DJ Skeets McDonald

In 1959 Skeets McDonald recorded the tune "Don't Let the Stars Get in Your Eyes."  It was written by Slim Willet in 1952. At least half a dozen other country singers tried to do it justice, but McDonald did it better. Skeets performed it live on an early TV program, Town Hall Party, on KTTV-TV in Compton, CA. If any single of his could be classed as a hit this was it... and looking back it wasn't much. But today it and many of his other ballads are considered rockabilly classics. His profile on Hillbilly-music.com is woefully slim.

He was a regular on Cliffie Stone's Hometown Jamboree on KXLA-AM in Pasadena and in addition to KTTV he also appeared on the Ozark Jubilee at KWTO-TV on the ABC network. He had several minor hits on the Billboard country chart, including "This Old Heart" in 1960, "Call Me Mr. Brown" in 1963, "Big Chief Buffalo Nickel in 1966, and "Mabel" in 1967. Then he died of a heart attack in 1968.  He was only 53. It cut short his career. A country artist still having hits of any kind in his fifties was a clearly stayer.

Born in Arkansas,  his music career actually began in Michigan. It was not exactly the epicenter of rockabilly cool.  His brother moved to Detroit and he followed along. Nick Tosches summed up the beginning "With the help of several other displaced rednecks, which were plentiful in that land, Skeets formed his own Hillbilly boogie band, the Lonesome Cowboys."  The man has a way with words. Their first regular paying gig started up in 1937 in a slot on 1340 WEXL-AM in Royal Oak. The band moved to 910 WFDF-AM in Flint, then to 1100 WCAR-AM in Pontiac. (Tosches gets the WEXL calls wrong. Try to look past it, he's a writer not a radio geek.)

In 1953 I found a record of Skeets performing on Rhythm Roundup on KUGN in Eugene, OR.  In 1956 he showed up on KBOX in Modesto with a festival of country heavy hitters: Ferlin Husky, Bob Wills, Marty Robbins, Cowboy Copas and others. McDonald signed with Columbia records in 1959 and added guitar rocker Eddie Cochran to the studio line up. That when that string of singles began. 

WEXL first went on air in 1925 though some versions start it in 1924. The station began as WAGM but was sold to Rev. Jacob B. Spark in about 1929 who changed the calls and flipped it to block programming mixing gospel and country music. The station expanded its country music programming to a 24-hour format in 1963 becoming the big country outlet in the Detroit metro for a time. But Skeets had already moved on to other pastures. The station flipped to religious talk in 1974. Thankfully Skeets wasn't around to see it.

DJ Merle Travis

I know all of two songs by Merle Travis but I bet you know them too. "Dark as a Dungeon" and "Sixteen Tons" were both written and recorded by Merle Travis in the mid 1940s. But 10 years before that he made his first forays into radio and that is where we shall begin. There are two versions of the story, but one has him playing the "Tiger Rag" at the age of 18 on 1280 WGBF-AM in Evansville, IN. He was attending a dance in 1936 and his brother talked the DJ into letting Merle play a short tune during the break. That appearance got him invited to play in the band the Tennessee Tomcats. His career would go on to include the Knox County Knockabouts, Whitley's Western Swing Band, the Drifting Pioneers, Clayton McMichen's Georgia Wildcats, Brown's Ferry Four and many others.

A year after his radio debut, he was hired by fiddler Clayton McMichen as guitarist in his Georgia Wildcats. but while the Wildcats were regulars on WAVE-AM in Louisville, KY that was years after Travis left the group in 1939 to join the Drifting Pioneers, a Chicago-area gospel quartet. They became very popular regulars on the Boone County Jamboree program on WLW-AM. The program was later known as Midwestern Hayride. Travis stuck with the station long after the group broke up and fell in playing with other country artists like Grandpa Jones and the Delmore Brothers whom he played with as Brown's Ferry Four.

He went to LA and played on Cliffie Stone's Hometown Jamboree, which aired on both KXLA-AM and KCOP-TV. On KXLA he also played on Town Hall Party and Dinner Bell Roundup, and on AFRS on the Melody Roundup. On KNX he became a regular cast member of The Hollywood Barn Dance. It wasn't until the late 1960s Travis relocated to Nashville and became a member of the Grand Ole Opry. More here.

He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 and elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1977. In the 1980s CHM records started to reissue his old records while he recorded new material.  He died of a heart attack in 1983. The Country Routes label has since issued several compilations of his radio transcriptions from the 1940s and 1950s

The Hawthorne Thing

In his later years Jim Hawthorne was a contributor to www.laradio.com which is how I came to know of him. His radio career took in the 1940s on KXLA in Pasadena, CA. He was a wacky DJ playing novelty songs and spinning his shtick three decades before Dr. Demento got into that racket. The good doctor himself described Hawthorne as "one of a kind."You can hear air-checks here.

