WGTB Schedule (Part 2)

Georgetown University fired station man­ager Ken Sleeman in December of 1975 trying to purge the liberals, hippies and other radicals from the station. God forbid that gay people exist or that races intermarry. Nixon's impeachment hearing began in the Spring of 1974 and conservatives were feeling vengeful. I do believe that mood led to the administration's attack on WGTB over the course of the following year.

When we fast forward to the WBGT schedule of January 1976 we see a surprising number of consistent programs. Multiple semesters have passed and the programming has not changed wildly.

Some programs did change time slots, but they may also be pre-recorded. Other programs continued with the same hosts in the same slots and yet others continued with new hosts and of course some new programs debut. helpfully some show notations help fill in the names of hosts and co-hosts from years earlier.

Gone is the Brass Monkey Show, Skip Pizzi presumably graduated.  Keyboard Filter, Radio Free shire, Disk Memory and Spiritus Cheese all continue as do the LBGT programs: Friends, Sophie's Parlor, and the Feminist Radio Network. The schedule below is from January of 1976, again sourced from FM Forecast. At the time Georgetown University is publicly debating the future of the station.


MONDAY
06:00 PM - Quadrophenia - w/Euclid, Quad segment using the SQ & QS systems
09:00 PM - Wet Pages - Maria Enrico & others read contemporary literary works *Maria is presently the Chair of the Modern Languages Department at Manhattan Community College
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire - w/ Prof Mota *aka Leo del Aguila, former music director
11:45 AM - Midday Alternative News
12:00 PM - Feminist Radio Network/Sophie's Parlor Present - More here.
12:30 PM - Sophie's Parlor - More here.
03:30 PM - Spiritus Cheese Natural Rhythm Show - More here
06:00 PM - Them & Us - A weekly labor show featuring information about issues affecting working people *possibly connected to the book of the same title
07:00 PM - Two Hours From Taurus -  w/ Geri Mellow synthesized specialties etc.
09:30 PM - Bead Intervals with Marty, interesting music & occasional spoken word
12:00 AM - The Abnormal Radio Hours - w/ Mike Hogan *Aforementioned writer for FM Forecast

TUESDAY
06:00 AM - Sparking Pace - Progressive music with Bambi Evans *Bootlegs of this program
exist!
09:00 AM - Open Forum
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire -w/ Jude
11:30 AM - Midday Alternative News
12:00 PM - Living For the City - w/ John Barber: issues of interest to the black community *John Barber made the move to WPFW and stayed there through at least 1985
12:30 PM - Court of  Miracles - Music with pep
03:30 PM - Spiritus Cheese - More here
06:00 PM - Friends - More here.
06:30 PM - Evening Alternative News
07:00 PM - Random Radio Hours - Pamela Evans, progressive music *Possibly the same Pam Evans that was chief engineer at WGMS in 1973.
09:30 PM - Black Fire w/ Jimmy Gray *Later had shows on WHUR and WPFW. He was a promoter, distributor and, record label owner. He needs a biography. LINK
12:00 AM - Clark Kent & Collective State of Quack LINK

WEDNESDAY
06:00 AM - At Home, At Work, At Play
09:00 AM - Catalyst - Produced by G.U. Campus Ministry, Host is Fr. Bob Rokusek, S.J. *Bob went on to perform interfaith marriages in the early 80s. More here
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire -w/Geri
11:45 AM - Midday Alternative News
12:00 PM - Watchdog - for consumers with Lenore Pomerante
12:30 PM - Early Afternoon - w/ Skip  *Skip Pizzi?
03:30 PM - Spiritus Cheese  *More here
06:00 PM - Interface - Public affairs  *More here.
06:30 PM - Evening Alternative News
07:00 PM - Sophies Parlor - More here.
09:30 PM - Abstraction Show - with John Paige *Now  Co-hosting "Rock Continuum" on 94.3 WOWD-LP with Steve Lorber
12:00 PM - Keyboard Filter Show/ Jonathan Eberhardt *Eberhardt was an  award-winning aerospace writer who also was a folk singer. He died in 2003. More here.

