Columns

IT WAS AUG. 26th … when pioneer Calgary radio station CHCQ became CFAC, its third set of new call letters in three months… When Ted Rogers Sr. manufactured the world’s first commercial AC (alternating current) radio tube… When the radio program “Arch Oboler’s Plays” featured the NBC Symphony as the musical backdrop for the drama, “This Lonely Heart”…. ..and when Red Barber (pictured) announced the first televised baseball games — on experimental TV station W2XBS in New York, the predecessor to WNBC. Brooklyn Dodgers hosted Cincinnati Reds in a doubleheader. ALL the milestones for Aug. 26th INSIDE!

IT WAS AUG. 25th .. when ‘Father Knows Best’ starring Robert Young began its 4-year run on NBC Radio… When the TV game show “Concentration” with Hugh Downs (pictured) aired for the first time on NBC… When the married detectives series “Hart to Hart” debuted on ABC-TV… When the 43rd Emmy Awards gave their top trophies to LA Law, Cheers, Kirstie Alley and Patricia Wettig… ..and when the CRTC approved CHUB Nanaimo to move from 1570 KHz to 102.3 MHz, CHPQ Parksville from 1370 KHz to 99.9 MHz, and CKEG Nanaimo from 1350 KHz to 1570 KHz. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE!

IT WAS AUG. 24th .. when the CBC’s CBX AM1010 signed on with 50,000 watts at Lacombe Alberta, in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to serve both Edmonton and Calgary with one transmitter … When Montreal-born William Shatner appeared for the first time on the cover of TV Guide, with fellow Star Trek actors Deforest Kelley and Leonard Nimoy … When a spinoff of the sitcom “Diff’rent Strokes,” “The Facts of Life” debuted on NBC-TV, starting a nine year run…. ..and when NBC TV’s Jay Leno was the host as Microsoft officially rolled out their Windows 95 operating system in the Seattle suburb of Redmond. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE!

IT WAS AUG. 23rd …when singers Billy Jones and Ernie Hare, “The Happiness Boys”, first appeared on New York’s WEAF radio, sponsored by Happiness Candy stores.,, When the BBC’s experimental TV service featured the first televised boxing match between Archie Sexton and Laurie Raiteri, almost 15 years before the TV era began … When Seattle radio station KKND “The End” FM 107.7 was born, billing its music as “The Cutting Edge of Rock.” The format helped give birth to Seattle’s famed Grunge movement… ..and when Richard Hatch was revealed as the winning castaway on the first season of CBS’ “Survivor.” ALL the milestones for Aug. 23rd INSIDE!

IT WAS AUG. 22nd … when the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) began its first experimental TV broadcasting from London… When “Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy” became a three-times-a-week 30-minute feature on ABC radio, after 14 years as a daily quarter-hour strip… When Toronto’s CBLT-TV Channel 9 did its first test broadcast, covering the opening of the 73rd Canadian National Exhibition… ..and when Vancouver radio station CKLG AM730 scrapped it’s Middle-Of-The-Road programming and switched to a Top 40 format in direct competition with C-FUN 1410.. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

IT WAS AUG. 21st … that gave us career broadcasters Ken Carpenter, Chris Schenkel, Jack Buck, Harry Smith, and actor Billy Idelson of the Vic & Sade radio show … When The Four Preps and the Lionel Hampton Orch. were the musical guests on CBS-TV’s Ed Sullivan Show… When NBC News fired their Canadian-born TV reporter Arthur Kent (pictured), nicknamed ‘the scud stud’ for his reporting during the first Iraq war, after he refused an assignment to war-torn Croatia… ..and when the CRTC approved the sale of Victoria’s CKDA-AM and CFMS-FM, CKDA to the owners of The Q 100.3, CFMS to become ‘The Ocean’ under Rogers ownership. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE!

Chris Byrne is the afternoon drive host at Pure Country 89 in Windsor. He believes a relative unknown in the radio business but we have memories and remember him changing the sign in Fort McMurray when its residents returned after 2016 fires caused a mass evacuation.

IT WAS AUG. 20th .. when the first U.S. commercial radio station, 8MK (which later became WWJ), began daily broadcasting in Detroit… When Prince George (BC) TV station CKPG-TV signed on Channel 2 as a CBC affiliate…. When the first episode of the teen sitcom “Saved By The Bell” aired on NBC. It was a Saturday morning favorite for 4 seasons.. When Moffat Broadcasting sold off its empire, two Edmonton stations going to WIC (now Corus), two in Winnipeg going to Rogers, a pair in Calgary going to Golden West, while Vancouver’s CKLG-AM and CFOX-FM were sold to Shaw.... and when two giants of comedy, Jerry Lewis & Phyllis Diller, left this mortal coil. ALL the milestones for Aug. 20th INSIDE!

IT WAS AUG. 19th …. when “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” the 15 minute nightly radio comedy starring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll, made its network debut on the NBC Blue chain… When Edmonton got its latest AM station CHQT (1110 KHz) and Yorkton Sask. got its first and only one CJGX AM 1340… When WINS radio in New York City announced it would no longer play white artist cover versions of R&B hits. For example, the DJs were instructed to play Fats Domino’s “Ain’t It A Shame,” not Pat Boone’s… ..and when the 58th and final episode of the rock ‘n’ roll sitcom “The Monkees” aired on NBC-TV. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

IT WAS AUG. 18th .. when Vancouver radio station CKNW moved from 1320 on the AM dial to 980, the spot vacated the previous year by CKWX. That same day, CKLG moved from 1070 to 730… When the ABC-TV music special ‘The 5th Dimension Traveling Sunshine Show’ featured The Carpenters, Merle Haggard and Dionne Warwick… When former L.A. TV reporter and news anchor John Tesh started a decade as Mary Hart’s co-host on the syndicated “Entertainment Tonight”… ..and when a PetroCan pump attendant Dick Assman of Regina made a cameo appearance on CBS’s Late Show With David Letterman (pictured), after months of ‘Ass Man’ jokes. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.