He was born in Victor, CO, a suburb of Colorado Springs in 1918. He enrolled at Denver University and fresh out of college in 1941 he found work on 1340 KMYR-AM in Denver, CO. (No connection to the form FM station) KMYR-AM was founded in 1940 by Frederick W. Meyer, a local grocer. The studio was on the second floor of the Industrial Federal Savings and Loan Building at 1626 Stout St. It appears that the original building still stands.

Hawthorne relocated to L.A. the following year to start at KXLA. His show was more reserved at first but by 1947,  Time magazine described it as "Hellzapoppin on the air." His overnight program featured songs by Tex Ritter,  Spike Jones, Homer and Jethro, Buddy Baker, Red Ingle and Slim Coates, and cuts that were already old even then by Arthur Pryor, Billy Murray. That's when he started cutting novelty 45s. Don't even get me started about the hogan-twanger. More here.

Starting in 1948, he produced and starred in his Saturday night syndicated NBC program, "The Hawthorne Thing." Most sources list it as starting in 1950, but Billboard clearly lists it in issues as early as 1947. But he hopped around after that. He did a Top-10 type program at KYA in 1957. He went back to LA in 1959 for a gig at KDAY, then in 1960 he worked at KFWB but the station was shut down by an AFTRA strike in 1962 and flipped to all-news. More here.

1965 he did a children's show on KMGB-TV in Honolulu from 1965 - 1969.  He was on KOA-AM back home in Denver starting in 1974 doing overnights and then PD for both KOA and KOAQ-FM. He left there in 1985 when Jacor bought the cluster and "retired" him. He was 67 and not quite done, he popped back up in 1991 on 1500 KIEV-AM to recreate his classic KXLA schtick as a weekly program. then he retired for real. He died in 2007. He was 89 years old. 

Hollywood Walk of Fame: C - G

This is part 2 of the Hollywood Radio Walk of Fame. Like I said this is going to take all week.There are already a surprising number of entrants that come from the Rudy Vallee Fleishman's Yeast Hour, and the Kraft Music Hall. There are more here, and more from the Sealtest Village Store as well. I sense patterns emerging. So on with the big list, we're not even halfway done yet.

Cass Daley - Her career began on stage and went straight into film. She moved into radio by  guesting somewhat regularly in 1944 on The Bob Burns Show on NBC. In 1945, she joined the "The Fitch Bandwagon" program also on NBC. In 1950, she got her own show: The Cass Daley Show. She also did some recordings for AFRS.

Joan Davis - She started in pictures, but became a regular on The Rudy Vallee Show after a successful 1941 appearance.She appeared in sitcoms and The Sealtest Village Store. Starting in 1945 she got to do her own show, Joanie's Tea Room on CBS. She got a second shot at the title in 1949-1950 with Leave It to Joan, filling in for the summer for Lux Radio Theatre. In 1952 she moved to TV with the I love Lucy rip-off, Leave it to Joan.

Dennis Day - His big break was an appearance on the Jack Benny's show in 1939. He was a great mimic and a good tenor vocalist.the two skills parlayed and his own program "A Day in the Life of Dennis Day" ran from 1946 to 1951 on NBC.

Vaughn De Leath - More famous as a vocalist, she also has a claim to the earliest radio music broadcast when she sang on 2XG in the World Tower Building for Lee DeForest. She later operated WDT-AM in New York City. More here.

Rick Dees - He presently has two radio shows "Rick Dees in the Morning" at KHHT-FM, and a Westwood One radio show "The Daily Dees" that appropriately airs daily. Prior to this syndicate hubbub he worked at WXYC-FM, WSGN-FM and WKIX-FM.

Cecil B. DeMille - Famous mostly as a film director, he was also in radio albeit briefly. From 1936 to 1944, he hosted Lux Radio Theater on CBS. He also served on The National Committee for a Free Europe which oversaw the Radio Free Europe service. His inclusion is dubious.

Andy Devine - Andy was an all-purpose side-kick. He played "Jingles", Guy Madison's sidekick in The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok. He also played the role on TV later.  He guested more than 75 times on Jack Benny's radio show between 1936 and 1942. He moved on from there to TV drama roles.

Morton Downey - This Downey is the senior one not the junior one. He was famed as a singer in his own right. Then in 1930 he opened The Delmonico, a New York Night club where Bill Paley heard him. That's how he ended up singing on WJZ.  He moved from there to the Camel Quarter Hour program in 1932.

Carmen Dragon - He was a conductor and composer. Aside from his recording career he also conducted the Hollywood Bowl Symphony Orchestra on the Standard School Broadcast, a music appreciation program for students. It started in 1928 and ran into the 1970s.

