I represent the first generation who, when we were born, the television was now a permanent fixture in our homes. When I was born people had breakfast with Barbara Walters, dinner with Walter Cronkite, and slept with Johnny Carson.
Read the full "Pre-ramble"
An
unrelated radio show with the name Life of Riley was a summer
replacement show heard on CBS from April 12, 1941 to September 6, 1941. The CBS
program starred Lionel Stander as J. Riley Farnsworth
and had no real connection with the more famous series that followed a few
years later staring William Bendix as a bullheaded family man. The show
ran for 10 years on radio and about six years on television.
Charles Osgood Wood III January 8, 1933 – January 23, 2024
Charles Osgood Wood III, known professionally as Charles Osgood, was an American radio and television commentator, writer, and musician.[1] Osgood was best known both for being the host of CBS News Sunday Morning, a role he held for over 22 years from April 10, 1994, until September 25, 2016, as well as The Osgood File, a series of daily radio commentaries he hosted from 1971 until December 29, 2017.
Osgood was also known for being the voice of the narrator of Horton Hears a Who!, an animated film released in 2008, based on the book of the same name by Dr. Seuss. He published a memoir of his boyhood in 2004.
Springer was elected to the Cincinnati City Council in 1971. On April 29, 1974, Springer resigned from the council after admitting to soliciting a prostitute. He ran for the office in 1975, winning by a landslide. He was reelected in 1977 and 1979.Springer was considered a "gonzo" type politician with stunts such as staying a night in jail and commandeering a bus after the city took over bus service.
In 1977, Springer was chosen by the Cincinnati City Council to serve for one year as mayor. The one-year term was due to a political arrangement at the time that required the Democrats to split the mayoral term with a local third party group, the Charter Committee, with whom the Democrats governed in an electoral alliance. (Cincinnati has since changed to direct election of its mayor.) In the city council and as mayor, Springer supported changing the local election system so that council members would be elected by districts (thus better representing neighborhood interests) instead of "9X" at-large system, but his efforts (as well as those of everyone else, to date, who has supported such a change) did not meet with success.
Springer's broadcast career started while he was an undergraduate at Tulane University, on WTUL New Orleans FM, a progressive format college radio station. It continued while he was still mayor of Cincinnati, with album-oriented rock radio station WEBN-FM, which was noted for its laid-back and irreverent radio format. The station featured commentaries by Springer under the banner "The Springer Memorandum." The popularity of these commentaries launched his broadcasting career.
Springer was hired as a political reporter and commentator on Cincinnati's NBC affiliate, WLWT, which had, at the time, the lowest-rated news program. Later, having been named primary news anchor and managing editor, he needed a broadcast catchphrase in the model of other great newsmen. With the help of some others at WLWT, he created his signature line: "Take care of yourself, and each other." Within two years he was Cincinnati's number-one news anchor, along with partner Norma Rashid. For five years, he was the most popular news anchor in the city,[13] garnering ten local Emmy Awards for his nightly commentaries, which were frequently satirized by Cincinnati radio personality Gary Burbank. Those commentaries would eventually become his "Final Thought" on Jerry Springer. Springer would remain commentator at WLWT until January 1993. He resided in Loveland, Ohio, during this time.
In 1997, the Chicago-based NBC-owned station WMAQ-TV hired Springer to serve as a news commentator. However, this proved to be unpopular among viewers, as it resulted in the resignation of long-time news anchors Ron Magers and Carol Marin due to Springer's talk show. After performing only two commentaries, Springer resigned as commentator.
Jerry Springer debuted on September 30, 1991. It started as a politically oriented talk show, a longer version of Springer's commentaries. Guests on the show included Oliver North and Jesse Jackson, and topics included homelessness and gun politics.
In early 1994, Springer and his new producer, Richard Dominick, revamped the show's format in order to garner higher ratings. The show became more successful as it became targeted toward tabloidish sensationalism. Guests were everyday people confronted on a television stage by a spouse or family member's adultery, homosexuality, transsexuality, prostitution, transvestism, hate group membership, or other controversial situations. These confrontations were often promoted by scripted shouting or violence on stage. The show received substantial ratings and much attention. By 1998, it was beating The Oprah Winfrey Show in many cities, and was reaching more than 6.7 million viewers.
On July 10, 2002, the sons of guest Nancy Campbell-Panitz – who was murdered by her ex-husband after they appeared on a May 2000 episode with his girlfriend – filed suit in Sarasota County against Springer, his producers, and his distributor, claiming he created "a mood that led to murder".Ultimately, the estate of Campbell-Panitz dropped all monetary claims against Jerry Springer and the show agreed to waive its claims for malicious prosecution against the personal representative of the estate of Campbell-Panitz and his counsel.In 2005, a UK version of the show aired on Britain's ITV network titled The Springer Show. A subdued and more tongue-in-cheek version of the U.S. show, it beat its talk-show rival Trisha Goddard five to one in the ratings.
The VH1 "celebreality" series The Springer Hustle, which took a look at how Jerry Springer is produced, premiered in April 2007.
