Breaking Walls

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BW - EP124—009: February 1954—Stars Over Hollywood Feb 17, 2022

Show notes

Stars over Hollywood broke one of radio's strongest prejudices: That Saturday daytime was a programming wasteland. When Paul Pierce, CBS production superintendent on the West Coast, announced plans to launch a star-packed dramatic series on Saturday morning, few observers gave it a chance. Getting movie stars to cooperate at 9:30 AM would be impossible, and no one would listen anyway. The stories were generally light comedies. The set was loose and informal; the dress code casual. Occasionally the stars arrived in bathrobes and pajamas. Ivan Ditmars, musical director, used three instruments: the organ, harp, and violin, and sounded more like a small combo than a one-man show. Stars over Hollywood ran for thirteen years in the same time slot, with only two changes in sponsor. This season had a rating of 5.5, first overall for daytime weekend programs. On February 27th, 1954, Barry Sullivan guest-starred in “The Hundred Dollar Bill.”

BW - EP124—008: February 1954—Polio and Its Vaccine Feb 15, 2022

Show notes

During 1952 and 1953, the U.S. experienced an outbreak of roughly ninety-five thousand polio cases, with a death count of over forty-six hundred. Millions of dollars were invested in finding a vaccine. The first effective polio vaccine was developed in 1952 by Jonas Salk and a team at the University of Pittsburgh. On March 26th, 1953 Salk went on CBS radio to report the first round of successful tests. Beginning on February 23rd, 1954, the vaccine was tested at Arsenal Elementary School and the Watson Home for Children in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Jonas Edward Salk was born October 28, 1914 in New York City, the eldest son to Russian-Jewish immigrants. He earned a medical degree from the NYU School of Medicine in 1939 and became a doctor at Mount Sinai Hospital. In 1942, Salk went to the University of Michigan to develop a Flu vaccine. He soon became assistant professor of epidemiology. Five years later he was appointed director of the Virus Research Laboratory at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. His main mission: develop a polio vaccine. Salk believed his vaccine, composed of “killed” polio virus, could immunize without risk of infecting the patient. Salk gave the vaccine to volunteers who had not had polio. All developed polio antibodies and experienced no reaction to the vaccine. In 1954, national testing began on one million children. But, in April 1955, soon after mass vaccination began in the US, some patients contracted the disease after being vaccinated. These vaccines were manufactured by the Cutter Pharmaceutical Company. In response, the Surgeon General yanked all polio vaccines made by Cutter Laboratories from the market. Soon, the Wyeth polio vaccine was also reported to have paralyzed and killed several children. It was discovered that some vaccines made by Cutter and Wyeth had not been properly inactivated, allowing live poliovirus into more than 100,000 doses. The next month, the National Institutes of Health and Public Health Services established a Technical Committee to review all polio vaccine lots. The problem was quickly remedied. In the two years before the vaccine the average number of polio cases in the U.S. was more than forty-five thousand. By 1962, that number had dropped to nine-hundred ten. Jonas Salk purposely never patented the vaccine or earned any money from his discovery.

BW - EP124—007: February 1954—On a Cruise With Mr and Mrs. North Feb 13, 2022

Show notes

When Mr and Mrs North took to the air on Tuesday February 23rd at 8:30PM for CBS, it had radio’s sixth-highest overall rating. With a 6.1 it topped Dragnet, which aired in direct competition on NBC. Jerry and Pam North were average people who managed to solve murders. Jerry, played by Richard Denning, was a book publisher. Pam, played by Barbara Britton, was a housewife who loved cats, liked to play cupid, and somehow found her way to a killer’s identity. Neither was trained in any science of deduction, they were just intelligent, with a highly communicative marriage. The February 23rd episode was called “Winter Honeymoon.” Mr and Mrs North would air until April 18th, 1955.

BW - EP124—006: February 1954—The College Quiz Bowl Feb 10, 2022

Show notes

Originating as a USO activity created by Canadian Don Reid for World War II soldiers, The College Quiz Bowl was developed into a radio show by Reid and John Moses. It debuted on NBC in the fall of 1953. Two teams of All-American Varsity students from different universities competed for prizes and recognition. On Sunday, February 21st, 1954 at 6PM eastern time, the ladies of Smith College defended their title against the men of Washington and Lee University. Washington and Lee would win this evening and defend their title for five consecutive weeks until losing to Syracuse on March 28th. The College Quiz Bowl moved to CBS TV in 1955. In 1963 it moved to NBC where it remained on the air until 1970. Various non-televised versions of this competition continued to air into the 21st Century. In November of 2020 NBC announced a revival of the show. It premiered on June 22nd, 2021.

