Subject: [removed] Digest V01 #150
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 5/19/2001 9:10 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                      The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                         Volume 01 : Issue 150
                   A Part of the [removed]!
                           ISSN: 1533-9289


                           Today's Topics:

 Let's Pretend                        [andy ryan <anbryan2000@[removed];  ]
 WOTW B/CASTS;BBC SHORTWAVE           ["Owens Pomeroy" <opomeroy@[removed]; ]
 Re: Radio sets                       [Bill Harris <billhar@[removed];    ]
 Re:  Radio Sets                      [Ken Dahl <kdahl@[removed];       ]
 Re: KQW-San Jose?                    [Rob Spencer <rspencer@[removed];]
 War of the Worlds                    ["Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@]
 Australian radio                     [ajhubin@[removed]                   ]
 antenna grounding                    ["Birdwalk Farms" <pheadoux@[removed]]
 Wither or whether Mutual?            ["jstokes" <jstokes@[removed];    ]
 WJJD Suppertime Frolic               ["Donald & Kathleen Dean" <dxk@nfoli]
 Re: KQW, and more on KDKA            [Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed]]
 Arlene Francis                       [Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed]]
 Radio sets(tv ready                  ["Ed Kindred" <kindred@[removed];  ]
 Re: old radio misic (sic)            [Alan Bell <bella@[removed];]
 Julius La Rosa                       ["Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];]
 Australian OTR.                      ["John A. Southard" <jsouthard@[removed]]

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

Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 08:56:23 -0400
From: andy ryan <anbryan2000@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Let's Pretend

Looking for MP3 of all of the available "Let's
Pretend" shows.
One of my favorites, but can't find anyone offering
them on MP3 cd.
Please reply off-list to:

andy ryan
anbryan2000@[removed]
Thanks

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

Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 08:56:29 -0400
From: "Owens Pomeroy" <opomeroy@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  WOTW B/CASTS;BBC SHORTWAVE

     To Fred Owens: Do not worry about performing WOTW for your school
group.  Our OTR Club has been doing it for many years as our Haloween Theme
Meeting. There are other clubs that use these scripts for their Meetings as
well, as does the FOTR Convention. We also just performed a Fred Allen Show
last Saturday Night.

* *******************************************************************

   Your wrong, Mike. I was able to pull in the Short Wave stationd as late
as the early Seventies until the two main tubes blew.  The antenna was
grounded to a water pipe, an later we hopoked it up to my daughter's CB
antenna.  Worked ...[removed] [removed]!!

Owens Pomeroy

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

Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 08:57:22 -0400
From: Bill Harris <billhar@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Radio sets

"John Sloan" <jdsloan@[removed]; wonders:


A lodge brother has been telling me about a radio his parents had that  had
a small viewing screen built in.   This screen was there so tv could be
added when it was available.  My question is, was there such a set or is my
leg being pulled.

Some early sets of the 1930's vintage had a jack and switch on the rear
chassis marked "television". Usually you see this feature on console
sets which tend to have a better audio section and larger speaker than
table models. This jack was simply an input to the audio amplifier of
the radio. The idea being that television sets would be manufactured
with an audio output that could be fed to the radio for better quality
sound. If I remember correctly, I think either Zenith or Philco, maybe
both, had plans for tv sets that would not have an audio section driving
a speaker, but you would just feed the audio to the radio "television"
input. This was a cost reduction feature and I am not sure if any of
these were ever manufactured. I am currently restoring an 11 tube Zenith
console that has such a jack and switch for that purpose.

As far as a built in viewing screen for television, I have never heard
of that. Perhaps what your lodge brother is referring to is a "movie
dial" set. The dial on these sets consisted of a small translucent glass
screen, the stations markings being on a circular celluloid strip that
was projected onto the screen. Turning the tuning knob rotated the strip
and the station markings would move across the screen. When the set was
turned off, it would look much like a small tv screen. My first
remembrances of radio was one of these console sets in our living room,
it was an Airline.