In April 2015, Springer debuted The Jerry Springer Podcast on his website, JerrySpringer.com.He later partnered with Westwood One to stream the podcast. It was also broadcast in the UK on Talkradio, on Sundays at midnight. Springer was the second American talk show host to travel to Cuba, after Conan O'Brien, for The Jerry Springer Podcast. The podcast ended in 2022.On July 26, 2018, Jerry Springer aired its final episode in syndication after 27 seasons before it began airing reruns on The CW on September 10, 2018.Springer debuted a new courtroom show, Judge Jerry, on September 9, 2019. The show gave him the opportunity to host a more "grown-up" program and to use his law school education. On March 9, 2022, the series was canceled after three seasons.
Springer hosted America's Got Talent on NBC for its second and third seasons, replacing Regis Philbin, before leaving to concentrate on other projects.
From January 17, 2005, to December 5, 2006, Springer hosted Springer on the Radio, a liberal talk show on Cincinnati's WCKY-AM. He did the show from the Clear Channel studios in Kenwood, Ohio on Mondays, Thursdays, and Fridays, and in Chicago (where his television show taped at the time) on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Air America Radio syndicated the program for most of the show's run.
With the stirring notes of the William Tell Overture and a shout of "Hi-yo,
Silver! Away!"The Lone Ranger debuts on
Detroit's WXYZ radio station.
The creation of station-owner George
Trendle and writer Fran Striker, the "masked rider of the plains"
became one of the most popular and enduring western heroes of the 20th century.
Joined by his trusty steed, Silver, and loyal Indian scout, Tonto, the Lone
Ranger sallied forth to do battle with evil western outlaws and Indians,
generally arriving on the scene just in time to save an innocent golden-haired
child or sun-bonneted farm wife.
Neither Trendle nor Striker had any connections to or
experience with the cowboys, Indians, and pioneers
of the real West, but that mattered little to them. The men simply wanted to create
an American version of the masked swashbuckler made popular by the silent movie
actor Douglas Fairbanks in The Mark of Zorro,
arming their hero with a revolver rather than a sword. Historical authenticity
was far less important to the men than fidelity to the strict code of conduct
they established for their character. The Lone Ranger never smoked, swore, or
drank alcohol; he used grammatically correct speech free of slang; and, most
important, he never shot to kill. More offensive to modern historical and
ethnic sensibilities was the Indian scout Tonto, who spoke in a comical Indian
patois totally unrelated to any authentic Indian dialect, uttering ludicrous
phrases like "You betchum!"
Historical accuracy notwithstanding, the radio program
was an instant hit. Children liked the steady stream of action and parents
approved of the good moral example offered by the upstanding masked man. Soon
picked up for nationwide broadcast over the Mutual Radio Network, over 20
million Americans were tuning into The Lone Ranger three
times a week by 1939. In an early example of the power of marketing tie-ins,
the producers also licensed the manufacture of a vast array of related
products, including Lone Ranger guns, costumes, books, and a popular comic
strip.
The Lone Ranger made a seemingly effortless transition
from radio to motion pictures and television. The televised version of The Lone Ranger, staring Clayton Moore as the masked
man, became ABC's first big hit in the early 1950s. Remaining on the air until 1957, the program helped
define the golden age of the TV Western and inspired dozens of imitators
like The Range Rider, The Roy Rogers Show,
and The Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok. Although the Lone
Ranger disappeared from American television and movie screens by the 1960s, he lived on in a popular series of comic books well
into the1970s.
January 31, 1988
The first episode of The Wonder Years aired on ABC.
A coming-of-agecomedy-drama television
series created by Neal Marlens and Carol Black. It
ran on ABC from 1988 until 1993. The pilot aired on January
31, 1988, following ABC's coverage of Super Bowl XXII. It
stars Fred Savage as Kevin Arnold, a boy growing up in a middle
class family, and takes place from 1968–1973.
The show earned a spot in
the Nielsen Top 30 during its first four seasons. TV Guide named
it one of the 20 best shows of the 1980s. After six episodes, The
Wonder Years won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series in 1988. In addition, at age 13, Fred Savage became
the youngest actor ever nominated as Outstanding Lead Actor for a Comedy Series. The show was also awarded a Peabody
Award in 1989 for "pushing
the boundaries of the sitcom format and using new modes of
storytelling". In total, the series won 22 awards and was nominated
for 54 more. In 1997, "My Father's Office" was ranked #29
on TV Guide's 100 Greatest
Episodes of All Time, and in the 2009
revised list the pilot episode was ranked #43. In 2016, Rolling Stone ranked The Wonder Years #63 on its list of 100
Greatest TV Shows of All Time. In 2017, James Charisma of Paste ranked
the show's opening sequence #14 on a list of The 75 Best TV Title
Sequences of All Time. As of recent years many critics and fans
consider The Wonder Years to be a classic and that it has
had tremendous impact on the industry over the years and has inspired many
other shows and how they are structured.
