The International Sweethearts of Rhythm was the first integrated all-women's band in the United States. The Sweethearts were formed at Piney Woods Country Life School in Mississippi in 1938, to help raise funds for the facility which served poor, orphaned, and African American children. By 1941, the band was so successful they hit the road, playing swing and jazz across the nation including New York City, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Europe. In addition to black women, members of the band included Latina, Asian, Caucasian, Indian and Puerto Rican females, making touring the Jim Crow South very difficult. During the 1940s the band featured some of the best female musicians of the era. They made radio and movie appearances, but despite their success, the International Sweethearts of Rhythm disbanded in 1949, as members left to start their families, as big bands started to decline in popularity. You will hear two radio appearances by the Sweethearts on the show Jubilee in 1944, and 1945.
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Before there was Sidney Poitier and Harry Bellafonte, there was Canada Lee...who along with Paul Robeson was among the very few black actors to scratch out a dignified living in Hollywood movies during the 1930s and 40s. Lee was born in New York City on March 3rd, 1907. He studied music as a child, but at age 19 Lee became a professional boxer. Even though he was rich and successful, Lee quit boxing 1933 after losing sight in his right eye. Lee then formed a dance band, took up acting, and began performing in live theater productions. Canada Lee made his film debut in Keep Punching, a 1939 movie about boxing. In 1944 he appeared in the Alfred Hitchcock movie Lifeboat. In 1947, he appeared as Ben Chaplin in the boxing film noir, Body and Soul starring John Garfield.
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The life and times of John Fitzgerald Kennedy have been the subject of many history books. The public got to see him up close and personal after Senator Kennedy announced his campaign for president in 1960. The Democrat appeared on Meet The Press, which aired on NBC radio and television. We have two of his appearances, the first on January 3rd, 1960, and on October 16th, 1960 just a few weeks before the general election, when he beat Republican rival Richard Nixon to win the White House. After taking office, President Kennedy appointed his brother Robert as U.S. Attorney General, who appeared on Meet the Press September 9th, 1961 to provide the administration's progress report. Both men would die from the bullets of assassins before the end of the decade.
The Golden Gate Quartet is an African-American vocal group, that was founded in 1934 by four students at Booker T. Washington High School in Norfolk, Virginia. Willie Johnson, William Langford, Henry Owens, and Orlandus Wilson started singing gospel and folks songs in churches and then at radio stations. In 1937 the foursome signed their first recording contract. They performed at Carnegie Hall, and nite clubs in New York City causing their popularity to grow. In 1940 they had a nationally syndicated radio show. In 1941, the Golden Gate Quartet became the first black musical group to sing at Constitution Hall, and performed several times at the White House. The Quartet was inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998. You're going to here 5 episodes from their national radio show which aired in 1940 and 1941.
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They were the first presidential debates since 1960. President Gerald Ford, and Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter were in a close race for the White House, and squared off in series of three debates just weeks before the 1976 election. It was the first presidential debate in 16 years, and was only the 3rd U.S. Presidential debate held between the final two contenders. You'll hear coverage of the second Ford-Carter debate by the Mutual radio network. It was held on October 6, 1976 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. The candidates will touch on some subjects that are relevant even today, and others that have been lost to history.
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Ghetto is a word that dates back to 1516. It's an Italian word that was used describe part of a city where Jewish people were restricted to live. Since the 20th century ghetto is used in the United States to describe impoverished African-Americans are segregated away from the general population. You're going to hear about the history of the American ghetto from the classic radio show, New World A Comin'. There are two episodes from 1944 hosted by African-American stage and screen actor Canada Lee.
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There were a lot of singers and comedians on the air during radio's classic era. Not only that, but you had singers who told jokes, and comedians who tried to sing. For example, there's Frank Sinatra, you'll hear the singing and acting superstar on his CBS radio show in 1945, getting sighs and laughs. Comedian Jimmy Durante started on radio in the early 1920s, and had a movie career, but he would sing and play piano on his NBC radio show, you'll hear an episode from 1948. Phil Harris was a popular musician, songwriter and comedian, who teamed up with his songstress wife Alice Faye to do a radio sitcom, the Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show. We have a 1949 episode where Phil tries to break into television.
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Jazz and radio broadcasting were born right around the same time, and stuck together well into the Rock-N-Roll age. The early days of radio will filled with lots of jazz. One of the most celebrated shows was This Is Jazz, hosted by music critic Rudi Blesh. He founded Circle Records in 1946 to record new music by aging early jazz stars. You're going to hear two 1947 episodes of This is Jazz, with guest star Blue Lu Barker, one of the biggest blues vocalists in the 1930s and 40s. Making an appearance on the show is jazz fan and pioneering actor Canada Lee. The second episode features the great Sidney Bechet, one of the first important soloists in jazz. Bechet started performing in 1911, but was not fully appreciated until the 1940s.
