Subject: [removed] Digest V2009 #48
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 3/4/2009 8:27 PM

To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2009 : Issue 48
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      3-4 births/deaths                     [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      Re: 21st Precinct and Brass Ring      [ Stewart Wright <otrwash@[removed]; ]
      Sharp as a tack                       [ <otrbuff@[removed]; ]
      Clarke's Network Confusion            [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
      Radios on the Farm                    [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
      Paul Harvey Influence                 [ Stuart Lubin <stuartlubin6686@sbcgl ]
      Networks                              [ Michael Shoshani <mshoshani@sbcglob ]
      Paul Harvey [removed]              [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
      From NBC Blue to ABC                  [ James Meadows <walthamus@[removed]; ]
      ABC network                           [ papillion17@[removed] ]
      THANK YOU PAUL HARVEY                 [ Jamesaltenburg9@[removed] ]
      Very early Paul Harvey                [ Philip Chavin <pchavin@[removed]; ]
      Re: Battery Radio                     [ Don Shenbarger <donslistmail@sbcglo ]

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

    Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 09:47:42 -0500
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  3-4 births/deaths

    March 4th births

    03-04-1880 - Channing Pollack - Washington [removed] - d. 8-17-1946
    lecturer, author: "America's Town Mettking of the Air"; "Wake Up
    America"
    03-04-1888 - David Frederick Smith - Clarksburg, IN - d. 8-14-1976
    early radio broadcaster: Creator of "March of Time"
    03-04-1888 - Fred Smith - Clarksburg, IN - d. 8-15-1976
    announcer: (America's first Ambassador of the Radio) "Newsacting"
    03-04-1888 - Knute Rockne - Voss, Norway - d. 3-31-1931
    football coach: "Biography in Sound"
    03-04-1892 - Helen Van Tuyl - Iowa - d. 8-22-1964
    actor: Ellen Collins "Bachelor's Children"
    03-04-1896 - George Shelton - NYC - d. 2-12-1972
    comedian: "Sunday Night Party"; "It Pays to Be Ignorant"
    03-04-1903 - Harold Berens - Glasgow, Scotland - d. 5-10-1995
    actor: "Ignorance Is Bliss"
    03-04-1904 - Dorothy Page - Northampton, PA - d. 3-26-1961
    vocalist: "Paducah Plantation"
    03-04-1904 - Joseph Schmidt - Davideny, Bukovina, Austria-Hungary - d.
    11-16-1942
    singer: "General Motors Concerts"
    03-04-1907 - Edgar Barrier - NYC - d. 6-20-1964
    actor: Simon Templar "The Saint"
    03-04-1907 - Pat McGeehan - Steelton, PA - d. 1-3-1988
    announcer, actor: "Abbott and Costello"; "The Red Skelton Show"
    03-04-1908 - Lee Allman - d. 10-8-1989
    actor: (Sister of James Jewell) Lenore 'Casey' Case "The Green Hornet"
    03-04-1909 - Harry Elders - d. 11-25-1993
    actor: Dr. Bill Evans "Road of Life"; David Houseman "Stepmother"
    03-04-1910 - Margaret Wood - Great Yarmouth, England - d. 2-xx-2002
    scripwriter for BBC radio schools
    03-04-1910 - Miriam Kressyn - Poland - d. 10-28-1996
    Was the most popular Yiddish artist on radio of her day
    03-04-1913 - John Garfield - NYC - d. 5-21-1952
    actor: "Cresta Blanca Hollywood Players"; "Free Company"; "Treasury
    Star Parade"
    03-04-1914 - Ward Kimball - Minneapolis, MN - d. 7-8-2002
    disney animator: "Here's to Veterans"
    03-04-1916 - William Alland - Delmare, DE - d. 11-10-1997
    actor: "Mercury Theatre"; "Doorway to Life"; "Frontier Gentleman"
    03-04-1920 - Alan MacNaughtan - Bearsden, Scotland - d. 8-29-2002
    actor: "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
    03-04-1921 - Harry Besse - d. 1-29-1994
    disk jockey: KSWI Council Bluffs,Iowa
    03-04-1921 - Joan Greenwood - London, England - d. 2-28-1987
    actor: "Stagestruck"
    03-04-1922 - Martha O'Driscoll - Tulsa, OK - d. 11-3-1998
    actor: "Your Blind Date"
    03-04-1932 - Miriam Makeba - Johannesburg, South Africa - d. 11-10-2008
    click singer: "The World of Folk Music"
    03-04-1934 - Barbara McNair - Racine, WI - d. 2-4-2007
    singer/actor: "America Swings"
    03-04-1934 - John Dunn - Glasgow, Scotland - d. 11-28-2004
    announcer, newsreader: "Roundabout"; "Housewive's Choice"; "Breadfast
    Special"
    03-04-1944 - Edwin Drake - Grand Rapids, MI
    composer: "Back to God Hour"

