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.

Ship Owners' Radio Service WDT

WDT-AM signed on December 22nd 1921 in Stapleton, Staten Island. It was owned by the Ship Owners' Radio Service and operated on 360 meters. It was an early marine radio station broadcasting tide and weather information. At the time this was not exactly a ground-breaking service. In 1910 the Ship Act was passed aka the "Act to Require Apparatus and Operators for Radio Communications on Certain Ocean Steamers" This law required certain types of  ships, foreign and domestic,  to carry and use radio at U.S. ports. This was the beginning of marine wireless law and WDT followed that by a decade. What's unique is that station operated in the civilian radio band and had an FCC license to do so.

But the station was a share-time operation with WOR and WJY. How can a station provide timely information when they only broadcast for a few hours a day?  They can't. the station only existed for another two years. But that didn't stop the Ship Owners' Radio Service from expanding. A 1922 article from the Deseret News described 44 stations in their network:

"Forty-four ship radio stations operated and controlled by the Ship Owners' Radio Service increased the ship message rate from 4 cents to 8 cents per word for all classes of ship service, beginning July 1st. the radio ship stations owned by the Alaska Steamship Company, which are also owned by the Ship Owners' Radio Service, will not, however increase the present rate of 4 cents per word. "

But that article clearly refers to a telegraph service. The radio station WDT was another animal entirely. It was housed and operated by the Premier Grand Piano Corporation in June of 1923 and managed by Vaughn DeLeath, who was (at least back then)  a famous singer.  I'd like to connect the dots between her career and Premier  and WJZ but I got nada. DeLeath's career really only began in 1916, and she was performing live in New York on WJZ-AM by 1921. Then a trade magazine for Presto wrote similarly of her position in June that year:

"Miss Vaughn DeLeath, "The Original Radio Voice," managing director of Broadcasting Station WDT, made a very interesting and felicitous opening
address, welcoming the guests present and stressing the appropriateness of the linking of Station WDT with the Premier Grand Piano Corporation. Later on she participated in the program in her artistic manner."

An issue of the Pittsburgh similarly records her as WDT's managing director in August of 1923.

"The station W.D.T. is one of the most prominently known broadcasting depots in the east and is under the direction of Miss Vaugh De Leath.  She is the first director to introduce an entire Negro program and she takes great pride in hosting of such entertainment for which she receives much commendation."

One source, Allmusic, inexplicably claims she was managing a low power radio network. I cannot corroborate this, nor the claims that she was running WJZ.  On December 22, 1923, WDT signed off for the last time and sold of it's transmitter. A religious group led by Judge Joseph Frederick Rutherford bought the stations equipment to start their own station, WBBR... More here.  Ultimately the Ship Owners' Radio Service appears to have been short lived. Their only other known venture is a Crystal Detector that was manufactured by the Wireless Specialty Co. It was called the Sorsinc Stand Alone Crystal Detector, and I'm told it was identical to the Wetmore-Savage crystal detectors made by the same manufacturer.I hear there are some rare catalogs out there too but I've not seen them personally.

The Transatlantic WOR

I've written before about transatlantic broadcasts. The one most radio historians will jump at is the first one. Marconi sending a signal from Cornwall to Newfoundland in 1901. The signal wasn't confirmed to reach the United States and no reverse broadcast was attempted. But that was just a scant few dots and dashes. What about an actual radio program?

In 1the fall of 1922 on October 22nd at (360 meters) or 833 AM, WOR-AM attempted it. Paul Whiteman and his band played in the WOR studio on the sixth floor of the Bamberger building in Newark, NJ. The signal was successfully received by the BBC in London. The station had only been on air since that February. Engineer Jack Popple was elated of course as was then owner L. Bamberger & Co. a popular department store. At the time 360 meters was the only broadcast frequency permitted in New York due to the war effort. In fact they were forced to share time with WJY and WDT. Whiteman must have taken something away from the experience because in the 1930s be bought 1300 WTNJ-AM in Ewing, NJ. He's was also tied to WJZ-AM where he often performed on air.

But less than a year later, in April of 1923 the board of directors at L. Bamberger was tiring of the ventures costs. They were ready to turn the license over to the government. Engineer Jack Popple wasn't ready to quit though. He'd just got out of the military and had spent the last year as a wireless Operator for the Navy. He was a staunch wireless advocate. Popple spent the entire meeting arguing to hold off. He convinced them to stick it out for another year.
In that one year they moved to the frequency of 740 dropping the WDT time share and increasing their airtime. By 1926 WJY shut down leaving sole use of the frequency to WOR. I cant' say the question of shutting down never came up again. They struggled through the twenties, and the purcahse of Bamberger by Maceys might have complicated things. But by the time that Bill Paley set his sights on it in 1927 it was already a heritage station. Popple continued to work for WOR into the mid 1950s.

Radio begets crooning

Yeah, no kidding. The singer Vaughn De Leath supposedly is the inventor of "crooning." A style of singing not beget by amorous cooing but instead a method of singing adapted to match the limited range of early radio equipment.

At the time the high notes hit by soprano singers often broken delicate transmitter tubes. Try to recall that at the time most radio listeners were using crude cat whisker crystal radio sets. She was compelled to sing in a soft voice, now called crooning so that no loud and or high notes would over-modulate and destroy the expensive and delicate transmitter power output tubes.

"According to Ben Gross of the New York Daily News, after her first broadcast, Vaughn received one of the first radio fan letters ever written; it read "You have inaugurated a new form of song which, no doubt, will become very popular." I understand her comp on Document Records is quality.

She was an early famous female radio jazz singer who gained popularity in the 1920s and became known as "The Original Radio Girl" and "First Lady of Radio". She was born as Leonore Vonderleith in the Midwestern town of Mt. Pulaski, IL in 1894. While at Mills College, she began writing her own songs, but later dropped out to pursue a singing career. Later she changed her name to Vaughn De Leath. Some Real Audio here: http://vintage-recordings.com/vocalshow2.html

She sang at 770 WJZ-AM (WABC today) In 1923, she became the first female executive to run a radio station, WDT-AM, along with a small network of power stations. She routinely appeared on the Wrigley Show during the mid twenties. In 1931, she appeared on an experimental television broadcast. That same year, she sued Kate Smith and won an injunction preventing Smith from using the "First Lady of the Radio" name. Smith laid off until Vaughn to croaked, then started right back up.


In 1922 she began recording on different labels, including Edison Records. But at the time Edison was transitioning from vertical cut discs to lateral cut recordings. Edison didn't' issue any lateral cut recordings until 1929. So much if thsi material was shelved, even as test pressings. In the mid 1970s these were rescued and finally released; 30 years after her death from complications sue to cirrhosis.