Old Radio

  November 23, 1958: Have Gun - Will Travel   aired for the first time on CBS on this date. It is unique among other radio shows as it was based on the television show of the same name. The show starred John Dehner as Paladin and Ben Wright as Hey Boy and was written by Roy Winsor. It is the only notable radio show that was adapted from a popular television series.  Have Gun - Will Travel  aired over 100 episodes and lasted until November, 1960.  It is revered still as one of the best westerns of all-time.

November 22, 1906: SOS international code was adopted officially in 1908. The SOS code was conceived by delegates who attended the Radiotelegraphic Conference  in Berlin, Germany . Many people think that SOS is short for ' Save Our Ship ' or ' Save Our Soul.' These opinions are not correct. SOS has no special meaning, SOS was created to simplify sending morse code signals during a state of emergency. By chance, SOS pads use the same initials because their name is based on a patented process, Soap on Steel. Because of the presence of radio communication technology, in 1927 International Radio Convention stated the distress phrase "Mayday" as the equivalent of an SOS code. "Mayday" is actually the French "M'aidez" (help me).

  November 21, 1938: Central City aired for the first time on this date. The show starred Elspeth Eric as Emily Olson and Van Heflin as Bob Shellenberger.  Heflin was eventually replaced by Myron McCormick. The show revolved around crime reporters who should reported on and cracked radio crime & mystery cases. The radio soap opera show ran for less than a year, starting from this date up to June 30, 1939. The lead star of the show, Elspeth Eric, was one of radio's most in-demand actresses at that time.

November 20, 1929: On this day, The NBC Blue Network broadcast The Rise of the Goldbergs for the first time. The series writer Gertrude Berg also starred as the lead character, Molly Goldberg.  The series name was shortened to The Goldberg s radio show when it moved to CBS in 1936.  The program ran until 1945 and returned for one season in 1949-1950.  Listeners responded well to the New York setting and the motherly character of Molly who shouted things like "Button up your neck. It's cold outside." In many ways, the program that Gertrude Berg devised in 1928 was unique. There was no such daily serial drama that reflected  its creator's own ethnic background explicitly.  Berg wrote all the scripts until the late 1930s, which was about five to six fifteen-minute stories per week.  She was also the star of the show and was paid $75 a week or equal to $930 in 2009. When a new script writer was hired, Berg continued to act as the show's producer.  Also, she