Bill Harris

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

Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:01:31 -0400
From: Ken Dahl <kdahl@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re:  Radio Sets

I can remember in 1940 my parents purchased a floor model Philco radio.  It
was beautiful and made of wood.  Remember real wood?  Anyway, the instruction
book said that if TV ever made an appearance we could contact a Philco dealer
and they would convert our radio to a TV set.  I assume they would remove the
dial plate and insert a picture tube.  Ken Dahl

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

Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:01:33 -0400
From: Rob Spencer <rspencer@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: KQW-San Jose?

SacChief@[removed] asked about KQW San Jose and its claim to have been the
first commerical broadcast station.  You know, I had this exact same
question myself, and this is what led me to join the Airwaves Radio Journal
in the first place, back before the OTR Digest was even a twinkle in Bill
Pfeiffer's eye.  My dad, who grew up in San Jose, frequently recounted the
story of some guy named Herrold and a station that he had up an running a
decade before KDKA.  But I could find nothing about Herrold or KQW in any
reference work.  Thus, I asked this question of the list back on June 17,
1994, and of the various answers I got, this was the most pertinent:


* * *

Subject: Re: History of broadcast radio
From: dk@[removed] (David A. Kaye)

Spencerob (spencerob@[removed]) wrote:

: What's the real story on KQW?  Was it the first station to air
: regular broadcasts?  When did it start?

April 1, 1909, by Dr. Charles David Herrold, who owned the Herrold School,
an electronics school in downtown San Jose.  The station was in the Garden
State Bank building at 1st and San Fernando.  Herrold's station had many
firsts.  The big differentiation between his station and others of the era
was that he specifically had set it up to reach the public, not
point-to-point (such as ship-to-shore) as others had done.  His wife was
also the first DJ, trading records from a local store for air mentions. . .
 .
* * *

The whole story of "Doc" Herrold's life and work is told in a PBS
documentary, "Broadcasting's Forgotten Father: The Charles Herrold Story",
which was researched, produced, written, and directed by Mike Adams.  It is
really quite a gripping tale.  I'm hoping Mike Adams is lurking somewhere
out there, and will take over this thread with much more authority than I
can offer.

Rob Spencer

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

Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:01:36 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  War of the Worlds

David Easter, speaking of an upcoming film version of War of the Worlds
by Pendragon Pictures, notes,

This implies that Pendragon Pictures must own, at least, the screen
[removed];<

Possibly.  It might also be that the novel could be in the public domain.
 I doubt anyone has screen rights to, say, Hamlet or King Lear.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:01:39 -0400
From: ajhubin@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Australian radio

I thought someone (probably Ian Grieve) mentioned
that a book called "Australian Radio Series 1930s to 1970s"
had been published by Screensound and could be ordered
from its web site ([removed]).  However, I went
all over that site without finding any sign of such a book.  Did
I misunderstand something?

Al Hubin

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

Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:01:50 -0400
From: "Birdwalk Farms" <pheadoux@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  antenna grounding

Of course, now you would need an outside (CB? HAM?) audio
antenna. (In the 30's all we did was take the ground wire and attach it
to
a water pipe).

If a water pipe worked in the 1930's, it would work now

'taint so, McGee

there are at least four types of plastic plumbing in common usage now and in
many jurisdictions there is by law a plastic section just before either the
water meter or point of exit for the precise purpose of cutting the ground
circuit.  Without testing even a copper water system cannot be presumes a
good ground.

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

Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:01:53 -0400
From: "jstokes" <jstokes@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Wither or whether Mutual?

