PODCAST

Breaking Walls

James Scully

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

history

All Episodes

00:29:30

BW - EP158—011: Christmas Weekend 1944—Jack Benny...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/12/16

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakersOn the Sunday, December 31st, 1944 episode of The Jack Benny Program, it’s New Year’s Eve and Jack resolves to be friends with Fred Allen in 1945. For more information on Jack Benny in 1944, including how and why he changed sponsors, please tune into Breaking Walls Episode 151 which covers Benny’s 1944 in great detail.

00:29:32

BW - EP158—010: Christmas Weekend 1944—The Whistler's...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/12/12

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakersAt 9PM on Monday, December 25th, 1944, The Whistler, broadcast from KNX, went on the air over CBS’ regional West Coast Network. The Whistler’s narration acted as a modern version of the Greek chorus, omnisciently taunting the characters. The narrator proved so popular that it was adapted into eight film noirs by Columbia Pictures between 1944 and 1948. Whistler radio dramas were usually told through the perspective of the guilty

00:29:32

BW - EP158—009: Christmas Weekend 1944—Christmas with...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/12/11

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakersThe General Mills sponsored Lone Ranger from WXYZ in Detroit first began airing on January 31st, 1933. The next year it became one of the cornerstone programs which led to the formation of the Mutual Broadcasting System. The show moved to the Blue Network in 1942 and would remain on the network after it became ABC in 1945. The Christmas Day, 1944 episode was entitled, “A Present for Janey.”

00:29:47

BW - EP158—007: Christmas Weekend 1944—Christmas Day...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/12/07

The Cavalcade of America’s sponsor, The Du Pont Company, had profited from gunpowder during the first World War. Years of bad press led them to hire the ad agency Batten, Barton, Durstine, and Osborne. They wanted a brand perception change. The Cavalcade of America was the answer. In 1944 The Cavalcade of America was in the midst of a thirteen-year primetime run on NBC. Sponsored by Dupont, the program dramatized history and historical fiction, focusing intensely on the war at home and

00:29:47

BW - EP158—006: Christmas Weekend 1944—Christmas Eve...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/12/05

On the Sunday, December 24th 1944 episode of The Great Gildersleeve, Gildy overcomes depression and recent legal issues to have a wonderful celebration at his home. All the most-famous townspeople of Summerfield stopped by. This episode pulled a rating of 14.9. Roughly ten million people tuned in. For more information on the launch of The Great Gildersleeve and the show’s 1944, please tune into Breaking Walls Episode 149.

00:28:06

BW - EP158—003: Christmas Weekend 1944—Christmas At...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/12/01

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakersOriginally part of CBS’s experimental pilot summer series Forecast in 1940, Duffy’s Tavern had moved to the Blue Network in October of 1942, and then to NBC’s main network before the Blue Network was sold in September of 1944. Sponsored by Bristol Myers, it starred Ed Gardner as Archie, the manager of Duffy’s Tavern, “the eyesore of the east side, where the elite meet to eat.” Gardner’s heavily New York accented portrayal of Archie

00:29:30

The Jack Benny Program: Movie Of Jack's Life...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/11/26

This is the Thanksgiving 1947 episode of The Jack Benny Program, which originally aired Sunday, November 23rd, 1947.

00:29:07

BW - EP157—008: Thanksgiving 1944—Thanksgiving with...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/11/15

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakersBy 1944 Rudy Vallée was one of the most famous American entertainers in history. Vallée spent much of early 1944 conducting the 11th Naval District Coast Guard Band, known as one of the best military units in the nation. He returned to civilian life, and to radio over NBC, on September 9th, 1944 with the launch of a new show, called Villa Vallée, and sponsored by Drene shampoo. It co-starred Monte Woolley. This 10:30PM eastern time

00:30:00

BW - EP157—007: Thanksgiving 1944—How Jack Benny...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/11/13

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakersOn the Sunday, November 26th, 1944 episode of The Jack Benny Program, Jack and the gang discuss how they spent Thanksgiving. For more information on Jack Benny in 1944, including how and why he changed sponsors, please tune into Breaking Walls Episode 151 which covers Benny’s 1944 in great detail

00:27:00

BW - EP157—006: Thanksgiving 1944—Thanksgiving Dinner...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/11/11

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakersAlthough Bud Abbott and Lou Costello are remembered for their movies, they got their start toward national fame in radio. They’d met in 1929, when Costello was booked with a vaudeville act into a neighborhood theater. Abbott worked in the box office and soon found himself playing Costello’s straight man. In 1938 they appeared at Loew’s in New York, where they were seen by Ted Collins, architect of Kate Smith’s career. Their

00:29:32

BW - EP157—005: Thanksgiving 1944—Thanksgiving on the...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/11/10

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers In November of 1944 Bing Crosby’s Kraft Music Hall was Thursday night’s highest-rated program. Airing at 9PM eastern time, singing with Bing was heard by more than eighteen million people as they wound down around the fire and radio. That evening’s first song was “Dance with a Dolly” and the guest was thirty-one year old opera soprano Risë Stevens.

