Rosa Rio, Pt. 5

Originally published in the February, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

Rosa Rio: the Music of the Air
Thomas P. Honsa

As a new broadcast era dawned, Rio left radio for television. Her TV credits include Appointment with Adventure, The Brighter Day, The Guiding Light and The Today Show. Her talents seemed particularly well-matched to daytime dramas (she hates the term “soap operas”), and the format welcomed her.

Remarriage and a move to Connecticut in 1960 hardly meant retirement for Rio. Her new home included a large music room and recording facility and she taught, recorded and published music from there. She arranged a command performance for United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjöld. The IMDb says Rio recorded organ music for 375 silent films released on the Video Yesteryear label in the 1980s. She still performs near her home in Sun City, Florida. She’s especially well known for accompanying films at Tampa’s fully restored movie palace, The Tampa Theater.

But even after such a rich, full life in so many facets of the entertainment field, people today still associate Rio with the golden age of American radio. After all, she occupies a special place in its history. And those old shows are making a comeback, thanks to the internet and MP3 recordings. A Google search of “Old Time Radio” uncovers over 1,300,000 entries.

There is one final, fitting bit of biographical information people should know about Rio. She doesn’t like to talk about her age. For years, in fact, she sidestepped the issue with both interviewers and audiences. And so she should. Rio is, after all, representative of a radio past that still, like her, engages and delights audiences. That makes her story, like the stories she accompanied and like Rio’s legacy itself, timeless.

- Tom Honsa is an adjunct professor of History at Eckerd College and Manatee Community College in Florida. He recently interviewed Rosa Rio, who is still performing at the age (unofficially) of 105.

Rosa Rio, Pt. 4

Originally published in the February, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

Rosa Rio: the Music of the Air
Thomas P. Honsa

One thing Rio still remembers fondly about The Shadow is the professionalism exhibited by the stars and staff. Even then, she says, she could spot Welles’ genius.

“I remember Orson Welles had two microphones. He, of course, was two characters, the detective Lamont Cranston and the Shadow. He would run from the first microphone to the second to do the different voices. He was simply amazing and could completely change character in those three or four steps.”

Radio drama had an unpredictability that Rio had trained well for with her work in silent film. Often, she says, actors would rehearse a scene one way and then would broadcast it another, changing the tenor of the whole show. And she had to adjust on the go.

“I think I did that an awful lot unconsciously. You had to follow the actors, and the actors would read the script one way the first time and the next time it was a little different. They may change their entire character by the time we were on the air.”

This knack for what Rio calls “instant composing” was a source of her long success in the business, and she credits not only natural talent, but formal training as well.

“The people who employed me to do The Shadow were very impressed with my ability to do impromptu music. I could match the playing with the mood of the script. It seems something I was born with and I had for years done it in silent pictures. I did it right, too. A lot of the guys were faking when they tried to impromptu, but I never faked. I had a good musical background.”

That flexibility was not only a factor in her success, says Rio, but was critical to the success of radio drama as a whole. “In radio,” she says, “everybody listening has a different picture of what’s going on. The music creates the feeling for the situation, though. The music creates the mood while the mind creates the pictures… your audience imagines how you looked. You had only the voices and the listener was in their own little heaven.”

Rio’s success on The Shadow led to more work on other big-name shows such as Cavalcade of America and Town Hall Tonight. Along the way she had the opportunity to work with some of the biggest names in American entertainment. Kirk Douglas, she says, was especially impressive.

“We used to say Kirk Douglas was on stage all the time. From the moment he would pick up the script and start to rehearse he was already acting. He was remarkable...full of ‘hot vinegar’ as we used to say. It didn’t matter what the show was, he could be convincing on any story.”

- Tom Honsa is an adjunct professor of History at Eckerd College and Manatee Community College in Florida. He recently interviewed Rosa Rio, who is still performing at the age (unofficially) of 105.

Rosa Rio, Pt. 3

Originally published in the February, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

Rosa Rio: the Music of the Air
Thomas P. Honsa

Rio left New Orleans and began teaching. “That led to an audition for me at NBC in New York,” she says. But just as she had in silent cinema, she had to fight for her status as a woman in show business. “I auditioned for Leopold Spitalny [then head of NBC music]. I finished and he said, ‘That was excellent. You played that beautifully.’ So I asked, ‘Did I get the job?’ He sort of hemmed and hesitated and finally said, ‘Well, stay a week and we’ll see.’ That made me mad. I said, ‘Wait a minute, did your ad say you were looking for a male or female organist? It shouldn’t make a difference. Now, if I come in on Monday, I’m staying more than a week.’ He smiled at me and said, ‘Okay.’ And I was there for the next seven years…You see, he judged me by my work and not my sex.”

The year was 1938 and Rio was assigned to NBC’s The Shadow, starring a very young, and very mischievous, Orson Welles. Welles reportedly dropped his script once while standing at the microphone at the start of a live broadcast. Radio performers of the time regularly held the scripts before them throughout the shows and audiences at home, of course, could never tell. Now Welles, before his horrified colleagues, had strewn his lines across the studio floor. Just as his they began to scramble for the scattered pages, he calmly pulled an extra, hidden copy of his lines from his coat pocket, grinned and continued the show. Rio says that was vintage Welles.

“He loved to play tricks on people and constantly kept us in stitches. We always had to watch our laughter because we were on the air. He was so remarkable, though, and so talented that the producers never said a word to him about his antics. They were so taken with his artistry...he was absolutely perfect in his timing. But you never knew what he was going to do.”

- Tom Honsa is an adjunct professor of History at Eckerd College and Manatee Community College in Florida. He recently interviewed Rosa Rio, who is still performing at the age (unofficially) of 105.

Rosa Rio, Pt. 2

Originally published in the February, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

Rosa Rio: the Music of the Air
Thomas P. Honsa

Despite her enthusiasm, the attitudes of the time presented Rio with difficulties in her career. Being a woman, she faced special challenges, and she realized this when she audtitoned for the job at Loew’s theaters in the New York area.

“The reason I got the job at Loew’s was that nobody else wanted it. The manger had already interviewed five other organists and they all turned it down. I was there and he began to tell me about the hours and the pay and conditions. I nodded my head and said ‘Yes, sir.’ He was finished and looked at me and said, ‘You didn’t inquire about the organ… it’s an Austin and I’ve had some of the top organists refuse to play it.’ Well, I knew the Austin wasn’t a theater organ, it was a classical organ but I wasn’t afraid of it,” she remembers. “It made me angry that the only reason he was interviewing me was because other organists had already turned him down. That was my turning point. I realized that it was a man’s world and that I’d have to fight all the way.”

