New Link:CBS Radio Mystery Theater

Logo for CBS Radio Mystery Theater, which aired from 1974-1982 with E. G. Marshall and Tammy Grimes as hosts..

Want to Introduce a New Link to everyone. A gentleman has gone through the trouble and expense of acquiring the entire CBS Radio Mystery Theater series..The program began in 1974 with EG Marshall as host, airing till 1982. all 1399 ahows are available for free download..There is also a searchable database of actors. appearing on each episode. Not sure how long, but WHBC-1480 AM in Canton carried the show for awhile..Cleveland's WERE-1300 and WJW850 also carried the show..In addition to the broadcasts, which many times had top of the hour CBS News included in the tapes..There is a lot of of history on this site as well..

http://www.cbsrmt.com/

Just when did Jack Benny first appear on the radio?

One of the things I like about writing the blog is finding out things not generally known, or better yet, refuting things that are suppoosed "known" facts..

     One of these assumptions is that Jack Benny began his radio career as a guest of Ed Sullivan on a show in New York on March 29, 1932..His first words were documented as "Hello, this is Jack Benny. Now there will be a slight pause while you say, who cares?"

In recent days, friend Don M. Yowp, whom we have mentioned here before because of his vintage Hanna-Barbera Blog, has started "Tralfaz" a second blog for more of his general entertainment Interests:
Jack Benny On The Air, 1931

Yowp writes about an earlier Benny appearance on RKO Theater of The Air September 4, 1931 on WIBA Madison, Wisconsin.

I thought I'd look around the Plain Dealer Archive to find anything sooner, not really thinking I would..Surprisingly, I came up with a Monday January 20, 1930 Broadcast on WHK-1390 Cleveland at 7:30 PM called "Voices From Filmland"

This appears to be a early Columbia/CBS Radio series on until at least March 1930..According to JJ's Radio log website, this was also on KHJ-930 Los Angeles and WABC-860 New York..
Mr. Benny was on either Radio or TV regularly from 1932-65, with periodic NBC specials until his death in December 1974.

Ms. Laura Leff, a fan of Jack Benny since 10 years of age, runs some facets of the Jack Benny Estate and is head of the International Jack Benny Fan Club.. International Jack Benny Fan Club
International Jack Benny Fan Club

Year In Review-2011

Mary Holt, pioneer among women in Cleveland Broadcasting, passed away March 9th..


Broadcaster Joe Tait retired in April after 39 years of NBA Play-By-Play with the Cleveland Cavaliers..Tait, with Terry Pluto recently brought out his Biography, "It's Been A Real Ball."

Dick Goddard, Cleveland TV Weather Forecaster who on May 1, 2011 celebrated his 50th year in Television, starting out at KYW-TV 3..After a short stint in Philadelphia at KYW, Goddard has been with WJW-8 Cleveland since March 1966..(Photo courtesy Cleveland Leader)


Jane Scott, Rock Music Critic for the Plain Dealer, died July 4 (Photo courtesy Cleveland.com)


Chuck Collier, WGAR Radio Host for over 40 years, passed away September 22..(Photo courtesy WGAR.com and WEWS Newsnet5.com)

Hello..
I'd like to present our second annual Year In Review of Classic Cleveland and Northeast Ohio Media happenings..

Passings..

Mary Holt, a Pioneer in Cleveland Women's Broadcasting..worked at WJMO and WJW Radio as well as KYW-TV 3 in Cleveland..March 9

Dick Dugan, Cartoonist for the Plain Dealer for 38 years..April 16

Jane Scott, Rock Music Writer/Critic for The Plain Dealer..July 4

Chuck Collier..WGAR DJ for over 40 years. September 22..

(If anyone can think of any local folks I might have missed, Email me..)

Milestones:

Dick Goddard celebrated 50 years in TV in May..At That time he brought out his Biography "Six Inches of Partly Cloudy" with Tom Feran..

Joe Tait retires as Cavaliers Basketball Announcer in April after 39 years as an NBA Play By Play man..He also recently wrote, with Terry Pluto "It's Been A Real Ball."
He is replaced by former Lake Erie Monsters Announcer John Michael..

Mike Hegan retires as Indians Radio announcer in October, replaced by Jim Rosenhaus, who was already on the Broadcast Team, rotating with Tom Hamilton And Hegan..

