1959 in radio

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

Events

• 3 February: A small-plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, kills three musicians: Buddy Holly, Richie Valens and KTRM-Beaumont deejay JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson, Jr., in addition to the pilot. The tragedy would go on to be known as "The Day The Music Died".
• 11 May: At 10 am, KROW 960 AM in San Francisco switched call letters to KABL. The KABL name stayed with the station until September 2004.

Debuts

• German-American musicologist Karl Haas started Adventures in Good Music at WJR in Detroit, Michigan.
• 14 March:Tulane University's WTUL signs on for the first time. It is owned and operated by Tulane University. This station is a progressive music station. This station gave Jerry Springer his start on his radio and TV career.
• November 15, 1959, three ex-members of the band Quarrymen, later to become known as the Beatles, audition for a British talent program.^[1]

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]

Births

• 27 January – Cris Collinsworth, former American football player and radio and television sportscaster.
• 28 January – Randi Rhodes, American radio host
• 30 April – Matt Casey, American radio personality.
• 3 June – John Carlson, American conservative talk radio host on KVI in Seattle.
• 13 August – Danny Bonaduce, American comedian, actor and radio and television personality.
• Joe Bevilacqua, award-winning voice actor, radio producer, dramatist, humorist and documentary film producer.

Deaths

• 3 March – Louis Costello Abbott & Costello Radio show, heart attack
• 6 December - Len Doyle, who played investigator Harrigan on Mr. District Attorney.^[4]

References

1. Mcintosh, Lisa. "november 15, 1959". Zoomer Radio. Zoomermedia Interactive Network. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
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. "Len Doyle". Illinois, Galesburg. Galesburg Register-Mail. December 8, 1959. p. 13. Retrieved March 29, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.