From New York it was on to Louisiana. According to Saengeramusements.com, by the late 1920s Rio was the featured musician at their New Orleans Strand and Saenger theaters and toured the chain’s other venues. She had recently married John Hammond, and southern theaters offered good money.

“They really wanted to get a big name for their chain, and especially a northerner. That was prestige with a capital P,” she says.

It was around that time, though, that a career change became necessary for all theater organists, thanks to Warner Brothers’ The Jazz Singer.

“When Al Jolson got down on one knee in 1927 and sang ‘Mammy’ that was the end for us,” she says. “There was nothing left to do but fulfill our union contracts. Actually, though, there were many break-downs [with the new sound equipment], so the theater owners were glad to have us to entertain the audience. But eventually they perfected it and we were through,” she remembers.

- Tom Honsa is an adjunct professor of History at Eckerd College and Manatee Community College in Florida. He recently interviewed Rosa Rio, who is still performing at the age (unofficially) of 105.

Rosa Rio, Pt. 1

Originally published in the February, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

Rosa Rio: the Music of the Air
Thomas P. Honsa

Rosa Rio is everything the golden age of radio ever hoped to be: a stately, entertaining, vivacious story teller. A conversation with her is illuminating and entertaining. It’s an opportunity to peer into a chapter of America’s past that was majestic and fascinating. Furthermore, for anyone who may think those golden days of radio are long gone, she reminds them they are sadly mistaken.

Rio earned fame as one of America’s great organists at a time when such performers were an essential part of American entertainment. She accompanied silent films and, later, radio and television dramas with an improvisational style that, whether they realize it or not, many Americans are still familiar with today. It was Rio who played Camille Saint-Saen’s famous Omphale’s Spinning Wheel that opened the radio classic The Shadow. It was she, too, who provided much of the mood music for The Guiding Light and other popular daytime dramas.

Music came early in Rio’s life. The Internet Movie Database says she began playing piano at age four and started formal lessons at eight. At the age of nine her father caught her accompanying a silent film on piano in a hometown theater. “Oh no, you don’t,” she remembers him saying as he pulled her from the chair and back home.

By then, though, it may have been too late. The theater was in Rio’s blood. She eventually studied music at Ohio’s Oberlin College and Rochester’s Eastman School of Music, but she repeatedly found her way to cinema work, especially in the Loew’s and Seanger theater chains.
Once she started, she says, she never looked back and “I never had a dull day in my life.”

- Tom Honsa is an adjunct professor of History at Eckerd College and Manatee Community College in Florida. He recently interviewed Rosa Rio, who is still performing at the age (unofficially) of 105.

History of WMAQ: Chapter 2, Pt. 2

Reprinted in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.
(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

The History of WMAQ Radio
Chapter 2
Tom Gootee

Early in the spring of 1922 the Chicago Daily News decided to investigate the possibilities of radio broadcasting, mainly as a means of news dissemination. At about the same time the Fair Department Store, in downtown Chicago, also became interested in broadcasting as a means of advertising their various wares. Late in March the Fair Store and the Chicago Daily News reached an agreement whereby the Fair Store would construct a transmitter and the completed station would be owned jointly by the two parties.

Accordingly, early in April the Fair Store and the Daily News drew up plans, applied for a Federal radio license, and proceeded to buy and install the necessary equipment. Donald A. Weller was hired as the new station’s first, and only, engineer.

- This article was originally published at http://www.richsamuels.com/nbcmm/wmaq/history/ and is reprinted by permission.

History of WMAQ: Chapter 2, Pt. 1

Reprinted in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.
(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

The History of WMAQ Radio
Chapter 2
Tom Gootee

The city of Chicago presented an ideal servicing area for broadcasting, due to the compact downtown business section, as opposed to New York and other cities. Consequently, the Westinghouse Company sent their engineers to the Windy City in the fall of 1921, and a site for the proposed station in the Commonwealth Edison Building was agreed upon. Much of the equipment was shipped from Pittsburgh, and the Department of Commerce issued a license for operation of the new station using the call KYW on the 360 meter wavelength. That wavelength, incidentally, was common to all broadcasting stations in the United States at that time, and radio communication was under the Federal jurisdiction of the Department of Commerce, Bureau of Navigation. It was not until almost a year later that a second wavelength, 420 meters, was allotted to radio broadcasting by the Department of Commerce.

KYW continued to operate through the Christmas season and well into the year 1922 before other parties became interested in the possibilities of also constructing and operating radio stations in the Chicago area. Throughout the winter there had been some agitation around City Hall and Federal Building for a city-owned radio station, and in February a “large” 100 watt ship transmitter was purchased by the City of Chicago. The equipment was overhauled and rebuilt, and put on the air with the call WBU. This station shared time with KYW, but the combined daily time of both stations seldom exceded two hours. WBU continued to operate for several years, but was finally abandoned as an expensive luxury of the City government.

- This article was originally published at http://www.richsamuels.com/nbcmm/wmaq/history/ and is reprinted by permission.

2009 Cincinnati Old Time Radio Convention

Click on the picture to enlarge.

The Crosby-Clooney Show, Pt. 8

Reprinted in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.
(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

The Crosby-Clooney Show
Excerpts from Bing Crosby –– The Radio Directories (out of print)
compiled by Lionel Pairpoint
reprinted by permission

So, when Bing took on the Crosby-Clooney assignment, he was well-stocked with pre-taped program material. In addition, Rosemary Clooney had her own show on CBS, also using the Cole combo. Many of her tapes were spliced into the programs, since she and Bing shared the solos equally. Then Buddy and his group came in for some of the spotlight with instrumental numbers. Buddy made extensive use of his electric organ, which was a novelty at the time but has become dated. Wish Buddy had stuck with the piano!

Unfortunately, it is impossible to put dates on the taping of many of the tracks used on these shows. Some went back to the mid-fifties. Others were lifted from the Ford show - still more were re-taped and there were some new ones cut, as revealed by the tapes of recording sessions in the 60's. Sometimes Bing sang with the whole ensemble in the studio, but there were also tracks Bing made with a bell tone, the combo's music to be laid in later. Bing and Rosemary made a string of fine duets together, which were used over and over.

