DJ Foster Brooks

Foster Brooks died in 2001 at the age of 89. His talent has largely been forgotten as he spend the peak of his career type-cast into a role as a lush. Cultural attitudes toward alcoholism had changed by the 1980s such that it wasn't funny anymore. The same thing happened to Dean Martin.  Brooks was was almost 70 at the time and it was late in life to re-make his image. But he still landed a reoccurring role on Mork & Mindy as Miles Sternhagen. The role was a manager at a TV station. With his background, it may have been an impersonation of someone from his own career. Brooks made do with these cameo appearances until finally retiring. Anyone born after the movie Dances with Wolves came out would likely have no idea who he was.  More here.

Brooks was born in Louisville in 1912 and was one of seven brothers. His career started in radio, at WHAS-AM right there in Louisville at the age of 13 singing with his mother Edna. He remained primarily a singer at WHAS for years. The station was barely three years old at the time, having only been founded in 1922.  The earliest record I have found of him at the station is from April of 1932. He would have been only 20 years old. "Foster Brooks and Jim Henry staff singers doing a prolog for Hayden Reads Organlog this week at Loew's State, Louisville."  Then in September of that year another issue of Variety reports "Foster Brooks, WHAS baritone will m.c. at Seville Tavern, Louisville."

He later sang harmony with staff pianist Joe Pierson and by January 1937, he was announcing the Bulova watch time during station breaks. But this was not his first radio program. I found a 1934 issue of Variety which puts him on KSO in Des Moines, IA in 1934. It's just one sentence "Foster Brooks and Joe Plerson a new duo for KSO, Des Moines." Plerson was announcing at WQAM in Miami by March of 1935, so clearly the duo split. Plerson later landed at WFBM in 1946 and stayed at least until 1952. Brooks went back to Louisville by 1936.  More here.

Breaking out of singing, Brooks did everything behind the mic he could. He announced softball games and had an oddball afternoon show called "Yellow Blank Salute" with Herbie Koch organ, Charles Hurta on violin and Brooks own recitations. Radio Daily describes it as the staff organist and a staff violinist and makes no mention of Brooks. It was sponsored by Western Union. Radio Dial confirms it was on the air from May 1937 through April of 1938. He was at WHAS for 7 years (total) and was even captain of their baseball team. 

The WHAS studios were in the Courier-Journal newspaper building in downtown Louisville. Brooks became a staff announcer.  In 1937 he raised his profile for his emergency reporting during a severe flood. This was broadcast on both WHAS and WSM-AM. [SOURCE] In one of the pictures he poses with equipment borrowed from WFIL-AM. Yes, that's Brooks up the pole. It looks like they were clowning, which they were, but Monroe died of an infection from an injury that occurred in that dirty water, he was a year younger than Brooks. He and Pete Monroe sent flood bulletins from Lock 41 on the Portland canal and ended up in Variety and Broadcasting magazine multiple quotes and pictures: 

"At that time WHAS bulletins were spaced five minutes apart... the critical stages of the rescue work had passed. An announcer (Pete Monroe) or (Foster Brooks) said "WSM, this is WHAS calling... we will keep our transmitter open to take whatever stray bulletins come in... perhaps five minutes apart. Our transmitters now working with reduced power— go home WSM and get some sleep..."

That coverage is probably why a year later in 1938 Brooks moved to KWK-AM in St, Louis as an announcer. Trade magazines already knew who he was and reported the move.  He followed WHAS alumni Allan Anthony to KWK. Even Rural Radio magazine called out the hire. (The 1978 book Golden Throats & Silver Tongues by Ray Poindexter incorrectly places this in 1931.) A 1939 issue of variety confusingly describes Brooks leaving again in 1939. [SOURCE]

In 1942 he replaced Jack Berry on WHEC-AM in Rochester, NY taking over the Musical Clock. (Those call letters come up again later.) [SOURCE] In 1946 Brooks made his first commercial record, a 78 on Continental "The Face On The Bar Room Floor" Parts 1 [LINK]  and 2 [LINK]. It's oddly rare. The recording is not music or singing or comedy. It's a recitation with multiple character voices, all of which are probably Brooks. The text is old, I found a copy of the poem in the Stone Cutters Journal in 1922. It's attributed to Hugh Antoine d'Arcy who wrote it in 1887 under the original title "The Face Upon the Floor".  I can't speak for the 78, but the poem was very popular for decades. He wasn't even alone in recording it. Harold Selman did a version in 1928 for Okeh, Art Leonard for Regal in 1930, Buddy Williams in 1942 for Zonophone, and that continued right into the vinyl era. Hank Snow did a version in 1968. 

In 1943 550 WGR-AM & WKBW in Buffalo, where he hosted "The Musical Clock" and "Million Dollar Ballroom". In Buffalo, Brooks also performed with a country and western vocal group known as the Hi-Hatters.  Foster continued to play up the zaniness and organized stunts. He co-hosted a quiz show called "Stump Bob Smith." In 1949 he coordinated a canoeing event with WKBW and WEBR. There is one picture from this even of four very soggy DJs: Clare "Butch" Allen, Al Healy, George Walker, and Foster Brooks. It's not clear who won but if that meant staying dry, everyone lost. 

In 1950 went back to Louisville and got a really weird gig on WKLO. The WKLO DJ page describes his time at the station as short and says little else but there are other sources. [SOURCE]  His show was on 15 minutes five nights a week, then Saturdays from 9:30 PM to 1:00 AM. The description (below) in Variety magazine sounds truly bizarre. It sounds vaguely like his old WHAS show, "Yellow Blank Salute." I wish there was a tape of this show somewhere. 

"Brooks has a telephone in the studio and invites listeners to phone in their requests. One of the few air comics in this town, and by far the most versatile, Brooks intersperses vocals with the disks. Accompanied by the electric organ by Jerry Bottorff WKLO program director, Brooks vocals ballads in an excellent baritone voice. He has a gift for ad lib, and his throw-away remarks are entirely unpredictable. His timing and razor sharp zanyisms [sic] are making him a standout ad lib jock." 

