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The flume across the Pecos River at Carlsbad, NM.

Frank Kindell riding his motorcycle across the flume-no hands.

When Radio Was Golden

Comments on Radio?

Radio swirled down from the twentieth century's morning sky, exalted every grassy leaf, and vanished in a vespers echo. It still haunts our collective inner eye with something beyond nostalgia.

From the 1920s into the 1950s, most Americans formed a personal relationship with radio.

Old Time Radio, like other artifacts lost to progress, quickens a longing for times past. But it's different than steam trains, horses, one-room schools, iceboxes, Model Ts, and outhouses. Radio's anima was not replaced, but lost.

The radio-land pageant arose in each listener's imagination. The pictures were theirs, free of the producer's potted vision.

Many still remember TV's jarring, counterfeit replacements for their favorite radio programs, like seeing the movie after reading the book. The new is always exciting, but this time, an old friend slipped away in silence.

Come with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear. Take a seat near the speakers, dim the lights, and fall under the spell of voices coming out of a box. Click the picture and try to join that once-upon-a-time audience.

Many of the programs we've used come courtesy of Zoot Radio. You can find many more at their site.

The Old Time Radio Researchers group is the gold standard of golden-era radio, and they have found lot's of stuff that belongs in the Attic of Gallimaufry.

After World War I, and well into the cold war, most Americans tuned into radio's tidal wave of advertising for entertainment, news, religion, social engagement, politics and marketplace savvy. The phenomenon grew like a sourdough starter, and its yeasty chemistry baked itself into every aspect of life. The worldview of America's every-person was an image formed in the cerebral cortex by electronic wizardry.

Radio was not a simple pleasure of a simpler time. No time is simple for those living it.

Farming to avoid starvation, caring for livestock, harnessing a team, carrying water from a pump, cranking a gasoline engine, visiting a smelly outhouse, cooking on a wood stove, scrubbing clothes on a washboard, and dying from diseases yet to be conquered, made life neither idyllic nor simple.

The "present" moment of any era is a storm of forces, reflexes, ambiguities, and unknowns, unseen in the moment but inferred from memory, hundreds of milliseconds after blowing through. The simplicity of history's script is abstracted from the outcome of all those unpredictable present moments.

We look back to the Golden Age of Radio, not to revisit a simpler time, but to glimpse the passing of those long-gone instants.

...

Jack Armstrong, All American Boy.

Here's a bit of cosmic caprice from the footfalls of our wandering reality. In an October 1942 radio program, three years after Einstein's famous letter to President Roosevelt, but three years before Hiroshima, Jack Armstrong, All American boy (Monday at 5:30 PM), split the atom and built an atomic engine. That's unexpected, since we've come to believe popular culture and atomic power were married in a mushroom cloud, but that's not the quirky part.

Buck Rogers and Atomic Power.

The namesake for radio's Jack Armstrong was a real-life Colonel Jack Armstrong, a World War II hero, who became a cold war advocate of powering satellites with an atomic engine.

Atomic power had a specialized role in popular culture prior to Trinity. H. G. Wells had an atomic bomb in his 1914 book, "The World Set Free."

Buck Rogers, when he got to the twenty-fifth century in the early 1920s, did a lot of atom busting in his comic books, but not, so far as we know, on the radio. New Mexico historian, Ferenc Morton Szasz, has looked into it for us.

Cleve Cartmill had a chain-reaction bomb in a short story, "Deadline," in 1944, and a Superman Comic Book from 1944 would have had an Atomic Bomb if it hadn't been censored until after Trinity. Superman actually did have an Atomic Beam Machine in 1940, and some Atomic fuel cylinders were stolen the next week. There was also an Atomic pistol in September, 1944, but the main nuclear stuff started in October, 1945, two months after Hiroshama, with a two-month appearance of "Atom Man."

Prior to the day the sun rose twice, however, atomic power had about the same impact on popular culture as time travel does today. To find it casually dropped into a radio program in 1942 is odd, but the real-world narrative link between the fictitious Jack Armstrong, and his living-flesh namesake, transcends odd.

...

You can acutally listen to Radio Classics on the radio. Greg Bell has the schedules, and SiriusXM has the programs.

A generation of children, mostly boys, grew into adulthood tinkering with electronic gadgets. They built radios, strung antennae, rewired speakers, sawed lumber into resonance boxes, and bragged about pulling in sounds from hundreds of miles away.

