Jack Ruby and KLIF

Anyone with any level of interest in the Kennedy assassination from the student, to the historian, to the conspiracy theorist knows who Jack Ruby is. But many of them won't know anything about 1190 KLIF-AM, and even fewer the connection between the two. The Kennedy assassination was a tragedy of course but also a huge news event so the city was swarming with local news people. So as coverage ramped up for the Kennedy assassination beat it also proliferated a witness list for the Oswald assassination which included a huge number of radio and news people. 552 different witnesses' testimony was presented to the Warren Commission. It included police, attorneys and Oswald's acquaintances.  But that list includes multiple radio staff:

• Corporon, John
• Duncan, William Glenn, Jr
• Jenkins, Ronald Lee
• Pappas, Icarus M.
• Richey, Warren E.
• Stuckey, William Kirk
• Underwood. James R.
• Walker, Ira N., Jr.

That list has zero overlap with the Ruby trial witnesses. Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald on November 24th 1963 in Dallas. Access was limited in secure buildings, but KLIF-AM was on the scene for the prisoner transfer of Oswald but did not broadcast the shooting live. NBC was the lone TV network to have broadcast live coverage. NBC News correspondent Tom Pettit, was the voice everyone recognizes shouting “Lee Oswald has been shot!”  The first mention of the shooting on KLIF is at 9:51 on this video:

First the events you already know about.  Sunday morning, November 24th, the police were ready to move Harvey Oswald to the county jail. A distance of one mile.  At 11:20 AM Oswald emerged flanked by officers. Captain J. Will Fritz led two detectives escorting Oswald through a basement garage toward a car. Moments later, Jack Ruby wearing his fedora, stepped out from the mob of detectives and reporters and fired a .38-caliber Colt Cobra revolver at Oswald's chest. Oswald died at 1:07 p.m.

First you should know a bit more about Ruby.  He operated a strip joint called the Carousel Club. In addition to the local contacts he made through his strip club, he was very social, and made his daily rounds in Dallas visited acquaintances around Dallas. He'd hit the bank, the Statler Hilton, the police station, the courthouse, the bail-bond office, the Doubleday Book Store, the delicatessen, the shoeshine parlor, radio station KLIF. He actually bought that Colt cobra through a police friend of his, Joe Cody to avoid paying sales tax. 

KLIF was owned by Gordon McLendon. Born in Paris TX in 1921, graduate of Yale, and sports  director at WYBC in New Haven, CT. He made a name for himself at the Liberty Broadcasting System. Liberty was a network that mainly broadcast "recreated" baseball games starting in 1948. Reputedly many listeners were not aware the broadcasters were not announcing the live events. [LINK]Ruby once identified McLendon as “the world’s greatest American.” In those days at Liberty McLendon was billing himself as “the Old Scotchman.” He had founded KLIF in 1947.  Ruby name dropped him in his hand-written confession. Later in his career McLendon became a right-wing radio wonk, and made a failed senate run. His career stalled a bit when he started a campaign to ban suggestive songs like “Yellow Submarine” and “Puff, the Magic Dragon.”

He also name-dropped KLIF, DJ Russ Knight, better known as The Weird Beard.(No connection to the WAKY weird beard.)  When FBI Agents found Knight's personal phone numbers in Ruby's possession he won an interview. He had been at KLIF since 1960 and left in 1964 for a spot at WXYZ. Somewhere in there he was also on KILT. Knight had known Ruby for a year and had hung out with him half a dozen times, even taking his wife to the Carousel Club. Ruby for his part, ran ads for the club on Knights program at KLIF. [SOURCE]

Another familiar name that pops up at Liberty is sound man Wes Wise. Back in the 50s he was doing foley work to fake baseball games. Somehow he moved from there to at sports director for WFAA in 1961.  By 1963 Wes Wise was at KRLD-TV (CBS).  He was there with Bob Huffaker. He testified that he bumped into Ruby at the now infamous School book Depository building that Saturday Nov. 23rd; just a day before the assassination. In 1971 Wes Wise would be elected Mayor of Dallas, and he'd serve 3 terms despite being originally from Shreveport, LA. It's worth nothing that Wise kicked off a conspiracy theory in December of 1963 taking poor notes about a possible Oswald sighting. He got a plate number correct but the wrong color and make of the car. By random chance (ahem) the car listed was owned by a Carl Mather at Collins Radio, a company that worked with military communications for the CIA. [SOURCE]  