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Horror and fantasy shows appeared on radio nearly from the very start. The first horror drama during radio's golden age was The Witch's Tale, which was aired from 1931 to 1938. It featured Old Nancy, the Witch of Salem, who introduced a different terror tale each week. You'll hear an episode from 1937. Another early horror program was Lights Out, which started in 1934 and eventually made it to television. We have an episode from 1939, as well as popular series Inner Sanctum and the Sealed Book both from 1945. Our horror fest ends with the show Quiet Please from 1947, a program that was unique because most episodes featured no more than two or three actors.
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Marian Anderson was one of the most popular and talented operatic singers in the 20th century. The African-American contralto overcame childhood poverty to sing with major orchestras throughout the United States and Europe between 1925 and 1965. In 1923 Anderson was the first black artist to record for RCA Victor. She became the first African-American singer to perform at the Metropolitan Opera. In addition, Anderson worked as a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, and as a Goodwill Ambassador for the U.S. State Department. She participated in the civil rights movement in the 1960s, and was awarded the first Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1963. Anderson also received the Congressional Gold Medal in 1977, the Kennedy Center Honors in 1978, the National Medal of Arts in 1986, and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991. You will hear Marion Anderson perform on the Magic Key of RCA radio show on NBC in 1936. Her legendary 1939 performance before an integrated audience of 75,000 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. that racists tried to block. Then finally a 1959 interview with Jeanne Hamm on WWVA Radio.
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It is often called the Forgotten Conflict. The Korean War was started by North Korea in 1950, assisted by Russia and China. They attacked South Korea backed by the United States and other allies. The fighting stopped 1953. Approximately 3 million people died in the Korean War, the majority were civilians. The United States suffered 54,248 deaths. We have a report on the war by the CBS Radio news program Hear It Now, from the week of December 29th, 1950. This was one of the first news programs to use tape-recorded audio to capture the sound of newsmakers and major events. Then from 1953, we have one of the few Korean War radio dramas from a show called Proudly We Hail about the mission to capture a Russian fighter jet.
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Jack Webb was an American actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter, who is most famous for his role as Sgt. Joe Friday in the TV police series Dragnet. But Webb was also a crusader in the fight for civil rights. After serving in World War Two, Webb worked in radio, and in 1946 had his own comedy show on ABC. That same year he was host of a one-man program called, One Out of Seven on ABC's KGO Radio in San Francisco. Jack Webb would dramatized a news story from the previous week, performing in as many as seven voices. As you will hear, Webb used his voices to attack racial prejudice.
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Golden age radio was filled with situation comedies, detective shows, and variety programs, but there were also a few legal dramas on the air. Fictional attorney Perry Mason based on the novels of Erle Stanley Gardner, and first appeared on CBS Radio in 1943 as a soap opera before becoming a popular TV show in 1957. We have a Perry Mason series from 1949. Mr District Attorney was a radio drama which aired from 1939 to 1952. The series focused on a crusading county prosecutor. You'll hear an episode from 1942. And finally, there was a unique NBC show in 1954 called Case Dismissed. It focused on how fragile liberty and justice can be, and the battle to preserve our legal rights. In it, we'll learn a lesson about the responsibility of eye witnesses.
Malcolm X was born Malcolm Little in 1925. He was an African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist and a prominent figure during the civil rights movement. As spokesman for the Nation of Islam until 1964, he was a vocal advocate for black empowerment. Malcolm was not an advocate of non-violence, especially when blacks were being physically abused, beaten, and killed by racists. He also felt it would be best for the races to remain segregated. But after a pilgrimage to Mecca, he renounced those views and broke ties with the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965, as he prepared to give a speech in a Manhattan ballroom. Two of the men convicted in the killing later cut all ties with the Nation of Islam. We have two interviews with Malcolm X On WMCA's Barry Gray Show in 1960, and on WNYC with Eleanor Fischer in 1961.
