Hitchhiker's Guide is at its best on radio, where
>     the visual is left to our imagination.

    Jim, you will be happy to know that the rest of the book is being
    finished in radio/audio.

    Tertiary Phase has been completed and more is in the pipeline.

    The CD's can be found at Amazon UK or from The Lodestone Catalog.
    [removed]
    or from ZBS  [removed] .

              Henry Howard
    radiodrama digest moderator
         [removed]
       audio drama skills training

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 20:22:40 -0500
    From: Richard Pratz <[removed]@[removed];
    To: "OTR (Plain Text Only)" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Paul Henning

    Radio-TV writer/producer Paul Henning died March 25th in Burbank, California
    and surprisingly, most obits take note of his OTR connection! Although he is
    best remembered as the creative mastermind behind television's "The Beverly
    Hillbillies," "Petticoat Junction," and "Green Acres" (to name a few),  he
    began his career in radio at KMBC, Kansas City. He began as a singer and
    eventually fell into writing. While at KMBC he also worked as an actor, disc
    jockey and news announcer. He married radio actress Ruth Barth. When Ruth
    went to Chicago to find bigger acting roles in 1937, after writing for Joe
    E. Brown and Rudy Vallee, Henning began his ten year stint writing for Burns
    and Allen and moved with them into television in 1950. He wrote and produced
    television and films when he left radio. His OTR writing years were from
    1937 to 1952 and his credits include The Fibber McGee and Molly Show, The
    George Burns and Gracie Allen Show (Maxwell House Coffee Time and The
    Ammident Show), the Joe E. Brown Show and The Rudy Vallee Show. He provided
    some of radio's funniest lines. He was 93 when he died on Good Friday.

    Rich

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 20:22:59 -0500
    From: Robert Cockrum <rmc44@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Best SFX
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Best sound effects? Consistently, in my mind (ear): Suspense, Gunsmoke, Ft.
    Laramie, Frontier Gentleman.

    Bob Cockrum

      *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
      ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 20:47:54 -0500
    From: LBohall@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Good Luck Margarine

    In a message dated 3/26/2005 4:12:05 PM Central Standard Time,
    [removed]@[removed] writes:

>     Rather obtuse! Anyone have some  thoughts on this "commercial."

>     Tom Bewley

    I've seen a televised commercial for this margarine, and read about it. My
    understanding is it was a complete disaster as an advertising [removed]
    of
     those "slam dunk" ideas that missed the net entirely (to abuse the March
    Madness  going on right now)...

    Larry

    My new novel, Martyr's Cry: a mystery for hopeless  romantics, is available
    now! Go to [removed] for more  [removed]

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 21:37:22 -0500
    From: Michael Shoshani <mshoshani@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  WOR - CBS

    Lee Munsick writes:

>     I have an original CBS news release publicizing
>     the event and stressing that the new Arthur Godfrey program will be aired
>     over "the entire CBS network coast to coast"    - except -   in New York City
>     itself, where the program was - not - aired on the web's flagship station
>     WABC (later redubbed WCBS in that bicoastal deal with the new ABC network).
>     Instead, it was heard over WOR.  Subsequent information indicates that the
>     new Godfrey program in fact emanated from a WOR studio at 1440 Broadway, not

    >from a CBS source.

    Paul Harvey has a similar arrangement even today; his programs are
    carried over the ABC networks, but in his origin point of Chicago his
    programs are not broadcast on the ABC-owned WLS.  Instead, Paul
    Harvey's early morning and noon newscasts and "Rest Of The Story" are
    heard over rival WGN - which is where the broadcasts actually
    originate.

    It wasn't always that way; Paul Harvey started his modern career in
    1944 on the ABC-owned WENR, which time-shared its frequency with WLS.
    (WLS at that time was owned by Prairie Farmer Magazine; WENR was the
    former NBC Blue outlet in Chicago.  When ABC bought WLS in the early
    1960s, WENR's lower-wattage signal was phased out.)

    Michael Shoshani
    Chicago

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 21:37:30 -0500
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  This week in radio history 3/27-4/2

     From Those Were The Days --

    3/27

    1943 - Blue Ribbon Town was first heard on CBS.