    March 4th deaths

    01-06-1927 - Jack Voorhies - Sheffield, AL - d. 3-4-2008
    radio personality: (Voice of the Shoals) Created Luther Appleby and
    his mule Chilton
    04-13-1907 - Harold E. Stassen - West St. Paul, MN - d. 3-4-2001
    presidential candidate: "Meet the Press"; "The People's Platform"
    04-21-1911 - Leonard Warren - The Bronx, NY - d. 3-4-1960
    singer: "Voice of Firestone"; "Telephone Hour"
    05-06-1911 - Artie Bland - d. 3-4-2002
    disk jockey: KWBU Corpus Christi, Texas
    05-18-1900 - Lew White - Philadelphia, PA - d. 3-4-1955
    organist: "Lucky Strike Dance Orchestra"; "Break the Bank"; "Betty
    Moore"
    06-04-1920 - Fedoro Barbieri - Trieste, Italy - d. 3-4-2003
    opera singer: "Metropolitan Opera"
    06-06-1872 - Arthur H. Adams - Lawrence, New Zealand - d. 3-4-1936
    his stage play "Mrs. Pretty and the Premier" was adapted for radio
    07-09-1907 - Eddie Dean - Posey, TX - d. 3-4-1999
    actor: Larry Burton "Modern Cinderella"
    08-05-1908 - Don Albert - d. 3-4-1980
    orchestra leader: WGN Chicago, Illinois 1935
    08-23-1908 - Natalie Bodanya - NYC - d. 3-4-2007
    opera soprano: "The Metropolitan Opera"
    09-20-1924 - Michael Hardwick - Leeds, England - d. 3-4-1991
    author: Adapted Sherlock Holmes for radio
    10-08-1891 - Florence Malone - d. 3-4-1956
    actor: Christy Allen "Against the Storm"; Mrs. Diamond "Advs. of
    Captain Diamond"
    10-25-1912 - Minnie Pearl - Centerville, TN - d. 3-4-1996
    comedienne: (Queen of Country Comedy) "Grand Ole Opry"
    11-14-1904 - Art Hodes - Nikoliev, Russia - d. 3-4-1993
    jazz pianist: "Eddie Condon's Jazz Concert"; "This Is Jazz"; "WNYC
    Jazz Festival"
    11-15-1909 - Sydney Smith - d. 3-4-1978
    actor: Abie Levy "Abie's Irish Rose"; Ellery Queen "Advs. of Ellery
    Queen"
    11-20-1883 - Edwin August - d. 3-4-1964
    drama critic on KFI Los Angeles, California
    11-25-1909 - Verne Smith - NYC - d. 3-4-1978
    announcer: "Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet"
    12-03-1873 - Atwater Kent - Burlington, VT - d. 3-4-1949
    inventer and radio manufacturer: Maker of Atwater Kent radios
    12-11-1905 - Pare Lorentz - Clarksburg, WV - d. 3-4-1992
    writer: "Columbia Workshop"
    12-17-1911 - Richard Sale - NYC - d. 3-4-1993
    screenwriter: "Lux Radio Theatre"

    Ron

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

    Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 09:47:47 -0500
    From: Stewart Wright <otrwash@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: 21st Precinct and Brass Ring

    RE:  21st Precinct and Brass Ring
    Ken Laws asked:

>     . . . One show which has become a favourite
>     is "21st Precinct" but I am intrigued by
>     the reference to "The Brass Ring"
>     at the end of each programme.
>     Please forgive my ignorance but could
>     someone please explain what this refers to!

    Here is the closing to each "21st Precinct" episode.  It was spoken by the
    Precinct Captain:
      "And so it goes.  Around the clock, through the week;
      every day, every year.  A police precinct in the city of
      New York is a flesh and blood merry-go-round.  Anyone can
      catch the brass ring.  Or the brass ring can catch
      anyone."

