ROTARY RADIO 1955

By PP Chris Joscelyne

Rotary eClub One

After the First World War numerous commercial radio stations were established in the United States, Canada and Australia, setting the standard for later radio programs.

The first radio news program was broadcast on 31 August 1920 on station 8MK in Detroit, Michigan. This was followed in 1920 with the first commercial radio station in the United States, KDKA, being established in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

In 1922 the first regular entertainment programs were broadcast. New York radio station WJZ made broadcasting history when it used a live studio audience for the first time for a show called "The Perfect Fool" on 19 February 1922

In the United Kingdom 2MT in Whittle went on air in 1922 and the British Broadcasting Company (BBC) was incorporated in November of the same year.

Its other station, 2LO in London, went on air in August that year.

In the United States a highlight of this time was the first Rose Bowl being broadcast on 1 January 1923 on the Los Angeles station KHJ.

In July 1924 the Australian Government introduced a radio broadcasting policy that was an amalgam of the British system where the non-commercial BBC had a government-imposed monopoly, and the United States where the free market was the driving force.

Radio drama plays emerged as regular program content in 1927, when stations began adapting short stories, and producing original scripts for broadcast.

By 1928, there were 28 stations broadcasting in the New York City metropolitan area, 36 in Chicago, and 24 in Los Angeles.

When daytime serials began in the early 1930s they became known as soap operas because many were sponsored by soap products and detergents. The first soap opera was introduced in 1930 on Chicago's WGN.

In 1940, Martin Block started the first disc jockey show called "The Make Believe Ballroom" on WNEW New York when he created the illusion that he was broadcasting from a ballroom with the nation's top dance bands performing live, but was actually only playing records.

Comedy programs were very popular, featuring Fred Allen, Jack Benny, Victor Borge, Fanny Brice, Billie Burke, Bob Burns, Judy Canova, Jimmy Durante, Phil Harris, Bob Hope, Groucho Marx, Jean Shepherd, Red Skelton and Ed Wynn.

By 1950 more than 40 million American homes owned radio sets (94% of all households in the United States) up from the 30 million in 1942 (84%) and the 20 million in 1934 (65%).

Radio ownership in Australia was even higher in the early 1950's with 97% of Australian households owning a radio set.

By 1955, the "Golden Age of Radio" was coming to an end as television became the dominant medium for home entertainment. Television was better suited to many kinds of programming including drama, quiz shows, comedies, documentaries and news. However, radio survived the competition of television by concentrating on music, sport and hourly news updates.

In 1955 Rotary recorded a series of radio dramas for its 50th anniversary.

In this program we take you back to 1955 for the Rotary Golden Theatre Radio Show.

Follow this link and listen to this wonderful example of old-style radio theatre from the Rotary archives.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Chris Joscelyne is a Past President of Rotary Club of Sydney, Australia, and a Past President of Rotary eClub One. Currently he serves as liaison for Rotary's 14 e-clubs around the world. He is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow. As a child Chris was an avid radio listener, enthralled by the children's radio serials that were broadcast each afternoon after school. As an adult Chris worked in the Australian broadcasting industry for 25 years, managing radio stations in small, medium and major markets. He was Managing Director of AWA Media, Australia's oldest broadcasting company, and later served as Chairman of the Board of 2MBS-FM, Australia's first FM radio station, located in Sydney.