Other News:

In Classic TV Locally, WIVM-52 Canton moves to digital 39 in January, eventually having 4 streams..1. Local With RTV, 2. Tuff TV 3. PBJ Family/Kids Programming 4. Denny and Marge Hazen FM stations..

Antenna TV began on channel 8.2 January 1, 2011
MeTV Began August 1, 2011 on WOIO 19.2 replacing Weather Now
TCT (WRLM-former WOAC) adds a Family/Classic TV channel on 47.3 with TCT regular (.1) TCT HD (.2) and Spanish (.4)

Bounce African American TV Channel is scheduled to begin shortly on WUAB-43.2 or 3 in addition to ThisTV..

In Radio, The biggest news is probably WKRK 92.3 switching from Alt Rock to Sports Talk in late August 2011..

WNWV (107.3) recently was sold by Elyria-Lorain Broadcasting to Rubber City Radio..Format was changed to a form of Smooth Jazz..

Four New FM stations debuted this year in parts of Northeast Ohio..

WKJA (91.9)..Calvary Chapel from California operates this station licensed to Brunswick, Ohio covering much of NE Ohio with 25kw..

WHVY-89.5 Coshocton-Operated by Harvest Baptist Temple Of Clyde, Ohio (WHVT 90.5 and a Findlay Translator on 94.1)

WJDD-90.9 Carrollton (June 2011) and WJEE-90.1 Bolivar (East Sparta)-Operated by Denny and Marge Hazen of TV Ministry Plus Or Minus 60..

More Radio:
WINW Radio 1520 left the air last Spring partly due to Copper Theivery and flooding in the station's transmitter area. They recently returned to the air at low power..

Curtis Perry III, who had been operating WINW under an LMA with an Urban Gospel Format (and appears to be again)..In the meantime, WCER-900 was LMA'ed to Mr. Perry, with the result that the station is currently off the air..Hoping that someone will put 900 back on the air at some point..I's a pretty good facility..

It will be interesting to see what 2012 brings..As always, we're on the lookout for rare Radio/TV airchecks, either audio or video to share on our sites..God Bless you all, thanks for reading and contibuting and Happy New Year to all..

Cleveland Broadcasting-New Years Eve 1949

Picture Postcard of Hopalong Cassidy, distributed by Bond Bread..The other side had "Tune In Hopalong Cassidy on WNBK-4"..Hoppy was starting his Radio Show Jan. 1, 1950 on Mutual-WHK..The Hopalong movies and TV shows started being shown later in 1950 on NBC..

Football Bowl Games on WGAR-1220, Including the OSU-California Rose Bowl Game from Pasadena..

January 2, 1950 from the Plain Dealer.."Folksinger" (not Country Music Singer) Eddy Arnold had his own weekday morning show on NBC-WTAM


WXEL-9 Test Pattern-Very nice copy..

WXEL-TV 9 Dedication plaque-Cleveland's Third TV Station had been on the air less than two weeks..

Looking some at New Years Eve Radio-TV 1949.

George Condon wrote in his Plain Dealer Column on December 31, 1949 about the possibility of The Cleveland Orchestra making it's debut on Television January 8, 1950 on WNBK-4..Radio broadcasts on WTAM and several other stations were to commence then, and it was planned to have an experimental TV relay during an Orchestra rehearsal from Severance Hall to the NBC Building on Superior Avenue using a Microwave reflector on top of Severance Hall, hoping to get the signal to a dish at WNBK/WTAM..Sohio was to sponsor the Radio/TV Broadcasts
beginning 1/8/1950..

A Narrative Review of the last 50 years in Cleveland was to be aired by WGAR December 31 at 1PM, hosted by Reg Merridew and Sid Andorn..

Talk about going through Material..It was figured out that Cooking Hostess Alice Weston of WEWS had gone through 1, 068 of her own recipies and 168 others from viewers since starting her program February 14, 1949..


Hopalong Cassidy was to begin his own Radio Show January 1, 1950 at 4PM on WHK. Cassidy (William Boyd) was already a huge Movie Star and would soon gain many more fans as his films hit Television..

Robert Kintner, who joined ABC (Blue Network) in 1944, was announced as President of ABC-Radio/TV, where he served until 1956..