    At one time, riders of an amusement park ride, the merry-go-round or
    carousel, could reach out and try to catch a brass ring from a fixed
    dispenser.  If they caught the ring, they got a reward:  a free ride.

    In the series people who tried to get something for "free" often instead got
    something unpleasant that they hadn't expected.

    The concept of "catching the ring" was originally a jousting term from the
    Middle Age.  Riders would try to catch a gold ring with the tip of their
    sword or lance.

    You can find a detailed "21st Precinct" broadcast log at:
    [removed]

    Signing off for now,

    Stewart Wright

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

    Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 11:15:39 -0500
    From: <otrbuff@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Sharp as a tack

    Kenneth Clark ponders:

>     Which one of the networks eventually became ABC and when?  Why did NBC

    have so many networks?  and how many total networks were there?  I've
    already
    checked with the "Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio" and several other
    collectors,
    who suggested I contact them when I discover the answer.

    I'm having to believe Ken and his contacts have never purchased a single
    book by Jim Cox.  (There will soon be 19 of them.)  Almost any would supply
    this information, as would those of several other OTR authors.  Many of
    Ken's questions, in fact, could be answered in "This Day in Network Radio:
    A Daily Calendar of Births, Deaths, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events
    in Broadcasting History" which rolled from the presses late last year
    ([removed] and 800-253-2187).

    Referring to Dunning's encyclopedia, Ken allows:

>     there are some programs available for purchase which aren't [removed];

    This is true.  The above named reference guide highlights 363 debuting
    series.  Among the bonuses within its pages are profiles of 968 radio
    personalities in a total of 2,627 entries.  I think, while it won't answer
    every question you can muster, as modestly as I may put it, it'll make you
    sharp as a tack.

    Jim Cox

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

    Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 11:19:30 -0500
    From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
    To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Clarke's Network Confusion

    Kenneth Clarke assures us that he now consults his copy of John
    Dunning's book before posting yet another easy question. Mr. Clarke
    follows this with an inquiry about how ABC came about, and then
    apparently tongue-in-cheek, says that "several other collectors" are
    as confused as he about the debut of ABC, and they want him to
    contact him when he finds the answer.

    Alas, Mr. Clarke has not read the introduction to Dunning's book
    which succinctly provides the answer.

    To quote Dunning:

    "NBC owned two networks, the Red and the Blue, [removed] Blue was
    sold in 1943 (...[removed]) renamed the American Broadcasting Company.
    For our purposes, references (in this book) to NBC without a color
    indicated the main NBC Red Network. The confusion deepens during the
    transition period, 1942-44; references are made to the Blue Network
    through 1943 and into 1944, when the name change (officially) took
    place. In several instances during this time (in this book) the
    network is described as Blue/ABC."

    'Nuff said.

    Jack French
    Editor: RADIO RECALL
    <[removed]>

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

    Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 20:39:59 -0500
    From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
    To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Radios on the Farm

    One way of measuring how many farmers were listening to their radio
    would be to examine the growth of broadcasting devoted to
    agriculture. The 1981 book "Farm Broadcasting: The First Sixty Years"
    written by John C. Baker (Iowa State University Press) is probably
    the best one to describe that history.

    In January 1921, Station 9XM in Madison, WI began broadcasting
    weather reports to farmers, and in the fall of that year, they added
    farm market reports. By the summer of 1922, they were airing "The
    Farm Hour." In March 1921, WDZ in Tuscola, IL was on the air for the
    sole purpose of reporting grain prices to farmers. In May 1921, KDKA
    began its agricultural reporting through "Market Reports" in
    cooperation with USDA. KFKA in Colorado that same year began
    broadcasting livestock prices to ranchers and farmers. In the spring
    of 1922 WOI at Iowa State College began broadcasting farm market
    reports. And in March 1923, KDKA designated the nation's first full-
    time farm broadcaster, Frank E. Mullen, a Kansas native who was also
    on the payroll of "Stockman and Farmer" magazine as its radio editor.

    Surely there were a heckuva lot of farmers listening to their radio,
    even if they had to borrow the battery from their tractor to power it
    up.

