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#DJMonday John "Mr. Magic" Rivas debuted in 1979 on WHBI in New York City with “Disco Showcase.” Later, he moved to WBLS with the first exclusive rap radio show to be aired on a major station. His reign on the New York City airwaves lasted six years and was instrumental in broadening the scope and validity of hip-hop music. (Wikipedia)

“Akronites, those unfortunate enough to be on the streets downtown at that early hour, will have a chance to view Art Ross’ ‘Yawn Patrol’ from 5 to 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. Ross, clad in pajamas will do the disc jockey program from a window of the Akron Dry Goods Co.” – Akron Beacon Journal (6/14/1951).

“Peppery Art Ross, the young man with the corn and a hefty armload of records, will celebrate the first anniversary of his WCUE “Yawn Patrol” program Tuesday morning in the studio… Ross figures he has played 20,345 records in his year on the ‘Yawn Patrol.’ He has been at the microphone 1,565 hours, during which he has read 6,260 commercial announcements and given the correct time 21,475 times.” – Akron Beacon Journal, (12/17/1951)

#QSLFriday In December 1926, a listener in Victoria, British Columbia, received a postcard confirmation from KFWO, a short-lived radio station on Catalina Island, CA. Here’s the backstory:

“Offshore, but not afloat, was the odd little broadcast and communications empire of Major Lawrence Mott, of the U.S. Army Signal Corps. Everything was located in his home... on Catalina Island, CA.

“In the early 1920s, Mott had a license for an experimental station, 6XAD... Next, in 1925, Mott was able to obtain a broadcast station license for the station in his home. He was assigned the call letters KFWO for 250-watt operation on 1420 kHz. He used to announce the slogan, Catalina For Wonderful Outings.

“KFWO was a rather lackadaisical broadcaster, with a sporadic schedule of a few hours on, then off, then back on again throughout the afternoon and evening. It was, after all, a one-man operation, and more of a hobby or experimental pursuit than anything else...

“All of Mott's broadcasting activities wound down in 1929, and KFWO became merely an obscure little, nearly-forgotten piece of broadcasting's past. One of the many personal and oddball broadcasting stations that fell by the wayside when the novelty wore off and broadcasting became serious business as the 1930s approached.” – Popular Communications, October 1990. 

When you work in an archive, you occasionally encounter an item so peculiar that you want to know the whole story. That happened to me recently while organizing a collection of radio and television photographs. One stood out to me as particularly odd: it pictured the host of a short-lived television quiz show from 1960 talking to a tall man in buckskins holding out a large piece of leather with writing on it. According to the caption, the tall man – with the unlikely name of “Mickey Finn” – was the leader of a group of Pony Express-style “Freedom Riders.” I was confused... [more here]

On March 13, 1953, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill students Charles Kuralt (left) and Carl Kasell stepped up to the microphone for WUNC’s inaugural FM broadcast.

Both Kuralt and Kassell went on to distinguished careers in broadcasting. Wilmington-born Kuralt is perhaps best known for his long career with CBS, working on The CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite and as the first anchor of CBS News Sunday Morning.

Goldsboro native Kasell was the news announcer for NPR’s Morning Edition from its inception in 1979 through 2009, and later was the official judge and scorekeeper on the weekly news quiz program Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me! from its launch in 1998 until his retirement in 2014. (Originally posted June 11, 2013.)

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American Playhouse was an anthology series on PBS, offering works by outstanding American playwrights and adaptations of stories by distinguished American writers. “Pudd’nhead Wilson” (1984), adapted from Mark Twain’s novel, starred Ken Howard (above) in the title role. The American Playhouse series ended in 1996 after 13 seasons.

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"Teenage disc jockey contest is being aired five nights a week over WPTR, Albany, N. Y. Moderated by Martin Ross, WPTR disc jockey [above], programs each week feature two teenage contestants who compete for listeners' letter votes... Prizes awarded to the final winner include assorted gifts, a scroll, and an opportunity to do a regularly scheduled WPTR disc show." – Radio Showmanship, October 1949

Born Martin Schwartz, Ross began his broadcast career in 1942 at 14 with WBCA-FM radio in Schenectady, NY. Two years later, he joined WPTR in Albany and changed his name to Ross at the station's request. In 1948, Ross won the Ohio State University award for outstanding programming while news director at WPTR. He became news director at WNYS-TV in Syracuse in 1962, then joined WJW-TV in Cleveland in 1965. He became co-anchorman on the Cleveland station's City Camera News in 1967.

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During the heyday of broadcast radio, receiving distant signals was a source of pride for many hobbyists. Shown here: a listener in Staten Island, NY, received a postcard confirmation from the San Francisco, CA station KSFO in August 1944. At that time, the KSFO studios were in the Mark Hopkins Hotel, and their transmitter was at San Francisco's Islais Creek.

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Actress Jean Stapelton, who died May 31, 2013, was at the height of her fame as Edith Bunker on All in the Family when she narrated “Getting the Vote,” one of the American Documents series produced by and for the Post-Newsweek television stations in 1986.

“…a remarkable saga of how American women achieved suffrage. Authentic film, photographs, cartoons, songs and interviews with surviving suffragette leaders relate the indignities of women ‘Getting the Vote’…” (First posted June 3, 2013.)

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Max Morath was one of the first breakout stars of public television, second only to Julia Child. From 1959 to 1961, Morath wrote, performed, and co-produced 26 half-hour television programs for PBS, then NET (National Educational Television). The programs were produced in Denver and circulated nationally on videotape cassettes to the broadcasting network. 

The first program, The Ragtime Era showcased the development of the music of that period and brought him national recognition. It was followed by Turn of the Century, which dealt with popular music's interaction with the nation's social history The productions were in syndication throughout the 1960s. There are videos about him on YouTube, here and here. 

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“In constant demand to emcee various functions, Rex still finds time to enlarge his LP library which already boasts 2000 records. Also, last year and possibly this year, too, Rex taught jazz at Xavier Evening College." – Cincinnati Enquirer, 8/16/1957

Disc jockey Rex Dale, seen here interviewing Gloria Swanson in 1950, came to Cincinnati's WCKY in 1949. He pioneered the station's first significant jazz show, "Make Believe Ballroom," which aired twice a day, five days a week,  from 10 am. to noon and from 3 to 5 pm. In a few years, "Rex The Hex," as he was called, guided his show to the top of the ratings for daytime programs in the city.

Born Libern Enterline, he used the pseudonym "Rex Dale" on the air, eventually having his name legally changed. His jazz programs became so well known that, according to this 1995 obituary, several prominent musicians wrote songs in his honor: Trumpeter Roy Eldridge's  "Dale's Wails," Red Rodney's "Hail, Hail to Dale," and Sarah McLawler's "Blues for Rex."

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During the heyday of broadcast radio, receiving distant signals was a source of pride for many hobbyists. Shown here: a listener in Victoria, B.C. received a photo and a letter with confirmation from the Fairbanks, Alaska station KFAR in November 1939. In the letter, the station’s engineer added details (second photo). 

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