Everything had to come together on Murdo McKenzie's splicing table, where the elements were balanced and laced together with topical comments by Bing, Rosie, and Ken Carpenter. A truly professional job!

And now for the song titles. I wish I could say that the contents of every program on this series are known: unfortunately, about 18 percent of the shows, some 125 of the 675, have not been found. Until they come to light, we'll have to be content with the 210 titles on the following list. They include Bing's solos and his duets with Rosemary Clooney, no Clooney solos or Buddy Cole numbers. And none of the commercial LP's that Bing occasionally slipped into a show for a free plug. What, you say? Only 210 different titles out of 550 shows? Yep, that's right. Bing repeated his songs a number of times. So did Clooney, so did Cole. If you, fellow collector, have a few gems not on this list in your collection, won't you send me the details?

The Crosby-Clooney Show, Pt. 7

Reprinted in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.
(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

The Crosby-Clooney Show
Excerpts from Bing Crosby –– The Radio Directories (out of print)
compiled by Lionel Pairpoint
reprinted by permission

Uniquely, however, there were no guests, and all of the musical numbers were Bing-Buddy-Rosie creations, with a couple of exceptions. He and Rosie plugged their 1959 album “How The West Was Won” on a few shows, and their comic single “Isle of Capri” (1958) with Billy May's Orchestra was used several times.

Truly, the whole series was a monumental undertaking, but in character with a man who could, and did, cut 8 or 10 commercial recordings in a single day.

Part Two (as printed in BINGANG, December 1987)

"Only the magic of tape made possible the Crosby-Clooney Show, which was broadcast on CBS radio five days a week, Monday through Friday, for 135 weeks straight without a break from February 28, 1960 through September 28, 1962. Bing was a pioneer of broadcast tape, and up to 1960 had amassed a huge quantity of tape recordings from various radio programs, from the Philco, Chesterfield and General Electric series, then the 15-minute evening programs logged as The Bing Crosby Show, and into a curious little five-minute program which was half-and-half: one song and one commercial, called the Ford Road Shows. These programs started on the air September 2, 1957, and circulated for a couple of years, to be followed by the final effort, the Crosby-Clooney 20-minute daytime program.

"Following the conclusion of the General Electric shows in 1954, Bing retrenched. Radio could no longer support a lavish ensemble of 22 top musicians headed by John Scott Trotter, and Bing adamantly refused to consider a TV series, which would put him back on the live-show treadmill. So, starting with his album "A Musical Autobiography" in 1954 it was Bing with Buddy Cole at the piano; Nick Fatool, percussions; Perry Botkin [later replaced by Vince Terri], strings; and Don Whittaker, bass. This combo could sound a lot bigger than it was - they even took vocal choruses when the occasion called for it, and Fatool had a collection of bells, chimes, and other effects which were worked into the arrangements."

The Crosby-Clooney Show, Pt. 6

Reprinted in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.
(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

The Crosby-Clooney Show
Excerpts from Bing Crosby –– The Radio Directories (out of print)
compiled by Lionel Pairpoint
reprinted by permission

A typical program of the series began when the station break announcer said:"And now, the Crosby-Clooney Show! Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, with Buddy Cole and his music!"
BING: Hello, everybody! Hi, Rosie.
ROSIE: Hi, Bing.
BING: You care to commence the proceedings with a bit of song. Rosemary?(Opening song was always alternated with Rosie.)
ROSIE: I’ll just do that little thing.
KEN C: And what's the selection, Rosie?
ROSIE: (Song title and comment as Buddy Cole opens with organ or piano intro)

Following the first song was the first commercial, usually handled by Ken, but often with Bing or Rosie doing the concerning current events but as wide-ranging as cooking and restaurants or temperamental opera singers. This was followed by a second song, in this case Bing's solo. Then either a duet or an instrumental number by Buddy Cole and combo, followed by a commercial. The program concluded with solos by Bing and Rosie, the ending commercial, and into the closing theme song, "Side By Side," later changed to "Don’t Worry about Tomorrow." The ending often went like this:

BING: Time for us to move on out, Rosie.
ROSIE: Yes, gotta go now, but we'll be back at this same time tomorrow.
BING: That we will, hope you’ll be listening! Until then...
THEME: "Side By Side" comes up behind Carpenter.
KEN C: Tune in tomorrow at this time for another session with Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney. This program was produced in Hollywood by Bill Morrow and Murdo McKenzie. Ken Carpenter speaking.
THEME: Up and hold for timing.
BREAK ANNCR: The Columbia Broadcasting System.

What songs were used by Bing, Rosie and Co. on their programs? Some old, some new, middle-of-the-road tempo, and the kind you'd expect to attract the house-wife audience. Bing, of course, favored the old standards. Rosie’s were more current (but no rock or Presley lyrics) and Buddy Cole could get a little wild on his solos. A good example would be program 184, aired Thursday Nov 10, 1960. Here was the line-up:I'm Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter - RosieGypsy in My Soul - BingTuxedo Junction - Buddy Cole and ComboWe Just Couldn’t Say Goodbye - Bing and Rosie duet I Wish I Were in Love Again - RosieGoodnight, Sweet Dreams, Mary Lou - Bing

Bing and Rosie met often at the studio, recording all the intros and dialogue as well as the duets. Some of Bing’s solos were borrowed from his nightly 15-minute show of 1954-56, The Bing Crosby Show (what else?). Other tapes came from the series The Ford Road Show, which came along in1957. Rosie”s songs were sometimes borrowed from her own daytime program, The Rosemary Clooney Show, which also used Buddy Cole and his boys.

And of course, Bing repeated. Oh, how he repeated! His solos and duets on these programs were repeated an average of only three times each, true, but this means that some were played ten times and others once. Rosie followed suit, but to a lesser degree. Even Buddy Cole repeated himself; his “Chloe” is found on a half-dozen of the shows.

The Crosby-Clooney Show, Pt. 5

Reprinted in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.
(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

The Crosby-Clooney Show
Excerpts from Bing Crosby –– The Radio Directories (out of print)
compiled by Lionel Pairpoint
reprinted by permission

The versatility of this little group made them sound much bigger. They worked fast, recording on tape almost 500 different songs, all of which required arrangements and rehearsals. The announcer? Who else but faithful Ken Carpenter, who came aboard with Bing on the Kraft show in the mid-thirties and was there for the final, 675th program of Bing's last radio series. But Ken was more than just the commercial announcer on this program. He, Bing, and Rosie shared between them the topical comments, the humor, the intros and asides, even the commercials, which were often laced with musical parodies and little skits as well as straight “sell”.