    Jack French
    Editor: RADIO RECALL
    <[removed]>

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

    Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 20:40:17 -0500
    From: Stuart Lubin <stuartlubin6686@[removed];
    To: Old Time Radio Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Paul Harvey Influence

    Certainly Paul Harvey and Bill Stern before him had the technique of waiting
    until the very end to surprise us.  Bill Stern not so much as the great Paul
    Harvey.  In writing and storytelling, it is a technique that goes back a long
    way.  Remember O'Henry's writings?  What radio program was so famous for that
    technique?  "The Whistler", of course!

    Stuart

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

    Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 20:40:29 -0500
    From: Michael Shoshani <mshoshani@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Networks

>     From: "kclarke5@[removed]" <kclarke5@[removed];
>     To: [removed]@[removed]
>     Subject:  Networks

>     Common sense tells me that
>     the ABC network started out as one of the NBC networks. My questions are:
>     Which one of the networks eventually became ABC and when?  Why did NBC
>     have so many networks?  and how many total networks were there?

    The first radio network as we know it was started in 1924 by AT&T. They
    used their New York station, WEAF, as the flagship station but received
    programs from and fed them to other stations as needed.

    RCA started its network in 1926, using its WJZ as a flagship. RCA was at
    a decided disadvantage, however, because AT&T had superior connecting
    lines that they did not make available to their competitor.

    Long story truncated: the threat of an ugly legal battle forced AT&T to
    sell their network to RCA. This became the original NBC network, also
    known as the Red network.  When RCA was able to get AT&T lines
    connecting its own network, that network was brought into the NBC fold
    under the name NBC Blue.  AT&T was, by this time, relegated to the
    carrier of the programs and maintainer of the network wiring, and the
    two NBC networks were referred to by the colors in which their lines
    were drawn out on the master networking maps.

    NBC was forced to sell off one of their networks to satisfy the Justice
    Department; they sacrificed NBC Blue, which became The Blue Network for
    a transitional period before becoming ABC.

    As to how many total networks there were, that's almost impossible to
    determine. NBC had four networks at one point; Red and Blue, plus Orange
    on the west coast to carry a mix of Red and Blue, and a White or Gold
    network (I forget which!) in the Pacific Northwest to carry religious
    programming. Then there were significant regional networks, such as the
    Don Lee network or the Yankee network. These are sometimes overlooked
    because they were not well known outside their target areas.

    Michael Shoshani
    Chicago

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

    Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 20:40:41 -0500
    From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
    To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Paul Harvey [removed]

    I have several airchecks of Paul Harvey going back to 1960.  Happy to trade
    with anyone who wants these shows.  Just checked and find 1960, 1967, 1968,
    1974, some from 1990s, and some from 2000+.  Also, somewhere in my
    collection are some Rest of the Story broadcasts.

    Ted Kneebone. 1528 S. Grant St., Aberdeen, SD 57401. Phone: 605-226-3344.

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

    Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 20:40:55 -0500
    From: James Meadows <walthamus@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  From NBC Blue to ABC

       I'm hoping somebody with handy access to the history books will fill in
    the details about how NBC had two radio networks and lost one. But I'll try
    to give an answer from the scrap I remember from my broadcasting history
    course in college.

        NBC had two networks in the first place, because they could. They were a
    big well-financed company, there was demand for network radio, and they could
    fill it. Other networks came later, and had fewer resources. Hosting a
    full-time coaxial cable radio network was a big investment at the time.

       NBC was forced to sell one of its networks in the 1940s, due to an
    anti-trust ruling. It chose to sell the Blue, which I understood had the less
    profitable program lineup. The first buyer was --- I think --- a man who made
    his wealth with Lifesaver candies. The network was initially known as just
    the Blue Network. I hope someone can tell us when it became ABC.

        The anti-trust ruling ordering the breakup of the NBC dual networks had,
    I think, a lasting impact, but I can only guess the details. In the 1960s,
    ABC split into four networks targeting different demographic audience
    profiles. But their programming all aired on the same network line, just at
    different parts of the hour. In the 1970s, NBC tried operating an all-news
    network for a couple of years. But again, its service also had to include its
    other network radio programming, because it all ran on the same line. These
    choices may have been because of the cost of leasing an additional set of
    network lines, but I think that old NBC anti-trust ruling played a role, too.

