Columns

ON THIS DAY in 1876 Telephone inventor Alexander Graham Bell made the world’s first long-distance call from Brantford to the Bell homestead in Paris, Ontario, using a 13...In 1991, longtime CKNW sportscaster Al Davidson (pictured) died at age 66.  He was the irascible, mercurial sports voice of the station for 30 years before his termination 4 years earlier.

IT WAS AUG. 9th … when radio brought word of a 2nd atomic bomb explosion that would lead to Japan’s surrender & the end of World War II… When the TV program “Ready Steady Go!” premiered on ITV in the UK. The show gave early exposure to such music luminaries as Bob Dylan and The Rolling Stones… When two popular Toronto deejays John Spragge and Bob MacAdorey were fired from radio station CHUM… ..and when, following the enormous success of the “Motown 25” TV special two years earlier, NBC debuted the ill-fated “Motown Revue” variety series hosted by Smokey Robinson, which lasted only five weeks. ALL the milestones for Aug. 9th INSIDE.

In 1934, Bing Crosby became the first singer to record for the US branch of Decca Records.  Johnny Cash was at Owen Bradley’s studio in Nashville to record nine tracks during the afternoo Barbara Bel Geddes (pictured), best remembered as matriarch Eleanor “Miss Ellie” Ewing in the TV drama ‘Dallas’, lost her battle with lung cancer at age 82.n and evening, mostly for his first Columbia album “The Fabulous Johnny Cash.”

IT WAS AUG. 7th … when just months before the US was pulled into WWII, WNBT, Channel 4 in New York City, broadcast TV’s first audience-participation show in which studio guests played charades…. Peter Jennings (pictured) When Martin Kane, Private Eye was first heard on Mutual radio…. When 16-year-old Paul Anka made his U.S. television debut on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand, lip-synching to his first hit “Diana”… ..and when the reality series Gene Simmons’ Family Jewels had its premiere on the A&E cable network. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

IT WAS AUG. 6th … when one of radio’s first serials, Real Folks debuted on NBC radio… When singer Dinah Shore started her own Sunday evening show on the NBC Blue radio network. Later Dinah would also have a successful TV career spanning more than three decades… When Chubby Checker appeared on Dick Clark’s Saturday Night Beechnut Show (ABC TV) and introduced ‘The Twist’… When Jon Stewart closed out his 16 years as host of 'The Daily Show' ... When MOJO RADIO debuted in Vancouver on AM730 with “talk radio for guys” (which would prove to be a mistake)… ..and after establishing himself on Mexican border powerhouses, Wolfman Jack (pictured) debuted on WNBC Radio New York. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

IT WAS AUGUST 5th .. when KDKA Pittsburgh aired the first-ever baseball play by play, with pioneering announcer Harold Arlin at the mike … When the daily radio drama “Backstage Wife” first aired on a network (Mutual), after proving popular for a few months on Chicago’s WGN. It moved to NBC a year later, and to CBS two decades later!… When after becoming a huge TV hit in Philadelphia, Dick Clark’s “American Bandstand” made its debut on ABC… .. and when Prince George (BC) got its second private radio station as CJCI 620 signed on the air. “C.I.” stood for Central Interior… ALL the milestones for Aug. 5th INSIDE!

IT WAS AUG. 4th … when the first tennis match on radio was aired on Pittsburgh’s KDKA, the first US commercial station… When the CBC carried out Canada’s first television transmission from a helicopter… When the Everly Bros. sang ‘Wake Up Little Susie’ on CBS-TV’s Ed Sullivan Show … When the Federal Communications Commission voted 4-0 to rescind the so-called ‘Fairness Doctrine’… ..and when two on-camera stars of Vancouver's BCTV, Ron Morrier and Robert Malcolm (pictured), signed off forever. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

IT WAS AUG. 3rd … when 36-year-old announcer Frank Blair (pictured) became news anchor of the NBC-TV Today Show, a job he would keep for the next 22 years!… When CBS-TV war correspondent Morley Safer sent out a Vietnam report showing American troops using their Zippo lighters to set fire to thatched huts in a Vietnamese village … When ‘Tonight Show’ host Johnny Carson graced the cover of the Burbank telephone directory… ..and when the ABC-TV news magazine Primetime Live debuted, with Sam Donaldson and Diane Sawyer headlining. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE

IT WAS AUG. 2nd .. when the TV station now known as KCPQ (FOX 13) in Tacoma-Seattle, began broadcasting as KMO-TV Tacoma… When Canadian-born CBS correspondent Morley Safer (pictured) sent the first TV report from Vietnam indicating the US was losing the war… When CHUM-owned TV stations in Victoria, London, Barrie, Wingham, Windsor and Ottawa became A-Channels… …and when radio station WHTZ-FM, Newark, New Jersey (serving New York City and environs) – signed on as “Z100” with Scott Shannon and the “Morning Zoo”. It went from “worst to first” in just a few months. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

IT WAS AUG. 1st …when CKWX signed on from studios in Vancouver’s Belmont Hotel, after being known previously as CFDC Nanaimo … When Mutual radio debuted “The Goodwill Hour”, with its familiar phrase, “You have a friend and advisor in John J. Anthony”… When Victoria radio station CKDA 1340 moved to AM 1280 and increased its power from 250 watts to 5000 watts… When an era ended on Vancouver's CKNW as both Philip Till and Bill Good closed out their talk show careers .... When Kelowna’s AM 1150 switched from a country music format to Oldies…. ..and when “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour” launched on CBS-TV with a short summer run followed by three successful regular seasons.  CKAY-AM Duncan (B.C.) became SUN-FM on 89.7 MHz ALL the milestones for Aug. 1st INSIDE.