February 1, 1953
CBS-TV debuted Private Secretary (also known as Susie)
A sitcom that aired from February 1, 1953, to September 10, 1957, on CBS, alternating with The Jack Benny Program on Sundays at 7:30pm EST. The series stars Ann Sothern as Susan Camille "Susie" MacNamara, devoted secretary to handsome talent agent Peter Sands, played by Don Porter.
February 1, 2003
The Space
shuttle Columbia breaks up while entering the atmosphere
over Texas,
killing all seven crew members on board.
The Columbia‘s
28th space mission, designated STS-107, was originally scheduled to launch on
January 11, 2001, but was delayed numerous times for a variety of reasons over
nearly two years. Columbia finally launched on January 16,
2003, with a crew of seven. Eighty seconds into the launch, a piece of foam
insulation broke off from the shuttle’s propellant tank and hit the edge of the
shuttle’s left wing.
Cameras focused on the launch
sequence revealed the foam collision but engineers could not pinpoint the
location and extent of the damage. Although similar incidents had occurred on
three prior shuttle launches without causing critical damage, some engineers at
the space agency believed that the damage to the wing could cause a
catastrophic failure. Their concerns were not addressed in the two weeks
that Columbia spent in orbit because NASA management believed
that even if major damage had been caused, there was little that could be done
to remedy the situation.
Columbia reentered the earth’s atmosphere on the morning
of February 1. It wasn’t until 10 minutes later, at 8:53 a.m.–as the shuttle
was 231,000 feet above the California coastline
traveling at 23 times the speed of sound–that the first indications of trouble
began. Because the heat-resistant tiles covering the left wing’s leading edge
had been damaged or were missing, wind and heat entered the wing and blew it
apart.
The first debris began
falling to the ground in west Texas near Lubbock at 8:58 a.m. One minute later,
the last communication from the crew was heard, and at 9 a.m. the shuttle
disintegrated over northeast Texas, near Dallas. Residents in the area heard a
loud boom and saw streaks of smoke in the sky. Debris and the remains of the
crew were found in more than 2,000 locations across East Texas, Arkansas and Louisiana. Making
the tragedy even worse, two pilots aboard a search helicopter were killed in a
crash while looking for debris. Strangely, worms that the crew had used in a
study that were stored in a canister aboard the Columbia did
survive.
In August 2003, an
investigation board issued a report that revealed that it in fact would have
been possible either for the Columbia crew to repair the
damage to the wing or for the crew to be rescued from the shuttle. The Columbia could
have stayed in orbit until February 15 and the already planned launch of the
shuttle Atlantis could have been moved up as early as February
10, leaving a short window for repairing the wing or getting the crew off of
the Columbia.
In the aftermath of the Columbia disaster,
the space shuttle program was grounded until July 16, 2005, when the space
shuttle Discovery was put into orbit.
February 2, 1973
NBC-TV debuted Midnight Special hosted by Helen Reddy.
The Midnight Special is an American
late-night musical variety series originally broadcast
on NBC during
the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Burt
Sugarman. It premiered as a special on August 19, 1972, then began its
run as a regular series on February 2, 1973; its last episode was on May 1,
1981.[2]The
90-minute program followed the Friday night edition of The Tonight Show Starring
Johnny Carson.
Like its syndicated late-night cousin Don Kirshner's Rock Concert, the
show typically featured guest hosts, except for a period from July 1975 through
March 1976 when singer Helen Reddy served as the regular host. Wolfman
Jack served as the announcer and frequent guest host. The program's
theme song, a traditional folk song called "Midnight Special", was performed
by Johnny Rivers.
The Midnight Special was noted for featuring
musical acts performing live, which was unusual since most television
appearances during the era showed performers lip-synching to
prerecorded music. The series also occasionally aired vintage footage of older
acts, such as Bill Haley & His Comets. As the
program neared the end of its run in the early 1980s, it began to frequently
use lip-synched performances rather than live ones. The
program also featured occasional performances of comedians such as Richard
Pryor, Andy Kaufman, and George
Carlin.
that we could use to momentarily forget about those
things that leave a bad taste in our mouths
Today released a video of Audible Theater's reading of Murder in Studio One which was performed April 27 at Off-Broadway's Minetta Lane Theater. The reading starred NBC News personalities Hoda Kotb, Savannah Guthrie, Al Roker, Craig Melvin, and Jenna Bush Hager. Watch the full video above.
The whodunit play first premiered in 1941 and was written by Norman Corwin. It runs roughly 37 minutes in duration. The show takes place in a New York radio station and follows a female private investigator and her fast-talking sidekick as they take on a murder case.
The radio play has been adapted for this reading with permission from the Norman Administrative Trust. Proceeds from ticket sales were donated to Boys and Girls Clubs of America. The performance was also released as a podcast through Audible.
An
unrelated radio show with the name Life of Riley was a summer
replacement show heard on CBS from April 12, 1941 to September 6, 1941. The CBS
program starred Lionel Stander as J. Riley Farnsworth
and had no real connection with the more famous series that followed a few
years later staring William Bendix as a bullheaded family man. The show
ran for 10 years on radio and about six years on television.
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