WGAL - November 1943

When doing construction it's not uncommon to find bits of old newspaper in the walls. Recently during some demolition at the Columbia Market House [LINK] a construction crew found a newspapers in a bathroom wall dating back to November 15, 1943. Thanks to them, we have a 1490 WGAL-AM schedule from both Thursday and Friday, November 18th and 19th 1943. It's a peek back in time 76 years.  At the time WGAL was an affiliate with Mutual, and NBC Blue so some of these are syndicated programs where others are definitely local.  So let's take a look at that schedule.

THURSDAY, NOV. 18th
4:00 --Songs by Les Barclay
     *This is not Les Barclay the radio wave communication expert. While he was also a member of the National Council of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, it's just can't be him.
4:15 --W.W. Chaplin
     *William Watts Chaplin was a journalist for the Syracuse Journal, AP and the International News Service. He became an NBC as a War correspondent in 1943. WSYR has some of his archives.
4:30 --Full Speed Ahead
     *There was a variety program of this name on WEAF in 1952 which came from the Waves traingin school in the Bronx. But in 1943 this had to be the short lived music & variety show hosted by Colonel Manny Prager and His Cavaliers. He was a saxophonist with a popular novelty song "The King's Men".
5:00 --Sidney Moseley
     *Probably Sydney Moseley, a WMCA commentator who began doing segments on the Mutual network in 1942. His program "Headlines of Tomorrow" was syndicated by August of 1943. He previously worked for the Daily Express and New York Times newspapers.

5:15 --Dancetime
     *This is not Lucky Lager Dance Time. That didn't air until 1957. A 1941 issue of Movie-Radio Guide oddly describes the show as "comedy."
5:45 --Superman, Kellogs
     * The well known radio serial. Mid November would have been either the "The Mystery of Prince Philip" story arc or the start of the "Military Espionage" 16 part series.
6:00 --World News, Beneseh's
6:15 --1490 Club:-- Sports Army & Navy Store
     *This program continued to air at least into 1963.
7:00 --Fred Waring
     *More on Fred here.
7:15 --News of the World
7:30 --Horace Heidt Orch.
     *Big band leader, started on NBC in 1932 and moved into TV in 1950. He began on the NBC Blue Network in 1932 with Shell Oil's Ship of Joy. He went into TV in 1950.
8:00 --Maxwell House Coffee Time
     *A comedy/variety program then hosted by Fanny Brice and Hanley Stafford.
8:30 --Aldrich Family
     * A popular radio teenage situation comedy that aired 1939 - 1953.
9:00 --Kraft Music Hall
     * A popular variety program on NBC radio from 1933 to 1949
9:30 --Allen Roth & The Symphony of Melody
     *Roth was a conductor on multiple programs, and also music director for KMOX. The program was part of the NBC Thesaurus collection of pre-recorded programs.
10:00 --Abbott & Costello
     *The long-running radio comedy, aired in various formats starting in 1938.
10:30 --Penna on Parade
     *Probably The New Cumberland Army Reception Center's musical variety show. They toured PA in 1943 selling war bonds.
11:00 --Raymond Gram Swing
     *Raymond Edwards Swing, a newspaperman from Ohio who moved to Europe and became a foreign correspondent for a series of newspapers through both WWI and WWII. He wrote for the Chicago Daily News then the Wall Street Journal, the Philadelphia Public Ledger, The Nation, and the London News Chronicle.  In 1936 he got the slot at Mutual.

11:15 --Harkness of Washington
     *A series of news broadcasts featuring reporter and political analyst Richard Harkness, an NBC correspondent from 1942 - 1972. He was previously a reporter for the Philadelphia Inquirer.
11:30 --Music of the New World
     *Part of NBCs University of the Air public Service Program.
12:00 --War News--Sign Off