By 1950 Brooks was on 970 WAVE-AM. The advertised him in Broadcasting magazine with the note "A top notch MC and wit —has appeared appeared with Arthur Godfrey, Vaughn Monroe, Spade Cooley and others! ... Louisville's most colorful television personality!"  In 1950 He had a "Foster Brooks Show" in 1950" which again sounds oddly like that Yellow Blank Salute again, ad-libs, card trucks and telephone gimmicks and musical accompaniment by the Mart-John Duo playing piano and bass-fiddle. He had a morning show "wake up with WAVE."  H Then he had a kids show at WAVE-TV where he played mickey mouse cartoons and portrayed The Old Sheriff in a western jail set.  Disambiguation Brooks father was a real sheriff in Louisville and Bhis brother was "Cactus" Tom Brooks who portrayed a cowboy clown on WHAS-TV in the 1950s 

Brooks stayed at WAVE for about 5 years. In 1957 Broadcasting also reported when he jumped to WHAM-AM in Rochester, NY. Brooks moved from WHAM-AM/WHFM-FM to WHEC-AM-TV in 1959. [SOURCE] It was the same year he won a Ray-O-Vac radio announcer Top 10 contest. I wish that tape still existed. 

Most short biographies report that he moved to Los Angeles in the 60s and began acting in television and doing stand up comedy. But this is glosses over the details. A Buffalo Bills press book still puts Foster Brooks on WROC-TV, Rochester in 1960, but so does the 1963 issue which seems erroneous. In 1962 KHJ schedules put him on that station in L.A. from January through at least June of that year. This seems to be his last regular radio gig and it's terminus marks the end of his radio career and the transition into character acting and television. 

According to Brooks he quit drinking in 1964 on a $10 bet. "I never drew a sober breath from Friday night to Monday. Eight years ago I quit. Fellow made me a $10 bet I couldn't quit, and I haven't had a drink since. At the time I needed the $10." His first TV appearance was on Gunsmoke in 1962, and his did dozens more; clearly playing a drunk was better for his career than being one. [SOURCE] He had a 30 year career in radio and then had another 20 year career in television. In 1997 Brooks was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. He died in 2001.

Asbury College Radio

 

Asbury College Devotional League 1936

Asbury College was established on September 2, 1890, by Minister John Wesley Hughes in Wilmore, KY. First some disambiguation: This has no connection to Asbury Park, NJ or Asbury College of Maryland, and our Asbury has been Asbury University since 2010. Likewise Indiana Asbury College is now known as Depaw University and is of no relation. Hughes did found another college, it was not named Asbury. 

I did unexpectedly discover that Asbury College had produced even earlier programs on WHAS. I found a 1925 issue of Radio Digest describing an appearance from the Asbury College Glee Club [SOURCE] Having only first been licensed in July 1922, this is one of the earliest possible appearances we could hope to find documented. 

 

But alas, our Asbury College had no radio station of it's own. So their radio program came about from a meeting coordinated by Rev. Newton King where he proposed it to three people: Dr. Lewis Akers, the Asbury College President, Dr,. H.C. Morrison, the Asbury Seminary President and critically Dr. Credo Fitch Harris, the manager of WHAS. [SOURCE] Harris agreed but left it to the Asbury team to figure out how to lease a phone line from Wilmore to Louisville. If they could do that, he'd allow them use of the WHAS facilities for free.  Starting in 1933, multiple Asbury College yearbooks modestly commemorate their radio endeavors. [SOURCE] and [SOURCE]

1933 Asbury College yearbook

The program might have something to do with Rev. Newton testifying to the FCC on behalf of WHAS. In 1932 WHAS installed a new Western Electric transmitter and a increased power from 10,000 to 25,000 watts. But then only a year later they were able to double their power again to 50k watts! William Cummings does not imply the quid pro quo as I do, but I'll quote from his paper Groping In the Dark:

 "In late November 1933, testimony before the Federal Radio Commission from Harris, commercial manager, Lee Coulson, educational figures such as Elmer Sulzer from the University of Kentucky and Rev. Newton King from Asbury Theological Seminary secured WHAS the authority to increase its transmitting power to 50,000 watts where it remained a clear-channel station broadcasting on 820 kilocycles through the next decade."

The premier was actually on November 1st 1932. The program ran from 1932 to 1947. It aired 7 days a week from 6:00 - 6:15 PM, then on Sundays from 7:30 - 8:00 AM. The men's and women's glee clubs from Asbury College were featured on Wednesdays and Fridays. The Sunday program was International Sunday School hosted by members of the Kentucky Sunday School Association. 

This hymnal was published Radio Devotional League of Asbury College in Wilmore KY in 1934. There is little context, but the WHAS calls and the image of Asbury College connecting it to the program. 

Given the same opportunity for free airtime in exchange for educational programming, Pikeville College made its first broadcast in 1932 but was unable to sustain the program for technical reasons. University of Louisville actually started their programs on WHAS in 1931 almost a year ahead of Asbury College. The Eastern Kentucky State Teachers College made their debut in October of 1934. In June 1937, WHAS presented a program produced by the University of Kentucky from the rooftop garden of the Brown Hotel in Louisville. Their programs continued through at least 1939. Programming in this era was driven by a type of idealism which is almost extinct today. Long live the CPB.