THURSDAY
06:00 AM - At the Risk Of Seeming Tired w/ David Selvin: Polka Music, traffic & sports *He was "indefinitely suspended" for airing a bootleg recording of William Burroughs in 1975. [LINK] Locally known author and painter, he went on to produce his program at WPFW after the shutdown. He died in 2010.
09:00 AM - Phenomena - Howard Goltz explores the paraphysical world
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire w/Jim features astrological forecast, live local artists & progressive morning music
11:45 AM -  Midday Alternative News
12:00 PM - Critique - Geri Calkins & Ruth Stenstrom critical reviews of plays movies books, art & interviews with authors, actors & playwrights *Geri was also a "staff administrative assistant [LINK] Ruth is an Art Therapy Director today [LINK]
12:30 PM -Thoughts on a Grey Day - progressive music w/ Mike Cullen *Cullen was one of the signers of the "Too Valuable to Lose" letter to La Hoya  in 1978. More here.
03:30 PM - Spiritus Cheese Natural Rhythm Show- with Mark Gorbulew featuring live interviews nat'l and local recordings artists plus progressive jazz - More here
06:00 PM - Open Forum - Public Access program, listener comments are aired live & selected letters from listeners are read over air.
06:30 PM - Evening Alternative News
07:00 PM - Tea Time w/ Mark Garbin, progressive music
09:00 PM - Take One - Local & national musicians perform live from Sounds Reasonable Studios *Later was the source of live sets for WHFS. Operated through at least 1979. Owned by Fred Wygal
09:30 PM - What is Reality? - Ken Sleeman *Former station manager, may or may not have been doing the show at this point in time.
12:00 AM - Me & the Animals w/ Bill Sacks, progressive music

FRIDAY
06:00 AM - At the Risk Of Seeming Tired 
09:00 AM - Bread & Roses - arts & social & Political values
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire w/ Mike Queen
11:30 AM - Midday Alternative News
12:00 PM - Speakeasy - w/ Ken Rothschild: public affairs phone-in show on current social topics
01:00 PM - Mzz Frizzz Presentzzzz - Folk Country, blues, jazz & rock
03:30 PM - Spiritus Cheese Natural Rhythm Show - More here
06:00 PM - Interface - More here.
06:30 PM - Evening Alternative News
07:00 PM - Quadrophenia with Euclid - Quad segment using the SQ & QS systems
09:00 PM - Horror Show - Prof Mota presents progressive modd music Mota *aka Leo del Aguila, former music director
12:00 AM - Positivity  - w/ Eric Small: music from the black scene *Small started at WGTB in 1973, and appeared in La Hoya with co-host Dan Hayes with a program called "Flight Time."

SATURDAY
06:00 AM - The Too Early on Saturday Show - Prog. Music
08:30 AM - Taking Time for Children w/ Eleanor Hickey & space cadets: music stories & poetry *Hickey stayed on and became Promotion Director in 1977
09:00 PM - I Thought I heard Buddy Boulden Say... - classic jazz & blues from the 20's, 30's and 40's. with history & commentary provided by Royal. *Named for a tune by Jelly Roll Morton, but hosted by author W. Royal Stokes!
12:00 PM - Feminist Radio Network - More here.
12:30 PM - Sophie's Parlor - music & information *More here.
03:30 PM - Magascene w/ Skip
06:00 PM - Friends -  A program about gay people in Wash. area.*More here.
07:00 PM - Ozone Hours - w/ Earendil , Prog. music plus 
09:00 PM - The Hard Implosion - w/ Fred Cresce Prog. rock *Hosted by Jeff Bender and Fred Cresce, program started in 1975. Arguably a precursor to the first metal programs.
09:30 PM - Firesign Theatre radio series, Dear Friends *Dear Friends was a live radio program performed on KPFK. There were 21episodes aired between Sept.16th, 1970 and Feb. 17th, 1971
12:00 PM - Corpus Callosum - Ken Moss & Rich Stevens features classical / progressive rock combinations

SUNDAY
06:00 AM - Morning Modulations - Progressive Music w/ Frank Tolin *Frank was later the engineer for the After Hours" program on WGMS.
09:00 AM - The Disk Memory Show - Host Alan Lee plays features collector items from the formative years of rock & roll plus interviews with personalities of the era 1955 - 1962. *Lee came from WMAX/WXDT the carrier current predecessor of WKDU at Drexel. He was later host of Doo-Wop Sounds on WPFW. More here.