Catch phrases and sound effects from popular shows littered the small-talk of young people. The sound of the Inner Sanctum door, the Phantom's sinister chuckle, the William Tell Overture, McGee's closet, Buster Brown's Froggy confusing the Professor, Gabriel Heater's, "There's good news tonight," and Bob and Ray's, "Go hang by your thumbs," among many others, flowered like weeds in the garden of popular discourse.

The Internet Archive is another prominent source for old time radio programs.

The dominant force of radio entertainment is long gone, but you can still glimpse its power through the programs those long-ago Americans enjoyed. They're all around us on the Internet, just a few clicks away, along with cult-like remembrances of nuance and history about the people who streamed their best efforts into the "Audio Radiance" of Radio Land. Here are a few of them, but Google will direct you to many more.

The tale of Orson Welle's Scotland Yard stint, and the radio prequel to cult movie classic, "The Third Man."

The Old Time website gives us a brief history or Radio Programs.

This video features a sound effects technician for a 1938 radio show.

The Old Radio World website offers these vintage commercials.

The RF Cafe gives us some insight into sound effects, circa 1939.

Wikipedia is the best source for information about programs and actors.

This production of "One Man's Family" links to the Villages Old Time Radio Drama Club's summary of OTR websites. They have other interesting content also.

If you'd like higher fidelity recordings of classic radio, try buying them from RadioSpiritsdotcom.

...

Snopes and Uncle Don.

Fake news is not new. Consider the fact-resistant urban legend of Uncle Don. Every cohort of youngsters since the Silent Generation has repeated how Uncle Don, at the end of his kiddies show in 1928, made a choleric reference to his audience's legitimacy.

Here's an authentic recording of Uncle Don.

By this time, most of the people who've testified to having heard him do it have passed over the bar, and are, presumably, addressing the eternal consequences of their flimflam. Nevertheless, the narrative clings stubbornly to its anti- bona fides.

Uncle Don did not, believing his mike had been turned off, say, "That ought to hold the little bastards."

This doddering story has been "authenticated" by ear-witnesses, and bogus reproductions of old radio shows. It litters the mainstream parts of the Internet so deeply it rivals the Smithsonian's allegations of our sixth president's belief in Mole People.

The Snopes debunking, nearby, is more entertaining than the legend. Please stop passing this canard around. Oh, and the same Internet that gives us an almost trans-finite set of corroborations of the "Little Bastards" incident, also yields up this rare recording of the real Uncle Don. Remarkable.

...

Indiana University gives us Orson Welles famous production of "War of the Worlds." Poke around the site for more quality recordings.

Arkansas Tech University gives us the popular-wisdom version of early radio.

Jeff Porter gives us the skinny on Radio and American culture. Read the introduction, and buy his book, to learn more.

Here's what American Public Media thinks about radio.

Bruce Lenthall, University of Chicago, gives us a Great-Depression-centric tale of radio, complete with alleged mass hysteria.

My mother heard Orson Welles' "War of the Worlds" broadcast and always dismissed the notion of mass hysteria. "They announced it was a just a show." Wikipedia, once again, is the best myth buster.

The Dallas Fort Worth Radio Archives remind us of how radio moved into American life.

Montgomery Ward felt the radio marketing trend shaping up in 1924.

...

Pop up a passport to the full day of broadcasting.

September 21, 1939 was twenty days after the opening shots in World War II, Hitler's invasion of Poland.

The blog "Color My World" gives us some thoughts on the "Full Day", and a link to another nearly full day, on D-Day, 1944.

It was also sixteen days after America's declaration of neutrality, four days after Stalin invaded Poland, the very day Hitler's army ordered the final solution of Poland's "Jewish Problem," six days before German guns on the Siegfried Line attacked France's Maginot Line, one week before Poland's capitulation, and nine days before France fell back to the Maginot Line, awaiting the attack that outflanked them from a different direction.

September 21, 1939, was also the day Washington DC radio station WJSV used the primitive recording technology of the time to preserve an entire day of broadcasting. The recording was a joint project by WJSV and the National Archives. The original mechanical transcription discs have remained in the National Archives, and are now available to us via Internet files.

The recordings provide a unique emersion in American popular culture at a hinge moment in our collective memory. We are a click away from hearing what Americans of that time heard, and visualizing the mental images that informed and entertained them.

...

Radio Stars magazine kept everyone up to date on who was who in the ether.

This researcher has given us access to old newspaper radio logs. How cool is that?

Here is yet another source of old radio programs you can stream free of charge.

Finally, here is the Internet grandaddy of them all, the original Classic Radio web site by Jim Widner.

You'll probably want to get the entire series. Who wouldn't?

Back to the Attic

Who in the world cares about Radio?

