1959 in radio
Encyclopedia
The year 1959 saw a number of significant happenings in radio broadcasting history.
Events
- 3 February: A small-plane crash near Clear Lake, IowaClear Lake, IowaClear Lake is a city in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, United States. The population was 8,161 at the 2000 census. The city is named for the large lake on which it is located. It is the home of a number of marinas, state parks and tourism-related businesses. Clear Lake is also a major stop on Interstate...
kills three musicians: Buddy HollyBuddy HollyCharles Hardin Holley , known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll...
, Richie Valens and KTRM-Beaumont, TexasBeaumont, TexasBeaumont is a city in and county seat of Jefferson County, Texas, United States, within the Beaumont–Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. The city's population was 118,296 at the 2010 census. With Port Arthur and Orange, it forms the Golden Triangle, a major industrial area on the...
deejay JP "The Big Bopper" Richardson, Jr.The Big BopperJiles Perry "J. P." Richardson, Jr. also commonly known as The Big Bopper, was an American disc jockey, singer, and songwriter whose big voice and exuberant personality made him an early rock and roll star...
, in addition to the pilot. The tragedy would go on to be known as "The Day The Music DiedThe Day the Music DiedOn February 3, 1959, a small-plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, killed three American rock and roll pioneers: Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J. P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, as well as the pilot, Roger Peterson. The day was later called The Day the Music Died by Don McLean, in his song...
." - 11 May: At 10 am, KROW 960 AM in San FranciscoSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
switched call letters to KABL. The KABL name stayed with the station until September 2004.
Debuts
- German-American musicologist Karl HaasKarl HaasKarl Haas was a German-American classical music radio host, whose distinctively sonorous voice and humanistic approach to making music appreciation contagious made him well-received by many...
started Adventures in Good MusicAdventures in Good MusicAdventures in Good Music, hosted by Karl Haas, was radio's most widely listened-to classical music program, and aired nationally in the U.S. from 1970 to 2007. Adventures in Good Music was also syndicated to commercial and public radio stations around the world...
at WJR in Detroit, MichiganDetroit, MichiganDetroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
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Closings
- January 2 - CBSCBSCBS Broadcasting Inc. is a major US commercial broadcasting television network, which started as a radio network. The name is derived from the initials of the network's former name, Columbia Broadcasting System. The network is sometimes referred to as the "Eye Network" in reference to the shape of...
ends Our Gal SundayOur Gal SundayOur Gal Sunday was an American soap opera produced by Frank and Anne Hummert and heard on CBS from 1937 to 1959.The origin of this radio series was a 1904 Broadway production, Sunday, which starred Ethel Barrymore...
, This is Nora Drake, Backstage WifeBackstage WifeBackstage Wife is an American soap opera radio program that details the travails of Mary Noble, a girl from a small town in Iowa who came to New York seeking her future....
, and Road of Life.
Births
- January 27 - Cris CollinsworthCris CollinsworthAnthony Cris Collinsworth is a former American college and professional football player who was a wide receiver in the National Football League for eight seasons in the 1980s. He played college football for the University of Florida, and thereafter, he played his entire professional career for...
, former American footballAmerican footballAmerican football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
player and radio and television sportscasterSportscasterIn sports broadcasting, a commentator gives a running commentary of a game or event in real time, usually during a live broadcast. The comments are normally a voiceover, with the sounds of the action and spectators also heard in the background. In the case of television commentary, the commentator...
. - April 30 - Matt Casey, American radio personality.
- June 3 - John Carlson, American conservative talk radio host on KVI in Seattle.
- August 13 - Danny BonaduceDanny BonaduceDante Daniel "Danny" Bonaduce is an American radio/television personality, comedian, professional wrestler, and former child actor...
, American comedian, actor and radio and television personality. - Joe BevilacquaJoe BevilacquaJoe Bevilacqua is an award-winning voice actor, radio producer, dramatist, humorist, and documentary film producer.- Early life :Bevilacqua grew up in Newark, New Jersey, the son of a policeman and a housewife.- Career :...
, award-winning voice actor, radio producerRadio producerA radio producer oversees the making of a radio show. There are two main types of producer. An audio or creative producer and a content producer. Audio producers create sounds and audio specifically, content producers oversee and orchestrate a radio show or feature...
, dramatist, humorist, and documentaryDocumentary filmDocumentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
film producerFilm producerA film producer oversees and delivers a film project to all relevant parties while preserving the integrity, voice and vision of the film. They will also often take on some financial risk by using their own money, especially during the pre-production period, before a film is fully financed.The...
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