Golden Age of Radio

It all began by a terrible freeze in the winter of 1921. An avocado, orange and lemon grower Sam Mosher had lost all his crops and was going broke. At this same time one of the largest oil fields ever found in CA. Had just been discovered on Signal Hill near Long Beach. Sam Mosher along with many other curious people went to see what was going on. As Sam watched the wildcat wells being exposed he noticed all the fires at the tops and the natural gasoline that was going up into the atmosphere. He thought what if I could capture that stuff and sell it. It was all history after that. During this first week I will cover this part a little each day from 1922 to 1931. Below is a picture of what Signal Hill looked like in the 1920's. Most people think of Signal as the company with the stop light symbol. However, the first symbol was crossed flags like the ones pictured on the rail cars below. Sam Mosher had one problem with his idea to capture this natural gasoline he ne...

Cliff Carpenter -was given the title role in Terry and the Pirates when this radio serial was revived in 1941 and is still playing it. The Army arranged a two years vacation for him, beginning in 1943. He spent it as a rifleman in the ETO and saw combat with the 102 nd Division from the Siegfried Line to the Elbe River, where his outfit met the Russians. Back at ABS, Cliff and his Pirates meet at 5:00 P.M. EDT.

During 1946, three different versions of the Whistler were aired on CBS. 1.        CBS West Coast – aired weekly throughout the year in the 7 western states where the Signal Oil Company had a presence. These shows are our primary driver during this run. 2.        CBS Central – aired weekly from 46-02-03 through the end of the calendar year at 9:30 CDT (8:30 CST) on Sundays on WBBM in Chicago. These shows were all produced at WBBM studios using local repertory players and they were sponsored by Meister Brau Beer. I do not yet know if any other stations in the mid-west carried the programs in 1946. 3.        CBS NET – sustained by CBS, the Whistler ran from 46-07-03 through 46-09-25, as a summer replacement for the Jack Carson show, everywhere else on the network except stations in the Signal sponsorship area and WBBM. A separate log is available for this run. CHICAGO BROADCASTS Tw...