To make it all come together were the two production geniuses Bill Morrow and Murdo McKenzie, the same pair who handled production for Bing on his radio shows of the forties and fifties - Kraft, Philco, Chesterfield and General Electric. Bill developed the format and wrote copy where called for - there was a lot of ad lib in every program - and Murdo, with his scissors and editing spools, put all the pieces of music and dialogue together, snipping where necessary to make the timing come out "on the nose." Yes, through the magic of audio tape (not a word was spoken live on the air!) this brilliant bunch of pros came up with a daily network show that not only held its own in the ratings game but crowned the last great daytime radio line-up.

Preceding the Crosby-Clooney Show were three of the radio/TV biggies of the period; Arthur Godfrey, Art Linkletter, and Garry Moore. Our man was supposed to carry their audiences through to the CBS news and he did so with gusto. Bing was never more bubbly and up-beat than on this 20-minute stint.

The Crosby-Clooney Show, Pt. 4

Reprinted in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.
(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

The Crosby-Clooney Show
Excerpts from Bing Crosby –– The Radio Directories (out of print)
compiled by Lionel Pairpoint
reprinted by permission

The following LPs and CDs contain material used in these shows:Blue and Gold No.1 - “Bing Crosby - All The Way” Broadway Intermission BR -135 - “Crosbyana - Volume 5” Magic AWE 7 –– “Dark Moon” Jasmine JASCD318- “Hey Look Us Over”The Crosby –– Clooney Show –– Bing’s most prolific network radio programBy Russ Rullman (as printed in BINGANG, August 1987)

It was 11:40 A.M. on Monday February 28, 1960 - and the voice of Bing Crosby reached millions of listeners through the several hundred broadcast stations comprising the CBS Radio Network, as he introduced the first of a brand new series of music and commentary programs: The Crosby-Clooney Show. This was to be his last series on network radio. From the standpoint of numbers, it was also his most ambitious. A total of 675 Crosby-Clooney Shows were broadcast in the 135 weeks to follow!

Each program was approximately 20 minutes long, following the Garry Moore Show with Durward Kirby, and preceding the CBS Twelve O'clock News. Five shows a week, Monday through Friday, week after week without a break. And this kind of production from a star whose attendance of the Kraft shows was studded with "vacations." How was it done?

Bing's show budget - and hence his supporting cast and technical team - was minimal. He and Rosemary Clooney were co-stars; Bing was very scrupulous in dividing the singing chores exactly in two. Behind them was the group of regulars who worked with Bing for seven years following the end of the General Electric program in 1954: Buddy Cole and his combo, with Buddy Cole on the piano and electric organ, Nick Fatool on drums and a variety of other instruments/Perry Botkin [later replaced by Vince Terri] on guitar, banjo and other strings/ Don Whittaker on the bass.

The Crosby-Clooney Show, Pt. 3

Reprinted in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.
(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

The Crosby-Clooney Show
Excerpts from Bing Crosby –– The Radio Directories (out of print)
compiled by Lionel Pairpoint
reprinted by permission

Buddy Cole described his side of the shows in a taped message to ICC member Stan White in the early 1960s:

" ...Eventually the big bands faded out as you know and one day Bing called me and asked me to go to CBS with him and a small group. He said “just you, I won't do this unless you'll do it.” That's just about the way Bing put it and I was naturally just thrilled out of my skull! And so we started with Mr. Crosby recording all of these tunes. That was in 1954 and we've been on the air continually except for one period of 9 months and one period of a year some place along the way.
"I started with Rosemary Clooney in 1953. She was on another network (NBC) but eventually she came over to CBS and we put Crosby and Clooney together and that’s the way it is today. I’m so thankful for this Crosby show that got started and I would break my back to stay on it all of my life. I wish I could be assured of that, I might have a little more hair than I have right now - but it’s a wonderful show to do. I go into a studio to record a basic track with Bing, or with Rosemary or both if they are doing duets. Now what I mean by that is just the rhythm, just the bass, guitar and drums and I’ll play piano or celeste or as little as I have to put in to give them some background. We do maybe 4, 6, 8, 10 – I’ve done as many as 20 songs in a day with Bing. A lot of these were head arrangements, not written. I write every one that I possibly can, you have to for things that are concerted, because then we come back at our leisure the next day or two or three days later. We play these things back through a speaker or on a headset and then set about adding instruments and other sounds. We can add - we can multiple all the electric guitar, organ, kettle drums, shot guns, chimes, whatever you want to add, sometimes we even sing!

"That’s why we are able to maintain a pretty good balance on the show. I have a pretty good control over it. I don’t have anyone telling me this and telling me that. They take my suggestions and I’m a damned bug on sound to the point where I'm likely to upset a few people if I'm not careful. But anyway, that is the way we do the show and at this point I would say we have between 250 and 300 tunes in the can with Bing and about 200 odd with Rosemary plus about 40 duets. These can be drawn upon at any time and Murdo Mackenzie puts the shows together. He gets the dialogue, and every word that Bing has ever uttered into the tape recorder microphones is filed away where he knows right where to get it. If he needs a “Yes” or a “No” or a “Thank You” or a “Go to Hell”, he's got it catalogued. Then we'll tape these tunes other times and we'll edit them, make them one chorus or change the introduction or sometimes fill in a thing instrumentally or run underneath the dialogue. There's lots of things we can do and thank God I know about them because a lot of just plain musicians don't know what a microphone does on a piece of tape or what you can do. It's always been a hobby of mine. I've had a disc recorder ever since I can remember, one of the acetate disc things and then I had one of the first Ampex tape machines which came out (which Bing got for me) . . .

The Crosby-Clooney Show, Pt. 2

Reprinted in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.
(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

The Crosby-Clooney Show
Excerpts from Bing Crosby –– The Radio Directories (out of print)
compiled by Lionel Pairpoint
reprinted by permission

"Among the subjects elaborated upon by Rosemary and Bing for these shows have been:
- the eccentric behaviour of salmon after a still has overflowed into their stream;
- Is home-made apple pie on the wane?;
- the significance of the fact that men out-faint women three to one during Las Vegas marriages;
- cuffola (non payment) as a status symbol in dealing with British sailors;
- the exercise break instead of coffee during business hours.