According to Ruby's own account, he he was trying to find a local disc jockey from KLIF and went into the police station to locate him to deliver some sandwiches from Phil's Delicatessen. He worked his way around the police station, and found instead some staff from KBOX. He asked for  KLIF's Gary DeLaune. Witness Willian Duncan Jr. testified that Ruby delivered sandwiches and soda to KLIF around 1:30 on Friday Nov. 22nd. He asked about DJ Russ Knight and left after 20-30 minutes. More here.   

Gary would see Ruby again when Oswald was shot. DeLaune was standing right next to photographer Bob Jackson when the latter took his Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of Jack Ruby shooting Lee Harvey Oswald. Gary's 's presence begat a conspiracy theory of it's own since Jack Ruby had a few connections to KLIF. Despite personally knowing Ruby, DeLaune testified that all he saw was "figure with a gun."  More here. Delaune later worked in Houston, then moved to San Antonio in the early 1970s to cover the San Antonio Spurs. Eventually he joined the sports broadcasting team at KENS-TV where he stayed for decades until his retirement.

Was there any more to any of this?  Probably.  But knowing DJs as I do... the basis of these friendships was probably free sandwiches, and drinks at the carousel club. It an unusual event where in covering the news of one crime find a dozen DJs testifying in the trial over another related crime. I can't think of another event like this one in that one respect.

Specs Howard not Howard Specs

Howard Specs enjoyed a 22-year career on Cleveland radio, and later Detroit, as one-half of the duo "Martin & Howard" throughout the 1950s and '60s. As if that wasn't enough, he founded a broadcasting school in 1970. In a narrowing field of increasingly obsolete broadcasting schools, his continues to survive; re-branded as The Specs Howard School of Media Arts.

For the record, his real name is Julian "Jerry" Liebman. His stage name "Specs" reportedly originated at KYW in Detroit as a reference to his horn rim glasses, the surname Howard was just random... supposedly form a phone book. But he started his career in Kittanning PA, by raising $15,000 dollars to start his own radio station in 1948. In 1951 he relocated to Sharon, PA to work at 790 WPIC-AM. His own biography downplays those first two radio stations. They focus on his very successful times at KYW. It doesn't mention his own station at all, and omits the call letters of WPIC. Actually I had to go back to an issue of the Simpson's Leader-Times newspaper form 1958 to get those calls. Already by then his own station appears to have been deleted. Also note he didn't' go it alone.

"A native of Kittanning, PA, Jerry was graduated from Allegheny College in 1948 and Immediately after, he and two friends started their own 3,000-watt radio station (now extinct) in his home town..."

Then I found the call sign in the classified's section of the weekly magazine Broadcasting back in 1948. They were looking for a commercial manager. Radio station 1600 WKIN-AM broadcasting with 1,000 watts. Some sources (above) list it at 3,000 watts or even signing on as late as 1949. It is also reputed to have been the third station on air in Armstrong county after WACB and WAVL. Regardless it appears in both the 1949 and 1950 Broadcasting Annuals as owned by "WKIN, Inc." located at 122 N. Jefferson Street. Julian Louis Leibman was president and GM, Ernie Klein was PD, Ben A. Franklin was Chief Engineer, Larry Caldwell was Promotions Manager. I expect those were his co-founders. With all that information it was not hard to find the July 21st 1948 FCC docket # 8719 announcement approving his application for a new AM daytimer. There are no records of the station after 1950 so I presume it was deleted.

In 1951 Howard was off to WPIC in Sharon so that at least fits the timeline nicely. He had a degree from Allegheny College in Meadville, PA and 2 years of experience trying to run his own radio station. In 1954 he left PA for a gig at NBC network affiliate WTAM in Cleveland. Two years later, as “Specs Howard,” he became a Cleveland radio legend, remaining on-air until 1967. Westinghouse bought WTAM in 1956, renamed it KYW. In 1962, he joined up with with Harry Martin, launching The Martin and Howard Show, WXZY in Detroit.  The show only aired for about a year in the motor city and was cancelled. After the station pulled the plug, Howard  went back to Cleveland for a slot at at 1100 WKYC-AM. Harry Martin, the other half of the once number-one rated duo went to San Diego, where he worked at 1170 KCBQ-AM and 1460 KPOP-AM. Howard opened his eponymous school in 1970 and left broadcasting.