You could send us an email if you prefer

X

Jack Armstrong, The Real All American Boy

By JOSH GETLIN

June 12, 1985 12 AM PT

LA Times Staff Writer

Jack L. Armstrong, an Air Force colonel who pioneered the use of nuclear energy in space and whose name was the inspiration for the "All American Boy" radio hero of the 1930s, died Monday in Laguna Niguel after a long illness. He was 74.

Jack Armstrong and his future wife were at Pearl Harbor.

During a 21-year military career, Armstrong was a prominent advocate of the non-military uses of atomic power. He played a key role in developing programs that led to the launching of the nation's first nuclear-fueled satellite in 1961.

Following his retirement from the Air Force the same year, Armstrong worked for the Rocketdyne Division of North American Rockwell (now Rockwell International) in Los Angeles and helped develop the powerful engines that were later used in the Apollo and Gemini space programs, according to his son, James.

However, the much-decorated officer is best remembered by his name--a catchy moniker that became familiar to millions of radio listeners as "Jack Armstrong: The All-American Boy."

During the early 1930s, General Mills advertising executives wanted to develop a radio show hero who would somehow represent "All-American virtues . . . of courage, a sense of humor and the championing of ideals," said James Armstrong.

"Sammy Gale, a company executive, had been a roommate in college of my father's, and he decided to use the name 'Jack Armstrong' because it seemed to convey all of that," he added.

Like the Wheaties-eating hero named after him, Armstrong saw combat action all over the world. He entered the Army Air Forces as a 2nd lieutenant in July, 1941, and was stationed at Pearl Harbor at the outbreak of World War II.

After the war, Armstrong was assigned by the Air Force to the newly formed Atomic Energy Commission. Rising to the rank of colonel, he began developing programs such as SNAP (Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power) that eventually led to the launching of the nation's first atomic-powered satellite.

Armstrong's work with the space program frequently brought him to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) center in Houston, where he "was often on television . . . . I always remember watching him at the space center, in that room with all the technicians and the many television screens," said James. "He was involved with many of those programs, from the first launches to the moon landing programs . . . . I think I have more memorabilia from the astronauts, more autographs from individual astronauts, than anyone," he added.

Armstrong grew up in Minneapolis and received a degree in civil engineering from the University of Minnesota in 1933.

He is survived by his wife, Audrey, his son, and his mother, Evelyn Armstrong.

Memorial services are scheduled for Thursday at 11 a.m. at the United Methodist Church in South Laguna. The services will be followed by full military honors at Riverside National Cemetery at 3 p.m.

X

Full Day of Broadcasting, September 21, 1939

Here's how the Radio Archives remember the day.

The program schedule, at right, comes courtesy of Wikipedia, and the audio links, below, come from the Old Time Radio Archives.

WJSV broadcast day schedule

WJSV signed on at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on Thursday, September 21, 1939, with the opening announcement:

Good morning. This is station WJSV, owned and operated by the Columbia Broadcasting System, with studios in the Earle Building at 13th and E Streets, NW, in the City of Washington. Our transmitting facilities are on the Mount Vernon Memorial Boulevard in historic Alexandria, Virginia, on property leased from the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railway company. Station WJSV operates on a frequency of 1460 kilocycles by authority of the Federal Communications Commission.

Note: All times are Eastern Standard Time.
Local WJSV programming is highlighted in yellow. CBS network-sourced programming is highlighted in green.

Time
(Duration) WJSV's September 21, 1939 Schedule Program Source and
Program Type Primary Sponsoring Product Additional Information

6:00 AM
(30 min.) Sign-on / Sundial Local programming:
Recorded music Sustaining
(i.e. unsponsored) A period of dead air occurred between approximately 6:14 and 6:23 a.m. when the station left the air "to make technical adjustments."

6:30 AM
(120 min.) Sundial continues, joined by host Arthur Godfrey.
A 5-minute Arrow News Reporter aired at 8:00 a.m. Local programming:
Live talk, news, and recorded music Various national and local advertisers Joe King of WJSV was the 8:00 a.m. reporter.
Network note: This local programming pre-empted the CBS network's Richard Maxwell (8:00 a.m.) music program and Meet the Dixons (8:15 a.m.) serial drama.

8:30 AM
(15 min.) Certified Magic Carpet Local programming:
Audience quiz
(transcribed) Certified Bread Note: Host John Charles Daly calls himself simply "Charles Daly" when doing this local program. It was recorded a block away at the Willard Hotel with members of the local Soroptimist Club.
Network note: This pre-empted CBS's Manhattan Mother serial drama.

