PODCAST

Breaking Walls

James Scully

Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting.

history

All Episodes

00:05:09

BW - EP151—010: Jack Benny's Famous Slump—Looking...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/05/12

In the fall of 1944 after Jack’s switch to Lucky Strike, General Foods did move a show opposite Jack. It wound up being The Kate Smith Show. The company uprooted Smith’s Friday program, countering Benny with a One-Hundred-Seventy-Thousand-Dollar ad campaign. While they did temporarily put a dent into Benny’s rating, Kate Smith lost forty-percent of her audience, dropping to ninety-third place in the overall ratings. The following season General Foods moved her back to Friday, but Kate Smith

00:31:19

BW - EP151—009: Jack Benny's Famous Slump—The Last...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/05/10

June 4th, 1944 was the last Grape Nuts Flakes sponsored Jack Benny Program. Jack took out a full page ad in Variety thanking General Foods and their agency Young and Rubicam for ten years of partnership. Six days later, the American Cigarette and Cigar Company deposited two hundred thousand dollars in a special exploitation account for the program. On June 23rd they wrote to Jack stipulating some terms of the agreement. The program would be broadcast live coast-to-coast 7:00PM eastern war time,

00:32:04

BW - EP151—008: Jack Benny's Famous Slump—Danny Kaye...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/05/08

While the cast of Jack Benny became famous in their own right, Benny’s show had great guest-stars, as Dennis Day remembered. On the May 28th, 1944 episode Jack is in talks with Warner Brothers to make a film about his life. Naturally Jack thinks he’ll star, write, and direct it. Unfortunately for him, Warner Brothers has other ideas. They want Danny Kaye to play Jack and Jack to play Jack’s father.

00:33:02

BW - EP151—007: Jack Benny's Famous Slump—Jack's...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/05/06

With Jack’s contract with General Foods nearing its close, the only thing left to do was count down the remaining episodes. On May 21st, 1944, Jack and the gang discussed split personalities. Jack thinks it's ridiculous, but later realizes he has one too. In other news this episode marks the debut of the spoof commercial for Sympathy Cough Syrup. Its tagline “Sympathy spelled backwards is Yhtapmys” became famous.

00:01:33

Please Subscribe (For Free) To Breaking Walls on...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/05/01

Hey everybody James Scully here, host of Breaking Walls. If you've been listening to this show for years on this RSS feed, I want you to know that you can also subscribe to the show on Youtube — www.youtube.com/@thewallbreakersllc. I'm asking people who listen here on the RSS feed to subscribe on Youtube because Youtube offers the easiest path to monetizing this show. I'm going to be fully transparent right now: There have been times in the history of this podcast that via RSS feed, Breaking Walls

06:30:38

BW - EP150: Easter Sunday 1944

Breaking Walls ·

2024/04/16

In Breaking Walls episode 150 we parachute into Easter Sunday, 1944 for a day of radio, recollections, and reconciliation. It’s now less than two months before D-Day and U.S. citizens are awaiting word of a full-scale European invasion with held breath. —————————— Highlights: • Cracks In The Nazi Foundation • Invitation To Learning at 11:30AM • Ceiling Unlimited with Joseph Cotton at 2PM • The Life of Riley at 3PM • Bulldog Drummond at 3:30PM • The Shadow at 5:30PM • The Catholic Hour & Radio

03:18:14

BW - EP149: March 1944 With The Great Gildersleeve

Breaking Walls ·

2024/03/14

In Breaking Walls episode 149 we’ll spend March of 1944 with Hal Peary and The Great Gildersleeve.—————————— Highlights: • The Men And Women On The Front Lines of War War II in March 1944 • Hal Peary and the Birth of Gildersleeve on Fibber McGee and Molly • The First Ever Sitcom Spin Off and The Great Gildersleeve Premieres • Registering To Vote • Mid March 1944 News with NBC War Telescope • Gildy Wants to Run For Mayor • The Campaign Photo • A Night In A Foxhole • Looking Ahead to Easter Sunday

00:04:50

TRAILER: The Peoples Recorder

Breaking Walls ·

2024/03/13

This is the trailer for The People's Recorder (https://www.peoplesrecorder.info/). Brought to you by the award-winning Spark Media, The People's Recorder is a national podcast on the 1930s Federal Writers' Project: what it achieved, where it fell short, and what it means for Americans today.The Federal Writers' Project employed thousands of out-of-work writers across the country to document American life during a national disaster -- the Great Depression -- and “hold a mirror up to America.” What

00:01:33

Please Subscribe (For Free) To Breaking Walls on...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/03/12

Hey everybody James Scully here, host of Breaking Walls. If you've been listening to this show for years on this RSS feed, I want you to know that you can also subscribe to the show on Youtube — https://www.youtube.com/@thewallbreakersllc. I'm asking people who listen here on the RSS feed to subscribe on Youtube because Youtube offers the easiest path to monetizing this show. I'm going to be fully transparent right now: There have been times in the history of this podcast that via RSS feed,

00:19:55

BW - EP149—006: March 1944 With The Great...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/03/10

On Sunday, March 19th, 1944 Germany forcefully occupied Hungary to prevent the country from making a separate peace agreement with the Soviet Union. Within two days, German authorities forced all Jewish businesses to close, sending hundreds to internment camps. On March 20th, The Battle of Sangshak began in Manipur, India, while U.S. Marines landed on Emirau as part of Operation Cartwheel. The next day they linked with Australian troops on New Guinea's Huon Peninsula. On Wednesday March 22nd, the

00:31:19

BW - EP149—005: March 1944 With The Great...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/03/08

By Sunday March 26th, 1944, with Easter only two weeks away, Gildy had decided to run for mayor. Naturally, he needed a good campaign photo to go with it. By this time, Peary had become a film star, starring as Gildersleeve in both shorts and feature-length films.