The Asbury College program started to falter in 1940.  WHAS asked Asbury College to take over full control of the program and it was renamed "The Morning Watch." In the summer of 1942 it was suspended due to WWII and remained off air until March of 1943. By then WHAS had new management who were not satisfied with the arrangement.  Recent ratings data had documented severe losses of listeners during the Asbury and other educational programs:

"It was the "Capsules of Knowledge" program that prompted a letter to Sulzer from WHAS Program Manager, Robert L. Kennett. Citing a survey, Kennett claimed, "From eight to nine o'clock on Thursday, against all stations in this area, we command 80% of the audience. At nine o'clock, we immediately drop to 8%." Sulzer did not need any further explanation. Although Kennett granted that "the opposition at that hour is perhaps at its best with Bing Crosby," "Capsules of Knowledge" was the cause of the drop in ratings and therefore canceled by the station in February of 1940. "

That year WHAS cancelled the Asbury College weekday program for a news program, leaving only the Sunday show which continued until 1947. The University of Kentucky managed to hold on to their agricultural college programs through 1946. It was popular, and in 1940 WHAS hired an Agricultural Coordinator John F. Merrifield who managed not to ruin it. His replacement in 1944 Frank H. Cooley performed similarly.  While it was their network CBS that initially drove their initial decline into commercialization, economic realities and it's eventual sale in the 1970s did the rest. 

Bellarmine College Radio

 

I spend too much time on eBay. I'm starting to see patterns. Apophenia is the human propensity to imagine patterns in what is totally random information. I don't think I have that problem. There is surely a good German noun that describes obsessive research radio history. It doesn't require treatment, it just requires something new to read. The internet tells me it's funkforschungsbesessenheit.

Anyway, I meant to discuss Bellarmine College Radio. On eBay I found a set of empty college radio mailers for sale. (It's an odd thing to sell, but kudos if you can make a buck on that.) The few visible postmarks date to 1971-1973. The addressee is often scratched out, but the rest of the address is usually intact. The timing is interesting because in June of 1968, Ursuline College and Bellarmine College merged to form a "co-educational" college that is now known as Bellarmine University.  

Both colleges existed before 1968 separately. Ursuline College in Louisville was founded in 1921 as Sacred Heart Junior College and renamed in 1938. It was a women's college, and only 1,100 women graduated before it merged with Bellarmine. Bellarmine was founded in 1950, and had issued 1,000 diplomas by 1964. It was the larger college and was growing aggressively. After the merger, they used the name Bellarmine-Ursaline for 3 years, then name became just Bellarmine College in 1972.  

In the early 1970s that merger was still in process. So some address variance seems normal. The address on the envelopes is always 2000 Norris Place. But 2000 Norris Place tells us nothing. That was just the main mailing address of Bellarmine College going back into the 1950s.  (Today it's 2001 Newburg Rd)  Ursaline College was at 3115 Lexington Rd and does not appear to have any connection to this.  With the name changes and possible address changes, some mailing list errors seem inevitable. But that's not what I think we're looking at.  The really unexpected detail I noticed is that there are multiple different call letters on the different envelopes: WBVC, WHUT, WBCR, WBCK and a highly unusual WBLIC.

I checked the Bellarmine college radio website and it only states that the station was founded in 2005. [LINK] They're not disavowing the past but not acknowledging it either. The modern Bellarmine College radio station does not delve into their own history at all. But with thanks to the Wayback machine, the old version of their website had just a little bit more information 

"Bellarmine University started a radio station in the fall of 2005 with the help of Dr. Len Cooper, Dr. Gail Henson, Bellarmine’s Student Government Association, and a few motivated students.  In its early stages the station broadcast a Classic Rock format but has since developed into a viable College Rock “grab bag” station with an eclectic mix of music from the 1990’s and today, all the while supporting local artists from the Louisville music scene."  

Back to those call letters. While there are 5 of them, I couldn't at first tie any of them to Bellarmine with public records. From 1959 into the early 1970s WBVC was the Voice of Boston College until it got an FM license in 1974 and became WZBC. There is no FCC record of a WHUT or a WBCR at Bellarmine. In fact there are two other roughly contemporary WBCR stations. Firstly WBCR is at Brooklyn College, Brooklyn, NY. They were already a carrier current station in 1968 and was a member of IBS going back into the 1940s. More here.  But also Beloit College has had the FM stick for 90.3 WBCR since 1979. 

There was a 1470 WHUT in Anderson, IN from about 1965 to 1970. I think that got deleted in some sale to Moody.... Then there's WBLIC, let's just assume that's a typo. My normal "formal" sources like the FCC, IBS and  radio directories list nothing connected to Bellarmine. So this is a carrier current station or possibly a pirate. It makes it harder to research but also way cooler.

The best, and really only corroboration I found was in the official history book of Bellarmine College, High upon a Hill: A History of Bellarmine College. It  mentions radio only a few times, and in the first 170 some pages, only in the context of local commercial stations 840 WHAS-AM and 970 WAVE-AM (now WGTK-AM). Those are heritage Louisville radio stations. More here. Then, unexpectedly, there it was on page 178; a confirmation of WHUT and WBUC.

"A little known campus project was a 7-watt, closet circuit AM radio station, WHUT-AM, which featured campus news and various kinds of music, from jazz to classical. Founded by David Kirwin and John Lindstrom in February 1968 and using a volunteer staff of 31, it broadcast from Newman Hall to dorm radio from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. In the early '70's another station, WBUC lasted for several years." 

A 7-watt carrier current station was certainly possible; actually up to 30 watts was possible with off-the-shelf-hardware in that era. (For example LPB has a 2-20 system capable of an adjustable output of 2 - 20 watts.) More here. From that kernel I found a little more information. This time in a Library of Congress interview by the legendary Jennifer Waits with Dr. Kyle Bennett of Bellarmine there was, another reference, no call letters but it fits the few facts we do have.  [SOURCE] and [SOURCE] I'll quote the whole relevant section. 

"I teach at Bellarmine University in Louisville and there was a campus carrier current station there that none of us knew about. It wasn’t in any of the official records at the university or anything like that. And then people, former DJs contacted us, it ended up in the alumni magazine and then more people contacted us. Similarly just like, February 14th, on Valentine’s Day, a new community radio station was launched in Louisville and part of just the initiative around that has led to other people recovering the city’s pretty robust radio history."