8:45 AM
(15 min.) Bachelor's Children CBS network:
Serial drama Old Dutch cleanser Today's story: A discussion of plans to bring a bill before the legislature for a proposed sanitarium.

9:00 AM
(15 min.) Pretty Kitty Kelly CBS network:
Serial drama Wonder Bread Today's story: Kitty is in jail for murder and foreign spies are suspected. A search continues for the gun.

9:15 AM
(15 min.) Myrt and Marge CBS network:
Serial drama Super Suds granulated soap Narrator: "The world of the theater, and the world of life, and the story of two women who seek fame in the one and contentment in the other."
Today's story: Work on a new show begins, but there are concerns.

9:30 AM
(15 min.) Hilltop House CBS network:
Serial drama Palmolive soap Narrator: "The story of a woman who must choose between love and the career of raising other women's children."
Today's story: John's detested sister-in-law has a request.

9:45 AM
(15 min.) Stepmother CBS network:
Serial drama Colgate tooth powder Narrator: "Can a stepmother successfully raise another woman's children?"
Today's story: Mrs. Clark plots a dastardly scheme.

10:00 AM
(15 min.) CBS News report / Mary Lee Taylor CBS network:
CBS news / Cooking recipes Pet Evaporated Milk< Robert Trout reported the war news. Because a sponsor, and not the network, in effect "owned" a giventime period, CBS thanked the Pet Milk company for relinquishing part of its time.
Today's recipe: Stuffed vanilla wafers.

10:15 AM
(15 min.) Brenda Curtis CBS network:
Serial drama Campbell's chicken noodle soup Today's story: Brenda has a chance to return to the stage. But her husband objects, even as he worries over a court case.

10:30 AM
(15 min.) Big Sister CBS network:
Serial drama Rinso soap powder Today's story: A marriage approaches, and concern arises over a child's mystery illness.

10:45 AM
(15 min.) Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories CBS network:
Week-long dramatic stories Spry vegetable shortening This week's story: A woman is conflicted between two men. Tomorrow, the solution is revealed.
Narrator: "True names are never used in Spry's Real Life Stories."

11:00 AM
(15 min.) Jean Abbey Local programming:
Woman's Home Companion radio shopper Items at S. Kann Sons (Kann's) department store Note: "Jean Abbey" was a pseudonym for Meredith Howard, who often used it for broadcasting and publishing purposes.
Network note: This local program pre-empted CBS's serial drama Joyce Jordan, Girl Interne, which on Tuesdays and Thursdays ran unsponsored on the network. (Local program listings from that period show that some stations aired alternate shows on those two days, others did not.)

11:15 AM
(15 min.) CBS network:
Serial drama >Prudential Insurance Company of America Narrator: "Dedicated to all those who are in love ... and to those who can remember."
Today's story: A new apartment, marriage news, and Andy is holding on to an incriminating letter.

11:30 AM
(15 min.) The Romance of Helen Trent CBS network:
Serial drama Angelus lipstick Today's story: Helen's plans to open a dress shop compel her to take on an unwanted employee.

11:45 AM
(15 min.) Our Gal, Sunday CBS network:
Serial drama Anacin aspirin Narrator: "The story that asks the question, 'Can this girl from a little mining town in the West find happiness as the wife of a wealthy and titled Englishman?' "
Today's story: Hospital plans, and a surprising transfer request.

12:00 PM
(15 min.) The Goldbergs CBS network:
Serial drama Today's story: The Goldbergs are being driven back to New York by a mysterious and unsettling driver.
Sponsor note: Procter & Gamble, a major radio advertiser, sponsored all four shows that made up the following one-hour programming block.

12:15 PM
(15 min.) Life Can Be Beautiful CBS network:
Serial drama IvoryFlakes soap flakes Today's story: Good news comes after a difficult search for work.

12:30 PM
(15 min.) Road of Life CBS network:
Serial drama Chipso soap flakes Narrator: "Dr. Brent, call surgery. Dr. Brent, call surgery. Dr. Brent, call surgery ..."
Today's story: The murder trial begins for an eleven-year-old boy.

12:45 PM
(15 min.) This Day is Ours CBS network:
Serial drama Crisco vegetable shortening Today's story: Eleanor worries that marrying her unemployed boyfriend could leave her as bitter as her friend.

1:00 PM
(15 min.) Sunshine Reporter Local programming:
News Sunshine Krispy crackers Hugh Conover of WJSV reports.
(The first couple of minutes of this program are absent.)
Network note: This local program pre-empted CBS's Doc Barclay's Daughters.