    Per Dick Slack, whatever did happen to Mutual?   Way back in otr, Mutual
would tag their newscasts as the nation's largest network.   And there was
Mutual's Game of the Day.   And The Mysterious Traveler.   The network
flagship station was WOR in New York.
    I recall Mutual's newscasts.   They would bring many correspondents
overseas via shortwave radio.   The reports would weave in and out.   Many
years later, when I worked at the old WLOL-AM, then a Mutual affiliate, here
in Minneapolis, the joke going around the studio was that all the Mutual
overseas correspondents were actually sitting in the same announcer booth
there in New York.
    We all figured that the "overseas correspondents" were actually sitting
in the Mutual studio in New York.   On cue, the "overseas" reporter would
cup his hand and move it from side to side over his mouth, giving that
far-flung shortwave radio news sound!
    Try it!   See what I mean!
    At the time in the late 60's when I was at WLOL, there was a
correspondent out of Washington, DC, who had several reports on EVERY Mutual
newscast.   I can hear his voice to this day saying, "Pye Chamberlain,
Capitol Hill."   If he got paid even a dollar for every time he was on
Mutual -- with sometimes THREE reports per five minute newscasts -- he must
be a multi-millionaire!
    That voice lives on, by the way, in training slidetapes and films put
out by the army!   What the heck ever happened to him?   There is no Mutual
station here anymore.
    Besides Pye Chamberlain, the Mutual newscasters were an interesting lot.
I recall the lively style of Frank Singheiser (spelling), Tony Marvin
(somewhere I have a dub of the night he was drunk during a newcast), Bill
Stern (great, great showman.)   He gets an A+++ for his interesting style on
the Bill Stern Sportsreel.
    Did somebody write a book on Mutual?   I would like to read it!   Years
ago there was a news story called (no kidding!) "Who Owns Mutual?"   That
was after 3M sold it.
    Speaking of 3M owning Mutual, I recall the zillions of Wollensak
Recorder spots (3M product) -- "What you want is a Wollensak!"   These
recorders were sold by the zillions and were always in the repair shop.
The power of advertising!
    And "Scotch Brand tape" spots were in great abundance when 3M owned
Mutual.
    KSDN, Aberdeen, SD, carried Mutual for a while.   Then my first radio
job out of college was as a summer replacement at KWAT in Watertown.   That
was back in the summer of 1960.   KWAT only ran the newscasts.   Game of the
Day was a but a memory then.
    After I got out of the army (big mistake, I should have stayed in!), I
worked for KVOX, Moorhead, Minnesota.   Again Mutual!   The station carried
a neat late night program called "Music from Beyond the Stars."   Very well
programmed what we used to call "light music" (which was killed by rock and
roll, by the way).
    Anyone reading this recall what the lovely theme music was for that
show?   I found the theme on an LP years ago, but can't recall what it was.
    Well that's enough "Mutual Memories" for now.

:)

Jim Stokes

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

Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 09:29:27 -0400
From: "Donald & Kathleen Dean" <dxk@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  WJJD Suppertime Frolic

David Chamberlain of Memphis, TN posted the following  on
the last Digest # 149.

I have fond memories of listening to WJJD and the "Suppertime Frolic" as
 a youngster.  I would dearly love to have just one recording of this
 show for reasons of nostalgia.  Could anyone direct me to a possible
 sour for excerpts from this program or possibly a full evenings
 program from the 40's ?  Thanks.

David, I have a few excerpts from the "Suppertime Frolic" but it only
runs around 10 minutes or less and the sound quality is only fair. It has
a song by The Herrington Sisters, etc. with announcer Randy Blake (I
believe that was his name). I too listened to this program as a youngster
and would love to have more recordings of it also. Contact me for further
details.
Don Dean - N8IOJ

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

Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 10:01:58 -0400
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: KQW, and more on KDKA

bob wonders,

However, many years ago
there was a station with call letters KQW. It was the predecesor to KCBS-San
Francisco, However, I believe that KQW was licensed to San Jose and that KQW
used also claim credit as the first station on the air/ Anybody know anything
about this?

KQW is in the same category as KDKA, WWJ, and many other pioneer stations
-- a broadcast outlet that evolved from an experimental amateur station,
and it very clearly pre-dates both KDKA and WWJ in experimentation with
broadcasting. The station had its origin in the experimental work of
Charles Herrold of San Jose, a scientist who operated the "Herrold
College of Wireless and Engineering."

