Old Radio

December 19, 1932: This day marks the start of the overseas transmission of the British Broadcasting Corporation with its Empire Service to Australia. Since the launch of the BBC Empire Service on this day, BBC started their world service to listeners outside the UK. The BBC had provided services by radio direct broadcasting and re-transmission contracts, and later on continued through television and the internet. BBC World Service at that time still shared some of the facilities of the domestic services, but for the news and current affairs programs, BBC World Service had their own Managing Director. BBC World Service was funded by the British government for their operational cost. The source of the funding was from a domestic licensing fee.

December 18: Happy Birthday, Abe Burrows To win a Pulitzer Prize and a Tony Award is a grand accomplishment for anyone; especially considering the dichotomy of what each represents. However, for Abe Burrows that is as defining of the man as anyone could ever attain. Born in December of 1910, Mr Burrows was an author, radio and stage director and a humorist. One of the things that can be said of Abe Burrows was his influence upon (then) future comedy writers; such as Larry Gelbart of M*A*S*H . But to have gained the experience for being about to mentor the up and coming, he had to develop his own path to acclaim. However, this did not take long for someone that would have eventual history with radio, alongside of Ed Gardner from Duffy’s Tavern , director of stage productions and as an established author. He created a varied repertoire of screenplays and authored his own autobiography, Honest, Abe: Is There Really No Business Like Show Business ? His own son, James, did not

December 17, 1936: For the first time on the radio, ventriloquist Edgar Bergen , with his wooden partner Charlie McCarthy, made their debut on The Rudy Vallee Show  broadcast by NBC. He made jokes and talked humorously during the show with his wooden dummy partner. Not long after that, Bergen became one of the best performers on radio and was known as Vallee's greatest talent discovery. Edgar Bergen learned ventriloquism when he was just 11. Years after, he asked a woodcarver from Chicago to make a dummy for him, inspired by an Irish newspaperboy he knew. That dummy was named Charlie McCarthy, who became his lifetime sidekick. Bergen and McCarthy were discovered at a party in New York by Elsa Maxwell, who then referred them to some radio shows, including that of Rudy Vallee's. Their guest appearance on Rudy Vallee's show was such a huge success that a year after they were given their very own show. They stayed on air until July 1, 1956.