"Wherever they are taping - and this work has been done in Palm Springs, Las Vegas, Carmel, San Francisco and Seattle - they dress in comfort. This day Rosemary was wearing a colourful pair of slacks and a summer blouse. Bing brightened the room with a pink sports shirt. “I think,” said Bing as he picked up his pile of scripts for the first time, “you might call this show flexible.” Rosemary, who had been furrowing her brow over commercials for one of the four sponsors, burst into hearty laughter. They do not see their scripts until shortly before each session and neither of them bother to look at the other’s lines. They try to grind out about a month’s supply of material at each meeting because they never know when they will be in the same city at the same time! It was agreed at this session that they would next cross tapes in London, and this they did.

"Under such conditions, slips are bound to occur, but they seem to give added freshness to the shows. During this session, Rosemary taunted Bing when he had difficulty in pronouncing ichthyologist. He bided his time, eventually caught her eye at an awkward moment, disconcerted her by quick mimicry so that she lost her place. She went through several sentences before the mistake was realised. As a result, the next three or four minutes were spent in crawling through the paper drifts, trying to locate the page she had discarded prematurely.

"Even the generally methodical Ken Carpenter is lured into false security by the general atmosphere of nonchalance. Once, certain that he had skipped a line, he and the others checked quickly through the script. It developed that a line had indeed been skipped. It was one of Bing’s. Each half hour or so, a roll of tape is filled and a fresh one loaded. This is an excuse for a general period of refreshment and a sense of awe fills the atmosphere as though another miracle has been worked. To add to the scene on this day, the children come running in from the swimming pool during these breaks. Sometimes during these breaks from recording, they postpone looking at their scripts for as long as possible, and swap information about experiences and personalities in show business. On this occasion the talk led to Marlene Dietrich. Rosemary reported that Miss Dietrich had spent much of her time slinking behind doorways and chairs. It had nothing to do with creating an exotic atmosphere. “I was fat” said Miss Dietrich.

"The present CBS show began in February 1960. There seems to be no intention of abandoning it as long as Rosemary and Bing can agree to meet somewhere for part of a day over some cool drinks and hot tape recorders."

The Crosby-Clooney Show, Pt. 1

Reprinted in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.
(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

The Crosby-Clooney Show
Excerpts from Bing Crosby –– The Radio Directories (out of print)
compiled by Lionel Pairpoint
reprinted by permission

The library of songs being recorded with Buddy Cole was still steadily expanding and was being used for other subsidiary assembled programmes such as “The Navy Swings” and “Stars for Defense”. It was raided again in 1960 when Bing and Rosemary Clooney teamed together in The Crosby - Clooney Show on CBS. This was a 20 minute show aimed at female listeners and was broadcast at 11:40 a.m. daily. Bing and Rosie would tape the dialogue weeks in advance and songs would be interpolated. The songs would usually feature Bing and Rosie singing solos and often a duet. Songs were repeated on many occasions. Murdo MacKenzie was again the producer. The shows commenced on February 29, 1960 and continued without a break until November 2, 1962 when Bing’s long association with radio in the USA effectively ended.

An article by Murray Schumach in the New York Times of 8th. October 1961 gave an almost eye -witness account of the dialogue recording sessions:

"Bing and Rosemary have worked out an almost foolproof system of parlaying work into fun and fun into money. Periodically they sit down in some pleasant environment and turn out material for some weeks of the 20 minute radio shows which are heard five days a week on the CBS network. The approach to these taping sessions is informal, just as it sounds on the air. There is a script, it is true. There are also numerous commercials which Rosemary usually rattles off whilst Bing grins smugly or stares stonily. By the time each of these meetings is ended, the floor is carpeted with pages of scripts and only the tape recorders know what is said.

" One of these Crosby - Clooney get-togethers was held recently in the Clooney home in Beverly Hills. While the engineer, Jack Lattig, tested tape recorders, amplifiers, mixers and microphones, Rosemary beguiled herself with a soft drink beneath a Vlaminck painting, leafing through her script. Comfortable sofas and easy chairs stressed the pleasant atmosphere of the spacious living room. Just before Bing arrived on this day, Bill Morrow who writes the scripts and hopes they will be followed within reason, explained what he tries to capture in the writing of the scripts. “We aim this at a lady’s audience” he said. “Men are allowed to listen. The tone of the conversation has to be light and we also toss in odd bits of information.” Murdo MacKenzie, the director of the show, tried to look solemn at this attempt to find logic in the Crosby - Clooney antics for radio."

5 Tips For Buying an MP3 Player For Listening to Old Time Radio, Pt. 5

Originally published in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

5 Tips For Buying an MP3 Player For Listening to Old Time Radio
Ned Norris

5. Sufficient space for all your audio files.
When buying a player it’s important to consider how much space you will need for files. It’s easy to think that the more space the better, but this isn’t always the best way to approach the matter.

For example, there’s no point getting a player with 60 gig of space if you’re only ever going to use one or two gig. Equally, it’s not wise to buy a player with only 1 gig of memory if you’re planning on copying your whole old-time radio show collection onto it.

Personally, I prefer a smaller sized player, such as the Creative Zen Plus, with 8 gig of memory than a larger sized player, in physical terms, with 50+ gig on it. From experience I know that I’m never going to fill more than 5 or 6 gig at any one time and so anything more would be a waste.

The easiest way to calculate how much space you need is to remember that a typical old time radio show is roughly seven megabytes and a typical music track is usually about five megabytes. So, on a 4 meg player you’d be able to store roughly 570 old time radio shows (that’s about 285 hours of listening) or 800 music tracks, which is about 80 full CDs. On an 8 meg player you’d get twice this amount, which for most people is more than enough.
Another benefit of the smaller players is the storage tends to be solid-state, rather than a mini hard drive, which means they’re a lot more resilient and are not as easily damaged if you happen to drop them.

In addition to the five key features mentioned above there are several other things that are worth considering when buying a player. You can download a free in-depth report by visiting www.rusc.com/free-mp3-player-report.html

Ned Norris is the webmaster of RUSC Old Time Radio

5 Tips For Buying an MP3 Player For Listening to Old Time Radio, Pt. 4

Originally published in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

5 Tips For Buying an MP3 Player For Listening to Old Time Radio
Ned Norris

4. An auto-off feature.
If you enjoy listening to old time radio shows in bed it’s well worth checking to make sure the player you are thinking about has an auto-off feature. Without such a feature it means the player will continue to play until the batteries run flat, which isn’t ideal.