Herrold made his first voice transmissions in the spring of 1909, using
the self-assigned call sign of "FN." Beginning in 1912, he began
broadcasting (without any official sanction) as "SJN," offering a regular
-- but very limited -- schedule of voice and recorded music. Herrold's
phonograph and records were donated by the Wiley B. Allen Company of San
Jose, and promotional acknowledgements were given over the air. In
addition to Herrold himself, his wife Sybil and a colleague by the name
of Emil Portal are known to have announced these programs. Herrold's
activities were widely reported in the Northern California newspapers,
and he became sufficiently prominent that "public receiving sets" were
used to recieve his broadcasts for curious headphone-wearing listeners at
the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915.

Herrold's amateur station was licensed by the Department of Commerce in
1916 as 6XF, with an additional mobile transmitter licensed as 6XE, and
programs of recorded music were presented on a regular weekly schedule.
He was forced to close down his operations -- along with all other radio
amateurs -- in 1917, as a result of wartime restrictions on the use of
radio --and he resumed operations in 1919, still as 6XF/6XE. In 1921, he
was granted a broadcast-class license as KQW. The station remains in
operation to this day, having become KCBS in 1949. Herrold had sold the
station in 1925, but remained active in Bay Area radio for several years
as an engineer, advertising salesman, time broker, and occasional air
personality. He died in 1948.

Herrold's advocates present a very strong case for him being "the first
broadcaster" if you define broadcasting as being the presentation of
entertainment programs on a regularly-scheduled basis. There is ample
documentation in the regional press that Herrold and his associates were
doing this between 1912 and 1917.

It has been argued by KDKA advocates that true "broadcasting" could not
exist until ready-made radio sets were being sold to the general public.
This is a clear case of special pleading. Plans and parts for building
home-brew receivers were widely available in the pre-war era, and radio
was well on its way to becoming a mainstream hobby before 1917. This
argument also glosses over the fact that even though the marketing of
ready-made sets for broadcast listening began on a very limited basis by
Westinghouse in 1920, the use of such sets was far outweighed by
home-brew equipment thruout the first half of the 1920s. It wasn't until
1924-25 that ready-made receiving equipment made any real impression on
the public -- the radio craze of 1921-23 was fueled all-but-entirely on
home-brew equipment constructed by "amateurs." In other words, attempts
to define the beginning of broadcasting by drawing a sharp line in 1920
between the end of the "amateur" era and the beginning of the "broadcast"
era are both arbitrary and artificial.

As another aside on this debate, a distinction should be made between
"commercial" licenses and "standard broadcast" licenses, because they
were not the same thing. The license issued to KDKA in 1920 was a
"Limited Commercial" license, and it was *not* the first "Limited
Commercial" radio license to be issued by the Bureau of Navigation. This
classification dated back to 1912, and "Commercial" in the sense that it
was used here has nothing whatsoever to do with "commerical
broadcasting." It refers to the use of radio for business purposes, such
as in ship-to-shore and ship-to-ship communications. Many such licenses
had been issued by the DOC to shipping companies, and in fact KDKA's call
letters fall within the sequence of call signs assigned to shore-to-ship
stations during late 1920. Westinghouse made no secret of the fact that
it intended to use this license for broadcasting purposes -- but
nevertheless, it was in no sense specifically designated as a
"broadcasting" license.

The "broadcast service" as a category of license **did not exist until it
was formally created by the Department of Commerce on December 1, 1921**
-- this was a Limited Commercial class license with a rider restricting
the licensee to operation on specified wavelengths of 360 or 485 meters,
for broadcasting of "news, concerts, lectures, and like matter." While
several broadcasters operating prior to this date had operated on 360,
and Westinghouse's WBZ in Springfield had actually been assigned to use
this wavelength in September of 1921, the first license to specify an
operating wavelength for broadcast use -- it wasn't until this December
1921 action that the Government actually took the first formal step
toward creating a "broadcast band." (For the record, the first license
assigned after this change took place was to the Portable Wireless
Telephone Company in Stockton, California for station KWG. Charles
Herrold received his broadcast license for KQW on December 9th.) It
wasn't until 1922 that the Department of Commerce began to file
broadcasting stations seperately from "coast stations" in its records,
and it wasn't until 1922 that broadcasting under an amateur-class license
was offically prohibited.

