PODCAST

Breaking Walls

James Scully

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

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All Episodes

01:52:16

BW - EP87: New Year's Day On the Air (1946 - 1956)...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/06/08

This episode was originally released on 1/1/2019. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes.____________ In Breaking Walls episode 87, we spotlight some New Year’s Day radio programming from the Golden Age of radio, specifically beginning in 1946 after the end of World War II and television's post-war rise. Highlights: • Skelton • Casey Crime Photographer and the Invasion of TV • Radio City Playhouse and Our Miss Brooks • The Railroad

00:01:57

Monday 6.16.2025 — A New Webinar: The CBS Talent...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/06/02

Hey everyone, James Scully here. I've got a new webinar on Monday June 16th at 7PM that I'm very excited about on the story behind the CBS Talent Raids of the late 1940s and how it altered the radio landscape just as the TV era began. Here's a link for tickets and more info and if you can't make it live, don't worry I'll be emailing everyone who registers a video of it once it's over —

02:58:15

BW - EP86: Home For the Holidays—December 1945 On the...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/06/01

This episode was originally released on 12/1/2018. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes.____________ In Breaking Walls episode 86, we spotlight what was on the air over the US’ major radio networks during December of 1945. Highlights: • The First Peacetime Holiday Season in Five Years Begins • Radio’s Three Main Production Hubs • Macabees • Frank Nelson, Lurene Tuttle, and Mandel Kramer • I Can’t Stand Jack Benny • Soap Operas and

02:51:53

BW - EP85: From Hoboken to Eternity—Frank Sinatra's...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/05/23

This episode was originally released on 11/1/2018. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes.____________ In Breaking Walls episode 85, we spotlight the radio career of Frank Sinatra. We’ll find out how a brash, skinny kid from Hoboken, New Jersey became one of the most popular and influential music artists of the 20th century, selling more than 150 million records worldwide, winning an academy award for Best Supporting Actor, and using

02:19:42

BW - EP84: The Simple Art of Macabre—Mystery,...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/05/15

This episode was originally released on 10/1/2018. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes beginning with this episode on the birth of radio.___________ In Breaking Walls Episode 84, it’s the Simple Art of Macabre, to your ears from the mouths of some of the best who ever produced radio’s stuff of nightmares. Highlights: • Why Do We Like To Be Scared? • What pre-dated the radio horror program in the United States of America? •

01:39:27

BW - EP83: Sarnoff & Paley: Tainted Friendships, Tall...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/05/09

This episode was originally released on 9/1/2018. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes beginning with this episode on the birth of radio.___________ In Breaking Walls Episode 83, we focus the radio industry of the 1930s and 40s—especially on the career of David Sarnoff, as RCA’s network, NBC begins to lose its grip on the top spot in the broadcasting industry while they introduce Television. We’ll also focus on the introduction of

01:44:54

BW - EP82: Depression, War, And The Birth of ABC...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/04/28

This episode was originally released on 8/1/2018. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes beginning with this episode on the birth of radio.___________ In Breaking Walls episode 82 we focus on the state of the radio broadcasting industry in the late 1930s and early 1940s, as Broadcasting booms while the world goes to War. Highlights: • Early days at NBC’s Radio City in New York • How Press Associations caused NBC and CBS to launch a

01:31:38

BW - EP81: The Fred Allen Show—His Life On The Air...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/04/21

This episode was originally released on 7/1/2018. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes beginning with this episode on the birth of radio.___________ In Breaking Walls episode 81, we spotlight the life and career of one of the twentieth century’s most famous comedians, Fred Allen. Amongst other comedians and entertainers, almost no one was beloved as much as him. His comedic feud with Jack Benny was legendary, as were his battles

01:24:01

BW - EP80: Forecast—The Most Important Forgotten...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/04/10

This episode was originally released on 6/1/2018. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes beginning with this episode on the birth of radio.___________ Question? What do starlets Marlene Dietrich, Kay Thompson, Margaret Sullivan, and Loretta Young have in common? How about writers and directors Norman Corwin, Helen Deutsch, and Bill Spier. How about Danny Kaye, Mel Allen, Gerald Mohr, Elliot Lewis, Byron Kane, Lurene Tuttle, Paula

02:04:48

BW - EP79: The Boy Wonder—Orson Welles' Early Career...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/03/31

This episode was originally released on 5/1/2018. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes beginning with this episode on the birth of radio.___________ In Breaking Walls Episode 79, we present a detailed look at Orson Welles’ radio career through the end of 1941. Highlights: • Beginnings in Illinois and China — How they helped shape Orson • The Todd Seminary School — His first exposure to theater and Radio • Connections and Early

01:17:34

BW - EP77: The Birth Of The Radio Networks—From NBC...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/03/21