       Today, network radio transmits via satellite, and programmers can lease as
    much or as little time as they like at lower costs than in the coaxial cable
    days. I believe there is actually much more network radio in the U-S today
    than there was during the days of OTR. For example, ABC, created by an
    anti-trust ruling meant to achieve ownership diversity, now provides multiple
    programming services for news, talk and music. But when I hear this
    programming described in the news media, it's usually called "syndicated". I
    wonder if this is a technicality, meant to get around that old anti-trust
    ruling from the 1940s. It's still, after all, programming sent to many local
    stations at once, for simultaneous transmission.

    Jim Meadows

    PS: And my own query is: were the two NBC radio networks identified as "Red"
    and "Blue" on the air, or was those names just used within the industry?

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

    Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 22:20:42 -0500
    From: papillion17@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  ABC network
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    It's funny how things come up. I've been doing some research and as usual I
    followed a tangent.
    I'm researching an early show that ran from 1929 thru 1933. The information I
    have been digging up indicated it was broadcast on ABC for a period of time.
    This struck me wrong as I always thought ABC sprung up from the vestiges of
    the Blue Network around 1945. A little digging and I found out that there was
    an American Broadcasting Company founded in Seattle by Adolph Linden around
    1927. It was a chain of radio stations that ran from Los Angeles to Spokane.
    It added stations in an eastward push. There were plans to hook up with East
    coast stations in the works when the company declared bankruptcy in August of
    1929. At the time of it's demise it had 20 radio stations in the chain. A
    scandal was uncovered. A few years of litigation ensued and in 1933 Adolph
    Linden was sent away to prison for 5 to 15 years.
    This has nothing to do with the ABC question about the Fatman but I thought
    it was interesting enough to post.
    ABC was/is also an acronym for Australian Broadcasting Corporation. I believe
    there are Australian Fatman shows. Just another thought.

    Doug

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

    Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 22:22:18 -0500
    From: Jamesaltenburg9@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  THANK YOU PAUL HARVEY
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    I was a  recipient of the Paul Harvey influence.  In fact at one point of my
    career he saved me from being sent to the  remote and frozen Korean tundra.
    I was just  out of the University of Miami where I majored in Radio-TV-Film
    and quickly was  hired by the CBS Radio affiliate in Miami, WKAT.  I was
    drafted into the Army in 1965 and  following basic training was sent to AFKN
    (American Forces Korea Network) in  Seoul, Korea.  I remember the early
    morning
    audition  the bosses at AFKN had for me.  I  remember them saying loud enough
    so I
    could hear -- probably purposely -- "He  doesn't sound like CBS in Miami."   I
    got the message when I was sent  to a temporary barracks which also housed
    the AFKN day room -- where soldiers,  could relax, mainly by playing ping
    pong.
    I still remember sleepless nights hearing that ping pong in the next  room.
    I expected to be shipped out  any day and confided in a newly found friend who
    advised me to "change my  act."  Problem was I could be a very  good news
    reader but I just didn't use much expression in my reading forgetting  Judy
    Wallace's advice in the University of Miami announcing class to use a lot  of
    expression, more than you think you need.  That led me to think of Paul
    Harvey who
    I had listened to and admired and when they finally called me in to the
    office  and said they would give me a chance to stay at the Network in Seoul
    instead of  being sent to one of the outlying affiliate bush stations, I felt
    relief
    and was  assigned to do hourly five-minute newscasts which indeed would be
    heard at all  those stations as well as in Seoul.  It apparently worked as I
    put
    a little staccato and the pauses in my  reading.  It even led me to an
    audition to do the TV news which I did along with the radio news for about
    six
    months although I think I tuned it down a little bit for the TV.  So thank you
    Paul  Harvey.
    Jim  Altenburg
    Hialeah, FL

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

    Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 22:22:28 -0500
    From: Philip Chavin <pchavin@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Very early Paul Harvey

    Have any intact recordings of Paul Harvey's 1944 news broadcasts on WENR
    turned up anywhere?

    -- Phil C.

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

    Date: Wed, 4 Mar 2009 22:22:40 -0500
    From: Don Shenbarger <donslistmail@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Battery Radio

    On 3/4/2009 Larry Moore wrote:

>     When the canal job  was finished, lines were then taken over by a
>     local co-op.  At that point  my folks could get rid of the expensive
>     battery radio and buy an AC  one.

    A person could buy a battery eliminator for most radios which is a
    power supply that provided the voltages necessary for the radio. They
    were less costly than new radios. If your radio was an early "tuned
    RF" model then you might be inclined to replace it with a modern
    super heterodyne set.

    Don

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2009 Issue #48
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