Jessica Dragonette - See previous post here.

Jimmy Durante - See previous post here.

Nelson Eddy- They claim that this singer has appeared on radio over 600 times. The first of these was probably in 1924 at WOO-AM.  In 1936 he hosted The Voice of Firestone and then in 1937 the Vicks Open House. He hosted the Chase and Sanborn Hour from 1937 to 1939 and then the Kraft Music Hall program from 1947 to 1948. Overlapping he also hosted The Electric Hour from 1942 – 1943.

Ralph Edwards - He was a DJ at  KROW-AM while he was in high school then KTAB-AM and KFRC-AM before 1938. then he got a lucky break and became an announcer on CBS for several shows: Major Bowes Amateur Hour  and Fred Allen on Town Hall Tonight. He went into children's shows from there.

Dale Evans - She was the third wife of Roy Rogers who'd started as a Secretary at a small radio station. She sang and worker her way up to winging on the Charlie McCarthy show and the Chase and Sanborn Hour. She started doing cowboy movies after that.

Clifton Fadiman - He was best known for hosting the quiz show, "Information, Please!"  from 1938 to into1948. He did some TV as well but on radio he also hosted 'Keep 'em Rolling, 1941 - 1942" "Words at War" 1944-1945" 'This is Broadway" in 1949, "Monitor" in 1955,  and "Conversation" which fared better lasting 1954 - 1956. 

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. - He was a regular on Lux Radio Theater, and Screen Director's Playhouse. He also made appearances on Sealtest Variety Theater, the Jack Benny Show, the Gulf Screen Guild show, and others. Honestly he doesn't really measure up to Douglas Fairbanks, Sr.

Frank Fay - His radio resume is very lean. He spent one year on the Jack Haley Show (1937 - 1938) on NBC and maybe one possible appearance on the Rudy Valee show. His inclusion seems bogus.

Fibber & Molly McGee - See Previous posts here.

Jimmy Fidler - He was a gossip columnist with a radio show. His 15-minute NBC radio show, "Hollywood on the Air" ran 1933 to 1950. It's started on NBC and moved to CBS in 1938, then Mutual in 1941. Around through that list again returning to Mutual again in 1947.

Gracie Fields - She is an unusual inclusion as she was not even US-based for most of her career. In 1940 she fled to the USA to avoid being interned as an enemy alien. Her husband was Italian. The BBC gave her her own radio show in 1947 called "Our Gracie's Working Party." It was her only radio gig. 

W. C. Fields - Famous for portraying a misanthropic drunk on film and stage he also portrayed a misanthropic drunk on radio. After an "illness" kept him out of the movies he started guesting on radio programs including The Chase and Sanborn show where he made many appearances. He also guested on Dick Powell's Tuesday Night Party, and was in the Big Broadcast of 1938.

George Fisher - A real radio man with over 30 years at the mic. His resume includes a dozen stations including KFI-AM, KFWB-AM, KNX-AM and KCMJ-FM.

Tennessee Ernie Ford - He began his career as a singer on and announcer at WOPI-AM in Bristol, TN. He hosted "Bar Nothin' Ranch Time" on KXFM-AM and took off, he moved to KXLA in Pasadena shortly thereafter. a guest appearance on Dinner Bell Round Up boosted his singing career so much that he didn't need to go back to radio.

Arlene Francis - Her first big gig was in 1943, hosting the network radio game show Blind Date. It took off and went to TV in 1945. She later had a successful a talk program, "The Arlene Francis Show," on WOR-AM that ran from 1960 to 1984.

Alan Freed - See previous post here.

Jane Froman - She joined Henry Thies' orchestra as a vocalist at WLW-AM in about 1930. She landed her own show afterward Jane Froman and Her Dance Orchestra which ran into the fall of 1932.  In 1933 she relocated to New York City and began appearing on Chesterfield's "Music that Satisfies" program with Bing Crosby. In 1935 she began appearing on the Intimate Revue hosted by Bob Hope. She spent 1937 on the California's Hour and the "The Magic Key of RCA" and The Texaco Star Theatre for another 10 years.

Ed Gardner - See previous post here.

Dave Garroway - He began DJ-ing in the military in 1941 on Honolulu. After WWII ended he became a DJ at WMAQ-AM in Chicago. He was a jazz man all the way hosting several programs: The 11:60 Club, The Dave Garroway Show, and Reserved for Garroway. Billboard polls rated him best DJ in 1948 and 1949. In the 1970s he still had a shift at KFI-AM.

Floyd Gibbons - He was a war correspondent for the Chicago Tribune in WWI and was injured several times and even lost an eye. His fame came as radio commentator and narrator of newsreels. He had his own half-hour new program heard Wednesday nights on the NBC Red Network.