1:15 PM
(15 min.) The Life and Love of Dr. Susan CBS network:
Serial drama Lux toilet soap Today's story: Dr. Susan Chandler helps out a baseball player, but makes an enemy of the mayor's wife.

1:30 PM
(15 min.) Your Family and Mine CBS network:
Serial drama Sealtest, Inc.dairy products Today's story: Judy stands by Woody, hoping an operation has restored his eyesight, even as Steve proclaims his love for her.

1:45 PM
(75 min.) "Cash-and-Carry" speech

President Roosevelt's address to a special joint session of Congress, calling for an end to the United States' arms embargo on warring nations CBS network:
News special Unsponsored Preceded by interviews by CBS's Albert Warner with Sen. Warren Austin, Rep. Bruce Barton, and Sen. James Byrnes.
Followed-up by the concluding portion of a live speech by shortwave by French Premier Daladier (in French), and then a brief English summary translation.
Network note: The CBS network's 15-minute music program Mellow Moments, planned for 1:45 p.m, was pre-empted. Also pre-empted was the weekly 2:00 p.m. 30-minute CBS network program of United States Army Band music. In addition, a planned 2:30 p.m. 30-minute Pan-American Day speech by Cordell Hull, the U.S. Secretary of State, from the New York World's Fair was rescheduled to the next day. (The speech would have pre-empted the usual weekly 2:30 p.m. 30-minute CBS network music program featuring Clyde Barrie and the Leon Goldman ensemble.)

3:00 PM
(10 min.) Follow-up interviews Local programming:
News analysis and interviews Unsponsored Follow-up interviews by CBS's Albert Warner for WJSV with Rep. William B. Bankhead (Speaker of the House), Rep. J. William Ditter, and Rep. Mary Norton<.

3:10 PM
(15 min.) The Career of Alice Blair Local programming:
Syndicated serial drama (transcribed) Daggett and Ramsdell cold cream Postponed from its usual 2:00 p.m. D.C. airing.
Network note: The local WJSV programming which ran from 3:00 to 3:45 pre-empted both a CBS network's sports special airing of the Mont d'Or Handicap handicap horse race at Belmont Park plus the CBS network's Alabama Polytechnic Roundtable, a special broadcast featuring a discussion between agricultural and manufacturing interests.
Today's story: Alice is wary of the neighbor with whom her uncle has tea.

3:25 PM
(5 min.) Arrow News Reporter Local programming:
News Arrow Beer Joe King of WJSV did the reporting.
Postponed from its usual 2:15 p.m. D.C. airing.

3:30 PM
(15 min.) Rhythm and Romance Local programming:
Transcribed music Zlotnick the Furrier
Manhattan Laundry
The Women (1939) Program's narration provided by Joe King (WJSV).
Postponed from its usual 2:20 p.m. D.C. airing.

3:45 PM
(15 min.) Scattergood Baines CBS network:
Serial drama
(transcribed from the previous day) Wrigley's spearmint gum Postponed from its usual 1:45 p.m. D.C. airing (as a delayed broadcast of the live 4:45 p.m. CBS airing of the previous day.)
Network note: This local WJSV broadcast pre-empted a CBS network music presentation of the Four Clubmen music program.
Today's story: A scheme to rid the town of a gambler continues.

4:00 PM
(77 min.) Washington Senators baseball game—Cleveland Indians at Washington
(joined in progress) Local programming:
Sports Wheaties< cereal Joined in progress in the last half of the 4th inning. The WJSV sports announcer was Harry McTigue and Walter Johnson did the play-by-play. Cleveland won 6-3, and a case of Wheaties was awarded to Washington player Charlie Gelbert for his 7th inning home run.
Network note: This local WJSV broadcast pre-empted several CBS network programs, which, according to other cities' listings from that day, began with Genevieve Rowe. The pre-emptions continued with Patterns in Swing, March of Games, Scattergood Baines< and the news with Edwin C. Hill.

5:17 PM
(13 min.) The World Dances Local programming:
Transcribed music Equitable Credit Co. Postponed from its usual 5:00 p.m. D.C. airing.
Network note: This local program pre-empted the CBS network's 5:15 p.m. news broadcast by H. V. Kaltenborn (CBS News).

5:30 PM
(5 min.) Arrow News Reporter Local programming:
News Arrow Beer Hugh Conover of WJSV did the reporting.
Network note: The local WJSV programming which ran this day from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. pre-empted the CBS network's special religious broadcast, the .

5:35 PM
(10 min.) Time Out Local programming:
Organ interlude Zlotnick the Furrier Performed on a Hammond electric organ by Johnny Salb, WJSV staff organist.

