December 27, 1939: CBS Airs 'The Glenn Miller Show'

 

December 27, 1939: CBS began airing the 15 minute, twice a week Glen Miller Show. Sponsored by Chesterfield cigarettes, the show was commonly referred to as 'Music that Satisfies' and was broadcast for more than 3 years.

Initially, the band was a featured artist during a 15-minute broadcast for Chesterfield cigarettes with Andrew Stevens three times a week. Later on, the band starred on their own show until 1942.

December 25, 1934: The Premier of Christmas Carol on CBS

 

December 25, 1934: For the first time, CBS broadcast the reading of the classic tale from Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol. Lionel Barrymore read the tale on The Campbell Playhouse. Since then, the reading of the tale became an annual radio annual event for years.

Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English writer and one of the greatest novelists in history. His works continue to exist until today.

Lionel Herbert Blythe was known as Lionel Barrymore  the great-uncle of Drew Barrymore. He starred in many movies, such as The Mysterious Island (1929), Grand Hotel (1932, with John Barrymore), Captains Courageous (1937), You Cannot Take It with You (1938), Duel in the Sun (1946), and Key Largo (1948). He was featured on the AFRS Concert Hall Radio Show, circa 1947

Lionel Barrymore had broken his hip in an accident, hence why he played Gillespie in a wheelchair; later, his worsening arthritis kept him in the chair.The injury also precluded his playing Ebenezer Scrooge in the 1938. MGM film version of A Christmas Carol, a role Barrymore played every year, but only on the radio from 1934 through 1953.