Old Radio

January 18, 1929:  Walter Winchell , a New York Daily Mirror columnist that liked to blend political commentary with celebrity gossip, made his debut on radio on this day. He had many recognizable trademarks, including his jabbing, penetrating manner and his ever-present fedora hat. Walter Winchell was an American newspaper and radio gossip commentator . His debut in journalism involved posting notes about his acting troupe on backstage bulletin boards for Vaudeville News in 1920. He continued his career as journalist at  Evening Graphic in 1924 before being hired by the New York Daily Mirror on June 10, 1929 as the author of  the first syndicated gossip column, On-Broadway . He used his connections in the entertainment, social, and governmental realms to get stories. He made a living out of exposing exciting or embarrassing information about celebrities in those industries. This caused many people to avoid him for fear that Winchell would use the information that he gathered t

January 17: Happy Birthday, Betty White Recently made re-famous by a facebook campaign which 125,000 urged Saturday Night Live to have her as a host, Betty White is now on television ads and a ninety-one-year-old pop culture phenom. Many think of her as Rose Nylund in the popular 1980's television sitcom Golden Girls. However, this Emmy-winning actress and former model also lent her charm to oldtime radio. Casual fans may not remember, but Ms. White appeared on two known episodes of This Is Your FBI and three of Empire Builders . The Empire Builder was a show chronicling adventures on a train by that name that traveled the nation. One of White's appearances was on Dec. 22, 1930, when she played a ten-year-old crippled orphan girl, Ann, who meets a wealthy bachelor. She appeared on the "Big Buildup" episode of This Is Your FBI on Aug. 15, 1947, and on "Larcenous Bride" on Aug. 12, 1949. One wonders if she herself remembers these long-ago g

January 16th, 1939: NBC's West Coast Outlet aired the debut of  I Love a Mystery on the  radio  on this day with the shrill siren call that became its trademark. The series relates the story of three friends, Jack Packard, Reggie York, and Doc Long. They group met in China, where they worked as mercenary soldiers. When the three meet again in the city of San Francisco, California, they decid to form a detective agency. The agency leads them to all sorts of adventures in many different parts of the world. In 1945, a movie of the same title was made, but did not include the character of Reggie. It was one of the first films that was based on a  I Love a Mystery radio series .

  January 15, 1945: House Party continued on the air for 22 years, including a long stint on CBS television. Art Linkletter starred on the CBS debut of the program. The project was sponsored by General Electric and ran from 1945 to 1967 on CBS before jumping to ABC.

  January 14, 1939: Phil Baker and the Andrew sisters featured a Honolulu bound program that was broadcast by CBS. The show, otherwise known as The Phil Baker Show , was a 30-minute radio musical comedy program  that aired every Wednesday evening during its run.

January 13, 1906: Importers of electronic devices company, Hugh Gernsback Electro, offers cheap receivers. The Scientific American Magazine mentioned that Receiver is offered at a price $7.50. Hugh Gernsback Electro ensures that the receiver can receive signals up to 1 mile distance Hugo Gernsback (August 16, 1884 – August 19, 1967), born Hugo Gernsbacher, was better known as a Luxembourgian American inventor, writer, editor, and magazine publisher, best remembered for publications that included the first science fiction magazine. That was after he runs the electonic company Hugh Gernsback Electro.

January 12, 1932:  Ed Sullivan was presented in a program of gossip and interview on CBS radio. Edward Vincent "Ed" Sullivan (September 28, 1901 – October 13, 1974) was a former boxer  who became an American entertainment writer and television host. He was most popular as the host of The Ed Sullivan Show , which aired  from 1948 to 1971 (a total of 23 years), one of the longest-running variety shows in U.S. broadcast history Sullivan began his media work as a newspaper sportswriter for The New York Evening Graphic. Later on he replaced Walter Winchell as the  theatre columnist. His column was published in The New York Daily News. In 1933, he started his career in film by writing and starring in the film Mr. Broadway . This was a milestone for Sullivan, allowing him to meet entertainers and celebrities. Sullivan soon became one of Winchell's main rivals, setting the El Morocco nightclub in New York as his unofficial headquarters against Winchell's seat of pow