12:00 PM - The Stump Jumpers Revisited - w/ Greg Barrett, Country rock , C&W, Bluegrass, R&R, Jazz plus prose & poetry readings *Pianist, organist, singer and songwriter  More here.
03:00 PM - Big Empty Space - with John Strider, rock & country rock *Also hosted he Cosmic Burnout show and the Galactic Mindfuck Show
06:00 PM - Eclectic Brew - w/ Peter Barry Chowk.
09:00 PM - The Abstraction Show - with John Page, progressive music
12:00 AM - Mystic Eyes - w/ Steve Lorber, English music of the 60's, Punk Rock & rock music origins *Now  Co-hosting "Rock Continuum" on 94.3 WOWD-LP with John Paige

WGTB Schedule (Part 1)

Scan by Andrew Ratliff

I was reading a few back issues of the magazine FM Forecast on the marvelous website American Radio History and happened upon some entries for WGBT. Now WGBT began as an AM station, the FM license was only granted in about 1960. Nonetheless the issues of FM Forecast I have read from 1969 do not include the WGBT schedule. Though it does include WAMU, WBJC and WHFS. in addition to the popular commercial FMs. By 1970 that list also included WETA and WGTS but still no WGBT. More here.

Then in March of 1974... there it is. The bridge between Fm Forecast and WGBT was almost certainly the "popular music" aka Progressive Music review section of FM Forecast. Contributing authors included: Ray Bobo, Michael Hogan, and Bruce Rosenstein. Hogan was host of Abnormal radio hours and Bruce was host of the eponymous Bruce Rosenstein Show' both on WGBT.  Ray Bobo might be "E. Ray Bobo" who is named in the great Monty Hall debacle with Marilyn vos Savant.[LINK]

I have pieced together some program descriptions from the March & April issues and a lot of research. Then like now college radio schedules tend to change by the semester.

MONDAY
06:00 AM - Quadrophenia with Euclid - Quad segment using the SQ & QS systems
09:00 AM -  Alternative News
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire - with Earendil & Barlow T. Shagnasty: features a calendar of events, progressive music
12:00 PM - Sophies Parlor -  Feminist music & info for women & men - More here.
02:30 PM - Radio Free Women - Discussion of Women's issues - More here.
03:15 PM - Spiritus Cheese - with Josh Brooks and Mark Gorbulew,  Live interviews with local & nat'l recordings artists *refugees from WHFS
06:00 PM - Alternative News
06:30 PM - Interface - Local issues explored in depth
07:00 PM - Brass Monkey show - music with Skip Pizzi. *Yes, this is the same Skip Pizzi that's at NAB. More here.
09:00 PM - Pacifica evening News / Craig Siegenthaler Show, progressive music

TUESDAY
06:00 AM - The Tom O'Brien Show, progressive music
09:00 AM - Alternative News
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire
12:00 PM - The Bruce Rosenstein Show, progressive music *Also writer for FM Forecast.
02:30 PM - The Place, Community Programming with Marie Nahikian. *Nahikian was one of the founders of WPFW. Currently host of The Usable Past podcast. More here.
06:00 PM -  Alternative News
06:30 PM - Friends, gay people in action More here.
07:00 PM - The Random Radio Hours - Pamela Evans *Possibly the same Pam Evans that was chief engineer at WGMS in 1973.
09:00 PM - Pacifica Evening News / J. Garvin Walsh Memorial Program - prog. music
12:00 AM - The Abnormal Radio Hours, Progressive music with Michael Hogan & Count Twelve.  *Michael Hogan also wrote for FM Forecast.

WEDNESDAY
06:00 AM - The Tom O'Brien Show *Tom ran for class president in 1973
09:00 AM - Alternative News
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire
12:00 PM - The Mark Garbin Show, progressive music
02:30 PM - Fireside Flak - with Edward Glynn, S.J: discussion with prominent Georgetown University personalities. *More here
03:15 PM - Spiritus Cheese
06:00 PM - Alternative News
06:30 PM - The Post Meridian Show  *alternates with The People Show with John Wilson
07:00 PM - The Reasonable Rich Show
09:00 PM - Pacifica Evening News / The Abstraction Show - with John Page *Sometimes spelled Paige.
12:00 PM - Keyboard Filter Show - Experimental, ethnic & electronic music with analysis & historical perspective by Scott Sommers & Jonathan Eberhardt. Guest hostess Mary Cliff. *Eberhardt was an  award-winning aerospace writer who also was a folk singer. He died in 2003. More here. Mary Cliff went on to DJ the folk program 'Traditions' which was on WETA,  WAMU and WERA-LP at different times. She's also been on WAVA and WHFS. More here.

