Today in Broadcast History

Actress Mary Martin, perhaps best known today as the mother of the late Larry Hagman, was born. She starred in the three productions of Peter Pan in the mid fifties. Gene Autry began his long association with radio by singing on WLS Chicago for $35 a week. On this day in 1944, Vancouver’s CKWX AM 980 became the first station in Western Canada to join a U.S. network, the Mutual-Don Lee Broadcasting System.

Many celebrities were born this date including Vin Scully, Howie Mandel, Don Cheadle, Diane Ladd, Garry Shandling, Merle Travis, Dagmar, Tom Sizemore, Denny Doherty, and TV newsman Frank Reynolds. NBC radio began using the 3-note chimes; the early radio crime show ‘Calling All Cars’ debuted on the CBS West Coast network; the Chicago puppet show ‘Kukla Fran & Ollie’ (pictured) moved to the NBC-TV network; the Metropolitan Opera was first televised on WJZ-TV; for the first time the ‘Grammy Awards’ made it to TV; and PBS televised a taped concert honoring Bruce Springsteen. Obits for Nov. 29th include Natalie Wood, George Harrison, Gene Rayburn, Ray Smith and Godfrey Cambridge. Details and ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

Happy birthday to Jon Stewart, Paul Schaeffer, Randy Newman, Ed Harris, S. Epatha Merkerson and Berry Gordy Jr. It’s the date William Boyd brought his ‘Hopalong Cassidy’ movies to TV; when the Grand Ole Opry debuted on WSM Nashville as ‘The WSM Barn Dance’; the 200th Andy Griffith Show aired on CBS-TV; a few years later CBS broadcast the last live TV soap operas before tape took over; and Phil Donahue moved his TV talk show from Chicago to New York. This was the date we lost entertainment giants Garry Moore and Leslie Nielsen. ALL the milestones for Nov. 28th INSIDE.

It’s the date that brought us Rich Little, Robert Goulet, Ernie Coombs, Tina Turner, Charles Schulz (‘Peanuts’ cartoonist), and Eric Sevareid of CBS News. The CRTC introduced ‘simultaneous substitution’ of US programming to Canadian cable systems; NBC premiered a 30-minute ‘Price is Right’ game show hosted by Bill Cullen; the CBC televised the Grey Cup Game for the first time; Elton John (pictured) guested on FOX-TV’s ‘Ally McBeal’; and ABC telecast the TV special ‘Paul McCartney: Good Evening New York.’ Details and ALL the Nov. 26th milestones INSIDE.

Happy Birthday to John Laroquette, Jill Hennessy, Christina Applegate, Amy Grant, and Bing Crosby’s widow Kathryn. Texas radio station WTAW aired the first football play-by-play; four decades later, CBS telecast the first NFL game in color; and decades later, CBC-TV aired the Grey Cup game for the last time. Also on this date Seattle got its first TV station, in fact the first station north of San Francisco; CBS cancelled the last 5 daytime serials on radio; Michael J. Fox revealed he had Parkinson’s disease and would be leaving ‘Spin City’; and CBS televised the TV special ‘Francis Albert Sinatra Does His Thing.’ Obits for Nov. 25th include Canadian TV chef Madame Benoit, comedian Flip Wilson, actor Jack Albertson (pictured), dancer Bill Bojangles Robinson, and onetime CKNW staff singer Alberta Slim. Details and ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

Happy Birthday to Katherine Heigl, Colin Hanks, Sarah Hyland, Billy Connolly, Pete Best, and the late Howard Duff. It was the day JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald himself was shot dead by Jack Ruby; radio station KVI started serving Tacoma with 50 watts at 1280 KHz; CBC Vancouver opened its new radio-TV headquarters on Hamilton Street; the private eye show ‘Simon & Simon’ debuted on CBS-TV; Dusty Springfield and The Muppetts were featured on CBS-TV’s Ed Sullivan Show; and Frank Sinatra ended 2 years in retirement with the NBC-TV special ‘Old Blue Eyes is Back’. The music world lost Freddie Mercury, Big Joe Turner, and Kiss drummer Eric Carr, and actors Richard Carlson and Pat Morita also passed. Details and ALL the Nov. 24 milestones INSIDE.

It’s the date that gave birth to Miley Cyrus, Robin Roberts, John Dehner, Ruth Etting and Boris Karloff. The forerunner to Vancouver’s CKWX radio was licensed as CFDC in Nanaimo; already a hit on TV, ‘Have Gun Will Travel’ debuted on CBS Radio; Bob Hope’s final TV special aired on NBC-TV; ‘Doctor Who’ had its premiere on BBC-TV; Ronald and Nancy Reagan co-starred in a 30-minute ‘GE Theatre’ on CBS-TV; and Bon Jovi played three numbers on NBC-TV’s ‘Today Show.’ Passing away were Larry Hagman, Gloria Gordon (Our Miss Brooks), Marie Wilson (My Friend Irma) (pictured), western swing’s Spade Cooley, and country music’s Roy Acuff. Details and ALL the Nov. 23rd milestones INSIDE.

Happy Birthday to Scarlett Johansson, Jamie Lee Curtis, Mariel Hemingway, Terry Gilliam, Richard Kind and Steve Van Zandt. President Kennedy was assassinated, and broadcasters went to wall-to-wall coverage for 4 days; the first televised interracial kiss occurred on NBC’s Star Trek; Woody Allen was the subject of a 60 Minutes interview about his affair with Mia Farrow’s adoptive daughter; Ted Koppel anchored his final ‘Nightline’ on ABC-TV; and the same network aired the 100th episode of ‘Who’s the Boss.’ Obits include Parley Baer, Michael Conrad, Jazz’s Norman Granz, and down east musician John Allan Cameron. ALL the milestones for Nov. 22nd INSIDE.

It’s the date of birth of Goldie Hawn, Marlo Thomas, Lorna Luft, Harold Ramis, Carly Rae Jepsen, and the late Foster Hewitt. Albertans first heard the call letters CKUA, as the University of Alberta took over radio station CFCK. Vancouver got its first FM station as CBR-FM debuted at 105.7; The ‘Roy Rogers Show’ was first heard on the Mutual radio network; CKO-FM came to Vancouver with All News Radio at 96.1 MHz; 82 million saw the season opener on CBS-TV’s ‘Dallas’; Aerosmith guested on Fox-TV’s ‘The Simpsons’; and Sherry Stringfield left the cast of NBC-TV’s ‘ER’ for the first time. Leaving this mortal coil on Nov. 21st were Bruno Gerussi, (Pictured) Harry Von Zell, Jerry Colonna, Bill Bixby, Gardner McKay and Bill Black. Details and ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

Happy Birthday to Dick Smothers, Judy Woodruff, Estelle Parsons, Richard Masur, Sean Young and Joe Walsh of The Eagles. On this date 72 years ago ‘Meet the Press’ made its TV debut on NBC; 22 years ago today Victoria got its own CBC Radio station at 90.5 MHz; George Harrison and Paul Simon sang as a duet on NBC’s Saturday Night Live, and six years later to the day, 7-year old Drew Barrymore hosted the show. CBS-TV aired the 100th episode of ‘Green Acres’; 12 years later it broadcast ‘M*A*S*H*’ episode #200. ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’ featured headliners the Dave Clark Five, Bobby Vinton and Dick Cavett, and U2 was profiled on ’60 Minutes.’ Obits include Canadian broadcasters Chuck Davis (Pictured) and Tom Rivers, and the ‘first lady’ of radio, Cathy Lewis ALL the milestones for Nov. 20th INSIDE.