Radio Days

Before we had television we had only radio. Radio was a very personal medium. You felt the voice was speaking only to you. There was usually only one radio in a household and the entire family gathered around the console in the evening to mutually hear the news and the variety shows. During WWII the news was broadcast by such as Gabriel Heatter who intoned"There's good news tonight" or more often "there's bad news tonight." And Ed Murrow broadcasting from London during the blitz with his deliberate cadence - you could almost see the cigarette in his hand. After the news you waited for Amos & Andy, Gang  Busters, The Shadow, Jack Benny, Fred Allen et al - to try to forget the war. FDR's voice was made for radio as he gave his fireside chats. My first exposure to opera was listening to Fred Allen's show where he did parodys on Carmen and The Barber of Seville - with the original music but special lyrics. And the Lone Ranger's theme was Rossini's William Tell Overture. Some of the entertainers included Eddie Cantor who they called Banjo Eyes for obvious reasons. He was a mentor to young people as Dinah Shore and Eddie Fisher. He had been a singing waiter on the east side of New York.
He always closed his show with "I love to spend each Sunday with you - as friend to friend I'm sorry it's thru etc" - Ben Bernie the orchestra leader with the southern drawl always closed with "Au revoir, pleasant dreams, think of us when requesting your themes - until the next time then etc." Then there were the sports broadcasters - Bill Stern did mostly football but also had a radio show which he closed with "And that's the three o mark for tonight." The word "thirty" being a newspaperman's code for the end of a column. Clem McCarthy had a staccato delivery and did mostly boxing matches and horse racing. In his excitement he once called the wrong winner in the Kentucky Derby and had to correct himself. He would never get away with that today. But what a voice.! Baseball announcers had the syrupy flavor of the south - Mel Allen - Red Barber - By Saam - they brought the game alive to you
and heaven forbid you had to listen to a game fed by teletype. Radio was king until Milton Berle appeared on the twelve inch black & white screen in your living room. more later.
tjs