THURSDAY 
06:00 AM - David  Selvin Show, progressive music, poetry & commentary listeners are invited to telephone 625-4237
09:00 AM -  Alternative News
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire 
12:00 PM - Mike Cullen Show, progressive music
02:30 PM - Critique - Interviews with playwrights, authors & actors performing in Wash. area.
03:15 PM - Spiritus Cheese
06:00 PM -  Alternative News
06:30 PM - Interface *Hosted by Bob Roher
07:00 PM - Progressive Music
09:00 PM - Pacifica Evening News /Bead Intervals with Marty Kurcias *I think Kurcias is the gentleman who became an engineer at
12:00 AM - The Abnormal Radio Hours

FRIDAY
06:00 AM - The Kevin Lanigan Show, progressive music
09:00 AM - Alternative News
09:30 AM - Radio Free Shire - with Earendil & Barlow T .Shagnasty: features a calendar of events, progressive music  *Earendil is the name of a fictional elf in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien
12:00 PM - The Bruce Rosenstein Show
02:30 PM - Watchdog - Consumer affairs program
05:30 PM -  Alternative News
06:00 PM - Open Forum - Community Access program, telephone calls accepted concerning the operation of WGTB-FM
07:00 PM - The Cosmic Burnout show - with Strider 7-8 PM in Quadrophonic, using the SQ & QS matrix systems *Also called the Galactic Mindfuck Show
09:00 PM - Pacifica evening News / Boogie for a Friday
12:00 AM - Margaret Mead Presents - Chris Zinn & Chris Thompson

SATURDAY
06:00 AM - The Tom O'Brien Show
08:30 AM - Take Time for Children
09:30 AM - Medicated Goo Show *Probably named for the song of the same title by the band Traffic
12:00 PM - Sophies Parlor - More here.
02:30 PM - Radio Free Women - More here.
03:15 PM - Geri Calkins Show *Calkins later did segments at WPFW, now married to Skip Pizzi
06:00 PM - Evening Alternative News 
06:30 PM - Friends - More here.
07:00 PM - Andi Fishman's Show
12:00 PM - Corpus Callosum - Ken Moss & Rich Stevens *Ken Moss also a writer for The Hoya. More here.

SUNDAY
06:00 AM - The Jill Shapiro Show - progressive music
09:00 AM - The Disk Memory Show - Host Alan Lee plays music from the 50's and early 60's *Lee came from WMAX/WXDT the carrier current predecessor of WKDU at Drexel. He was later host of Doo-Wop Sounds on WPFW. More here.
12:00 PM - The Stump Jumpers Sit-In - Country Rock with Tex & Greg .*Also the name of an unrelated program on WUNH.
03:00 PM - I Thought I heard Buddy Boulden Say... - Host Royal Plays blues & jazz from the 30's and 40's. *Named for a tune by Jelly Roll Morton, but hosted by author W. Royal Stokes!
06:00 PM - The Jerky John Show - progressive music
09:00 PM - The Abstraction Show - progressive music with John Page
12:00 AM - The Abnormal Showcase - great orchestral music from Germany

The People's Information Slot

 The book Airwaves of New York makes a passing reference to the Black Panther party having its own radio program on WLIB-AM in 1969, "The People's Information Slot." There are few corroborating references. But WLIB has long been regarded as the ''Voice of Harlem.'' In 1971, WLIB became the city's first black-owned radio station, and the crown jewel of Inner City Broadcasting Corporation. But it's worth noting that it was already using the slogan ''The Voice of the Negro Community.'' in the 1940s, three decades before it was black-owned.  So the claim is apocryphal, but not implausible.

My corroborating source turned out the be the U.S. government document: Black Panther Party: Hearings Before the Committee on Internal Security. They held hearings on the Panthers which via the U.S. Government Printing Office produced about 5,00 pages of documents in 1970. Page 2811 has one juicy tidbit. It reads:

"The Panthers announced that they would begin broadcasting their own weekly radio program on July 5, 1969. over the New York radio station WLIB. The 30-minute show was to be aired each Saturday from 8:15 to 9:15 p.m. and would be entitled "People's Information Slot." Although a sponsor was not identified, the announcement stated that "the show would not be unsponsored. Guests scheduled to be on the first program were Don Cox, Field Marshall of the Black Panther party, and Zayed Shakur, a deputy minister of information in New York. " 

The source cited there is The Washington Star Newspaper, July 21st, 1969. [LINK] It's difficult to find any information on this radio show. But the New York Daily News also mentioned the debut of the program on July 5, 1969, repeating much other above but adding that the guests will include attorney Arthur Turco. the wording is so similar they both probably draw form the same press-release. There are no further press mentions of the radio program that I've ever found. These three names are all way have to "box in" the end of the program if indeed it continued past July 5th.

