1959 in radio

The year 1959 saw a number of significant happenings in radio broadcasting history.

Events

• 3 February – A light-aircraft crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, kills three musicians: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and KTRM-Beaumont deejay J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, Jr., as well as the plane's pilot. The tragedy will go on to become known as "The Day The Music Died".
• 11 May – At 10 am, KROW 960 AM in San Francisco switches its call letters to KABL. The KABL name will stay with the station until September 2004.
• German-American musicologist Karl Haas starts Adventures in Good Music at WJR in Detroit, Michigan.
• Polskie Radio broadcasts the drama Pasażerka z kabiny 45 (Passenger from Cabin Number 45), written by Zofia Posmysz based on her time in wartime concentration camps ^[1] and featuring Aleksandra Śląska and Jan Świderski.

Debuts

• 14 March – Tulane University's WTUL signs on for the first time. Owned and operated by Tulane University, this progressive-music station. will give Jerry Springer his start in broadcasting.
• 3 April – Pick of the Week is first broadcast on the BBC Home Service.
• 7 June – KKLS signs on in Rapid City.

Closings

• 2 January – CBS ends Our Gal Sunday , This Is Nora Drake , Backstage Wife and Road of Life . ^[2]
• 2 January – The Kate Smith Show ends its run on network radio (Mutual). ^[3]
• 9 January – The Howard Miller Show ends its run on network radio (CBS). ^[3]
• 24 April - NBC Bandstand ends its run on network radio (NBC). ^[4]

Births

• 2 January – Joe Bevilacqua, award-winning American voice actor, radio producer, dramatist, humorist and documentary film producer.
• 9 January – Andy Kershaw, English world music presenter.
• 27 January – Cris Collinsworth, American sportscaster, previously American football player.
• 28 January – Randi Rhodes, American radio host.
• 22 May – Graham Fellows, English comedy performer.
• 3 June – John Carlson, American conservative talk radio host on KVI in Seattle.
• 7 June – Mike Pence, American politician who begins his career on radio station WIFE-FM (WRCR-FM).
• 13 August – Danny Bonaduce, American comedian, actor and broadcast personality.

Deaths

• 9 January – Hans Bredow, "father of German radio" (born 1879).
• 3 March – Lou Costello, American comic actor ( The Abbott and Costello Show ), heart attack (born 1906).
• 6 December – Len Doyle, American actor, played investigator Harrigan on Mr. District Attorney (born 1893). ^[5]

References

1. "Polish Auschwitz survivor, novelist Zofia Posmysz dies at 98". The Independent . London. AP. 8 August 2022. Retrieved 9 August 2022.
2. Dunning, John. (1998). On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. Oxford University Press. ISBN   978-0-19-507678-3.
3. Cox, Jim (2008). This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN   978-0-7864-3848-8. p. 7
4. Cox, Jim (10 January 2014). Musicmakers of Network Radio: 24 Entertainers, 1926-1962. McFarland. p. 102. ISBN   978-0-7864-8962-6 . Retrieved 1 February 2025.
5. "Len Doyle". Illinois, Galesburg. Galesburg Register-Mail. 8 December 1959. p. 13. Retrieved 29 March 2016– via Newspapers.com. .