Columns

Happy Birthday to actor Viggo Mortensen, ‘The Waltons’ Eric Scott, ‘The Office’s John Krasinski, country music’s Wanda Jackson, plus the late Tom Petty, Jerry Ohrbach, Arlene Francis, Grandpa Jones, Dr. Joyce Brothers (pictured) and Will Rogers Jr. Lee DeForest demonstrated his major invention, the electric vacuum radio tube; ‘The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes’ debuted on the NBC Red network; ironman news anchor Robert Trout joined CBS radio; ’Break the Bank’ debuted on Mutual radio; Walter Cronkite introduced the CBS-TV documentary series, ‘The Twentieth Century’, and Canada’s first private TV station signed on in Sudbury Ontario. Signing off forever were actors Burt Lancaster and Jane Wyatt, plus country music’s Merle Travis. See ALL the milestones for Oct. 20th INSIDE.

The birthday of Jim Reeves, the Kingston Trio’s Dave Guard, actors Robert Reed and John Lithgow, Canada’s Tommy Ambrose, Nashville’s Charlie Chase, and TV builder extraordinaire Ty Pennington. Arthur Godfrey fired singer Julius LaRosa (both pictured) live on CBS Radio; ‘Big Town’ starring Edward G. Robinson debuted on CBS radio; Henry Ford made his first speech on early radio; Florence Henderson joined NBC’s Today Show, and CKEK signed on 570 kc. to give Cranbrook BC its own radio service. Obits Oct. 19th include Phillips H. Lord who created radio hits ‘Gangbusters’ and ‘Mr. District Attorney’; plus Tom Bosley, Martha Raye, Phyllis Kirk, and Noel Harrison. Details and ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

Happy Birthday today to Suzanne Somers, Merilee Rush, John Mayer, Kellie Martin and Tim Robbins. Vancouver deejay Jack Cullen (pictured) aired his first ever ‘Owl Prowl’ on CKMO AM 1410; ‘The Right to Happiness,’ a longrunning quarter hour daytime drama, debuted on the NBC Blue radio network; ‘The Bob Newhart Show’ aired its 100th episode on CBS-TV; The Vancouver-produced ‘Smallville’ debuted on the WB network; and the last episode of ‘Max Headroom’ aired on ABC-TV. Among the celebrity deaths for Oct. 16th are Shirley Booth, Ken Carpenter, Barbara Billingsley, Lister Sinclair, Jean Shepherd, Ella Mae Morse, Gene Krupa, and Dan Dailey. Details, and ALL the milestones for this date INSIDE.

ON THIS DAY in 1909 radio & TV announcer/news anchor Robert Trout                               ...

It’s the date that gave us Roger Moore, Lillian Gish, Harry Anderson, Canadian news anchor Harvey Kirck, radio actor Russell Thorson and singer/TV talent judge Usher. ‘The Lux Radio Theatre’ began its 20 year run, from New York; Edward Noble’s purchase of NBC radio’s Blue network was approved; The rescue of little Jessica McLure from an abandoned Texas wellshaft began on North American TV screens; Roy Orbison and the Everly Brothers guested on ABC-TV’s ‘Shindig’; and ‘Red Red Wine’ by UB40 was #1. Notable obits for Oct. 14th include Bing Crosby, Leonard Bernstein, Elwood Glover (pictured), Keenan Wynn, Hy Averbach and Dame Edith Evans. ALL the milestones for this date INSIDE.

It’s the birthday of Simon Cowell, Joy Behar, John Mellancamp, Toni Braxton, plus the late Andy Devine and Vaughn Monroe. The Fox News channel began programming on US cablesystems; the CBC began an ill-fated experiment with a 9 pm TV newscast; the original Hawaiian Eye aired the first of its 134 episodes on ABC-TV; The Rolling Stones performed on NBC’s Saturday Night Live; Bruce Springsteen was interviewed on CBS-TV’s 60 minutes; and Dennis Reid received the OK to sell his three Cariboo radio stations in BC. Alanna Morissette became the first Canadian woman to top the Billboard album chart; and obits include singers Billy Daniels and Mario Lanza, as well as Winnipeg media mogul Izzy Asper. ALL the milestones for Oct..7th INSIDE.

Aiden Wolf joins me to shares tips for making it big on YouTube. Over the last few years, podcasters have been trickling onto YouTube as it has proven effective for discovery. However, this does not make podcasters, effective YouTubers

It’s the birthday of actors Jeremy Sisto and Ioan Gruffudd, plus the late Robert Mitchum, Canadian radio inventor Reginald Fessenden, and early Vancouver broadcaster Gerry Wilmot. Both ‘Maxwell House Show Boat’ and the human interest radio show ‘Hobby Lobby’ debuted on NBC, which also introduced Frank Sinatra in his only non-singing series ‘Rocky Fortune.’ The Ed Wynn Show’ became the first regular live TV origination from the West Coast; Pat Boone guested on Rod Serling’s NBC-TV show ‘Night Gallery’; 21-yr old Barbra Streisand guested on CBS-TV’s ‘Judy Garland Show’; ‘Dear John’ starring Judd Hirsch (pictured) debuted on NBC-TV; and Howard Stern announced he would soon be moving to satellite radio. ALL the milestones for Oct. 6th can be found INSIDE.

It’s the birthday of Kate Winslet, Bob Geldof, Daniel Baldwin, Steve Miller, and the late Bernie Mac, Allen Ludden (pictured) and Godfrey announcer Tony Marvin. CBS radio’s ‘Hollywood Hotel’ became the first major national show to originate from Hollywood; ’The Honeymooners’ were seen for the first time on the old Dumont Network. ‘Inner Sanctum Mysteries’ aired for the final time on ABC Radio, while ‘Gilmour’s Albums’ began its 40 year run on CBC radio, and Danny Finkleman began his 20 years hosting ‘Finkleman’s 45′s’ Saturday night on the CBC. ‘Meet the Press’, still with us more than 70 years later, aired for the 1st time on Mutual radio. Details and ALL the milestones for Oct. 5th INSIDE.

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.