My initial theory for the multiple call letters was that there was either more than one carrier current station or a succession of them at Bellarmine. Today there are six dorms on Bellarmine. Due to the nature of carrier current, there could literally be one station in each dorm as long as they were isolated electrically. But all six of those dorms: Petrik Hall and Miles Hall were only built in the 1990s, Anniversary Hall around 2000 then Siena Primo, Siena Secundo, Siena Terzo, and Siena Quarto Halls. 

But surely there were a few separate dorm buildings in the 1970s. The two residence buildings I know existed in the 1970s were Bonaventure (a former friary) and Lenihan which housed priests. But they didn't become residence halls for students until 1982. [SOURCE]  they were town down in 2009 to make way for the Siena complex. Despite the long history, the only student dorm building that seems to have existed in the early 1970s, was Newman Hall. For a while I thought this was as much information as I was going to get. I had a rough time period and the name of a dorm. But then I found a reference in Billboard magazine. Thank you Bob Glassenberg. It is in the October 10th 1970 issue. There is a single note which describes a conflict with the administration which corroborates one set of calls and adds another name. 

"WBUC, Bellarmine-Ursuline College, Louisville, KY., is getting flack from the administration. Dick McCormick, program and music director, writes that they are on their last leg in a battle with the  administration which allegedly is trying to close the station down because of "lack of material," namely new and old albums that fit into a free form format which relies on Top 40 and underground mainly. Record Companies, the address is 2000 Norris Place, Louisville, 40205. Please help them out. They reach many people. Campus stations, if you have any dupes send them along. It means a great deal to the people at the station, in the community, and it should mean something to you!" 

So this adds a third name to the Bellarmine radio history: David Kirwin and John Lindstrom as founders of WHUT in 1968 then Dick McCormick as the continuation WBUC in 1970. It may have existed as late as 1979, but the mailers only validate through 1973. I could not find a single one of those people online. I don't normally do this but I reached out to the seller on eBay, but he politely declined to be interviewed. So I am sorry to report, this mystery still endures. I'll post a part 2 if I ever find a primary source. 

The Last US States Without Radio

To be clear, there was no way in 1913 that the Department of Commerce could produce a canonically complete list of every U.S. entity with a radio transmitter, licensed or not. So I argue that even in 1913 there were probably a large number unlicensed radio stations excluded from this accounting. The Department of Commerce Report for July 1913 listed a mere 168 land radio stations, and just 22 special land stations. I list the latter ones below for reference:

CALLS	FREQ	CITY	STATE	Owner
9YI	-	Ames	IA	Iowa State College of Agriculture
1XA	600	Amesbury	MA	Wireless Specialty Apparatus Co.
8XA	-	Ann Arbor	MI	University of Michigan
3ZH	300	Atlanta	GA	Georgia School of Technology
9XB	Variable	Beloit	WI	Beloit College
6XR	-	Berkley	CA	Frank Rieber
1XB	Variable	Boston	MA	Wireless Specialty Apparatus Co.
1XH	-	Boston	MA	Holtzer - Cabot Electric Co.
1YH	Variable	Cambridge	MA	Harvard University
1XP	300, 550, 600	Cambridge	MA	George W. Pierce
1XC	-	Chelsea	MA	William J. Murdock Co.
8YD	300, 400, 600	Detroit	MI	William J. Meisenheimer
9YN	Variable	Grand Forks	ND	University of North Dakota
3XR	-	Hyattsville	MD	J. Harris Rogers
6YL	-	Los Angeles	CA	High School
2YN	-	New York	NY	College of the City of New York
2ZH	-	Nutley	NJ	Arthur A Herbert
3XC	480	Philadelphia	PA	Frank B. Chambers
3XJ	500	Philadelphia	PA	St. Joseph's College
3ZS	450	St. Davids	PA	Chas. H. Stewart
9YC	-	St. Louis	MO	Christian Brothers College
3ZH	-	Washington	DC	H.B. DeGroot

You will note a concentration around the major metropolitan centers of the day: New York, Boston, Philadelphia, etc. But relatively speaking 9YN and 9XB were in the middle of nowhere. The population of Grand Forks for example was only about 13,000, Beloit was hardly larger.  That's about a mere 2% of the population of Boston at that same time. Educational institutions were the foundation of experimental radio technology in that era. So their stations existing outside what might be otherwise supported by the urban density of radio consumers.

But this distribution begets the question: What were the last places in America to have radio? Well if we go by something very very granular like zip code or township there are places today still unserved by local radio. (I can personally attest to the large areas of the Southwest today without any radio at all; local or otherwise.) But if we go by state, we get some more interesting data, as each state contains multiple MSAs; even in Nebraska —where cows outnumber people more than 5:1. 

While in 1913 there were only 48 states in the union, our Department of Commerce (DOC) source data includes territories. Cuba, Samoa, Guam, Peking (China) and Puerto Rico all also appear on the DOC lists. So if 13 states special land stations already constituted > 27% of US states, where are the other 168 land radio stations?  At that time less than half of US states had radio stations. Two years later that list of land stations had grown to 192, and the list of Special land stations had grown to 118, spanning 29 states.

Below is a chart of the 1913 and 1915  Land Radio Stations (abbreviated LRS for space) and their totals by state. You can readily see that while the total count grows the total number of states had not changed significantly. We see that the US radio footprint was geographically consolidated.