BW - EP124—005: February 1954—Guest Star, Joseph McCarthy, And The Red Scare Feb 07, 2022

Show notes

In February of 1954, Wisconsin Senator Joseph McCarthy was touring the circuit, giving speeches entitled “Twenty Years of Treason.” He claimed that President Eisenhower didn’t want a whitewash government and the Democratic label was “stitched with the idiocy of Truman, rotted by the deceit of Acheson and corrupted by a Red slime of a White.” Indiana Senator William Jenner claimed democrats deliberately tried to lose the Korean War. The President’s assistant Sherman Adams charged the dems with being political sadists. Democrats cried foul. The Republican Eisenhower asked for conflict resolution. On February 10th, as he authorized three-hundred-eighty-five million dollars over the four-hundred million already budgeted for military aid, the President warned against his country's intervention in Vietnam. When asked if he would change tactics, Senator McCarthy said “The price is too high.” He’d smeared homosexuals as subversives, liberals as anti-American, and moderates as weak-minded saps. McCarthy’s downfall had ultimately already begun. In 1953, his committee started investigating the U.S. Army for supposed Communist infiltration. On February 18th, two generals refused to obey their summons to appear before McCarthy’s committee. They stayed away on order of Robert T. Stevens, Secretary of the Army. Undaunted, McCarthy accused the Army of rampant communism, but this time, when asked to back up his claims, he had very little to reveal. This stunt bolstered President Eisenhower and both Republicans and Democrats who were growing weary of McCarthy’s tirade. The public too was getting sick of him. This turning point was strengthened when the Army revealed that McCarthy had asked favored treatment for a former aide who’d been drafted. In December, the Senate would finally censure McCarthy, an option exercised only three other times in the Senate’s history. He never recovered and died in 1957 at the age of forty-eight from an alcohol-related illness. This will be covered in much more detail during the next episodes of Breaking Walls.

BW - EP124—004: February 1954—Jack Benny Turns 40. Or Does He? Feb 05, 2022

Show notes

In February of 1954, Jack Benny was in the midst of his sixth year on CBS, and his twenty-second in radio. Although his TV program was in the midst of its fourth season, his radio show was still airing in the familiar Sunday 7PM eastern time slot. It had a radio rating of 8.2, second-highest on the air. To many, he was simply the most famous comedian alive. February 14th, 1954 was Jack Benny’s real-life sixtieth birthday. Of course, here was a man who’d been claiming to be thirty-nine for years. That night, the entire Benny cast celebrated Jack's birthday on air. This is that episode.

BW - EP124—003: February 1954—WMAQs Americana Feb 03, 2022

Show notes

During the 1953-54 season, NBC Chicago’s WMAQ and the Speech Department at Northwestern University, jointly broadcast a series of radio essays entitled Americana. Each episode explored a facet of American life or history and the characters who made it come alive. Hosted by Professor Martin Maloney, It followed the previous season’s The Meaning of America. The February 13th, 1954 episode was called “A Study in Villainy.”

BW - EP124—002: February 1954—Lee de Forest And The Hallmark Hall of Fame Feb 01, 2022

Show notes

The first voice you'll hear is that of Lee de Forest. The second is of Bill Froug. Producer/Director Bill Froug spent the early 1950s in charge of The Hallmark Hall of Fame. The show began in the 1940s as Radio Reader’s Digest before rebranding as The Hallmark Playhouse until 1953. With radio audiences leaving in droves for TV, the sponsor abruptly changed format. They brought in Lionel Barrymore to host true stories of Americana. The February 7th, 1954 episode was a profile on de Forest, one of radio broadcasting’s pioneers. Unfortunately, by March of 1955 fewer and fewer network shows were sponsored. Hallmark cancelled the show.