Arthur Godfrey - In 1930 he became a radio announcer for the Baltimore station WFBR-AM, which later changed calls to WJZ. Late that year he relocated to D.C. and became an announcer on WRC-AM. In 1934 he started a morning music show complete with ukulele. He went on to run on his own CBS morning show "Arthur Godfrey Time."

Earl Godwin -  He covered Washington D.C. for NBC's Blue Network popular with politicos and listeners alike. Henry Ford liked him and made him the "Voice of Ford" on the NBC Blue Network into the mid 1940s.

Edwin F. Goldman - A popular bandleader as early as 1937 starting with the Cities Service Program. the program continued to air on the NBC Red Network, then NBC until 1956. He left sometime in the mid 1930s.

Bill Goodwin -  He was the announcer for the Burns and Allen radio program, and then TV program. He announced for the Charlie McCarthy program in 1943, hosted "What's New?" on WJZ-AM. In 19847 he got his own radio show, the Bill Goodwin show on CBS. It lasted 6 months. NBC tried again on television in 1951 with the "New Bill Goodwin show", with more music less comedy.

Gale Gordon - Best known for a reoccurring TV role on The Lucy Show, he also had a bit of radio tenure. He had a reoccurring role on  Fibber McGee and Molly and it's spin-off The Great Gildersleeve. But more notably he was the first actor to play the role of Flash Gordon, way back in 1935.

Freeman Gosden- A wireless operator in the US Navy in WWI, he teamed up with Charles Correll to form the duo that became Amos & Andy. See the Charles Correll post in the first segment here.

Billy Graham - The infamous evangelist operated a weekly radio program broadcast, The Hour of Decision. He hosted the incongruously named 30-minute program for 50 years. ABC carried it to 150 stations in the US. He taped the first episode at 830 WFGM-AM back in in 1950.

Jim Gray - He is a sports caster, I use the present tense because he's still alive. He's been on  ESPN, NBC Sports and CBS Sports and is syndicated by Westwood One. His fame is strongly stilted toward TV sports leaving it a mystery why he's in the category.

Charlotte Greenwood  - She was an actress who had surprise success on radio. The Charlotte Greenwood Show was just supposed to be a a summer fill-in replacement for the Bob Hope Show. It was popular enough to last five years more years.

The First Free-form DJ

It's a hard point to argue. Before there were formats, technically everything was free form in a way. Really before about 1935 it was hard to tell who was taking radio seriously and who was not. In 1947 It was abundantly clear that Jim Hawthorne was not. NOTE: not to be confused with James Hawthorne of the BBC or the other Jim Hawthorne a well-known but unrelated sportscaster.

Many operate under the assumption that free-form radio as we know it today began on 94.1 KPFA Berkley, CA. The first NCE licensed station in America and crown Jewel of the Pacifica Network. But it was not so. Before they took to the air Jimbo was running amok. On his show at 1110 KXLA-AM, he played a blizzard array of Buddy Baker, Spike Jones, Red Ingle, Slim Coates, and all without regard to genre and format. That was way back in 1946! Some sources, like and AWA Journal cite the start as in 1948, but there is an announcement [SOURCE] in the May 13, 1946 issue of Broadcasting which confirms. Variety magazine announced it over a year later in August of 1947 which probably is the source of the confusion.   (Note: KXLA became KRLA in 1959.)

 

His popularity was such that in 1950 he managed to score a late night talk show on KLAC-TV it was kind of a predecessor to NBC's Saturday Night Live according to the Los Angeles Times. He landed some spots in some movies and even did some pre-3-stooges reels for film. Everything he did was counter to radio culture at the time.

His effect was barely noticed while he was active in broadcasting. It's only now that in looking back you can see the effects ripping outward. His zany all night weekend show on KOA radio was the stuff of legend. WFMU has a little tribute page here. and his fan club is here.

He's got a radio pedigree a mile long. This is far from complete...

• KMYR Denver 1941 - 1946
• KXEA - 1946 - 1946? 
• KXLA Los Angeles, 1946 -1948
• KECA Los Angeles, 1948 -1950
• KNX Los Angeles, 1950-1952
• KCBH Los Angeles, 1952 -1955
• KYA San Francisco 1957 -1959
• KDAY Los Angeles, 1959 -1960
• KFWB Los Angeles, 1960 - 1963
• KOA Denver, 1974-1981-1984
• KIEV Los Angeles, 1991

Today Jim Hawthorne is 88 years old, living in a retirement home in Santa Barbara, California. He's grown comicly cantankerous bemoaning the state of modern radio, it's voice-tracking and control by megacorporations. He still does a local TV show in Santa Barbara four times a year