This short track tells a seldom known, but interesting story about the use of microphones when radio first began broadcasting back on November 2nd, 1920 when KDKA Pittsburgh first went on the air.

It seems as people made the transition from vaudeville to radio, they were scared to death of this thing called a MICROPHONE, so studios tried to help alleviate their fears via several methods...

Keeping the morale up for our troops overseas was a program broadcast 6 days a week called "GI JIVE'... it was a DJ format with often a serviceman taking on the role of the guest DJ and playing 4 of the hit songs of the time. Soldiers requested music by writing in to Yank -The Army Weekly Magazine. In this 15 min broadcast we hear Harry James Orchestra, Spike Jones and the City Slickers, Artie Shaw Orchestra, and end with the Andrews Sisters and Bing Crosby. Upbeat music that was very popular 76 years ago!

Host, Ernie "Bubbles" Whitman (photo) welcomes Earl"Father" Hines, Slim, from "Slim and Slam", June Richmond and the Town Criers to this excellent display of African American musical talent courtesy of the Armed Forces Radio Service on Oct. 30, 1944. These shows were not heard on commercial broadcast radio and often had unique performances... they are a recorded musical history of Black Heritage... and what incredible musicians appeared on this show! I have several Jubilee shows on Heirloom Radio and will add more... they are too good to miss! Thanks for listening.

72 years ago, December 31, 1945... this Armed Forces Radio Service broadcast of Jubilee featured three tremendous acts. Lionel Hampton, Lena Horne, and the Four Blazes. Hosted by the energetic and popular Ernie "Bubbles" Whitman, Jubilee showcased African American performers, bringing many of these talented people to the attention of the entire country. This series, Jubilee, is a treasure of African American music history. Performances were not heard on commercial radio, so these are unique and oh, so entertaining! Thanks for listening to Heirloom Radio.... www.facebook.com/heirloomradio

AFRS: Sound Off program - a 15 minute broadcast from 1946... sent via shortwave to our troops overseas during WW II. This broadcast featured Woody Herman and his band playing "Woodchopper's Ball"

The Lux Radio Theatre. December 2, 1946. "Meet Me In St. Louis". Sponsored by: Lux (Lever Bros Company". Narrator and host is movie Producer Irving Brecher. This is a charming turn-of-the century romance set in St. Louis before the opening of the great 1904 Fair. Judy introduces "The Trolley Song" and "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," and even Gale Gordon as Alonzo, sings. Tom Drake, Judy Garland and the young Margaret O’Brien reprise their roles from the Metro Goldwyn Meyer’s 1944 screen hit in this Lux radio Theater version of Meet Me In St Louis based on the novel of the same name by Sally Benson. The story begins the year before the 1904 St Louis fair and revolves around the Smith family and the loves and romances of the four Smith daughters. Excellent radio adaptation of the film.

An absolutely superb radio program that reenacted famous and some not-so-famous crimes from the ancient Greeks to the early 1900's. Elliot Lewis produced the series and stars as the narrator Thomas Hyland. He was a perfectionist when it came to making the show as real as it could be in terms of sound effects, dialects, music... everything had to match the era from which the particular crime story originated. Thomas Hyland is the narrator with a bit of a sense of humor, which is odd given that some of the crimes were horrific, but then it made the series different from anything else on radio in the mid 1950's. I have several of the episodes on Heirloom Radio, so if you like this, look for others on Heirloom Radio...with more to come.

This is a 10 min recording of a two-part series that I did on the "History of Radio" in relation to sound effects and vocal effects. Sound of course, is the basis of radio and it was an art form when it came to radio theater. Sound Effects technicians, Vocal Artists, Actors, Musicians... they all made sound and allowed listeners to use their imaginations to complete the images of what was going on behind the speaker. The scene, the characters, the actors... all were imagined, but sound stimulated and manipulated the minds of the listeners to make the experience unique for everyone.

This is an incredible broadcast from all over the United States on Dec. 31st, 1945 as the Armed Forces Radio Service did a live remote from the West Coast to the East Coast.... California, New York, Boston... Featuring Big Band and Jazz Music from the following orchestras in this 96 min broadcast: Harry James, Glenn Miller, Duke Ellington, Benny Goodman, Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Count Basie, Woody Herman, Les Brown, Louis Prima, Gene Krupa, Louis Armstrong and Guy Lombardo. Considering the complexity of the broadcast switching from one location to another, large crowds, and the fact that it was New Year's Eve after WW II had ended in August of '45... the AFRS did a fantastic job with this production.

It was January 3, 1945 when the Armed Forces Radio Service broadcast Ted Lewis and his Orchestra on their "One Night Stand" program. The band presented a touring stage show which featured jazz, comedy, and nostalgia that was a hit with the American public before and after WW II. He was known as "Mr Entertainment" or Ted "Is Everybody Happy? Lewis. He recorded with Columbia and Decca records and Ted often did vocals, known as a "crooner. His symbolic tattered top hat was left over from the Great Depression, during which his orchestra raised the morale of the public at a time when it needed its morale raised! Good collection of Ted Lewis songs with his unique singing style is heard on the broadcast.