Charm Kitchen Radio

This is the "Charm Kitchen Cook Book" compiled by Edythe Fern Melrose, better known in Detroit as WXYZ-TV's Lady of Charm. One source claims that in the 1920s as the first woman to manage a radio station. There are several claimants to that title and her claim is totally uncorroborated. She did manage WJLB-AM in the 1930s, but that seems to be after Vaughn DeLeath managed WDT-AM so she may legitimately be the second.

When Melrose moved from WJLB to 1270 WXYZ-AM in 1941, the old slot was taken over by Miriam Lane. Sources claim that Miriam Lane had a program called "Modes and Manners." It is entirely unclear if thei was before, during or after the tenure of Ms. Melrose. A 1955 cookbook bearing her name and the title "Charm Kitchen" serves to further confuse the matter. It indicates a possible passing of the crown, or a simple branding rip-off.  Regardless, Lane remained at WJLB while Melrose was building an empire starting with her daily, hour-long afternoon show.

Even in the beginning her program was special. She did not go to the studios. She broadcast from her private offices at the New Center building.  Fred Foy recalls some playful animosity between Melrose and the announcers who had to be on stand-by through out her remotely broadcast program. [More here.] It comes as no surprise that she didn't want to go to a TV studio to do her TV show either.

On Channel 7, WXYZ-TV her show aired from her home, the "House O' Charm," the first of which was built in 1948 at Eagle Point at St. Clair Shores and the second at 906 Lakeshore, Grosse Pointe. It was the first home to be built for testing all the products before she recommended them.Her TV program ran for 12 years. In addition to product testing she also continued to discuss cooking, table settings, etiquette, and fashion. The program continued until 1960.  She died in 1976.

Mike Wallace RIP

Unless you live under a rock you probably heard that Mike Wallace died last week. He was 93 years old.  While he was best known in recent decades for his segments on CBS TV news program 60 Minutes, his career actually began in radio.

He was born in Brookline, MA and his real surname was Wallik. He attended the University of Michigan, which is how he ended up in Ann Arbor. That will be important in a sec. While he was enrolled as a student, he was a reporter for the Michigan Daily newspaper. It was his first real move toward news. In 1939 he appeared as a guest on the radio quiz show "Information Please."  He was a senior at U. Michigan at the time. After graduating he was hired as an announcer at WOOD, but eventually was allowed to do some news casts. He must have done OK because in 1940, just 9 months later, he moved to Detroit for another newscaster job at WXYZ-AM.There he was not just a newscaster but also a voice actor on daytime dramas and action programs. He left WXYZ for a job as a news writer at the Chicago Sun but left in 1943 to enlist.

In WWII he served as a communications officer on the submarine tender, the USS Anthedon. After WWII ended he was discharged and returned to Chicago in 1946. He landed a job as a reporter at WMAQ-AM where later he and his 2nd wife Buff Cobb had a night talk program live from a night club. That show must have caught somebody's ear because CBS grabbed it and tried to convert it into a daytime talk TV program in 1951.Accounts vary on it's end. Some say divorce in 1955 others record an earlier end in 1953, or 1954. It didn't matter, Mike was already hosting schmaltzy game shows including The Big Surprise, Who's the Boss? and Who Pays?.

But that was the end of the fluff programming. In 1956 he got a night interview program on WABD-TV called "Night Beat." It did well enough that he reworked the formula into a new program in ABC "The Mike Wallace Interview" which debuted in 1957. After that it was all about TV news. Well that and about 10 years of Parliament cigarette advertisements. He hosted so many of those ads for so long he had trouble getting back into news. He ended up talking a job in 1963 as an anchor in KTLA-TV. In 1965 he became the morning anchor of the CBS morning news, then a correspondent for the CBS evening news, and in 1968 he started 60 minutes where he stayed for another 37 years.