The Matinee Merry-Go-Round

That comic above appeared in the June 23rd 1945 issue of Billboard magazine. It was part of a half-page column advertisement plugging ad time on 850 WJW-AM. The following text bragged that Cleveland was the nation's seventh largest and 5th richest radio market. In the subsequent half century, Cleveland has slipped to #31 in size, And in Household median income there's presently #23 behind Salt Lake City. Ouch.  More here.

The Matinee Merry-Go-Round of course is long gone, but it existing briefly in 1945. It appears in radio schedules in newspapers in 1945. It's in December, October and September issues of the Daily Times. It's in a July issue of Broadcasting the same year. But in the 1947 Radio Annual we find out first clue. In a list of writers available for hire was Charles Hunter beside the call sign WJW and the program name "Matinee Merry-Go-Round." But a February 1946 issue of Broadcasting Magazine that this was also the return of Mr. Hunter. He had been serving in WWII with a tank unit. (ETO is an abbreviation for European Theater of Operations.)

But how long was the program on air? WJW was a proud member of the NBC Blue network in 1945. Was this program syndicated?  The 1940-1941 issue of the Variety Radio Directory lists a program of the same title on KTSM. And a 1949 issue of Billboard notes that Rome Hartman has taken over Bob Mackey's daily Matinee Merry-Go-Round on WIRK in West Palm Beach. It's even listed on a channel 6 KOTV advertisement. Just to get absurd, the BBC home service was also running a Matinee Merry-Go-Round, these seem to be re-broadcasts of the Light Programme.

So outside of about 2 years on WJW the nature of this program is unclear. But we do know a bit more about Charles Hunter. In 1941 he was just an announcer on WJW, and the June issue of Broadcasting announced that he had been drafted. It also noted that he was from Akron, OH. So his return in 1946 followed a 5 year military deployment. He was either hired as or promoted to Program Director. He was still in the role in March of 1950, but there was no sign of the Matinee.

Moondog Vs. Moondog

You all know the name Allan Freed. You know his rise and his fall and about the payola scandal and the whole sordid story.  You might even know that he sometimes referred to himself as "moondog" or "the moondog" and to his listeners as "moondoggers."  His show was "The Moondog House" the "Moondog Houseparty" or even "the Moondog Rock and Roll Party." The Moondog thing began around July of 1951 while he was still in Cleveland on 850 WJW-AM.

The problem began in 1954 when he got hired by 1010 WINS-AM. Actually he did a concert in Newark, NJ in advance of his move win WINS, "The Moondog Coronation Ball." But in New York City the name Moondog was already in use by Louis T. Hardin, a blind eccentric street musician who dressed like a viking. Hardin was no crazy hobo. He attended the Memphis Conservatory of Music. Hardin was a professional musician who'd already done work with film scores. He picketed WINS, Freed sued to scare him off. It didn't work. Hardin filed his own claim to defend his brand name. It was ugly.  Even Igor Stravinsky came to his defense. (You can read the documentation here.)  In his complaint he stated that Freed was inspired by an instrumental recording named the "Moondog Symphony" that he had written. This may seem apocryphal but Freed all but cops to it in the court transcript. I had initially assumed this to be untrue sine Hardin had only recorded four sides on 78 rpm by the suit in 1954. [more here] How WJW got copies I can't venture to guess.

Freed contended that his on-air name was "Moondog House" and that WJW actually had the rights to the term. He further claimed that his show was the Alan Freed show. Even more interesting is that WJW in getting the rights to the name "Moondog" used them to enjoin Freed from using the name when he left. But that was all in Cleveland. Hardin had been using the name Moondog since 1947 in New York. Despite the archaic definition of moondog (a synonym for moonbow) Hardin actually just took the name from a howling dog.

Freed lost. He was enjoined from using the name Moondog and had to pay damages to Hardin. He re-named his show during the trial to"The Alan Freed Rock and Roll Party." Moodog continued to dress like a viking, and to write and record eccentric music of no popular consequence. Freed's answers to some money questions in deposition would come back to haunt him later. Moondog ended up out living Freed by 34 years, but Freeds's fame appears to be outliving them both.

DJ Soupy Sales

Soupy Sales is dead. He was 83 years old. What's most strange about his career to me is that he did a lot of radio for a man whose his career was made by visual gags. The ol' pie-in-the-face routine doesn't exactly work on the radio.Sales may have been slap-happy but he was no dunce. He had a Master's Degree in journalism from Marshall College. While at Marshall College, he did the vaudeville bit singing, dancing and telling jokes. After graduating, he got his first gig in the biz at 800 WHTN-AM in Huntington, NC He was not dancing singing. He was scriptwriting and DJing nights. He'd also applied locally to WPLH, But in his own biography he admits they shot him down. More here.

Sales moved to Cincinnati in 1949, numerous sources claim he had a morning show in this market but not one of them, even his own biography specify a station. I find it dubious. Btu he did get started in TV at WKRC-TV with Soupy's Soda Shop. It was a teen dance program and he beat Dick Clark to it by 2 years. When WKRC-TV cancelled his program, he left Cincinnati and scored a gig in 850 WJW-AM in 1951.

In 1953, Sales moved to Detroit, Michigan and worked at WXYZ-TV carried nationally on ABC. From there he moved to LA, but was cancelled in 1962. He tried again, this time in New York on WNEW-TV in 1964. In 1978 he3 went back to LA for a shot with "The Soupy Sales Show" it ran for one season. ...and his TV career rolled on from there slowly to a full halt.

Soupy went back to radio. No more pies. Just laughs. He hosted his own show on 660 WNBC-AM in New York City. At the same time Both don Imus and Howard Stern were at WNBC. As much as Imus and stern dislikes each other, they both were united in their distaste for Soupy Sales. Soupy went on at 10 Am right after Imus and Right before sterns PM drive slot. He was boxed in. In 1987 the yanked him for good mid program. the station flipped formats to all talk a year later. Variety shows were over.

He wrote a autobiography and published it in 2003. It was long overdue