    3/28

    1941 - Louella Parsons hosted Hollywood Premiere for the first time on
    CBS. The gossip columnist introduced famous guests who appeared in
    dramatized stories.

    1944 - WQXR in New York City, owned by The New York Times newspaper,
    banned singing commercials from its airwaves as of this day.
    Understandable, since the station has always been the classical music
    voice of Manhattan and t here aren't many classical singing commercials.

    3/29

    1932 - Jack Benny appeared on radio for the first time. He agreed to
    join then newspaper columnist, Ed Sullivan, on his interview show.

    1937 - The serial, Our Gal Sunday, debuted. The question, 'Can this girl
    from a small mining town in the West find happiness as the wife of a
    wealthy and titled Englishman?" was asked each day for next 22 years.

    3/30

    1936 - The serial Backstage Wife made a move across the dial from the
    Mutual Broadcasting System to NBC. Once there, the program continued to
    air for the next 23 years.

    1945 - The Dreft Star Playhouse was heard for the final time. The show
    had been paying up to $3,000 per week to attract name talent.

    1946 - Academy Award was heard for the first time. The first dramatized
    story was titled, Jezebel and starred actress Bette Davis.

    3/31

    1937 - Phil Harris recorded one of his best-known songs, That's What I
    Like About the South.

    1953 - Cavalcade of America was heard for the final time on network
    radio. It had been the
    longest-running show of its kind. Cavalcade of America presented
    dramatized events in American
    history for 18 years.

    4/1

    1941 - The first contract for advertising on a commercial FM station
    began on W71NY in New York City.

    1949 - The first all-black-cast variety show,Happy Pappy was presented
    on WENR-TV in  Chicago, IL.

    4/2

    1947 - The Big Story was first heard on NBC. It stayed on the air for
    eight years.

    Joe

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

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 21:38:24 -0500
    From: "Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Another WOR [removed]

    Well, not only can I NOT provide the answer to Lee Munsick's CBS/WOR/Godfrey
    question (which is certainly intriguing), but his posting raised the specter
    of another long-standing WOR mystery which I've been trying to figure out in
    the course of my research. And perhaps Lee, having actually been on the
    night shift at WOR during the Fifties, would be in a position to solve MY
    mystery.

    Over the past several years there have been a couple of inquiries posted to
    the Digest, asking if anybody remembered a late-night reader of horror
    stories on New York radio in the 1950s. The first poster, as I recall, said
    he thought this program was broadcast by WHN. But the second query, from
    someone completely different, came a couple of years later, and this second
    poster said that the horror story person was on WOR and came on immediately
    after Jean Shepherd.

    I've had no luck so far with researching the daily radio listings in the New
    York papers (I have the Times and the Herald Tribune available at the local
    university library). All I've found is Shep in a solid block for several
    hours, with nothing else listed.

    Following weird threads of semi-clues, I've established the possibility that
    the horror-story reader may have been a Philadelphia broadcaster, and the
    Philadelphia station on which he broadcast was a Mutual affiliate. So it's
    possible that his show was piped in to New York listeners from Phily.
    Another possibility--following the Philadelphia hypothesis--is that the
    horror show was actually done in the early Fifties when Shep was himself
    broadcasting in Philadelphia. (But that wouldn't explain how two different
    New York listeners remembered hearing the show.)

    Lee, any remembrance of a horror-story guy at WOR, either in the studio or
    piped in from Phily? This is a mystery I'm determined to solve, and to put a
    name and a time on it!

    Mike Ogden

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

    Date: Sat, 26 Mar 2005 21:38:33 -0500
    From: "thomas heathwood" <HeritageRadio@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  HAPPY EASTER

    Happy Easter to all.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if the broadcasting world was
    still doing the wonderful "live" shows on the holidays as OTR did in "The
    Golden Age"
    My new EMAIL address is HeritageRadio@[removed]
    <<Tom Heathwood>>     3/26/05

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #97
    ********************************************

    Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
      including republication in any form.

    If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
       [removed]

    For Help: [removed]@[removed]

    To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]

    To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
      or see [removed]

    For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
      in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]

    To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]

    To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]