00:35:27

BW - EP149—004: March 1944 With The Great...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/03/06

As the first day of Spring approached, Gildersleeve contemplated running for Mayor of Summerfield on March 19th. Shirley Mitchell voiced Leila Ransom. Ken Carpenter, by then a famous announcer, was the Kraft spokesperson.

00:15:40

BW - EP149—003: March 1944 With The Great...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/03/04

On Wednesday March 15th, 1944 during battle, the allies dropped nearly one-thousand tons of bombs and two hundred thousand rounds of artillery on the Monte Cassino Monastery, while trying to storm the building. They were unable to dislodge the Germans. The allies were having more success sinking submarines. Over the next forty-eight hours Allied forces sank one Japanese and three German subs. On Thursday at a National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics seminar in Washington, D.C., NACA personnel

00:33:16

BW - EP149—002: March 1944 with The Great...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/03/02

By December of 1941 The Great Gildersleeve was such a hit that Kraft ordered thirteen weeks of repeats for eight more west-coast NBC stations to air Thursdays at 6:30PM beginning in January. The program would now air on sixty total NBC stations. Summerfield was a pleasant slice of rural Americana. Most of the action took place in an eight-block area. There was a city park with an old-fashioned bandstand and a large reservoir that would soon come to play a major role. On October 18th, 1942

00:52:32

BW - EP149—001: March 1944 with The Great...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/02/29

Hal Peary was born Harrold José de Faria to Portuguese parents on July 25th, 1908. He was fourteen when, in January of 1923, he made his radio debut on KZM in Oakland. By the late 1920s he was working for NBC in San Francisco. Migrating to Chicago in 1937, he soon became one of radio’s insiders, gaining a reputation as a top utility man. In 1937 he joined the cast of Fibber McGee and Molly playing every kind of bit part imaginable. In the late 1930s, Peary approached McGee’s head writer Don

05:04:29

BW - EP148: February 1944 With Bob Hope

Breaking Walls ·

2024/02/18

In Breaking Walls episode 148 we spend February of 1944 with America’s top comedian, Bob Hope, as he whisks himself around the country, entertaining troops and broadcasting to the masses.—————————— Highlights: • Leslie Townes Hope’s Rise to Stardom • Broadway and Early Radio Shows • The Big Broadcast of 1938 • The Pepsodent Program • Early February 1944 World War II News • NBC Dominates Tuesday Nights in 1944 • Bob with Guest Ginger Rogers • The 4th War Bond Drive • Command Performance with Bob

00:05:11

BW - EP148—012: February 1944 With Bob Hope—Looking...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/02/17

Well, that brings our look at Bob Hope’s career in February of 1944 to a close. We’ll be staying in 1944 the remainder of the year and next month we’ll spend March 1944 with a program considered to be the first spin-off in sitcom history. Next time on Breaking Walls we spotlight Hal Peary and The Great Gildersleeve, which between February and March of 1944 pulled a rating of nineteen points, making it the most-listened to show airing at 6:30PM in radio history. The reading material used in today’s

00:30:14

BW - EP148—011: February 1944 With Bob Hope—Hope Gets...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/02/15

On February 29th, 1944 Bob Hope was supposed to be in Mobile, Alabama for the first leg of a tour. He was unfortunately grounded by a cold. Instead, he broadcast his portion of the show from Hollywood, while the cast broadcast from Mobile. Once able to travel, Hope met his crew in transit, but not before being given a special award for his many services to the Academy at the March 2nd, 1944 Oscars. The Hope show’s itinerary included the Annual White House Correspondents dinner for President

00:14:57

BW - EP148—010: February 1944 With Bob Hope—World War...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/02/13

On Friday February 25th, 1944 "Big Week," the allies six-day strategic bombing campaign against the Third Reich ended with a successful bombing of German cities Rostock and Augsburg, as well as several Dutch cities near the German border. Unfortunately, many civilians were killed or left homeless. The Germans also lost more than three-hundred-fifty aircrafts, and most importantly, more than one-hundred pilots. Meanwhile two large Japanese ships were torpedoed, killing five-thousand Japanese

00:31:08

BW - EP148—009: February 1944 With Bob Hope—The Bob...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/02/11

On Tuesday February 22nd, 1944 The Bob Hope Show took to the air with a special broadcast for the Coast Guard. The guest was Carole Landis. Hope’s radio cast from this era is his most famous. Along with Jerry Colona and songstress Frances Langford, the squeaky, man-crazed Vera Vague, voiced by Barbara Jo Allen was tremendous. Blanche Stewart and Elvia Allman played high-society nitwits Brenda and Cobina, modeled after real-life socialites Brenda Frazier and Cobina Wright Jr. Wright filed suit but

615 results

Breaking Walls

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

Today In History with The Retrospectors

The Retrospectors

جنود خلدهم التاريخ

ALSUMOOD PODCAST

Variety Hour

Mechanical Music Radio

Historias de Terror PR

HISTORIAS DE TERROR PR

Film History - Daily

Inception Point Ai