State	Abbreviation	1913 LRS	1915 LRS
Alabama	AL	2	1
Alaska	AK	29	35
Arizona	AZ	2	2
Arkansas	AR	-	-
California	CA	11	21
Colorado	CO	-	2
Connecticut	CT	1	2
District of Columbia	DC	3	4
Delaware	DE	-	-
Florida	FL	6	10
Georgia	GA	1	2
Hawaii	HI (TH)	9	12
Idaho	ID	-	-
Illinois	IL	1	1
Indiana	IN	-	-
Iowa	IA	-	-
Kansas	KS	3	3
Kentucky	KY	-	-
Louisiana	LA	3	4
Maine	ME	2	1
Maryland	MD	2	3
Massachusetts	MA	8	9
Michigan	MI	8	10
Minnesota	MN	3	1
Mississippi	MS	-	-
Missouri	MO	-	-
Montana	MT	-	-
Nebraska	NB	1	-
Nevada	NV	-	-
New Hampshire	NH	1	1
New Jersey	NJ	3	6
New Mexico	NM	-	-
New York	NY	13	16
North Carolina	NC	4	5
North Dakota	ND	-	-
Ohio	OH	3	5
Oklahoma	OK	-	-
Oregon	OR	3	6
Pennsylvania	PA	2	3
Rhode Island	RI	2	4
South Carolina	SC	1	2
South Dakota	SD	-	-
Tennessee	TN	-	-
Texas	TX	5	5
Utah	UT	-	-
Vermont	VT	-	-
Virginia	VA	4	5
Washington	WA	6	9
West Virginia	WV	-	-
Wisconsin	WI	2	2
Wyoming	WY	-	-

The difference between land stations and special land stations is mostly nuance. In 1913 the Department of Commerce described these special classes collectively as "experiment stations for the development of radio communications technical and training school stations..." But they established a call sign format for these sub-types "The first letter will be X, for experiment stations; Y, technical and training schools; Z, special amateur stations." All of these, at least generally speaking, are still radio stations. Many in each category later became recognizable, entertainment-focused radio stations. But many others ceased to exist entirely.

The year 1922 was the tipping point. There is a 1922 reference in a Radio World article identifying Mississippi as the last US state with no radio stations. In September of 1922, Radio News reported that the states of Kentucky and Mississippi got their first stations with WHAS, and WHAU respectively leaving only two states —Delaware and Wyoming, without radio stations. That Summer they excitedly reported that Wyoming was the last, after the sign on of WHAV in Delaware. Wyoming joined the club on October 3rd with the sign on of KFBU. More here.

But by November of that year WHAU in Corinth, MS shut down. Owned by the Corinth Radio Supply company, this had been the first, and only licensed radio station in Mississippi. So Mississippi slipped behind Wyoming and became the last US state with no radio stations, albeit only briefly. In 1923; the Department of Commerce licensed four more radio stations in Mississippi: KFNG, Coldwater; WCBH, Oxford; WDBT; Hattiesburg; and WCBG, Pascagoula, closing the issue. More here.

Hank Keene and His Radio Gang

On the second page of this book of sheet music his group is called "Hank Keene and His Radio Gang" but in other text it's called "Hank Keene and His Connecticut Hill Billies." The somewhat pejorative term "hillbilly" is usually associated with the American South. So it's unusual to see it in commercial print next to the word "Connecticut."

Keene was no Yankee, he wasn't even from New England. He was in Lake Charles, LA. His father Abner Keene (aka Henry Newcomb) was in show biz and relocated often. Hank attended primary school in New York, Illinois, Florida and Kentucky. He graduated from the University of Kentucky High School and then Tufts College in Boston. Thus a native southerner was imported into the deepest darkest Yankee hinterlands.

Keene formed his band, the Connecticut Hill Billies in 1930. His parents by then had bought an already famous home in Southern Coventry in Connecticut The Nathan Howard House. After he graduated from Tufts he got his own radio program on WTIC. His Hillbillies cut their first sides for Brunswick in February of 1931. They cut another 15 sides for Bluebell and Banner before the end of 1935.

The book Pickin' on Peachtree by Wayne W. Daniel has Hank Keene on WSB-AM in Atlanta in April of 1931. It's probably true. The book Yankee Twang by Clifford Murphy puts Keene on radio stations in new York, Cleveland, Wheeling, and Louisville. I've confirmed WHAS and no others except strangely 1400 WRDO-AM in Maine circa 1936. But by 1933 Hank was firing up his own traveling tent show. 

His tent show rolled around the country for at least 10 years selling his books of sheet music everywhere they went. His earliest was printed in 1932!  By 1946 he was host of a "coast-to-coast program" sponsored by Velvet Tobacco. Billboard noted that he  was part of the SESAC Transcribed Library Service, recording programs to be shipped off to 200 radio stations for syndication. that was October. His father Abner died the following year and Keene vanished from the trade magazines.

DJ Doc Hopkins

Born in 1900 (or maybe 1894, 1899, or 1901), Howard "Doc" Hopkins was a barber, a musician, a machinist and disk jockey. His career peaked in the 1930s and 1940s singing and playing banjo on both the WLS National Barn Dance with the Prairie Ramblers while also appearing on the WJJD Supper Time Frolic program. He appears in both the canonical  The Encyclopedia of Country Music and it's predecessor, the  History and Encyclopedia of Country Western, and Gospel Music.  The latter edition only notes his time on WJJD and WLS, but his radio resume is much longer indeed. Having also played with the Cumberland Ridge Runners, the UCLA Folk Festival in the early 1960s and even founded his own record label, DH in 1948 you might guess he got around.  More here.

The Encyclopedia of Country Music called him a "smooth-voiced balladeer with a storehouse of traditional material." He formed his first professional band in 1929 in Mount Vernon along with Karl Davis and Hartford Taylor. By 1943 he was playing the Smile-A-While program with the Prairie ramblers, a 30 minute slot on WLS-AM. In the book Smile when You Call Me a Hillbilly author Jeffrey Lange even goes as far as to credit the popularization of the mandolin as a country music instrument to Hopkins bands. Strangely  this popularity on air didn't translate to record sales. He cut a few sides for Broadcay Records in 1931, Then a couple for The American Recording Co in 1936 with the Carolina ridge Runners. In 1941 Decca tried and failed as well.