BW - EP124—001: February 1954—Dragnet And Radio Revenue Jan 29, 2022

Show notes

When ABC radio took out a Broadcasting Magazine ad in 1954 touting their year-over-year sales growth, they juxtaposed theirs against the decline of the other three networks’ in the same period. It painted a bleak picture for the industry. In November of 1952, total network monthly advertising billing was fourteen million, four-hundred seventy-seven thousand dollars. The next year, advertising numbers were down to thirteen million, six-hundred sixty four thousand dollars. The loss of revenue was reflected in the loss of ratings. As drastic as the ratings decline was at the decade's beginning, it was the mid-1950s that saw radio ratings die on the vine. During the 1952-53 season five shows still had ratings higher than ten, with Amos ‘N’ Andy leading at 14.2. A year later, People Are Funny led all shows with a rating of 8.7. In 1955, Jack Benny would lead with a 5.7. But for those people working in radio who also found their way to TV, this period was a golden age for the character actor. They were now recognized for their performances on both mediums, and with their increased profile, came an increase in opportunities. It was apparent to everyone that TV had moved in and taken over. What the radio industry would do about it was still uncertain. As February of 1954 got underway, both new shows and old shared the spotlight. ___________ When Dragnet debuted in the ratings in the fall of 1949 under the sponsorship of Liggett and Myers, it did so with an 8.5. That number was sixty-fourth overall. Two years later in the midst of TV’s surge, Dragnet’s radio rating had climbed to 8.7, now fourteenth overall. The TV version debuted in 1951. In 1954 its TV rating was second, only behind I Love Lucy. Part of the reason the radio version was able to stave off a rating’s decline longer than most other shows was creator Jack Webb’s ingenuity. In February of 1954, Dragnet’s radio version was airing Tuesday evenings at 9PM eastern time on NBC. The February 2nd episode was entitled “The Big Filth.” Dragnet would continue to air new broadcasts on radio until the fall of 1955, and in repeats until February of 1957. While many shows lost sponsorship, Chesterfield continued to sponsor Dragnet until the very end, with good reason; In 1955 Dragnet was the second-highest rated radio show on the air.

BW - EP123: January 1954—Radio's Uncertain Future Jan 19, 2022

Show notes

For those who wanted Breaking Walls episode 123 in the traditional format. ___________ In Breaking Walls episode 123 we open 2022 with a six-part mini-series on radio business and programming in 1954. We’ll begin with January, in a radio half-season that was for many, the end of the line. —————————— Highlights: • Ringing in the New Year with Fibber McGee and Molly • Gunsmoke’s Stage Holdup • People Are Funny is Radio’s Top-Rated Show • January 1954 with Ozzie, Harriet, David, and Ricky • Jack Benny’s Face is Familiar on Suspense • Smog and Other Current Events • Beulah • The Death of Edward Howard Armstrong • Looking Ahead to February 1954 —————————— The WallBreakers: http://thewallbreakers.com Subscribe to Breaking Walls everywhere you get your podcasts. To support the show: http://patreon.com/TheWallBreakers —————————— The reading material used in today’s episode was: •The General: David Sarnoff & The Rise of the Communications Industry - by Kenneth Bilby • On the Air — By John Dunning • Network Radio Ratings — by Jim Ramsburg As well as articles from • Broadcasting Magazine • LIFE Magazine • Time Magazine —————————— On the interview front: • John Guedel, Phil Leslie, and Don Wilson spoke to Chuck Schaden. Hear their full chats at SpeakingOfRadio.com. • Norman MacDonnell and George Walsh spoke to John Hickman, the longtime host of WAMU’s Recollections. Today, this program is heard each Sunday evening as The Big Broadcast. For more information, please go to WAMU.org • Art Linkletter spoke to John Gassman. • Ozzie Nelson was with James Day. • Jack Benny spoke for Great Radio Comedians. • Jack Benny and Don Wilson spoke with Jack Carney. —————————— Selected music featured in today’s episode was: • Auld Lang Syne — By The Manhattan Strings • January Stars — By George Winston • The Klezmer’s Wedding — By André Moisan • Love in Bloom — By Bing Crosby • Seance on a Wet Afternoon — By John Barry • Danse Macabre — By Camille Saint-Saëns —————————— A special thank you to Ted Davenport, Jerry Haendiges, and Gordon Skene. For Ted go to RadioMemories.com, for Jerry, visit OTRSite.com, and for Gordon, please go to PastDaily.com. —————————— Thank you to: Tony Adams Steven Allmon Orson Orsen Chandler Phil Erickson Jessica Hanna Briana Isaac Thomas M. Joyce Ryan Kramer Earl Millard Gary Mollica Barry Nadler Christian Neuhaus Aimee Pavy Ray Shaw —————————— WallBreakers Links: Patreon - patreon.com/thewallbreakers Social Media - @TheWallBreakers

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