The Black Panther Party (BPP) was founded in October 1966 in Oakland, CA. While none of those three guests was among the founders of the party, they were all of relatively high stature either internally, or publicly.

Don Cox joined the group in 1967, and received the title of "Field Marshal" in 1968. Cox was a natural leader within the organization. In 1970 he was invited to speak to guests at a gathering hosted by Leonard Bernstein and his wife Felicia at their posh penthouse apartment on the Upper East Side.  The writer Tom Wolfe described the politics of the event as "Radical Chic" in New York magazine. Cox was there to raise funds for the defense Black Panther members who were charged with conspiracy. That same year Cox was charged in the murder of a possible informant named Eugene Anderson in Baltimore. He fled to Algeria and resigned from the BPP in 1971. 

Zayd Shakur is probably better known today as the uncle of rapper Tupac Shakur. He was the deputy minister of information nominally under Eldridge Cleaver. In 1969 the "Panther 21" case arrested many BPP leaders in New York chapters but Shakur was not indicted. (eventually defendants were acquitted) Different articles in the 1970s list him with slightly different titles, but in a 2017 statement Sundiata Acoli referred to him as the Minister of Information for the Bronx, NY BPP chapter. That may have been a later higher rank closer to 1973. Shakur himself was killed in a shoot-out with New Jersey police in 1973.

Arthur Turco Jr. was definitely the guest and not the host. Nonetheless he is known to have defended members of the Black Panther Party in across the country. After Eugene Anderson's skeleton was discovered in Leakin Park in Baltimore, MD in October of 1969, Turco and others were charged with conspiracy to murder. A warrant was issued for Turco's arrest on April 29th, 1970. After a mistrial, Turco plead guilty to misdemeanor assault to avoid a lengthy prison sentence. His co-defendants were not so lucky. More here.

It seems highly likely from the name of the program, "People's Information Slot" that Zayd Shakur was the host of the program. Cox and Turco were probably guests. From his death in 1973 we have a firm latest possible date. But I think that it's more likely the show ended much earlier. In April of 1969 twenty-one Black Panther members were indicted. The BPP couldn't afford bail on so many members simultaneously, so most were stuck at Rikers. The loss of so many members, was probably a strain on the organization. A resource-intensive side project like a radio program, probably had to be sacrificed.

American Labor Party Radio Broadcasts of 1950

You can be forgiven if you have never heard of the American Labor Party (ALP). It was established in 1936, splitting from the Socialist Party of America (SPA). It's political activity was almost exclusively limited to the state of New York. In 1956, the party was terminated by its New York state committee. So unless you are a New Yorker, and over the age of 65, you'd have to read a lot of history to bump into the ALP.  (Note the SPA only existed from 1899 - 1972)


In 1948, the ALP wasn't going to support Harry Truman. So they backed Progressive Party candidate Henry A. Wallace. Wallace won a whopping 2.4% of the vote, which was more than Teddy Roosevelt, but also obviously a loss for the Progressive Party and the ALP. However, they re-elected Vito Marcantonio in the United States House of Representatives. They also elected Leo Isacson to fill a vacant seat in a Bronx district but lost in the general election that November. Let's take a look at the candidates.

Candidates:

• W. E. B. DuBois for U.S. Senate 
• Vito Marcantonio for U.S. Senate  
• Janet Scott, for U.S. Senate  
• Dr. Clementina Paolone, for Lieutenant Governor
• John T. "Jack" McManus, for NY State Governor
• Frank Scheiner, NY State Attorney General 
• Paul L. Ross, for NYC Mayor
• Michael Jiminez, for Comptroller
• Harriet Wolff, for State Assembly
• Dorothy Bloom, for State Assembly
• Frances Smith, for State Assembly
• Scott K. Gray, Jr.,
• Nicola Rossi 

The problem might have been the Communists. The Communist Party USA openly endorsed the Progressive Party. By connection, some of the ALP staff were Marxists, and some Progressive Party candidates that the ALP supported were alleged communists. Notably among them was Lee Pressman who was not allegedly a communist. He was exposed in 1948 by HUAC as a paid spy for Soviet intelligence. Lee was a member of the Progressive Party (not the ALP) but the stink was smeared all over the left-wing parties during the red scare. Nonetheless the ALP ran real candidates in 1950, even if things were looking grim. The State of New York even managed to kick Wolff, Gray, Rossi and Bloom off the ballot before election day. More here and here.

