Puget Sound Radio

IT WAS JUNE 7th … when NBC radio presented The Lux Radio Theatre for the final time. For almost all of its 21 years it had brightened the CBS Radio schedule … When children’s puppet show stars Kukla, Fran Allison and Ollie (at right), along with the Boston Pops Orchestra, were stars of the first network TV broadcast shown in “compatible color”… When the “Johnny Cash Show” debuted as a summer series on ABC-TV … ..and when bandleader Ricky Minor jumped from FOX-TV to NBC’s “Tonight Show with Jay Leno,” replacing Kevin Eubanks. ALL the milestones for June 7th INSIDE.

It's time for Ottawa to abandon the fiction of the "single system" in Canadian broadcast media, and to recognize that there are two parallel enterprises

Bobby Curtola’s death Saturday at 73 came as a real shock. I will always remember his youthful enthusiasm and how he loved to perform. Bobby was Canada’s first singing idol. Ottawa’s Paul Anka moved to the U.S. and in hindsight Bobby should have gone too – most of his early recordings were made in Nashville. He was the Justin Bieber of his day. Without the tattoos!

IT WAS JUNE 6th … in fact D-Day on the beaches of Normandy, when 44-year-old Toronto Star reporter Gordon Sinclair (pictured) began a daily series of popular broadcasts on CFRB Radio, that continued until his death… When CBC TV aired the first program in the long-running news-panel show “Front Page Challenge.” It continued for 38 years… When after 23 years The Ed Sullivan Show left CBS-TV. Gladys Knight & The Pips and singer Jerry Vale appeared on the final show… ..and when CHUM 1050 Toronto, the station with North America’s longest-running hit record chart, abandoned its Top-40 format for a mixture of soft rock and oldies. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE.

Bobby Curtola died at his home in Edmonton last night

IT WAS JUNE 5th .. when after 22 years, Canada’s longest running radio program, “The Happy Gang,” was heard for the last time… When Toronto newsman Gordon Sinclair wrote and first broadcast one of the most popular spoken-word recordings of all time: “The Americans”… When CBS-TV premiered the summer replacement show “The Bobbie Gentry Happiness Hour”…. ..and when Edmonton’s CISN-FM signed on with 100,000 watts on 103.9 MHz as “Kissin’ Country”. ALL the milestones for the date INSIDE>

Andrew Wilcox was allowed back into Fort McMurray a week ago, four days before the official staged re-entry began, as the radio station was deemed an essential service.