This episode was originally released on 3/1/2018. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes beginning with this episode on the birth of radio.—————————— In Breaking Walls Episode 77 we pick up our story on the history of American radio broadcasting, as a few ramshackle radio stations become large national networks, giving rise to an entire generation of entertainment giants during the roaring 1920s. Highlights: • July 2, 1921— Jack

01:06:55

BW - EP76: Over There—The War for Radio’s Airwaves...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/03/13

This episode was originally released on 2/15/2018. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes beginning with this episode on the birth of radio.—————————— In Breaking Walls Episode 76, we pick up our story on the history of American dramatic radio after the sinking of the Titanic in April of 1912. The time between 1912 and 1922 saw three competing interests battle for control of the wireless airwaves as wireless telegraphy transitioned

01:12:04

BW - EP75: We Are Echoes—The Birth Of Radio (1887 -...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/03/05

This episode was originally released on 2/1/2018. While new episodes of Breaking Walls are on hiatus I'll be going back and posting the older episodes beginning with this episode on the birth of radio. —————————— Highlights: * Why the Blizzard of 1888 played such an important role in the need for wireless telegraphy * Who Was Heinrich Hertz? What experiment made him the father of Hertzian Waves? * What Oliver Lodge, Nikola Tesla, Alexander Graham Bell, and Amos DollBear have in common * Guglielmo

00:35:58

BW - EP160—004: February 1950 With Broadway Is My...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/02/07

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakersThe February 10th, 1950 episode of Broadway Is My Beat took Danny Clover to the wrestling matches in search of a missing woman. At that time New York City’s top wrestling promoter was Roderick James "Jess" McMahon. The patriarch of the McMahon wrestling family, Jess McMahon spent several decades as a sports promoter of all kinds, including professional wrestling matchmaking at Madison Square Garden. Featured in this episode was

00:22:47

BW - EP159—009: NYC In January 1956 With Johnny...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/01/19

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakersDespite a loyal audience, by January of 1956 it was clear that Yours Truly Johnny Dollar was failing to attract any kind of national sponsorship. The road to would have been difficult. Airing at 8:15PM weeknights on CBS radio, it was up against CBS’s own TV schedule, with Burns and Allen broadcast at 8PM eastern time on Mondays, The Phil Silvers Show on Tuesdays, Arthur Godfrey on Wednesdays, The Bob Cummings Show on Thursdays, and

00:32:55

BW - EP159—006: NYC In January 1956 With Johnny...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/01/12

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakersIt’s 6PM on Wednesday, January 11th, 1956. I’m at Colbee’s Restaurant on the ground floor of the CBS headquarters at 485 Madison Avenue. I’m about to have a bite to eat with the man you just heard, Mandel Kramer. Yesterday at Edwards Air Force Base in California, U.S. Air Force First Lt. Barty R. Brooks died in the crash of a F-100 Super Sabre. The accident was caught on film. Word from Memphis is that young singer Elvis Presley

00:21:14

BW - EP159—004: NYC In January 1956 With Johnny...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/01/07

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakersThe weather on Monday January 9th, 1956 warmed throughout the day. It hit forty degrees Fahrenheit by nightfall. The front cover of The New York Daily News featured a photo of patrolman Ray Cusack, who rescued many children from a fire in Hempstead, New York. Dwight Eisenhower was still undecided on whether or not to seek a second term, while Democrat hopeful Adlai Stevenson claimed Ike’s recent State of the Union Address was

00:04:12

BW - EP159—003: NYC In January 1956 With Johnny...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/01/05

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers It’s a little after midnight on the morning of Monday January 9th. We’re at P.J. Clarke’s on the corner of 55th street and 3rd avenue, getting warm the best way we know how. The weather is nasty outside. It’s about fifteen degrees with freezing rain and gale force winds. Clarke’s is a bar from another time. It’s wonderfully trapped in nostalgia—all burnished wood and chased mirrors. Orson Welles is opening King Lear at The City

00:08:29

BW - EP159—002: NYC In January 1956 With Johnny...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/01/03

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers It’s a cold, rainy Sunday evening on January 8th, 1956. We’re heading south on Riverside Drive in Manhattan’s Upper West Side. On the air is NBC’s Monitor with a New World Today discussion about the differences in American life in the past twenty years. The United States is changing. Psychiatry is on the rise as the cold war rages onward. The internal Red Scare has subsided, but Secretary of State John Foster Dulles said this week

00:06:53

BW - EP159—001: NYC In January 1956 With Johnny...

Breaking Walls ·

2025/01/01

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers At a CBS radio meeting in September 1955 at 485 Madison Avenue, John Karole VP of Sales, predicted CBS’s time sold would be more than the other three networks combined. Radio affiliates were given a Segmented Selling Plan. The plan offered a five-minute segment for twenty-one hundred dollars. Frank Stanton, President of CBS, boasted that since the birth of radio advertising, more than eight billion dollars had been spent on

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