More Program Highlights

TV:(Dec. 31)
Jack Carter hosts Cavalcade of Stars on DuMont-WXEL at 9PM
Meet The Press with Senator Scott Lucas (D-Illinois) NBC-WNBK at 9:30
Morey Amsterdam hosts a New Years Eve Party on NBC-WNBK at 10

CBS New Years Party with Ed Sullivan, Robert Q. Lewis and others on WEWS at 10PM

Radio (Dec. 31)

Blue-Gray Football WHK 2:30
East-West Shrine Football-WHK 5:30

Forecast 1950-WTAM 3:30
Dallas Symphony-WTAM 4PM

AHL Hockey Cleveland Barons/Cincinnati Mohawks-WJW 9:45 (Third Period only) (Barons win 5-1 before 6891 at the Arena)


TV (Jan. 1, 1950)
Movie-Little Men WEWS 3PM

Movie-That Uncertain Feeling WXEL 3PM

Super Circus-WXEL (ABC) 5PM
Exit 1949-News Films WNBK 5PM

Perry Como WNBK-NBC 8PM
Toast Of The Town WEWS-CBS 8PM with Charles Laughton and Mary McCarty


Radio Listings in The Plain Dealer Saturday, December 31, 1949 (Open link for better reading)



TV Listings Saturday December 31, 1949

Later Today, Tomorrow or Monday we'll have a brief Classic TV "Year In Review" Post..Want to wish all our readers a Happy and safe New Year..

Christmas 2011..

December 25, 1947:WSRS radio ad in the Plain Dealer

WAKR-TV 23 Test Pattern from the 1970's

Just wanted to wish everybody on the blog a safe and Happy Christmas and thank you all for all the contributions made, whether it be by asking questions, providing media clips , or just commenting..Its really been an interesting year..And judging by recent Radio/TV changes in the Cleveland area, it promises to be more interesting in the year ahead..I will do a year end review sometime late next week..Again, have a very Merry Christmas everybody..

WEWS Video Vault-Holidays

In the last few months I've become aware of a portion of the newsnet5.com (WEWS-TV 5) website known as "Video Vault"..TV 5's Tom Livingston digs out old film footage to share with everyone and he has found some real gems..The one drawback is that much of the earlier films are missing the soundtrack, but the memories are there..I want to share on the page today two of the recent Video Vault entries..




October 15, 1959 preparations for Downtown Cleveland Christmas Decorating, then we see shoppers mingling about on November 27, 1959 and then the later Cleveland Christmas Parade..




Christmas 1960:Santa In A Spaceship..One viewer thinks this is from Bailey's Department Store. We also get a look at the Sterling-Lindner Christmas Tree and a brief glimpse of Johnny Mathis, who sang for the City Tree-lighting ceremony November 25, 1960..

Portion of a May Company ad announcing the appearance of Johnny Mathis in Cleveland..

http://www.newsnet5.com/subindex/news/news_archives

Link to Video Vault archives..

Video Copyright 1959, 1960. 2011 E. W. Scripps. Co./WEWS

December 1964:Plus Ozzie And Harriet "Busy Christmas"

Wednesday, December 23, 1964:The Adventures Of Ozzie And Harriet:"Busy Christmas"..This was actually a repeat of the December 19, 1956 episode, with a newly-done opening by the Nelsons, with Ricky Nelson singing "The Christmas Song" at the end..Aired on WEWS-TV 5 and sponsored by The Gas Industry..


Christmas Comedy and Music Special produced by KYW-TV Tuesday, December 22, 1964..Looks like a good time was had by all..


Thursday, December 24, 1964:Cleveland Orchestra Concert with Robert Shaw Conducting..This was the fifth annual presentation..


December 23, 1964 Plain Dealer TV Listings..


December 24, 1964:Extensive plans for KYW-AM 1100 for 6PM-Midnight using most of the On-Air Radio Crew as well as KYW-TV 3's Barnaby and Woodrow..

A little bit of Christmas 1964 is featured, with KYW Radio and Television leading the way during Christmas week with a couple of special programs and a 6-hour extravaganza on radio. When TV and radio were creative and really wanted to make holidays special..I only wish that either the radio or TV special might be out there somewhere..Also featuring Ozzie and Harriet in a repeat of a 1956 episode with 1964 vintage commercials for the Gas Industry..

The features on the Facebook page today about Mr. Jingeling really took off..Lots of people responded..Just goes to show that some folks really like Christmas the way they remember it..Appreciate the response..

Images courtsy the Plain Dealer Archive and TV Guide..Video from the Internet Archive..