5:45 PM
(15 min.) Goodrich Sports Reporter Local programming:
Sports news B. F. Goodrich Reported by WJSV sports announcer Harry McTigue.
WJSV note: Local newspapers continued to cite the name of the previous host, former WJSV sports announcer Arch McDonald, in their daily radio listings, even though McDonald had left D.C. to broadcast baseball games in New York (he would return after a single baseball season.)
Network note: This local sports report would normally pre-empt CBS's Judith Arlen's Penthouse Blues.

6:00 PM
(15 min.) Amos 'n' Andy CBS network:
Serial comedy/drama Campbell's Tomato soup The network feed of this show had an initial 3-minute gap which was covered locally by a transcribed organ interlude.
Today's story: Complications arise over a singing recital.

6:15 PM
(15 min.) The Parker Family CBS network:
Comedy Woodbury facial soap This week: Junior mistakenly believes his parents are divorcing. Hilarity ensues.

6:30 PM
(30 min.) Joe E. Brown CBS network:
Comedy/variety Post Toasties cereal Comedy sketches and music. With Frank Gill and Bill Demling (Gill and Demling), Margaret McCrae, Paula Winslow, and Harry Sosnik and his Orchestra. The announcer was Don Wilson<.

7:00 PM
(30 min.) Ask-It Basket CBS network:
Audience quiz Colgate dental cream Four contestants were selected from the audience. A sailor, a student, a stenographer and a department store buyer competed for cash by answering questions sent in by the radio audience. Hosted by Jim McWilliams.

7:30 PM
(25 min.) Strange as It Seems CBS network:
Human interest Palmolive shave cream Stories were told that ranged from the unusual to the inspirational. The show was based on the cartoon panel of the same name. Hosted by Alois Havrilla<.

7:55 PM
(5 min.) Elmer Davis and the News CBS network:
News (Sustaining) Today's war-related news.

8:00 PM
(60 min.) Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour CBS network:
Talent contest Chrysler products, this week featuring the new 1940 Plymouth< This night's contestants consisted of an assortment of musicians, vocalists and one young tap dancer. This week's designated "honor city" was Mansfield, Ohio. Bowes read a profile of the city, and Mansfield residents had a dedicated phone number for voting.
Note: The performance of "Over the Rainbow<" was one of several musical numbers heard on this broadcast day which came from the just-released The Wizard of Oz movie.

9:00 PM
(30 min.) Columbia Workshop Festival CBS network:
Radio play (Sustaining) This week's episode, part of the Workshop's third annual summer festival, featured Now It's Summer, an original radio play by Arthur Kober.
Network note: The radio play originally planned for this date was Timothy Dexter by J. P. Marquand. Coincidentally, Dexter's unusual dealings were profiled earlier in the evening on a segment of Strange as It Seems.

9:30 PM
(30 min.) Americans at Work CBS network:
Educational (Sustaining) This series was presented by the CBS Department of Education as part of CBS's Adult Education Series. This week's episode explored the work of five different auctioneers.
Network note: This episode had initially been scheduled for Saturday, September 23.

10:00 PM
(5 min.) Arrow News Reporter Local programming:
News Arrow Beer Hugh Conover of WJSV did the reporting.

10:05 PM
(10 min.) The Human Side of the News CBS network:
CBS news Amoco gasoline products Reported by Edwin C. Hill.
Updates on the war in Europe.

10:15 PM
(15 min.) Streamline Interlude Local programming:
Transcribed music Zlotnick the Furrier Network note: This local program pre-empted the CBS network's presentation of Cab Calloway's Orchestra.

10:30 PM
(15 min.) Mid-Week Review Local programming:
News analysis (Sustaining) Presented by CBS's D.C. correspondent, Albert Warner.
Note: In spite of Warner's network connections, program listings show that this was a local weekly program< which pre-empted the first half of CBS's presentation of Hal Kemp's Orchestra.

10:45 PM
(36 min.) Rebroadcast of President Roosevelt's address to a special session of Congress Local programming:
Political speech
(transcribed) Unsponsored Network note: This local rebroadcast pre-empted the second half of the CBS network's presentation of Hal Kemp's Orchestra, and most of the subsequent CBS program, Jerry Livingston's Orchestra.

11:21 PM
(9 min.) Jerry Livingston's Orchestra (joined in progress) CBS network:
Orchestra remote (Sustaining) Joined in progress with 9 minutes remaining.
Originating from Mother Kelly's Miami Room in New York City.

11:30 PM
(30 min.) Teddy Powell's Orchestra CBS network:
Orchestra remote (Sustaining) Originating from the Famous Doornightclub in New York City.