With the Krazy Kats he spent a year playing a regular spot on WHAS-AM in Louisville, KY. He relocated at the end of 1930 to Chicago and joined the Cumberland Ridge Runners and played regularly on the WLS-AM National Barn Dance. In 1935 he reappeared on WJJD's Suppertime Frolic. In 1942 he returned to WLS-AM.  In 1949 he quit the record biz and became a machinist again. In 1955 Billboard Magazine announced his return and the following year published a note that Alma records would be releasing a few sides of his Sacred recordings. In the 1960s with credit to the UCLA folk festivals he cut his first and only LP. He died in 1988. He might have been as old as 94 or as young as 87... nobody knows.

Zeke Clements was not a dwarf

Marlon "Zeke" Clements was not a dwarf. He just played one on the big screen. In 1937 Clements yodeled the part of Bashful, in Walt Disney's 1937 version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. To be clear, Scotty Mattraw was the speaking voice of bashful, but when Disney needed Bashful to yodel they used Zeke. Apparently even in the 1930s they couldn't find a single voice-over man to handle both the voice over and the yodeling parts. He wasn't always a dwarf however, he also appeared as a singing cowboy in several B-Westerns.

Over his career he performed as both under his stage name Zeke, the Alabama Cowboy and the Dixie Yodeler. Clements was born in Warrior, Alabama in 1911. His music career began in 1928 when he joined the touring show of Otto Gray and his Oklahoma Cowboys touring show. The band was formerly known as McGinty's Oklahoma Cowboy Band. McGinty had been a real-deal cowboy and a Rough Rider under Roosvelt. Graywas more of a band manager which is probably how they ended up on the National Barn Dance at WLS-AM in Chicago. they had been playing on KFRU-AM in Bristow, OK, and KFJF-AM in Kansas City. The barn Dance had only started in 1924, so in these early regional years of radio they were genuine celebrities. Gray actually made the cover of Billboard.

In 1933, he joined  singer Texas Ruby as member of the Bronco Busters. The book The Cowboy in Country Music by Don Cusic claims that in 1934 Zeke was the first Opry act to wear cowboy clothing. It's unclear if this was his first appearance on the Opry, or just his first appearance with the Bronco Busters... or just the first clad in chaps and boots. I find that "first" claim dubious. However, this was before the era of singing cowboy movies. Gene Autry's first cowboy movie began a year later, in 1935. Though Autry and Clements had both been on the National barn Dance by 1929, it's clear that Autry popularized the clothing fad. You can't see the outfits on the radio.

After the Opry, Clements also spent time on WHO-AM in Des Moints and WHAS-AM in Louisville.  The book The Encyclopedia of Country Music claims that it was while playing on the Hollywood Barn Dance on KNX-AM, that Zeke answered the Disney ad for a yodeler. But the Hollywood Barn Dance supposedly only ran from 1943 to 1948. This is long after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released. Only one of these things can be true. By all reports Ruby  was supposed to audition for a role as well but was too drunk. In 1939, Zeke broke it off with Ruby and went back to the Opry. He continued to be a successful songwriter for the rest of his life writing hits for both Eddy Arnold and Red Foley. He died in Nashville in 1994.

Hollywood Walk of Fame: A - C

As of this writing there are 2,476 stars in the Hollywood walk of fame. I recently read that only 10% of those are so-called radio stars.  By that math there should be about 248 radio stars on the walk. There are in fact only 238, which is 9.61%... close enough.

Because many stars cross media formats from music, to film to print and broadcasting the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce breaks this down into categories for us. Each category has an identifying emblem for it's brass radio star.  Inside the coral-pink terrazzo five-point star rimmed with brass is a circular 4-inch brass plaque showing an antique studio-style microphone Radio microphone. I'll warn you now that some category inclusions are dubious.

Since there are hundreds of these lets go at it alphabetically. This will take all week. In cases where there are two names or a state name absent a surname I have alphabetized by the first name of the listed first party. If I have already written a post about them I have inserted a link, if not then just a very abbreviated bio.

Bud Abbott - The straight man of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Lou Costello which his listed under "C."  Many comedy duos share a star. They do not.  Costello appears below.

Dear Abby - Dear Abby of the advice column by the same name. It was founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pseudonym Abigail Van Buren. Her daughter Jeanne Phillips. There was in fact a Dear Abby radio show.

Fred Allen - He was a vaudeville performer, who became a guest on a couple radio shows then began hosting The Linit Bath Club Revue starting in 1934. The eponymous Fred Allen Show debuted on NBC in 1945. His radio career is long and storied.

Steve Allen - You already know his voice. The Steve Allen Show began airing in 1956,  but his first radio gig was on KOY-AM way back in 1945. You'd know him best as the first host of the tonight show.

Don Ameche - He was a film actor in the 1930s and '40s but he started in radio. He had numerous bit parts over the years, but his big radio role was as John Bickerson... of the Bickersons. It ran 1946 to 1951 but it lives on as a model for sitcoms today.

Morey Amsterdam - He had an eponymous TV program starting in 1948. He did relatively little notable radio. He was was a regular guest on The Al Pearce Show show, and himself hosted an obscure series called the Night Club of the Air which only ran for 2 months in 1937. His inclusion is dubious.

Eddie Anderson - Anderson rose to fame playing the character of Rochester, Jack Benny's personal valet.  He began playing bit parts on the program starting in 1937.  Anderson made it to the Radio Hall of Fame in 2001. He was the man. His gravelly voice tops even Tom Waits.

Eve Arden - She was a a regular on Danny Kaye's variety program in 1946. But her career was playing the character Connie Brooks in the sitcom "Our Miss Brooks." Arden portrayed the character on radio from 1948 to 1957 then for TV from 1952 - 1956, and then a film in 1956.

Eddy Arnold - He was a country artist with over a hundred singles to his name. He made his career the hard way playing live on air. He was on WTJS-AM in Jackson, WMPS-AM in Memphis, KWK-AM in St. Louis, WHAS-AM in Louisville eventually making it to the Grand Ol' Opry on WSM-AM.

