Columns

IT WAS MAY 2nd … when comedian Jack Benny (pictured) made his radio debut as star of ‘The Canada Dry Program’ on NBC Blue … When Calgary’s heritage radio station CFAC (now Sportsnet 960) first aired as CQCA with 10 watts of power … When radio station WLS Chicago (AM 890) switched its format from Country to Top 40… When Phil Donahue taped the final episode of his syndicated TV talk show… and when Ed Sullivan abandoned his vow not to have this British rock group back, and allowed Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones to make a second appearance on Sullivan’s popular Sunday night showcase on CBS-TV. ALL the milestones for this date INSIDE.

IT WAS MAY 1st … when Edmonton got its first radio station. The Edmonton Journal’s CJCA broadcast on 450 metres with 50 watts…. When Vancouver’s CKMO moved down the dial from 730 kilocycles to its longtime home at 1410… When Brooklyn’s Larry Zeiger made his first radio broadcast in Miami after his boss renamed him Larry King… When C-ISL signed on as Richmond BC’s first radio station at 940 on the AM dial .. When both of Kamloops heritage radio stations CFJC & CHNL debuted, though some 44 years apart .. and when country comedienne Minnie Pearl (pictured) was the surprised honoree on NBC-TV’s This Is Your Life. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

IT WAS APRIL 30th … when television was demonstrated for the first time in the US, as President Roosevelt spoke at the opening of the New York World’s Fair …. When after 27 years, the final broadcast of ‘Arthur Godfrey Time’ aired on CBS Radio, a decade after most network entertainment radio had ended …. When host Jack Bailey (pictured) introduced the so-called daily agony show “Queen For a Day” on Mutual radio… and when the 208th & final episode of “The Cosby Show” was seen on NBC-TV. ALL the milestones for the last day of April INSIDE.

IT WAS APRIL 29th …. when Toronto radio station CFRB aired its first program from the Columbia Broadcasting System in the US …. When the enduring nighttime soap “One Man’s Family” debuted as a weekly 30-minute radio series in Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle … When the 15-minute daytime drama “Young Dr. Malone” began its 21-year run on CBS radio … When Canada’s Fletcher Markle debuted his drama anthology Studio One on CBS radio .. and when ‘Wide World of Sports’ began its remarkable 37-year long Saturday afternoon run on ABC-TV. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE

IT WAS APRIL 28th … when Bill Drake installed ‘Boss Radio’ as the soon-to-be-dominant Top 40 format on KHJ AM 930 in Los Angeles … When Mike Wallace first became a Sunday evening TV star as host of the syndicated ‘Mike Wallace Interview’ across the US… When Arthur Godfrey concluded a decade of TV stardom as his weekday show returned to CBS radio only status… and when sportscaster Ted Reynolds (pictured) passed away after decades of playbyplay (& Olympics) broadcasting first at CFJC & CJVI and then with the CBC in Vancouver. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

ON THIS DAY in 1889 actor Ned Wever was born in New York City.  Throughout the 1930’s and ’40’s he was a busy East Coast radio actor,...

IT WAS APRIL 26th … when the Ozarks comedy ‘Lum & Abner’ was broadcast for the first time on Arkansas radio station KTHS… When the daytime drama ‘Lorenzo Jones’ debuted on NBC radio… When ‘The Prince and the Pauper’ appeared in prime time on NBC-TV, starring former Beatle Ringo Starr… When John Wayne, Bob Hope, and Tom Jones were guests of Raquel Welch on her NBC-TV special … .. and when the 200th episode of ‘The Simpsons’ aired on FOX-TV. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

IT WAS APRIL 25th .. when the future iconic broadcast news pioneer Edward. R. Murrow (pictured) was born in North Carolina… When the New York experimental TV station that preceded WCBS aired the first circus on television…. When Vancouver’s CKST AM 1040 dropped its adult contemporary music format and began airing commercial free Classic Rock, enroute to adopting an all-sports format two weeks later… and when the TV-movie “Dukes Of Hazzard: Reunion!” aired on CBS, 12 years after the series left the air. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

IT WAS APRIL 24th .. when Jack Webb introduced his short-lived pre-Dragnet detective-adventure radio show ‘Johnny Madero: Pier 23’ on Mutual, with Gale Gordon and William Conrad in the cast … When Dick Powell (pictured) appeared for the first time as ‘Richard Diamond, Private Detective’ on NBC radio… When ‘X-Minus One’, a quality show for science fiction fans, was first heard on NBC radio, offering some of the best drama of the era… and when ‘Your Hit Parade’ ended after a nine-year run on NBC TV and many more years on network radio. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

IT WAS APRIL 23rd .. when Lucille Ball made the first of her 34 appearances on the cover of TV Guide … When Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, and Vicki Carr, with comedian Bob Newhart were Glen Campbell’s guests on his weekly CBS-TV variety show… When NBC-TV aired the pilot of ‘Baywatch,’ the show that introduced the world to Ladysmith BC’s Pamela Anderson … and when Toronto-born conductor/composer Robert Farnon (pictured), who got his start in the 1930’s playing trumpet on CBC Radio’s “Happy Gang,” died in England at age 87. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.