12:00 AM
(30 min.) Louis Prima's Orchestra CBS network:
Orchestra remote (Sustaining) Originating from the Hickory House in New York City.

12:30 AM
(25 min.) Bob Chester's Orchestra CBS network:
Orchestra remote (Sustaining) Originating from the Mayfair Restaurant of the Hotel Van Cleve in Dayton, Ohio.

12:55 AM
(5 min.) CBS News CBS network:
News (Sustaining) Presented by George Putnam, CBS news correspondent.

1:00 AM
(3 min.) Weather / National Anthem / Sign-off Local programming

Time (Duration)	WJSV's September 21, 1939 Schedule	Program Source and Program Type	Primary Sponsoring Product	Additional Information
6:00 AM (30 min.)	Sign-on / Sundial	Local programming: Recorded music	Sustaining (i.e. unsponsored)	A period of dead air occurred between approximately 6:14 and 6:23 a.m. when the station left the air "to make technical adjustments."
6:30 AM (120 min.)	Sundial continues, joined by host Arthur Godfrey. A 5-minute Arrow News Reporter aired at 8:00 a.m.	Local programming: Live talk, news, and recorded music	Various national and local advertisers	Joe King of WJSV was the 8:00 a.m. reporter. Network note: This local programming pre-empted the CBS network's Richard Maxwell (8:00 a.m.) music program and Meet the Dixons (8:15 a.m.) serial drama.
8:30 AM (15 min.)	Certified Magic Carpet	Local programming: Audience quiz (transcribed)	Certified Bread	Note: Host John Charles Daly calls himself simply "Charles Daly" when doing this local program. It was recorded a block away at the Willard Hotel with members of the local Soroptimist Club. Network note: This pre-empted CBS's Manhattan Mother serial drama.
8:45 AM (15 min.)	Bachelor's Children	CBS network: Serial drama	Old Dutch cleanser	Today's story: A discussion of plans to bring a bill before the legislature for a proposed sanitarium.
9:00 AM (15 min.)	Pretty Kitty Kelly	CBS network: Serial drama	Wonder Bread	Today's story: Kitty is in jail for murder and foreign spies are suspected. A search continues for the gun.
9:15 AM (15 min.)	Myrt and Marge	CBS network: Serial drama	Super Suds granulated soap	Narrator: "The world of the theater, and the world of life, and the story of two women who seek fame in the one and contentment in the other." Today's story: Work on a new show begins, but there are concerns.
9:30 AM (15 min.)	Hilltop House	CBS network: Serial drama	Palmolive soap	Narrator: "The story of a woman who must choose between love and the career of raising other women's children." Today's story: John's detested sister-in-law has a request.
9:45 AM (15 min.)	Stepmother	CBS network: Serial drama	Colgate tooth powder	Narrator: "Can a stepmother successfully raise another woman's children?" Today's story: Mrs. Clark plots a dastardly scheme.
10:00 AM (15 min.)	CBS News report / Mary Lee Taylor	CBS network: CBS news / Cooking recipes	Pet Evaporated Milk<	Robert Trout reported the war news. Because a sponsor, and not the network, in effect "owned" a giventime period, CBS thanked the Pet Milk company for relinquishing part of its time. Today's recipe: Stuffed vanilla wafers.
10:15 AM (15 min.)	Brenda Curtis	CBS network: Serial drama	Campbell's chicken noodle soup	Today's story: Brenda has a chance to return to the stage. But her husband objects, even as he worries over a court case.
10:30 AM (15 min.)	Big Sister	CBS network: Serial drama	Rinso soap powder	Today's story: A marriage approaches, and concern arises over a child's mystery illness.
10:45 AM (15 min.)	Aunt Jenny's Real Life Stories	CBS network: Week-long dramatic stories	Spry vegetable shortening	This week's story: A woman is conflicted between two men. Tomorrow, the solution is revealed. Narrator: "True names are never used in Spry's Real Life Stories."
11:00 AM (15 min.)	Jean Abbey	Local programming: Woman's Home Companion radio shopper	Items at S. Kann Sons (Kann's) department store	Note: "Jean Abbey" was a pseudonym for Meredith Howard, who often used it for broadcasting and publishing purposes. Network note: This local program pre-empted CBS's serial drama Joyce Jordan, Girl Interne, which on Tuesdays and Thursdays ran unsponsored on the network. (Local program listings from that period show that some stations aired alternate shows on those two days, others did not.)
11:15 AM (15 min.)		CBS network: Serial drama	>Prudential Insurance Company of America	Narrator: "Dedicated to all those who are in love ... and to those who can remember." Today's story: A new apartment, marriage news, and Andy is holding on to an incriminating letter.