Cliff Arquette - It has been said that at one point he was performing on 13 different daily radio shows in the Chicago metro. The big one was called "Dave and Charley" which Arquette hosted with Dave Willock,it even made it on TV briefly. He later revisited his characters for the Tonight Show while Jack Paar was host.

Gene Autry - See previous post here.

Dan Avey - Avey won over 30 major journalism awards in his career including 15 Golden Mikes, which might be a record. He was a sportscaster and newscaster on stations like KXLY-AM, KWIZ-AM, KFI-AM, KFWB-AM, and KABC-AM. He retired in 2007.

Lew Ayres - He was in more than 50 films in his career but he did a tour of radioland. He acted the part of Kildare on the program "The Story of Doctor Kildare" airing 1950 through 1951. He also played the part in film. His inclusion is dubious.

Jack Bailey - He was the host of a daytime game show called "Queen for a Day."  It debuted on the Mutual Radio Network in 1945 continuing through 1948 when it jumped to television.

Art Baker - His real name was Arthur Shank. The program "Art Baker's Notebook" debuted on KFI-AM in Los Angeles in 1938. It ran for 20 years. If that wasn't enough, he went on to host the TV show "You Asked for It."

Kenny Baker - This is different fellow than the Kenny Baker that was in R2D2. This Baker was a singer on  The Jack Benny Program in the 1930s. He had his own program which didn't do so well. He went on to sang on the Texaco Star Theater radio program and do film.

Phil Baker - He hosted a number of big radio programs in his career. Starting in 1933 Baker starred in his own NBC series "The Armour Jester." He was also the host of the popular quiz show "Take It or Leave It," which later became "The $64 Question." He also appeared on Duffy's Tavern in 1944.

Lionel Barrymore - He portrayed the character Doctor Gillespie on the program Doctor Kildare in the 1940s. He also performed in the radio series, Mayor of the Town, and got a bit typecast playing Ebenezer Scrooge on the radio every Xmas from 1934 to1953. He also hosted the AFRS "Concert Hall" Radio Show in he late 1940s.

Brian Beirne -  He actually trade-marked the nick name "Mr. Rock N' Roll."  Beirne was a DJ for KRTH-FM known as K-EARTH 101. After 29 years on air years he retired in 2004.

William Bendix -  His program "The Life of Riley" aired from 1944 through 1951. When it was revised for television "The Life of Riley" ran from 1953 to 1958. His character's tag line "What a revoltin' development" lives on.

Jack Benny - The Jack Benny show ran from 1932 to 1955. It became a television program from 1960 through 1964 on CBS, then NBC for another year. His career requires no further explanation.

Edgar Bergen - A ventriloquist who guested on Rudy Vallée's program in 1936, then a regular bit on the Chase and Sanborn Hour in 1937. That was followed by the Charlie McCarthy Show which lasted 2 years. He jumped to Film and TV from there.

Milton Berle - He made his reputation as a regular on on The Rudy Vallee Hour, and the Gillette Original Community Sing in 1936. The Milton Berle Show only ran a year from 1947 - 1948. Berle became the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater taking over for Jack Carter.. His reign ran from 1948 to 1955 when it jumped to TV.

Ben Bernie - He was called  The Old Maestro. He broadcast on NBC Blue WJZ-AM starting in 1923. His program ran on CBS through most of the 1930s.  He slowly started to segue into film around 1937 and left radio. His last starring radio role was the "Ben Bernie War Workers" program" which ran from 1941 to 1943.

Rodney Bingenheimer - Rodney has been hosting his own program "Rodney on the ROQ" on KROQ since August of 1976. They'll probably have to tear it from his cold dead hands.

Mel Blanc - Now just famous for his voice work on Warner Bros cartoons, he actually began in radio. In 1927 he began doing voice over the KGW-AM program The Hoot Owls. He jumped to KEX-AM in 1933 to produce his Cobweb And Nuts show which lasted 2 years. He followed that with a spin on the Johnny Murray Show, then The Joe Penner Show, then a big win on the Jack Benny Show. He got his own program "The Mel Blanc Show", which ran from 1946  into 1947. It didn't matter.. he'd already discovered cartoon work. The die was cast.

Ford Bond - Bond was a radio announcer peaking in the mid 1940s. He did Manhattan Merry-Go-Round, Fun At Breakfast, Kraft Music Hall, Easy Aces, and many others. He began on WHAS-AM in Louisville in 1922. He died in 1962 after retiring to the Virgin islands. Can't knock that.

Edward Bowes - He was host of  Major Bowes' Amateur Hour on WHN-AM in 1934. The show ran until 1946 when he retired. He died two months later.

Bill Boyd - A western Swing man he played on air at many stations including WRR-AM,  KTER-AM and KSKY-AM in Dallas and alter WKNE and WPWA. His band The Cowboys Ramblers, had their own popular radio show, "The Bill Boyd Ranch House" around 1947 on WRR.

Eddie Bracken - Another vaudeville man who moved to radio. It was his success in film that landed him his very own "Eddie Bracken Show." It ran for 2 years on CBS 1946 and 1947.

Tom Breneman - Breneman was the host of "Breakfast in Hollywood." It debuted on the Blue Network in 1941, but moved to ABC, NBC and Mutual at various times. It initially launched as "Breakfast on the Boulevard" on KFWB-AM in Los Angeles.  It was so big it had a magazine, he had a restaurant and they made a movie about the program in 1946. It was finally cancelled in 1948 only because he died.

Fanny Brice - She spent most of her career trapped in the role of Baby Snooks. The character first appeared in a skit on The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air. At the age of 60 she was still typecast as a child.

Ray Briem - Ray retired from radio in 2008 after a long career at KABC-AM. As a conservative talk show host. He'd been a long time radio man having even hosted programs for AFRS.

Cecil Brown - Brown was famous as a WWII news commentator. He was hired by CBS in 1940. His career gained ground criticizing Mussolini but lost it criticizing the British. After the war he became a commentator for the Mutual Network.