Some players have a sleep facility that lets you set a specific time, after which the player will turn itself off automatically. Others, such as the creative, offer a permanent auto-off feature that will turn the player off if no buttons are pressed for a set period of time. This can be very useful as it means that even if you forget to set the sleep-timer the player will turn itself off after an hour, or whatever length of time you’ve set for the auto-off timer.

5 Tips For Buying an MP3 Player For Listening to Old Time Radio, Pt. 3

Originally published in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

5 Tips For Buying an MP3 Player For Listening to Old Time Radio
Ned Norris

3. Make sure your player remembers where you are.
Some players have a frustrating habit of returning you to the start of the file if you happen to switch the device off when you’re halfway through listening to a show. This can be frustrating as it means the next time you switch your player on you need to fast-forward to try to find the point that you were listening to.

It’s also worth checking to see if the player you are thinking about getting has a bookmarking feature. Many players will allow you to set a bookmark at any point in the recording so you can return to that point whenever you like. This is very useful if, for example, you want to break off listening to an old time radio show or audiobook and listen to some music for a while. If you’ve set a bookmark you can quickly return to the exact point you were at. This could be later the same day, a few days later or even many months later. It’s a neat feature that’s well worth having.

5 Tips For Buying an MP3 Player For Listening to Old Time Radio, Pt. 2

Originally published in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

5 Tips For Buying an MP3 Player For Listening to Old Time Radio
Ned Norris

2. Get a player that can act as a virtual hard drive.
Many players (not the iPod I’m afraid) will act as an additional hard drive when you plug them into your USB port. This is very convenient if you have many shows to copy over. All you need to do is copy the folders from your normal hard drive and then paste them straight onto your player. No need to mess around with third-party software such as iTunes or Windows Media Player. It makes it so quick and easy that you can copy hundreds of files in just a matter of minutes.

Unfortunately, if you have an iPod you pretty much have to put up with using iTunes all the time. For some people this is fine, but for most people it is much quicker and easier just to quickly select files from one folder and paste them into another folder. If you choose your player right you’ll be able to do exactly that.

5 Tips For Buying an MP3 Player For Listening to Old Time Radio, Pt. 1

Originally published in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

5 Tips For Buying an MP3 Player For Listening to Old Time Radio
Ned Norris

If you are looking to buy an MP3 player for listening to old time radio shows, or spoken word in general, there are several important factors that should concern you. These factors might not be at the top of the list if you’re buying one to listen just to music, but if you’re an old time radio fan they’re well worth remembering.

1. Look for a player that has a good graphic equalizer feature.
A graphic equalizer lets you fine tune the sound that you hear, much more than just a bass button or a treble selector. Instead of just being able to adjust the bass (deep sounds) or the treble (high frequency sounds) you have much more control.

Usually, there will be five or more sliders. The slider to the right will adjust the very high frequencies and the slider to the left will adjust the very low-level bass sounds. The three or more sliders in the middle will adjust various aspects of the midrange.

Imagine you were listening to an old time radio show that had a bit too much hiss. To get rid of this with a graphic equalizer all you would do as lower the slider on the right (that’s the high frequency one) and you’ll notice the hiss either vanishes completely or is greatly reduced.
The great thing with graphic equalizers is that they really can improve the listening experience, which is particularly useful with old radio shows. Rather than just settle for poor sound quality you can actually do something about it if you have a good graphic equalizer.

78-rpm Records Were Prized, Delicate Possessions, Pt. 2

Originally published in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)
78-rpm Records Were Prized, Delicate Possessions
Bob Cox

Many of the old record players had “changers” on them, allowing a stack of records to play automatically. A two-record set would have sides 1 and 4 located on the first record and 2 and 3 on the second. Side 1 would be placed on the changer spindle first, facing upward. In like fashion, side 2 would be placed on top of the first record. The unit’s stabilizing arm would then be placed over the top record. Once both records played, the listener would remove them from the changer, flip the stack over and place them back on the spindle, allowing sides 3 and 4 to play. Radio disc jockeys “cued” a record for instant play by placing it on the turntable, rotating it by hand until sound was detected at the needle and reversing it about a quarter turn.

As record formats changed, their producers began issuing records utilizing both formats. There was a time when 78s and 45s were manufactured for the same recording and artist; the same was true for 45s and multi-selection 33.3s. Unfortunately, some 78s ended up in carnival sideshows, where people threw balls at them to win prizes. Fortunately, many records survived by being stored in attics, basements, garages and closets. These records became a good source of history. Vernon Dalhart, in the early part of this century, regularly recorded tragedy songs ranging from the Titanic sinking in 1912 to Floyd Collins’ untimely death in a Kentucky coal mine in 1925.

A visit to an antique store often reveals these nearly extinct tube model record players sitting idly in a corner, not having been played for decades, missing a needle, often without power and seemingly begging to perform again. Sadly, these dusty relics of yesteryear have had their day in the big spotlight of progress. Except for a few avid collectors, their time has come and gone.

- This article was first published in the Johnson City (TN) Press on August 7, 2006 and is reprinted with their kind permission and that of its author.

78-rpm Records Were Prized, Delicate Possessions, Pt. 1

Originally published in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

78-rpm Records Were Prized, Delicate Possessions
Bob Cox

Youngsters who find an old record player at an antique store, auction or flea market may be puzzled to discover four turntable speeds: 16, 33.3, 45 and 78 revolutions per minute (rpm). Older folks will recall the awful day their favorite 78-rpm record was broken. My much-played non-replaceable disc, a long forgotten cowboy singer on the Coral label, met its demise when a neighborhood friend accidentally sat on it. I was so distraught I couldn’t sleep that night, realizing that “all the king’s horses and all the king’s men” could not put that delicate 10-inch record together again.

These old records were made of shellac, a natural resin secreted by the lac insect and had the consistency of a fragile china plate - thick, heavy and highly breakable. These delicate discs cracked and chipped easily. Most folks continued playing a favorite damaged record, even with its annoying pop that occurred with each revolution. Some records were played so frequently that the center hole became enlarged, causing the record to rotate on the turntable in a distorted jerky motion.

Record needles, resembling slightly refined nails, usually sold 25 to a pack for a quarter. Manufacturers suggested replacing them after about 12 plays, warning consumers that failure to do so could result in damage to their prized discs. I ignored such admonitions, opting instead to plop one in only when I detected a drop in audio quality.

- This article was first published in the Johnson City (TN) Press on August 7, 2006 and is reprinted with their kind permission and that of its author.

Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 Through 2007

Originally published in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 Through 2007, Vincent Terrace
Reviewed by Jim Cox

It will be a while before anybody tops Vincent Terrace’s latest volume on the TV industry. McFarland & Company has recently released a four-volume set under the topic Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2007. With 9,375 entries spread over 1,700 pages, its inclusiveness is truly mind-boggling. The four-column index of names alone is spread over another 139 pages. Let’s play “Can You Top This?” and see if anybody can!

Terrace most likely will be recalled by vintage radio connoisseurs as the author of a similar volume released a decade ago from the same publisher bearing the less glorified title Radio Programs, 1924-1984: A Catalog of Over 1800 Shows. That one became one of the standards in the treasury of “what’s out there”—a handful of tomes with comparable objectives that went about their far-reaching programming listings differently. If you liked that book, you’ll probably like the new softcover TV encyclopedia as both follow the same style.

The author of more than 30 volumes on broadcasting which lean heavily toward television, Terrace identifies each series by genre in the new release. He notes whether a series was on a network or in syndication, includes seasons on the air and names major cast members while providing a pithy synopsis of premise, plot or features. In lots of ways it’s a nostalgic return to “the good old days” when television actually entertained and informed, unlike its bent toward fill-time repetitiveness now. Many of the shows we have long forgotten are brought to life again in Terrace’s fact-filled, easy-to-read summations. And because there are so many, you can readily find stopping points. Or just turn to those you’re interested in. There is plenty here worth recalling.

Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2007, may be ordered at 800-253-2187 and http://www.mcfarlandpub.com/. While its $145 tab may seem steep for the four-volume set, that works out to about a penny-and-a-half per entry. That seems a bargain for that much detail, especially with the scholarship and time investment behind it. It’s recommended for researchers, media historians and nostalgia buffs, too.

Gilbert and Lionel on Radio, Pt. 3

Originally published in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

Gilbert and Lionel on Radio
Jack French © 2009

The A.C. Gilbert Company sponsored Engineering Thrills which aired exciting stories involving all sorts of engineering projects. One of the first programs told the tale of two men rescued from a caisson below the surface of the Susquehanna River while working on the supports of the Camden Bridge. John Holbrook and Kelvin Keach were on this show, but it is not known which one "impersonated" A.C. Gilbert in the commercials. A youthful Walter Tetley apparently had occasional roles in this drama.

The second series was True Railroad Adventures and the Lionel Corporation paid the bills on this one. Lionel electric trains were very popular with kids in that era and the company encouraged sales and loyalty by giving a subscription to Lionel Magazine to every one who had a train set (or who wanted one.) The radio series was built around "Little Jimmy" a kid who'd climb into the train cab at the beginning of each episode where the engineer, "Mike Bolan," would begin telling a thrilling story, which would then be dramatized. Jimmy and Mike would return at the end of the story in time for the last Lionel commercial. Ben Grauer was the announcer on the show; Wilmer Walter played Mike while James McCallion was Jimmy.

We know very little more about these two programs. No audio copies have surfaced yet, nor have any scripts been found. Karl Schadow and I have recently taken an interest in attempting to uncover more data about these two series and researchers who can provide more data may reach me at <OTRpiano@verizon.net>

Gilbert and Lionel on Radio, Pt. 2

Originally published in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

Gilbert and Lionel on Radio
Jack French © 2009

Some of the success of Gilbert’s company (as well as that of Lionel Trains) was due to the emergence of the American toy business in World War I. Prior to that international conflict, the U.S. imported most of its toys from Germany and England. The war disrupted the European toy industry, enabling Gilbert and Cowen to greatly increase their market share while the war efforts shackled their foreign competitors across the Atlantic.

Joshua Lionel Cohen (1877 -1965), a son of Jewish immigrants, grew up in Manhattan and was a tinker and inventor before his teens. He made toys of his own, improved on ones he found, and nearly blew up his mother’s kitchen while trying to ignite a tiny steam engine motor for a wooden train he had put together. A bright lad, he entered Columbia University at age 16 to study engineering, but dropped out to work on small appliances at the Acme Electric Lamp Company. There a fuse he invented for flash photography impressed the U.S. Navy who had him produce similar fuses to ignite mines. Cohen made $12,000 on that Navy contract, a very sizable sum in those days, and shortly thereafter changed his Jewish surname from “Cohen” to a neutral “Cowen.” He invented the first practical flashlight, but grew impatient over patent suits so he gave the rights to his partner, Conrad Hubert, who used it to found the EverReady Flashlight Company (and make millions.)

Cowen’s subsequent inventions included a small fan, powered by a battery. The device had little commercial appeal until he hit upon the idea of using its battery-motor to propel a toy electric train. His small firm, which bore his middle name, greatly improved the toy train. Instead of wires connected to a battery, Lionel electrified the tiny railroad tracks with a transformer that started and stopped the train. Cowen insisted on complete authenticity in all his engines and cars, including the correct color of paint and the number of rivets in the siding. Cowen sold his first toy train in 1901 and within a year, his line was the most popular toy train sold in the U.S. By the 1920s, no department store could fail to have a gigantic Christmas display involving an elaborate toy train setup, with several Lionel trains chugging around it.

In late 1933, NBC began airing two juvenile adventure programs, each 15 minutes long and sponsored by these two prominent toy companies. Both of these series were produced in Manhattan at Station WJZ.

Gilbert and Lionel on Radio, Pt. 1

Originally published in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

Gilbert and Lionel on Radio
Jack French © 2009

A couple of American toy makers, A.C. Gilbert and Joshua Cowen, both of whom had risen to the top of their industry, took to the airwaves in 1933 to promote their wares in juvenile adventure radio shows. While these two broadcast series have largely been forgotten, and even the founders of both toy companies are fading in our memory, their principle products are still well recalled by most. Gilbert’s firm produced the Erector Sets and Cowen’s company made Lionel Electric Trains.

Alfred Carlton Gilbert (1884 -1961) in adult life was always called A. C. Gilbert. He was born in Salem, OR, but grew up in Idaho, where by the age of 9, he was obsessed with magic; it would eventually lead him to found a manufacturing company. After a few years at West Coast colleges, he transferred to Yale University where he financed his education working as a magician. Gilbert was also a superb athlete, breaking world records in the running long dive, consecutive chin-ups, and pole vaulting. In the latter, he tied for the gold medal in the 1908 Olympics in London.

