An A-1 Guide to Radio from Jack Benny to Howard Stern RON LACKIUN THE ENCYCLOPEDIA Of AMERICAN RADIO llizdated Edition NELLIE McCLUNG OCT - 4 2001 GRESTE":.. PLI3LIC LIBRARY L 1 tc5914-833 Updated Edition TAE EN(Y(LOPEDIA Of AKER! RAD' An A-1 Guide to Radio from Jack Benny to Howard Stern RON LACKMANN NEL UF- McCLUNG C T- 4 2001 CREATE? PJ3LIL LARK'. Checkmark Books An imprint of Facts On File, Inc. The Encyclopedia of American Radio, Updated Edition Copyright © 1996, 2000 by Ron Lackmann All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the publisher. For information contact: Checkmark Books An imprint of Facts On File, Inc. 11 Penn Plaza New York, NY 10001 Library of Congress Cataloging -in -Publication Data Lackmann, Ronald W. The encyclopedia of American radio : an a -z guide to radio from Jack Benny to Howard Stem / Ron Lackmann-Updated ed. p.cm. Rev. ed. of: Same time, same station. c1996. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8160-4137-7.-ISBN 0-8160-4077-X (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Radio prograins-United States Encyclopedias.2. Radio programs-Canada Encyclopedias.3. Radio broadcasters-United States Encyclopedias.4. Radio broadcasters-Canada-Encyclopedias. I. Lackmann, Ronald W. Same time, same station.II. Title. PN1991.3.U6L321999 791.44'75'0973-dc21 99-35263 Checkmark Books are available at special discounts when purchased in bulk quantities for businesses, associations, institutions, or sales promotions. Please call our Special Sales Department in New York at (212) 967-8800 or (800) 322-8755. You can find Facts On File on the World Wide Web at http: / /www.factsonfile.com Cover design by Nora Wertz Printed in the United States of America VB BVC 10 9 87 65 43 2 1 (pbk) 10 9 8 76 54 32 1 This book is printed on acid -free paper. For my dear friends James C. English, Barbara Gelman, and Sandra Brett who care. CiAltIMU FOREWORD BY NORMAN CORWIN ix INTRODUC, HON xi RADIO SHOWS AND PERSONALITIES A -ZI Appendix A.: CHRONOLOGY OF RADIO EVENTS IN THE UNITED STATES307 Appendix B: CHRONOLOGY OF RADIO EVENTS IN CANADA309 Appendix C: RADIO SHOW SPONSORS310 Appendix ii: ADDITIONAL RADIO PERSONALITIES312 Appendix E: VINTAGE RADIO SHOW CLUBS, CONVENTIONS, MUSEUMS, NEWSLETTERS, AND ORGANIZATIONS317 Appendix E: STATIONS THAT FEATURE VINTAGE RADIO SHOWS320 Appendix G: LOGS OF LONG -RUNNING DRAMATIC ANTHOLOGY SHOWS322 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY347 INDEX349 Foreword Let's hear it for the encyclopedists, compilers, ety- Same Time . Same Station: An A-Z Guide to Radio mologists, bibliographers, lexicographers, fact -finders, from Jack Benny to Howard Stern. and almanackers of the world. They were and are, Mr. Lackmann enters a field, radio, that was pre- every last one, hunters, anglers, spelunkers, sifters, viously plowed by historians in several books-in- and miners who obviously loved what they were cluding John Dunning's Tune In Yesterday, a landmark doing or they wouldn't have taken the pains. Starchy work (now out of print)-but he has broadened his Noah Webster, frowning Samuel Johnson, acerbic time span from the 1920s to the present and, at the Henry Mencken, and gentlemanly Eric Partridge all same time, has narrowed his range to cover North had a passion for words, and it shows in their diction- American network radio, thus eliminating independent aries. Wits and poets, essayists and novelists, artists and foreign programs. Even though he wisely irised and scientists have also worn the insignia, among down from the whole globe to the northern half of them Irving Wallace (People's Almanac), John Ciardi the Western Hemisphere, his encyclopedia still con- (A Browser's Dictionary), Norris and McWhirter (Illus- tains an impressive number of pages. trated Encyclopedia of Facts), Retsner and Wechsler (En- As an old frequenter, consumer, and beneficiary of cyclopedia of Graffiti), Maurice B. Strauss (Familiar reference libraries, I can testify that there can never Medical Questions), and also Bergen Evans, Michael be too many volumes for an elusive quarry. So I Jackman, Frank Magill, Harry Haun, Paul Dickson, cordially welcome Mr. Lackmann to the stacks and Joseph T. Shipley, Edmund F. Penney, Lillian Fein - hope there will be a large ad hoc committee of well- silver, and so on-and now Ron Lackmann, with his wishers to greet his research and to make use of it. -Norman Corwin ix Introduction My fascination with radio began when I was eight When I finally accepted the fact that I wanted to years old: I fell in love with a voice I heard over the write a reference work on radio, I knew that a great airwaves, a