FRIDAY, NOV. 19th
7:00 --War News
7:05 --Musical Clock
     *There was a Musical Clock program hosted by Stu Wayne on KYW but it only began in 1947. But this may have a connection to Gambling's Musical Clock. That program ran on WOR from 1925 - 1959.
7:45 --Reveille Round Up
     * Reveille Round Up with Greg Donovan and the Hometowners was an NBC program. It was mostly folk and Western type music by the Hometowners orchestra: Betty Bledennett, songstress; Larry Wellington, accordionist; Earl Randall, vocalist, and Kenneth Carbonel, guitarist. You can hear an episode here.
8:00 --World News
8:15 --Lopez Orchestra
     *In 1943 this has to be the Vincent Lopez Orchestra. They started out on WJZ in 1921. The timing is odd however as he was mostly performing at the Taft Hotel by 1943. But he was also recording a 15-minute program AFRS in 1944 called Luncheon with Lopez.
8:30 --Devotions, Rev Ranck
     *Probably Rev. J. Allan Ranck, active evangelist in the Allentown area in the 1940s.
8:45 --Listen to Liebert
     *This is a mystery MBS syndicated show. IT hit the airwaves no later than 1941. and continued through at least 1946. The Al Leibert out of WINZ. I've never seen so little written about a program in syndication.
8:55 --United Press News
9:00 --Music From Manhattan
     *This is not Sammy Kaye's Music From Manhattan TV program. That started in 1958. This is some other mystery program.
9:30 --Daytime Classics
9:45 --El Capitan Money Man
     *I wish I knew what this was. Possibly related to the El Capitan theater.
9:55 --Women in the News
     *Faye Emerson's 5 minute news segment sponsored by Old Dutch Coffee. Emerson moved to TV in the 1950s and hosted her own late night talk show.
10:00 --A to Z in Novelty
     *Aired on KFDM, KMJ and WLNH in 1941, and still on WHLF in 1948. Because of KMJ I am sure this was a syndicated NBC program.
10:15 --The Open Door
     *A CBS soap opera that aired 1943-1944, staring Charlotte Holland and Erik Hansen sponsored by Royal Puddings.
10:30 --Shady Valley Folks
     *An MBS hillbilly variety program out of KWK St. Louis. It ran through at least 1947.
10:45 --1st Piano Quartet
11:00 --Road of Life
     *A soap opera starring Irna Phillips that aired  on radio from 1937–1959 and relaunched on TV in 1954.
11:15 --From Algiers
     *This is probably NBC and/or CBS correspondents reporting from Algiers.
11:20 --Kentucky Karnival
     *A variety show that started in 1939 originating at WGRC in Louisville via MBS.
11:30 --Happy Joe & Ralph
     *A kids show hosted by Ralph Binge and Joe Gentile starting on CKLW in Detroit (Windsor, ON). They moved to WJBK in 1948 and moved to TV in 1951, closing up shop in 1956. More here.
11:45 --Luncheon Club
12:15 --Dolly Madison News
     *Aired at least 1939 thru 1951. Probably an NBC program. (Not President Madison's wife.)
12:30 --Mirth and Madness
     *Airing from 1943 - 1946 this was a variety show of music and comedy emceed by Jack Kirkwood backed by the Irving Miller Orchestra
12:45 --Luncheon Club
1:00 --U.S. Marine Band
     *The first Marine Band radio program was broadcast in May of 1922 over NOF in Anacostia, D.C. Weekly broadcasts. By June it became a weekly broadcast.
1:30 --Carol Sisters
     *A female singing quartet who replaced the Dinning Sisters in November 1943. Actively performing until at least 1953.

1:45 --Carey Longmire: Crystal Rock
    *Longmire was an NBC news analyst and foreign correspondent. He covered London during the blitz,  Paris in WWII, and Spain during the Franco regime. He was state-side and based at WHAS by about 1945. WOR picked up his program in 1947.
2:00 --Guiding Light
     *Another soap opera created by Irna Phillips. Aired as 15-minute segments. Starting in 1937, on NBC, it was transferred to CBS Radio during 1947
2:15 --Lonely Women
     *Lonely Women was a radio soap opera very focused on WWI. The theme was women separated from their men by war. It's another one conceived and written by Irna Phillips.
2:30 --Light of the World
     *Another soap opera. This one ran from 1940 to 1950. Strangely I've only seen it described as Bible stories dramatized in contemporary settings. It was sponsor General Mills.
2:45 --Easy Listening
3:00 --Women of America
     *This was an NBC program sponsored by Procter & Gamble. It ran at least into early 1944. The agency was Benton & Bowles. A June 1943 Billboard referred to it as a serial. Child actor Rosemary Garbell appeared on the program in February of 1943.
3:15 --Ma Perkins
     *Yet another soap opera which heard on NBC from 1933 to 1949. CBS picked it up from 1942 to 1960. Yes from 1942 and 1949, the show was heard simultaneously on both networks. Originally sponsored by Oxydol detergent. Oxydol was the laundry soap for which soap operas get their name.
3:30 --Yankee House Party
     * A variety show featuring organist Frank Cronin and the Bobby Norris Orchestra. Originating on the Yankee Network on the FM side. It was also picked up by the Mutual Network.
3:45 --Right to Happiness -Adv.
     *Another Irna Phillips soap opera. It started in 1939 and continued until 1960.