Although Gilbert earned a degree in sports medicine, he did not pursue a career in that field, preferring to return to magic full time. However this time he would not be a stage magician, but a manufacturer of magic sets and individual tricks. In 1909, he and a New Haven partner, John Petrie, started their small company, the Mysto Manufacturing Company. While business was good (they sold $ 60,000 worth of magic items in 1911) Gilbert knew it was always be a marginal company, appealing to a select few. He wanted to market one product that would enable any youngster to make several toys and Gilbert found it when he invented the Erector Set. It came in a sturdy box which was filled with miniature steel girders, crossbeams, wheels, all assembled with nuts and bolts and even containing a tiny engine motor.

The set was an instant success and within two years of its debut, Mysto’s profits soared by 1800 per cent. By 1913 the firm changed its name to A. C. Gilbert Company and the vast bulk of its sales were the highly sought after Erector Sets. Later sets devoted to radio, chemistry, engineering, etc. would come out of the Gilbert factory, and while popular, none ever approached the Erector Set in sales volume.

The History of KFRC, San Francisco, and the Don Lee Networks, Pt. 13

Originally published in the January, 2009, Old Radio Times.(http://www.otrr.org/pg07_times.htm)

The History of KFRC, San Francisco, and the Don Lee Networks
John F. Schneider

Changes at KFRC

These upheavals had a major impact on KFRC as a radio production center. The CBS network feeds from the East had reached the West Coast at San Francisco, and branched north and south from there. This had made KFRC the key CBS West Coast station. But the new Mutual hookup reached the coast in Los Angeles, and KHJ became the key station. In the shake-up that followed these changes, most KFRC performers were either moved to KHJ or departed for other stations or networks.

One of those greatly upset by the restructuring was Harrison Holliway, as Murray Bolen related:

"H. H. did not necessarily approve of the deal, and felt it a down-grade. But not only that, it meant that the "key" station of the West would be KHJ in Los Angeles, no longer KFRC ... and he would no longer be number one. Also, his biggest pet program, The Blue Monday Jamboree, was ordered to L. A. for origination and became The Shell Chateau (with Al Jolson). So, everything was kind of blowing up, and in 1935 he was offered the top of NBC's biggest station, KFI, and he took it. It all made good sense to move. He was ready for the "big time", and that was starting in L.A. He simply grew more and more, and brought KFI to the peak of popularity with programming and management. "

Earl Anthony, ever the rival of the Don Lee organization, had seen a chance to steal away one of its most valuable people, and he took advantage of it. Holliway became nationally known at KFI for some revolutionary management concepts. He continued there until 1942, when he died suddenly at the age of 42. Holliway's replacement at KFRC was Tom Brenneman, a KFRC performer. He was soon superceded by Fred Pabst, a big wheel in the Don Lee heirarchy. Pabst guided the station with stern reins into the fifties, and then made a name for himself in local television.

Following the shake-up at KFRC, and under the guidance of Fred Pabst, a new KFRC appeared. During the late 30's and 40's, it remained among San Francisco's very favorites. Meredith Willson had moved to NBC, and he was replaced by Claude Sweeton. His nightly orchestral broadcasts became a San Francisco tradition, as did the nightly broadcasts of Anson Weeks' Orchestra from the Peacock Court of the Mark Hopkins Hotel. Tommy Harris, a 14-year- old vocalist who had appeared on the old Happy Go Lucky Hour, was another KFRC favorite. He and Joaquin Garay were regulars on Feminine Fancies. (Harris later moved to NBC, as so many from KFRC had done before him, and for many years operated his own night club, 'Tommy's Joynt', on Van Ness Avenue.)

Another KFRC favorite during this period was the Hodge Podge Lodge with Bob Bence. Still later years saw the lasting popularity of Jack Kirkwood's Breakfast Club, which continued into the fifties as one of San Francisco's best offerings.

Post Script

RKO-General acquired KFRC from the Don Lee organization in 1949. It operated as a personality-based middle of the road music station into the mid 1960's, without great success. In the mid 1960's, KFRC changed to a Top 40 rock'n'roll format, and quickly became the dominant station in the region with that format through the 1970's, featuring the tight, carefully programmed sound developed by RKO-General's star programmer, Bill Drake.

With the decline of the Top 40 format by the end of the 70's, KFRC's programming was changed to feature a 1940's big band nostalgia format, known as "Magic 61".

In the 1990's, KFRC continued with a nostalgia format, but this time serving the next generation, and playing the rock hits of the 1960's and 70's, recreating the successful Bill Drake years.

References

Interview between author and Alan Cormack, former KFRC Chief Engineer.San Anselmo, California, December 1, 1970.
San Francisco Bulletin, Sept. 23, 1924
San Francisco Call, September 15, 1926
San Francisco Call and Post, July 6, 1927; August 20, 1927
San Francisco Chronicle, April 24, 1957; June 3, 1961; June 12, 1961
[1] Douglas, George H., The Early Days of Broadcasting, (McFarland & Co., Inc., 1987), page 140.[2] Broadcast Weekly Magazine, 8/24/29, page 18.
[3] Paper, Lewis J., Empire: William S. Paley & the Making of CBS, (St. Martin's Press, New York, 1987), page 35.
[4] 1935 Broadcasting Yearbook, Broadcasting Publications, Inc., Washington, D.C.
[5] "KFRC, KHJ To Join CBS", Broadcast Weekly Magazine, 8/24/29, page 18.
[6] Various clippings from the scrapbook of Harrison Holliway, former KFRC manager; unpublished; loaned to the author by Holliway's former associate, Murray Bolen.
[7] Letter to author by Murray Bolen, Hollywood, California, 4/14/71.
[8] KFRC Press Release, dated 10/14/70.
[9] Broadcasting Magazine, 9/15/34
[10] Broadcasting Magazine, 4/1/36
[11] Broadcasting Magazine, 5/1/38
[12] Broadcasting Magazine, 6/1/36
[13] Told to author by Art Gilmore, former CBS announcer, 6/2/90.
[14] Broadcasting Magazine, 12/15/36
[15] 1938 Broadcasting Yearbook, Broadcasting Publications, Inc., Washington, D.C.
[16] San Francisco Call and Post, 8/22/27, page 8
Interview between author and Arman Humburg, veteran KFRC engineer. San Francisco, California, October 9, 1970.
Untitled KFRC history summary. Unpublished; from KFRC's historical files.