By October The candidates were getting on-air to promote their campaigns. You can see that not all the candidates hit the airwaves. Wolff, Gray, Rossi and Bloom were already gone. DuBois appeared the most often, but Ross and Paolone were able to make multi-lingual appeals. Most appearances were on WMCA even though WEVD, was literally founded by the Socialist Party of America. But The Jewish Daily Forward had taken an increasing control over programming moving the station toward the center. According to Nathan Godfried's oft-cited but rarely read text, Legitimizing the Mass Media Structure, the SPA at least had turned to NBC and other channels to make its political message heard. 

There is little to corroborate most of the appearances listed on the schedule. But the DuBois appearances are well-documented, with audio, video and even personal papers known in the DuBois Papers held at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst [LINK]. But the below list is not complete. DuBois own papers include a speech by candidate Frances Smith given at WMCA on October 27th.

DATE	CALLS	TIME	CANDIDATE
10-09-1950	WMCA	9:30 - 9:45 PM	Dr. W. E. B DuBois
10-12-1950	WMCA	9:30 - 9:45 PM	John T. "Jack" McManus
10-15-1950	WEVD	3:00 - 3:15 PM	Paul L. Ross (Yiddish)
10-16-1950	WMCA	9:30 - 9:45 PM	Paul L. Ross
10-19-1950	WMCA	9:30 - 9:45 PM	Dr. W. E. B DuBois
10-22-1950	WEVD	3:00 - 3:15 PM	Paul L. Ross (Yiddish)
10-22-1950	WOR	9:15 - 9:30 PM	DuBois & McManus
10-23-1950	WMCA	9:30 - 9:45 PM	McManus & Dr. Paolone
10-25-1950	WMCA	7:30 - 7:45 PM	Cong. Vito Marcantonio
10-26-1950	WMCA	9:30 - 9:45 PM	Dr. W. E. B DuBois
10-29-1950	WEVD	3:00 - 3:15 PM	Paul L. Ross (Yiddish)
10-29-1950	WHOM	4:00 - 4:15 PM	Dr. Clementina Paolone (Italian)
10-30-1950	WMCA	9:30 - 9:45 PM	Paul L. Ross
10-31-1950	WMCA	9:30 - 9:45 PM	Dr. Clementina Paolone
11-01-1950	WMCA	8:30 - 8:45 PM	Jack McManus
11-02-1950	WMCA	7:30 - 7:45 PM	Cong. Vito Marcantonio
11-03-1950	WMCA	9:30 - 9:45 PM	Dr. W. E. B DuBois
11-05-1950	WEVD	3:00 - 3:15 PM	Paul L. Ross (Yiddish)
11-05-1950	WHOM	4:00 - 4:15 PM	Dr. Clementina Paolone (Italian)
11-05-1950	WJZ	6:45 - 7:00 PM	McManus & Dr. Paolone
11-06-1950	WMCA	9:15 - 10:00 PM	DuBois, McManus, Ross &  Paolone

By the 1950s, the ALP had lost much of its support to the rival Liberal Party of New York, in part because of accusations of communist influence in the ALP.  In the end, most of the Republican ticket was elected. Only the incumbent U.S. Senator, Herbert H. Lehman [D], managed to retain his seat. DuBois only won 3.93% of the vote for the U.S. Senate, losing out to incumbent Herbert H. Lehman [D], and trailing well behind Joe R. Hanley [R].

The New York stations they appeared on are an interesting mix: WMCA, WEVD, WHOM, WJZ and WOR. There are easily dozen large New York City AM stations which were on air in 1950. My guess is that they focused their budget on Manhattan.

There were also Television broadcastsbut all of them were on WPIX. WPIX-TV only signed on in 1948 as Channel 11(VHF.)  From 1948 to 1965, WPIX produced Three Star News, a 6:30pm newscast that ran for half an hour. So the speeches would have aired shortly afterward.