00:13:39

BW - EP157—004: Thanksgiving 1944—Thank You America...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/11/07

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers This program, originally airing on KPO San Francisco, was in conjunction with the 5th War Loan Drive. Thanksgiving 1944 was also called “War Bond Day.” It featured the likes of Rudy Vallée and others.

00:29:35

BW - EP157—002: Thanksgiving 1944—Suspense with...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/11/03

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakersMuch ink has been spilled on Breaking Walls this year talking about Suspense. For more information on the series in 1944, please tune into Breaking Walls episode 154. The Thanksgiving 1944 episode was called “The Fountain Plays” starring Charles Laughton. It’s a story filled with murder, blackmail, and cover-up. The original tale was penned by Dorothy L. Sayers adapted by Robert L. Richards. Richards is famous for having written

00:30:36

BW - EP157—001: Thanksgiving 1944—Mail Call With...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/11/01

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers Mail Call began airing on August 11th, 1942 over the Armed Forces Radio Service to entertain troops with songs, skits, and questions (via the mail) answered by celebrities in order to boost the morale of soldiers stationed far from their homes In 1944 Lt. Col. Thomas A.H. Lewis, commander of the Armed Forces Radio Service, wrote that "The initial production of the Armed Forces Radio Service was 'Mail Call,' a morale-building half

00:29:34

BW - EP156—009: Halloween 1944—Van Johnson Stars in...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/10/17

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakersMuch ink has been spilled on Breaking Walls this year talking about Suspense. For more information on the series in 1944, please tune into Breaking Walls episode 154. On Thursday November 2nd, 1944, Van Johnson made his first appearance on “radio’s outstanding theater of thrills” in “The Singing Walls.” In this Cornell Woolrich story, a man is drugged by gangsters to be framed for a crime. All he can remember is that music seemed

00:25:08

BW - EP156—008: Halloween 1944—Fibber McGee Goes Duck...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/10/15

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakersIn the fall of 1944 Fibber McGee and Molly were in the midst of their tenth season on the air. The comedic duo was part of NBC’s blockbuster Tuesday night comedy lineup. Between 1939 and 1949 their show was never ranked lower than third overall in the ratings. On Halloween night their rating was 25.6. More than twenty million people tuned in to hear Fibber McGee add duck hunting to the list of activities he is supposedly good at.

00:29:58

BW - EP156—007: Halloween 1944—Gracie Allen’s Make...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/10/13

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers By the fall of 1944, George Burns and Gracie Allen had been married for eighteen years and on radio for twelve. Their program had been officially titled The Burns And Allen Show in the fall of 1936, and they’d spent time at both NBC and CBS. With their ratings slipping in 1942, George Burns transformed their show from vaudeville-style banter into a situation comedy. It was the jolt the couple needed. In the fall of 1944 the

00:10:18

BW - EP156—006: Halloween 1944—Lum and Abner Share...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/10/11

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers In October of 1944 Lum and Abner was airing as a weekday, fifteen minute serial. In New York the show aired over WJZ. The show was syndicated out of KECA in Los Angeles. KECA was the flagship station of the newly independent Blue Network, which would soon become ABC. Chester Lauck was Lum Edwards. Norris Goff was Abner Peabody. Set in the fictional hamlet of Pine Ridge, Arkansas, in real life Lauck and Goff disliked the term

00:29:41

BW - EP156—005: Halloween 1944—The Whistler’s Beloved...

Breaking Walls ·

2024/10/09

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers Despite its west-coast regional status for most of its days. The Whistler had one of radio’s best-known crime-show formats and one of the longest runs. The signature ranks with radio’s greatest, playing perfectly into the host’s “man of mystery” role. Like the Shadow and the Mysterious Traveler, the Whistler was a voice of fate, baiting the guilty with his smiling malevolence. Originally taking to the air May 16th, 1942 from CBS’s

00:29:38

BW - EP156—004: Halloween 1944—The Hour Of Charm

Breaking Walls ·

2024/10/07

Support Breaking Walls at https://www.patreon.com/thewallbreakers The Hour of Charm, radio’s “most-celebrated all-girl orchestra” first took to the air on May 18th, 1934 over CBS. In the fall of 1944 it was airing on NBC for General Electric, Sundays at 10PM eastern time. The brainchild of Phil Spitalny, The Spitalnys had a deep musical heritage. Immigrants from Russia, they had settled in Cleveland, where Phil Spitalny and his brother Leopold played in local bands. By the time Phil was 30,

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