Bob Burns - He was a regular on the Kraft Music Hall program, and Rudy Vallee's show The Fleischmann Hour starting in 1935. Prior to that he'd only done random appearances on programs like "The Fun Factory." He hosted the Academy Awards in 1938 which improved is cache. His own radio show, The Arkansas Traveler ran from 1941 to 1943 and was followed by  The Bob Burns Show  which ran 1943 to 1947.

Judy Canova - Her career exploded after a 1931 guest spot on the Fleischmann Yeast Hour. She did a series of films, then got her own radio show 1in 1943, The Judy Canova Show. It ran for 12 years. She moved on to TV and had a long career there as well.

Eddie Cantor - See previous post here.

Ken Carpenter - Ken was an NBC Radio Announcer. He was probably best known for announcing Bing Crosby on the Kraft Music Hall radio variety program for 27 years. He started his career in KFI-AM in 1929 as a sports announcer. He stayed with NBC doing sports color until 1942.

Jack Carson - He appeared in 1938 on the Kraft Music Hall while Bing Crosby's was host. He guested several more times and got own CBS radio show, the Jack Carson Show,  in 1943.  The show lasted 4 years. he left to host The Sealtest Village Store program where he stayed until 1948.

Bud Collyer - Bud was Superman on The Adventures of Superman on the Mutual Network in 1940. That iconic work would probably be enough but he also acted on all 3 major networks. He went on to host TV game shows like Beat the Clock and to Tell the Truth.

Jerry Colonna - He had the greatest mustache ever made. He was famous on radio as Bob Hope's zany sidekick. He actually started as a serious trombonist in the CBS house orchestra. He even recorded as a part Raymond Scott's famous Quintette and of course played on the Kraft Music Hall.

Perry Como - Como is most famous for his recording career and his early work hosting television programs. His work on the radio program "Beat the Band" was notable, lasting on NBC radio from 1940 to 1944. Btu it represents the bulk of his radio career.

Spade Cooley - He had his own TV show starting in 1947 but before that he was on radio a bit. He guested in 1946 on Gene Autry's Program "Melody Ranch." Then with his own show "Spade Cooley Time" on KFVD-AM. He went straight from there to KTLA-TV.

Charles Correll - He played the character Andy Brown of Amos & Andy alongside Freeman Gosden. The bit began on WMAQ-AM in 1926 as Sam 'n' Henry and continued on to WGN-AM, where it became Amos and Andy. It became syndicated and continued on in different forms until 1962.

Lou Costello - He was the shorter stouter half of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Bud Abbott. They began in vaudeville individually, then as a team and signed up with the William Morris Agency in 1938. They became a regular feature on The Kate Smith Hour and rapidly moved into film.

Bing Crosby - Bing appears at least 5 other times on this page for launching other careers during his tenure on the Kraft Music Hall from 1935 to 1946. But he'd already been host of the Woodbury Soap Program, the Chesterfield's Music Program, The Cremo Singers and The Radio Singers on CBS back in 1931. his first appearance was probably in 1929 on Old Gold presents the Paul Whiteman Orchestra.

Bob Crosby - Despite am 18-month interruption for WWII the "Bob Crosby Show" ran on NBC and CBS separately from  1943 to 1950. He moved from there to a show called "Club Fifteen" on CBS from 1947 to 1953. From 1952 to 1955 he was a band leader on the Jack Benny Show. That was followed by a half hour Bob Crosby Show that ran on CBS from 1953–1957. He tried a little TV show in Australia in the 1960s but it fizzled.

Milton Cross - See previous post here.

Frank Crumit - Crumit was a vaudeville man. He and his wife Julia Sanderson were a comedy and singing duo in 1928 on CBS as the "Singing Sweethearts" even though they were already divorced. In 1030 they started co-hosting a quiz show called "The Battle of the Sexes", which ran 13 years. they started a new program on WABC-AM, but it was abruptly cut short when Crumit died of  a heart attack in 1943.

Bill Cunningham - This is not the same radio man as right-winger Bill Cunningham in Cincinnati. This is the man who hosted "Meet the Boss" from 1944-1952 carried by Mutual Broadcasting.

Radios Most Unrehearsed Show!

The Breakfast Club radio show in Chicago, on 1540 WLS-AM and its announcer Don McNeill. the program aired from 1933 to 1968. McNeill hosted the program for it's entire run, over 35 years. It ran for an hour on the NBC Blue Network weekdays at 8:00 AM. With the exception of his support for public prayer, he was a strictly apolitical character... something that's missing in our modern discourse. He debuted it in 1944 ostensibly to support the troops; a sentiment that was much more congruous in WWII. But even the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor he avoided the war topic and just let the new bulletins do the talking. If you get curious for more details, John Doolittle's book about the program, Don McNeill and His Breakfast Club is not to be skipped.

His radio career didn't' start in Chicago, not even in Illinois. It began 90 miles to the north in Milwaukee back in 1928. He graduated from Marquette University  in Milwaukee, class  valedictorian and started as an announcer at WISN-AM. and later for WTMJ-AM owned by The Milwaukee Journal. In 1930 he moved to Louisville and began announcing on  WHAS-AM. He tried to shop a vaudeville skit to radio stations on the west coast but that tanked. More here.

So in 1933, he auditions for an unsponsored morning program called The Pepper Pot. McNeill took over the show in June and renamed it The Breakfast Club. Pepper Pot is a terrible name for a radio shoe. It sounds like a restaurant. His re-formatted program was meant to be humorous and and topical but mostly just very wholesome and family oriented. It'd be pretty boring by modern standards. They had musical guests and both comedians and celebrities.After a few months letters started coming in with cornball jokes and bad amateur poetry. he incorporated it and the show became virtually an ad lib hour. It was called "radios most unrehearsed show" When the show was cancelled in 68' Don McNeill stepped out of the limelight forever. He wouldn't give interviews, he was just done. He died on May 7, 1996.