Golden Age of Radio

Morton Downey 11:15 Tues.-Thurs.-Sat. WINS-MBS. Morton Downey is back on the airwaves for his favorite soft drink at 11:15 P.M. three times weekly, on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, over the Mutual Network coast to coast. In a program which is entirely different from the homespun songs and poems which he used to broadcast during the daytime, Downey is now specializing in what he calls his own kind of sooth-singing: soft, sentimental ballads and tunes. With Downey on his new program are a quartet of male singers who provide soft, melodic background for Downey’s silvery voice, and an intimate orchestra of right under the skillful baton of Carmen Mastren. Born in Wallingford, Connecticut, the son of the local fire-chief, Downey is probably the Nutmeg State’s most famous good-will ambassador and most popular citizen. Nutmeggers remember him as the kid who used to sing at Elks’ benefits for nickels, accompanied by a friend who played the accordion. And they also st...

The Milwaukee Journal – Jan 14, 1945 The Radio Parade – News and Gossip of Stars By George Lilley NEW YORK, N. Y.—Radio comedians (on the networks) average $2,000 to $5,000 a wekk, the fellows who write their stuff, $200 to $500. Youthful ( mid thirties) collegiate looking Don Prindle, who writes for Abbott and Costello, this year decided to do something about the financial disparity. Getting together with AnnouncerWendell Niles , who announces for Bob Hope , the two will become funnymen themselves with a soft drink sponsor beginning Jan. 24, 9 p. m., on the Blue network. Prindle has written wit into the mouths of the best, including Hope and Jack Benny . Niles, from Twin Valley, Minn., ex-band-leader and flier, was in 1934 one of the 80 government licensed ground school flying instructors in the United States. Out of military zones, he sometimes flies the planes taking the Bob Hope crew around the country. * * * Six foot one Art Linkletter was Southern Calif...

Tom Scott CBS, 8:15 Mon, - Fri. WQXR, 11:45 A.M. Mon, - Fri. TOM SCOTT, American troubadour, whose broadcasts are heard over CBS from 8:15 to 8:30 A.M. Monday through Friday and daily over WQXR from 11:45 to 12 Noon, features folk songs that almost all Americans are glad to hear and didn’t know they had as part of their national heritage. The first time you hear this Kentucky born six-footer you somehow get the impression of meeting and talking with a young beardless edition a Abraham Lincoln . It’s not so much a matter of skin-deep facial resemblance as heart-deep love of people and the love of the land. Tom gives to the simplest folk songs the dignity of a sound musicianship, plus a sincere and natural interpretation. His musical education was obtained at the University of Kentucky and the Louisville Conservatory of Music. Before that, he had learned to play the saxophone, clarinet, violin, tuba, guitar and piano. Scott first learned many of his songs during his boyhoo...