Comic strips first began appearing in newspapers during the late 1800s. In most of the 20th century there were at least 200 different comic strips and cartoon panels appearing in American newspapers every day. Many cartoon characters were adapted for radio, and a few remain popular. Blondie was created in 1930 by cartoonist Chic Young. In 1939 the Blondie Show appeared on radio and lasted until 1950. We'll hear an episode from 1940. Beetle Bailey and other characters were featured on the Comic Weekly Man Show. From 1947 to 1954 Lon Clark would read comics from the newspapers and perform all the male voices. We'll hear an episode from 1953. Archie Andrews was created by John Goldwater, Bob Montana, and Vic Bloom in 1941. Archie first appeared on radio in 1943. We have an episode from 1946, Archie was on radio through 1953.
This podcast is about Billie Holiday, one of the most popular singers of the jazz age. Lady Day was born born Eleanora Fagan in 1915. While surviving a difficult childhood she developed a unique vocal style, improvisational skills, and pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Holiday won a recording contract in 1935 and immediately produced her first big hit. "What a Little Moonlight Can Do", became an instant jazz standard. Billie Holiday remained a very popular recording artist and concert performer through the 1940s and '50s. She died of cirrhosis in 1959, at the young age of 44. Holiday won four Grammy Awards, and was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. You're going to hear Lady Day help teach a course in music history on New World A Coming in 1944. She performs on the popular Arthur Godfrey Show on CBS Radio in 1947 which also features the Mariners, one of the first popular integrated singing quartets. You'll also hear Billie Holiday interviewed on CBC Radio in 1951, and she performs live at Storyville in Boston on WMEX Radio in 1953.
Before there was National Public Radio, All Things Considered, and Morning Edition, there was NBC Monitor, a weekend-long radio program, broadcast live and nationwide. It was an attempt compete with television which was stealing radio's audience. Monitor featured a mix of news, sports, comedy, variety, music, celebrity interviews and features. Monitor first went on the air June 12th, 1955. You will hear a segment from June 26th, 1955. Monitor ended its run in January of 1975, as many radio stations were using local DJ's and personalities instead of national network programing. In 1971 the NPR flagship program All Things Considered went on the air, using elements of the Monitor format.
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Just like jazz, country music was on radio from the very start. One of the earliest country music programs to be broadcast was the Grand Ole Opry, which also produced the first African-American country music star. DeFord Bailey was known as a harmonica wizard, and began appearing on radio in 1925. In 1927, Bailey had the first of a series of hit records, beginning with his trademark song, "Pan American Blues". Bailey was so popular, he became the first black artist to become a regular member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was a part of the cast until 1941, and was inducted Country Music Hall of Fame. You will hear DeFord Bailey perform on a 1940 Opry broadcast. You will also hear the second African-American to become a member of the Grand Ole Opry. Charlie Pride had 30 number one country hits during his long career, and he will play a few on the radio show "Here's to Veterans". You will hear Hootenanny, a 1947 show from CBS Radio featuring Country and folk superstars Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, plus African-American legends Brownie McGee, Sonny Terry, Sidney Bechet, and the Coleman Brothers. We also honor Linda Martell. The South Carolina native was the first commercially successful black female country artist, and the first African-American woman to play the Grand Ole Opry in 1970, and went on to make 11 more appearances there. Linda Martell's first hit was Color Him Father, released in 1969. Our podcast will wrap up with Dude Martin's Radio Rancho from 1947.
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The Great Depression lasted from 1929 to 1941 which was much of radio's golden age. After the Wall Street Crash of October 1929. The United States was hit by a decade of high unemployment, poverty, low profits, and deflation. By 1933, America's poverty rate rose to over 60%. In Cleveland, Ohio the unemployment rate reached 50%, in Toledo, Ohio it topped out at 80%. To counter the doom and gloom, the radio industry filled the airwaves with happy, optimistic programs, but there were a few shows that attempted to reflect reality. You will hear 4 of them. "A matter of Life and Death" from the Columbia Workshop in 1937, "Kiss and Jail" from Redbook Dramas in 1932, "Behold the Man" from the Columbia Workshop in 1938, and "A Man's Castle" from Lux Radio Theater in 1939.
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Without question, The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was the most visible, and celebrated leader of the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. The legendary African American Baptist minister was the son of early civil rights activist and minister Martin Luther King Sr. Both men advanced the cause of civil rights for people of color in the United States, through nonviolence and civil disobedience. Inspired by Christian beliefs and the nonviolent activism of India's Mahatma Gandhi. In 1964, King won the Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality. We are going to hear Dr Martin Luther King Jr. on a 1960 edition of Meet the Press from NBC Radio. And we will hear Pacifica Radio coverage of Dr King speaking to anti-war activists incarcerated at Santa Rita Prison in California, on January 14th, 1968, less than 3 months before his untimely death in Memphis Tennessee.
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