Ron Greene listed under KAKC also was a TU student. The ten o'clock news was the prestige newscast of the day. KAKC had Mutual Broadcasting System which was the largest in terms of number of affiliates, but they were smaller stations and in smaller markets. KOME formerly had ABC. KAKC formerly had LBS, the Liberty Broadcasting System. It folded unexpectedly one day, and MBS started up almost immediately.
Mutual came to the end of its trail this year (1999). Read more about Mutual's history at Jeff Miller's Some History of the Mutual Broadcasting System. WOR commentator Gabriel Heatter (seen in the schedule below) first attained prominence for his nightly summations of the Lindbergh baby trial. Heatter and the rise and fall of the Liberty Broadcasting System are mentioned in a fascinating and beautifully written overview of broadcast radio, Old Time Radio Moments of the Century, by Elizabeth McLeod, also at Jeff's site. On KVOO after midnight: Sleepwalkers Serenade
In the early and mid-'50s, KTUL's engineer and musician Charlie Lawton helped develop a female singer who was supposed to be a successor to Patti Page. KTUL gave her a weekly time slot and sent a tape of the show to KFPW in Ft. Smith. The program, "Date with Marjean," was a rather sophomoric thirty minute show that was supposed to appeal to lonely, love-struck young men.
|