Three Generations of Rambling and Gambling

John Gambling was getting up at 2:00 AM to make his 6:00 AM start time for his morning radio show on 710 WOR-AM for decades. But it wasn't just his show, it was his father show and his grandfathers show before him. Rambling With Gambling was the descendant of 3 generations of radio talk show hosts and had been passed down like a homestead, antique rocking chair or rifle. The chrome had worn off but it still worked just fine. It ended an 88-year run for the Gamblings and generated less fanfare than you'd think. More here.

John B. gambling began the program in 1925. The station had been on the air for less than 3 years. This was back when  Bamberger's department store in Newark still owned WOR. The original title was Gambling's Musical Clock. The program and the station endured little change from the inception. In 1927, following General Order 40, WOR moved to 710 from its spot as share-time on 833. It remains on that stick to this day.  John A. Gambling became host in 1959. Clearly determined to continue the dynasty, he started to bring his son, John R. Gambling, to the show as co-host beginning in 1985. When the John A. retired in 1991 John R. Gambling took over as the 3rd Gambling. He'd already been a college radio DJ at Boston University's 89.3 WTBU. More here.

But there was one interruption to the 88-year winning streak. In September of 2000, WOR cancelled the program. Until that moment it was the longest continually-running radio show in America. The second-longest running show was elated to now become the first...the Grand Ole Opry. 770 WABC-AM then hired Gambling essentially re-launching the franchise. But WOR owned the rights to the name "Rambling with Gambling" so the new show became "The John Gambling Show." But even that couldn't last. In January 2008, WABC laid off Gambling!  By all reports it wasn't personal... the station was having serious money problems following it's sale by the Walt Disney Company to Citadel. More here.

But by 2008 WOR found itself in a different situation. Citadel had righted the station and welcomed back it's former heritage program. In 2008 John R. Gambling returned the show to its rightful home. Then just 5 years later Gambling announced he would retire at the end of 2013 and move to Florida with his wife....But that didn't last. Gambling was back on air within a year. Jerry Crowley, a VP at Salem communication wooed Gambling for months. In April they announced that John R. Gambling will be on air 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM in New York. Part of his deal allows that he will be working remotely part of the year from Florida.

Halloween Martin

Halloween Martin was, by most definitions, the first female disk jockey, and quite almost certainly the first in the Chicago metro. She was a former newspaper reporter in the home economic department of the Chicago Herald Examiner Newspaper. She was hired by KYW-AM in 1929 and a year later they made her the host of the Musical Clock. This was a decade before the term disc jockey was coined in the 1940s. Her program was a morning show and she wasn't just an announcer... the format of the program made her one of the first modern DJs ever.  A 1929 issue of radio Digest wrote a little more about her background:

For two and a  half years her time was occupied answering the home decoration problems  that came to the Prudence Penny department, writing her columns and giving her daily Radio talk on interior  decoration. Lectures at cooking schools  and clubs added variety to the daily  grind.

Miss Halloween Martin, was just a 28 years old DePaul University grad with some news paper experience. She gave the time, temperature and weather every 5 minutes from 7:00 AM to 9:00 AM.   The program intermixed segments of music, news and chatter on a schedule like modern commercial radio. At the time tightly scheduled  programs based on an hour "clock" were not yet the norm. The show was certainly tailored after the Alarm Klok Klub on KJBS-AM. Most of these programs seems to descend from Rambling with Gambling"which was also called "The Musical Clock" on WOR-AM in NY. That program debuted in 1925.  In 1931 the Schenectady Gazette wrote the following regarding Miss Martin:

"Listeners-in arise, dress, boil their breakfast eggs and catch the 8:15 to the accompaniment of cheery though persistent time bulletin's sent out on KYW'S musical clock by Halloween Martin. Every five minutes from 7 to 9 O'clock each morning, announcement of the exact time punctuates the program of phonograph records. Miss Martin has been the "clock" for two years, graduating from a series of talks on home decorating. which developed from her writing of household helps for the Chicago Herald-Examiner..." 

It's a tad condescending but you can tell the writer is still equating her with an announcer. Other contemporary articles continually describe her as "cheery," and/or "charming." The program ended when KYW-AM moved to Philadelphia. It was relaunched on WBBM-AM in 1934 due to it's local popularity. There the program stayed for 10 years then moved to WCFL-AM for another two before ending it's run. Through most of those years the show`s theme was a piece called "ln a Clock Store."