DATE	CALLS	TIME	CANDIDATE
10-08-1950	WPIX	7:15 - 8:00 PM	Dr. W. E. B DuBois
10-15-1950	WPIX	7:15 - 8:00 PM	Dr. Clementina Paolone
10-22-1950	WPIX	7:15 - 8:00 PM	Paul L. Ross

The sheet also had a section for their Upstate radio schedule. (below) Not all of these statison even exist anymore. WXKW operated on 850 kHz from 1948–1953 signing off after litigation around some engineering issues. Sounded the same year was 1150 WRUN in Utica. They changed calls to WUTI after a sale in 2008. 590 WROW was founded in 1947, still on air today they switched from Mututal to ABC in 1950. WEVT there is a typo, that has to be 1280 WVET, which also which also launched in 1947. They kept those calls until 1961, currently they are WHKT. 950 WARC also was founded that year, they changed calls to WBBF in 1953. 1260 WNDR predates them by one year, starting in 1946 just like 1450 WKAL in Utica. 620 WAGE started in 1941, and flipped the calls to WHEN after a sale in 1954.

DATE	CALLS	CITY	TIME	CANDIDATE
10-22-1950	WROW	Albany	9:15 - 9:30 PM	DuBois & McManus
10-22-1950	WEBR	Buffalo	9:15 - 9:30 PM	DuBois & McManus
10-22-1950	WEVT	Rochester	9:15 - 9:30 PM	DuBois & McManus
10-22-1950	WNDR	Syracuse	9:15 - 9:30 PM	DuBois & McManus
10-22-1950	WKAL	Utica-Rome	9:15 - 9:30 PM	DuBois & McManus
11-05-1950	WXKW	Albany	6:45 - 7:00 PM	Paolone & McManus
11-05-1950	WKBW	Buffalo	6:45 - 7:00 PM	Paolone & McManus
11-05-1950	WARC	Rochester	6:45 - 7:00 PM	Paolone & McManus
11-05-1950	WAGE	Syracuse	6:45 - 7:00 PM	Paolone & McManus
11-05-1950	WRUN	Utica-Rome	6:45 - 7:00 PM	Paolone & McManus

It appears that 970 WEBR was the most established station on the upstate list, having signed on in 1924. Those calls moved to 1440 in 2012, and the 970 stick became WDCZ. They even predate 1380 WKBW which was founded in 1926, they had been on 1520 kHz for decades even by this broadcast in the fall of 1950. So here we see old stations, new stations... just what appears to be a budget-driven slice of the radio dial. Charitably one could argue that by design, a random looking selection might represent a random selection of the electorate. So I consulted the Mighty Fybush, and even he agreed it appeared to be "stations where you could buy a block of time inexpensively."

After the 1950 drubbing, the ALP regrouped and in 1952, they endorsed Progressive Party candidate Vincent Hallinan for President and Corliss Lamont for US Senate. Thaty went nowhere. In the 1954 election, the ALP failed to garner 50,000 votes for any of its candidates and it lost its place on the New York ballot. They ceased to exist shortly thereafter. Maybe they should have got time on 1010 WINS?

The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street

The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street has one of the longest radio program names in radio history. So for the purposes of this article let's use the acronym CMSLBS. It aired for over a decade and spawned at least half a dozen commercial recordings. [LINK]  As the quote in the book Once More... from the Beginning by Oscar G. Zimmerman said "The CMSLBS had dedicated their lives to the preservation of the music of  The Three Bs,' not Bach, Beethoven and Brahms, but Barrelhouse, Boogie-Woogie and the Blues."

Harrisburg Evening News Aug 11, 1937

Interestingly that quote has been 'borrowed' from CMSLBS repeatedly since 1940. It was paraphrased in the promotions for two 1943 films: Best Foot Forward and Thousands Cheer. It was used on printed ads for the radio show Jam With Sam on WGN in 1951, and used as an album title [LINK] by Sam Price And His Kaycee Stompers in 1955. Multiple entertainment writers have borrowed it as well, including myself, James Wertheim at Sound & Fury magazine in 1965, by Playbill writer Steven Suskin in 2003 and more recently by Brent Phillips in his biography of Charles Walters in 2014. It's amazing how a phrase like that can travel through 75 years of media without accreditation. It's almost like the blues idiom itself.

