July 22-23, 70 Years Ago

Bits and Pieces of BC Radio History

July 22-23, 70 Years Ago

Postby cart_machine » Wed Jul 22, 2020 4:05 am

There was a time that Swedish music on ‘NW meant Frosty fitting in something from ABBA. That wasn’t the situation at the station in 1950 as revealed in the Province’s radio column on this date of that year. It sounds like Yogi Yorgesson wasn’t the only guy with Swedish dialect novelty records.

Elsewhere, Alec Templeton is forgotten today but he was off and on radio in the bygone days. He had his own show through parts of the ‘40s. He was a blind pianist. His programme previewed below sounds pretty good.

‘WX didn’t have a disc jockey named Trendler. “Top Tunes With Trendler” was a Mutual show out of Chicago. Paula Ray and Tony Fontaine (you remember them) were vocalists with Bob Trendler’s orchestra.

“International Airport” on ‘WX was likewise a Mutual programme from WOR New York. It was a mystery anthology produced and directed by Himan Brown. The first episode starred Mason Adams, Gil Mack and Everett Sloan.

“Favorite Story” was a drama anthology syndicated by Ziv and adapted the “favourite story” of some Hollywood star. Ronald Colman hosted a number of the episodes. Hans Conried got a good deal of work on this show.

And while they weren’t deemed a highlight (at least by columnist Dick Diespecker), Wilf Ray was plugging away on Saturday nights on CKMO with his DX Prowl, while J.F. Cullen was doing the same with Owl Drug stores on ‘NW. Also of note: Bill Duncan called play-by-play baseball from Queen’s Park on Saturdays at 9:05 p.m. on ‘NW (I have no idea what amateur or semi-pro league it was). Speaking of baseball, Jim Kearney broadcast baseball news and scores after Don Wilson’s 9 p.m. Sunday news on CKMO.

June 22, 1950 was a Saturday. There was no paper the next day due to the Lord’s Day Act. It doesn’t appear KING-TV broadcast on Saturdays as yet.

cArtie

TEMPLETON ON MUSIC SOCIETY
The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street which returned to the air recently will have a distinguished guest tonight. Alec Templeton, noted concert pianist and musical satirist, will be the featured guest at 7 p.m. over CBR. He will match quips about music with narrator Gene Hamilton during the intermission commentary.
The Chamber Music Society crew will perform an unusual Dixieland version of Take Me Out to the Ball Game. And the Society's Octet, led by Henry "Hot Lips" Levine, will do Tin Roof Blues and Original Dixieland One Step.
* * *
SCANDINAVIA
Tomorrow afternoon over CKNW, folk from the Scandinavian countries will have fun with the program Scandinavia. The station has imported a complete library of the latest discs by top Swedish vocalists and all vocals are in Swedish. For example one of the numbers on tomorrow's show is Feudin' and Fightin'. But on the disc it is called Farsan Och Morsan Bor Pa Vischan with the vocal by Gosta Jonnson.
Appropriately enough the announcer is our old friend Bjorn Bjornson, who should be on familiar ground.
* * *
STAR INTERVIEWS
CKWX will again interview Theatre Under The Stars personalities on Broadway Melodies heard each Sunday at 2:05.
Both Tera Esta and Karl Norman will be starred in this coming week's production of Gypsy Love and they will be interviewed on tomorrow's show.
Tera Esta, who plays the part of Ilma, a gay widow in Gypsy Love, has studied in Salzburg, Vienna and the Conservatory of Cologne. She made her American debut last year as the Merry Widow with the Seattle Metropolitan Theatre. She has also appeared on television in San Francisco during this past spring.
Karl Norman, who plays the part of Fedor, is a veteran of TUTS. Vancouver audiences have seen him this year in Blossom Time and Sweethearts. He studied music in France, made appearances in London and has been heard many times with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
* * *
TOUR CANCELLED
A scheduled tour of American service bases in Germany by Ralph Edwards and his "Truth or Consequences" show has been cancelled by the United States Army because of lack of overseas military air transport, brought about by the Korean crisis.
Fourteen members of Edwards' "Truth or Consequences" production crew and cast had been flown from Hollywood to Westover Field, Mass., on Sunday, July 9, preparatory to taking off for Frankfurt, Germany. They were notified late Thursday afternoon that the flight, scheduled for Friday morning, had been cancelled.
The "Truth or Consequences" company had been scheduled to entertain at Heidelberg, Frankfurt, Wiesbaden, Berlin, Nurnberg [sic] and Munich.
Ralph Edwards and his wife are in Europe already. Now, with the entertainment tour cancelled, they will vacation in Europe, returning in time for Edwards to start "Truth or Consequences" on CBS Sept. 5 and launch it as a television series on CBS-TV Sept. 7.

SUNDAY HIGHLIGHTS
1:00 p.m.—Scandinavia, CKNW; Music, CBR.
2:00 p.m.—Broadway Melodies and Interview, CKWX; Call of China, CJOR.
3:00 p.m.—International Airport, CKWX; Music Hall, KIRO.
4:00 p.m.—Voices that Live, CJOR; Piano Playhouse, KJR.
5:00 p.m.—Startime, CBR; Sam Spade, KOMO.
5:30 p.m.—Music for the Family, CKMO; NBC Symphony, KOMO.
6:00 p.m.—World at Mid-Century, CJOR; Summer Drama, CBR.
7:00 p.m.—Take It or Leave It, KOMO; Favorite Story, KIRO.
8:00 p.m.—Pleasure in Music, CKNW; The Whistler, KIRO.
8:30 p.m.—Standard Hour, KOMO; Symphony Hall, CKMO.
9:00 p.m.—Summertime, CBR; Think Fast, KJR; Much About Doolittle, KIRO.
9:30 p.m.—Top Tunes with Trendler, CKWX; Chapel in Sky, CKMO.
TELEVISION SUNDAY, KING-TV, Channel 5
6:00, Super Circus; 6:30, Charlie Ruggles Show; 7:30, Prize Performance; 8:00, Philco Television Playhouse; 9:00, Armchair Theatre; 10:30, Telenews Daily.
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Re: July 22-23, 70 Years Ago

Postby jon » Wed Jul 22, 2020 7:42 am

I don't think I ever made the connection between Jack Cullen's "Owl Prowl" and Owl Drug stores.

I had also forgotten that CKMO was still using "DX Prowl" as a late night show name as late as 1950. As a DX'er, I am surprised that "DX" was still a well known phrase as late as that. Articles I read when I was young seemed to indicate that DX -- listening to distant stations not for their program content but just to add them to a log book of stations heard -- stopped being a popular activity by the early 1930s. Of course, Canadians listening to U.S. radio stations for their program content was replaced by watching U.S. TV stations and continues to this day.
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Re: July 22-23, 70 Years Ago

Postby cart_machine » Wed Jul 22, 2020 10:11 am

jon wrote:I don't think I ever made the connection between Jack Cullen's "Owl Prowl" and Owl Drug stores.


I was told this ages ago. There are people here who knew Jack and they can easily straighten this out. I only met Jack once, about 40 years ago out at Brentwood and we didn't really chat much.

cArtie.
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