Columns

It’s the date when Victoria’s 2nd TV station, ‘The New VI’ signed on; when Gordon MacRae hosted and sang on radio’s very first ‘Railroad Hour’; and when two pioneering East Coast US radio stations aired game one of the first complete World Series to be broadcast. Bryant Gumbel began his run as co-host of NBC-TV’s Today Show; Barbara Walters became the first woman to co-anchor a network newscast (ABC); CBS premiered the TV shows December Bride, Playhouse 90 and Leave It To Beaver. CBC Vancouver telecast its first live hockey game, and CBC News aired the first show in the controversial ‘This Hour Has Seven Days’ series. Louis Armstrong and Pat Boone were headliners on CBS-TV’s Ed Sullivan Show; and Blondie starring Penny Singleton made the move from comic strips and radio to the TV screen. ALL the milestones for Oct. 4th can be found INSIDE.

Paul Kaye is the VP of Music Brands and In House Production at Rogers. When he was hired in July of 2017, it was mentioned that his position is an evolving one. True to that statement - his position remains as fluid as ever given the accelerating change for the medium and for the content creators who work in it.

Born this date were Groucho Marx, Bud Abbott, Kelly Ripa, Don Maclean, Lorraine Bracco, and movie critic Rex Reed. The Lutheran Hour debuted on radio, as did The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (w/Basil Rathbone), The Cisco Kid, and the predecessor to the longrunning daytime radio soap Pepper Young’s Family. The Aldrich Family began a 4-year run on NBC-TV, Combat and Ben Casey had their premieres on ABC-TV, while The Twilight Zone and Edward R. Murrow’s celebrity interview show, Person to Person, got their starts on CBS-TV. Obituaries include Rock Hudson, Frank Lovejoy, Gene Autry, Lon Clark, Nipsey Russell, Harriet Nelson and Canadian bandleader Denny Vaughan. More milestones for Oct. 2nd INSIDE.

A huge date in Canadian broadcasting, as the CTV network was born with stations from Vancouver to Halifax. CBC-FM also went coast to coast for the first time, and the CBC’s Montreal station produced Canada’s first colour telecast. Much More Music debuted on the country’s cablesystems; Vancouver’s CJOR moved down the dial to its longtime home at 600 KHz; Duncan BC got its own radio station as CKAY AM1500 debuted; the second national CBC radio network (The Dominion network) went dark as more national advertising migrated from radio to TV. STAR FM debuted with two transmitters in the Fraser Valley, and Calgary’s CFXL AM1140 (successor to Top 40 powerhouse CKXL) transitioned to FM. In Nanaimo, CKEG AM 1570 moved from a country format to ‘Feelgood Oldies.’ And it’s the birthday of Western Canada radio tycoon Jimmy Pattison (pictured). Details of these, and Johnny Carson’s first hosting of NBC’s ‘Tonight Show,’ indeed ALL the October 1st broadcast milestones INSIDE.

It’s the birthdate of Johnny Mathis, Angie Dickinson, Fran Drescher, Eric Stolz, Jenna Elfman, DJ Chuck Chandler and country music’s Marty Stuart. The BBC finally started its own pop music station, and yet exactly five years later Radio Caroline resumed broadcasting its pirate radio servce. Vancouver’s 1410 AM radio station resumed using the C-FUN call sign it had given up for an ill conceived all-news service. The first World Series telecast was seen on the US East Coast, ‘Cheers’ and Red Skelton debuted on NBC-TV, ‘The Rifleman’, ‘The Flintstones’ and ‘Alias’ got started on ABC-TV; and ‘The Friendly Giant’ began its long run on CBC-TV. Obits for Sept. 30th include James Dean, Edgar Bergen, Mary Ford, Freddy Martin, Al ‘Jazzbo’ Collins, Monty Hall and Barbara Ann Scott. Come inside for the details and ALL the milestones for this date.

Born this date were Gene Autry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bryant Gumbel, Gwen Ifill, Madeline Kahn and MASH’s Larry Linville. The daytime radio game show Double or Nothing got its start on Mutual; Lowell Thomas (pictured) began his 46-year career of nightly radio news broadcasts; and the Adventures of Sam Spade began its Sunday night run on CBS Radio. Sgt. Preston of the Yukon, a radio hit, got its start on CBS-TV. Also premiering on the Tiffany network were the TV hits Designing Women, My Favorite Martian, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis, Alice, and The Judy Garland Show. Sept. 29th was also the date a number of ABC-TV hits debuted, including Love American Style, My Three Sons, Make Room for Daddy, thirtysomething, Macgyver and Grace Under Fire. And CBR-FM signed on for the first time at 102.1 on Calgary’s radio dial. ALL the milestones for this date INSIDE.nions” by Booker T & MG’s at #3. On this day in 2012, KZOK Seattle radio personality Donny Bonaduce received a painful bite on the cheek from a female fan who had asked for a kiss.

William S. Paley (pictured), the founder of CBS was born this date, as was Ed Sullivan, the awkward host of early TV’s Sunday night variety blockbuster on CBS. Sept. 28th saw the first color telecast of a World Series game; The Giselle Mackenzie Show, Miami Vice, Hazel, and Dr. Kildare all made their debuts on NBC-TV, while the same network aired the finale of The Shari Lewis Show (with Lambchop.) CBS-TV aired M*A*S*H episode 100, and John Lennon was a guest deejay on New York’s WNEW-FM. Foster Hewitt described Paul Henderson’s summit-clinching goal against the Soviets, and The Beatles were heard for the first time in North America on the Murray the K radio show. Details and ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

Celebrities born this date include Randy Bachman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jayne Meadows, William Conrad, Greg Morris, Wilford Brimley, and Meat Loaf. John Palmer replaced Chris Wallace as news anchor of NBC’s Today Show; Steve Allen (pictured) started his run as first host of NBC’s Tonight Show; Dolly Parton’s short-lived variety show debuted on ABC-TV; Patti Page had the #1 song with ‘I Went to Your Wedding’; the Beach Boys performed on CBS-TV’s Ed Sullivan Show; and Bob Dylan had a concert at Carnegie Hall. Taking their final curtain call Sept. 27th were actors Lloyd Nolan and Robert Montgomery, song and dance man Donald O’Connor, British entertainer Gracie Fields, and John Facenda, the mellifluous original voice of NFL films. Details and ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

This date gave us Marty Robbins, Julie London, Olivia Newton John, Kent McCord, and Linda Hamilton. Vancouver’s CKWX opened a newly-built state-of-the-art radio facility on Burrard Street (pictured); Paul Anka and Roseanne Barr had their stars unveiled on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.; the first Nixon-Kennedy Presidential Debate was staged; ‘Beverly Hillbillies’, ‘Gilligan’s Island,’ ‘Jake and the Fatman’ and the original ‘Hawaii Five-Oh’ began their runs on CBS; ’The Brady Bunch’ debuted on ABC-TV. and ‘Knight Rider’ began its run on NBC. Obits Sept. 26th include actors Richard Mulligan (of ‘Empty Nest’) and Charles Correll (of radio’s ‘Amos ‘n’ Andy’), bandleader Billy Vaughn, singer Robert Palmer, and the boop-boop-a-doop girl Helen Kane. Specifics of ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.