CMSLBS began in 1936 as a 15-minute program called Bughouse Rhythm broadcast out of San Francisco by NBC. It originally aired on Friday's at 5:00 PM on  NBC Red then in October, moved to Monday nights at 7:15 PM on NBC Blue. The show was created by Ward Byron. The show satirized classical music with it's studio orchestra performing swing versions of well-known classical compositions. The live music was sometimes followed by short lectures or music history discussions led by announcer "Professor" Archie Presby and his assistant Martha Murgatroyd, played by comedian Natalie Park. Her role was to yawn and pretend to be young and bored. Jack Meakin handled the music arrangements. Bughouse Rhythm debuted September 4th, 1936 and the last show was April 26th 1937. Only a few recordings exist. Ward Byron followed up that creation with the Fitch Bandwagon show which ran from 1937 - 1948.

Just a few years later Ward Byron managed to reboot the program. This time the show was 30 minutes long and had more of a musical variety radio format. It debuted where Bughouse Rhythm had ended —NBC Blue. He brought back Jack Meakin and built a bigger better orchestra. The "society" was a rotating group of about 14 musicians. When Jack Meakin left Paul Lavalle took over. At different times band members included: Zero Mostel, Charles Marlowe, Gene Hamilton, and Albert Ammons, Fletch Philburn, Harry Patent, Nat Levine, and Frank Signorelli to name a few. Guests included Louis Armstrong, Art Tatem, Leadbelly, Lionel Hampton, Sidney Bechet, Bobby Hackett, Jelly Roll Morton, Jack Teagarden, Earl Hines, W.C. Handy, Harry James, and many more. But it was probably Paul Lavalle who brought in Dinah Shore. She was with them from the start in 1940. He had worked with her in 1939 on The Dinah Shore Show. Lena Horne later replaced Shore as a vocalist, but Horne only lasted 6 months. Then Linda Keene took that mic in 1941. (Some sourced incorrectly list Betty Keene)

But by 1940 announcer Archie Presby had moved to Los Angeles to work at Radio City studios in Hollywood. (He also announced at KFI. Archie was the chief West Coast announcer for NBC until he retired in 1972.) So CMSLBS got Milton Cross. Cross played the straight man through all this shtick. Cross was also announcing for the Metropolitan Opera so listeners would be very familiar with his solemn and dignified delivery. The Metropolitan Opera was the very type of program that CMSLBS had intended to mock. As a result, the new format had a somewhat drier flavor of satire. The humor reminds me of early Prairie Home Companion episodes. More here.

CMSLBS debuted on on February 11, 1940 in a crappy late Sunday slot: 4:30 PM EST. It was Milton Cross who opened the program by saying "Welcome to the no doubt world-famous Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street, and another concert dedicated to The Three Bs— Barrelhouse, Boogie-Woogie and the Blues." Then he'd introduce the host Dr. Gino Hamilton. By September it had built up it's listenership and moved to Monday nights at 9:00 PM EST. More here.

Then it got moved back to Sundays at 9:15 PM. It's not as bad as the original slot but not a weeknight either. But it was better to have Woodbury Soap as a sponsor than to be a sustaining program. The band stopped calling itself the NBC Dixieland Octet, and started calling itself the Woodbury Soap Symphony Orchestra. Comically this name is recorded as the bands proper name in the book The Complete Discography of Louis Armstrong by Jos Willems with no irony. Archie Presby would have loved it. CMSLBS did one more season in 1943-1944 and then the  show was off air for 6 years. Ward Byron produced the Philip Morris Follies in 1946, and the Chesterfield Supper Club but it's unclear why the show didn't return next season, or what force of nature led to a 2nd reboot in 1950.

When the show came back in 1950 on Saturday nights at 10:30 PM Paul Lavalle didn't return. Henry Levine took over his music duties, renaming the band again as the Henry Levine Octet. They added British character actor, Arthur Treacher, appearing as guest commentator. The only original cast members to return was Gene Hamilton. Even Milton Cross abandoned them. The season fished out with NBC staff announcers Fred Collins, (formerly WOWO) and Wayne Howell finished out the season. Orson Bean was final host of the series in 1952, for it's last 13 week season. Bean was later placed on the Hollywood blacklist for attending Communist Party meetings. Unlike some others, he ratted out his girlfriend and his career made a full recovery.