There are carefully-documented accounts of the evolution of the broadcast
service at Thomas White's U. S. Early Radio History website,
[removed]~whitetho/, including reproductions of original
government source materials. KDKA's own 1920 record card is especially
interesting: the only references to "broadcasting" on the original card
are brief notations at the top and bottom -- which look like they might
have been added as afterthoughts.

Elizabeth

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

Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 16:56:14 -0400
From: Dennis W Crow <DCrow3@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Arlene Francis

Jim Cox writes graciously about one of my favorite performers, Arlene
Francis. She deservedly commands respect for her participation in radio,
theater, television, and the movies. I remember a discussion two years ago
in this forum about  Arlene's participation on a talk show.  The poster
stated that Arlene spoke disparagingly of the late  Dorothy  Kilgallen when
the interview was over.

I rose to Arlene's defense.  Even in her autobiography, written with friend
Florence Rome, she doesn't denigrate Kilgallen.  They were both on
television's "What's My Line" and were frequently compared. But what
emerges most about Arlene is her kindness and compassion. She visited
Portland, Oregon, in the late seventies, and made a speech to a group of
Rotarians and Kiwanians. She was a "class act" to her core; no
self-obsession (quite the opposite) and no pretense.  Everyone discovered
her to be warm and cordial.

I believe Jim Cox would agree that her finest hour is now.  Even though
suffering a debilitating illness, she is participating in an Artworks
program,  and some of  her paintings (which are part of her therapy) have
been placed on view. Once again, she has proved that she has tremendous
heart and spirit.

Dennis Crow

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

Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 17:32:11 -0400
From: "Ed Kindred" <kindred@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio sets(tv ready

In the late 40's early 50's, maybe Summer of 1950 Simmon's Electric Company
in Phoenix advertised Packard Bell Consoles with the opening for TV when it
became available. Phoenix was not the sixth largest city in the US then,
maybe 100th and was late in the TV game. KPHO was the only channel (they
called them channels then) and featured programming from the four major TV
networks ABC,CBS,NBC and Dumont. The TV's that were offered initially
featured round tubes of 7" and for the extremely wealthy the massive drum
roll please  10" screen.
Ed Kindred

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

Date: Fri, 18 May 2001 19:04:27 -0400
From: Alan Bell <bella@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: old radio misic (sic)

"Birdwalk Farms" <pheadoux@[removed]; wrote

radio 1530  W???  uses the 'music of your life format and is now mixing such
things as 'Under the Boardwalk' and some of the Elvis ballads mixed in with
Peggy Lee and Glenn Miller.

My first reaction was surprise, second was this might gain some younger
audience and help keep the older cuts spinning.

Uhh, "younger" audience? You mean those under 80? I don't know how to
break this to you, but those of us who listened to Under the
Boardwalk and Elvis in our youth are well into our 50s.

But hey, thanks for the compliment. I usually have to go visit my
parents--who ARE in their 80s--to hear someone call ME young.
--
Alan Bell
Grandville, MI
bella@[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 19 May 2001 01:03:11 -0400
From: "Walden Hughes" <hughes1@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Julius La Rosa

Does any one have information on other radio shows that Julius La Rosa
worked on besides Godfrey?  I am in the process in putting together my notes
for my interview of Julius La Rosa for this Sunday on YUSA, Walden.

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

Date: Sat, 19 May 2001 01:03:14 -0400
From: "John A. Southard" <jsouthard@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Australian OTR.

My name is John and I have been reading the Digest for a year now and enjoy
it very much. My background is in teaching history at high school and
college level. I have been collecting OTR for about thirty years. I recently
purchased a MP3 CD on E-bay of the Fat Man radio program. I knew immediately
from the music and the voice that this was not the Fat Man program I knew.
The lead actor was not J. Scott Smart. I believe it is the Australian
version.  That is all right because there are few of the Smart programs
available. What I would like to know is who played Brad Runyon in Australia,
and did they use American scripts?
John Southard     jsouthard@[removed]

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V01 Issue #150
*******************************************

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

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

For Help: [removed]@[removed]
To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]

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

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

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