most wonderful and unusual voice. The deal more information would have to be included if actress to whom it belonged had what seemed a very this book was to be of any real value to anyone but exotic -sounding name: "Masaydees Macaimbridge!" me. It would have to include brief biographies of the Because I had only heard the name, I didn't know it most prominent figures (performers, writers, direc- was actually spelled M -E -R -C -E -D -E -S M -C -C -A -M- tors, sound -effects technicians, inventors, innovators) B -R -I -D -G -E, but I was entranced by that name and and provide synopses, cast lists, theme songs, spon- fascinated with its owner's deep, rich, throaty, totally sors, histories, and air times of radio programs. Gen- unique voice. eral information about the major networks (including "Masaydees" was a regular on the DICK TRACY National Public Radio and the Canadian Broadcasting adventure series, which I listened to faithfully at the Corporation) would also be necessary. My simple, end of my school day. I also heard "Masaydees" personal list of radio celebrities and shows burgeoned when I came home from school for lunch on BIG into research material covering all aspects of North SISTER, a soap -opera series that my mother always American radio from the 1920s to the present. listened to middays, and on such memorable prime - Almost as soon as I began my research, I found time radio programs as INNER SANCTUM MYSTERIES that my considerable tape collection of vintage radio and ABIE'S IRISH ROSE. I even got to see "Masaydees" programs, my entertainment library, and my personal in the flesh, so to speak, when my mother took my recollection of what radio had been like and had sister, Joyce, and me to see a live broadcast of the become would be insufficient if my book was to Abie's Irish Rose program at New York's Radio City in include as much detailed, accurate information as I 1943. felt it should contain. Names of many radio perform- Spinning the dial to hear more of "Masaydees's" ers and contributors as well as of numerous programs magic voice, I discovered, and learned to appreciate, had never officially been recorded anywhere because the many other wonders that radio had to offer: Myr- radio was thought to be "a totally disposable" me- iad mystery, crime, adventure, comedy, music, and dium, unworthy of being taken seriously by anyone, quiz programs-an entire world of sound -oriented especially by many of the people who were an active life experiences-were mine simply by tuning them part of it and would have preferred work on the stage in. or in films. Years passed, and the business of getting on with Dates were especially difficult to substantiate and/ things and then the all -encompassing activities of or confirm. Former radio contributors were not always college life made me forget about the joys of radio. very reliable sources of factual information; either Before I knew it, television had insidiously replaced they remembered only what they wanted to remem- radio as America's favorite home -entertainment me- ber-when they were born and which shows they dium. By the time I was graduated from college, there had worked on-or what they wished had happened. was no comedy or drama nor much of anything other Except for the most prominent performers, whose than recorded music and news programs on radio. careers had been previously documented, the birth The older I became, the more I remembered radio, and/or death dates of many of radio's active partici- and the more I longed to relive those "thrilling days pants had either never been recorded or were known of yesteryear" when, in the privacy of my own room only to actors' union officials-they refused to release or around the big console radio in the living room, I "such personal information" for publication. Radio listened to the radio with Mom, Dad, and Joyce. fan magazines of the time and the few available refer- In the fall of 1990, when a dreadful new season of ence books on radio, such as Buxton and Owen's Big television programming had begun, I decided to recall Broadcast and John Dunning's Tune In Yesterday, did to mind some of radio's magic by compiling a list of not always supply accurate dates of programs and important personalities and programs from radio's correct spellings of names. I and previous authors golden days. In the back of my mind, I must have found the same discrepancies and inaccuracies. known that a book was formulating; if it were to Because I wanted my facts, especially the dates, to materialize, however, it would be a simple listing of be as correct as possible, careful decisions were made.