11:30 AM (15 min.)	The Romance of Helen Trent	CBS network: Serial drama	Angelus lipstick	Today's story: Helen's plans to open a dress shop compel her to take on an unwanted employee.
11:45 AM (15 min.)	Our Gal, Sunday	CBS network: Serial drama	Anacin aspirin	Narrator: "The story that asks the question, 'Can this girl from a little mining town in the West find happiness as the wife of a wealthy and titled Englishman?' " Today's story: Hospital plans, and a surprising transfer request.
12:00 PM (15 min.)	The Goldbergs	CBS network: Serial drama		Today's story: The Goldbergs are being driven back to New York by a mysterious and unsettling driver. Sponsor note: Procter & Gamble, a major radio advertiser, sponsored all four shows that made up the following one-hour programming block.
12:15 PM (15 min.)	Life Can Be Beautiful	CBS network: Serial drama	IvoryFlakes soap flakes	Today's story: Good news comes after a difficult search for work.
12:30 PM (15 min.)	Road of Life	CBS network: Serial drama	Chipso soap flakes	Narrator: "Dr. Brent, call surgery. Dr. Brent, call surgery. Dr. Brent, call surgery ..." Today's story: The murder trial begins for an eleven-year-old boy.
12:45 PM (15 min.)	This Day is Ours	CBS network: Serial drama	Crisco vegetable shortening	Today's story: Eleanor worries that marrying her unemployed boyfriend could leave her as bitter as her friend.
1:00 PM (15 min.)	Sunshine Reporter	Local programming: News	Sunshine Krispy crackers	Hugh Conover of WJSV reports. (The first couple of minutes of this program are absent.) Network note: This local program pre-empted CBS's Doc Barclay's Daughters.
1:15 PM (15 min.)	The Life and Love of Dr. Susan	CBS network: Serial drama	Lux toilet soap	Today's story: Dr. Susan Chandler helps out a baseball player, but makes an enemy of the mayor's wife.
1:30 PM (15 min.)	Your Family and Mine	CBS network: Serial drama	Sealtest, Inc.dairy products	Today's story: Judy stands by Woody, hoping an operation has restored his eyesight, even as Steve proclaims his love for her.
1:45 PM (75 min.)	"Cash-and-Carry" speech President Roosevelt's address to a special joint session of Congress, calling for an end to the United States' arms embargo on warring nations	CBS network: News special	Unsponsored	Preceded by interviews by CBS's Albert Warner with Sen. Warren Austin, Rep. Bruce Barton, and Sen. James Byrnes. Followed-up by the concluding portion of a live speech by shortwave by French Premier Daladier (in French), and then a brief English summary translation. Network note: The CBS network's 15-minute music program Mellow Moments, planned for 1:45 p.m, was pre-empted. Also pre-empted was the weekly 2:00 p.m. 30-minute CBS network program of United States Army Band music. In addition, a planned 2:30 p.m. 30-minute Pan-American Day speech by Cordell Hull, the U.S. Secretary of State, from the New York World's Fair was rescheduled to the next day. (The speech would have pre-empted the usual weekly 2:30 p.m. 30-minute CBS network music program featuring Clyde Barrie and the Leon Goldman ensemble.)
3:00 PM (10 min.)	Follow-up interviews	Local programming: News analysis and interviews	Unsponsored	Follow-up interviews by CBS's Albert Warner for WJSV with Rep. William B. Bankhead (Speaker of the House), Rep. J. William Ditter, and Rep. Mary Norton<.
3:10 PM (15 min.)	The Career of Alice Blair	Local programming: Syndicated serial drama (transcribed)	Daggett and Ramsdell cold cream	Postponed from its usual 2:00 p.m. D.C. airing. Network note: The local WJSV programming which ran from 3:00 to 3:45 pre-empted both a CBS network's sports special airing of the Mont d'Or Handicap handicap horse race at Belmont Park plus the CBS network's Alabama Polytechnic Roundtable, a special broadcast featuring a discussion between agricultural and manufacturing interests. Today's story: Alice is wary of the neighbor with whom her uncle has tea.
3:25 PM (5 min.)	Arrow News Reporter	Local programming: News	Arrow Beer	Joe King of WJSV did the reporting. Postponed from its usual 2:15 p.m. D.C. airing.
3:30 PM (15 min.)	Rhythm and Romance	Local programming: Transcribed music	Zlotnick the Furrier Manhattan Laundry The Women (1939)	Program's narration provided by Joe King (WJSV). Postponed from its usual 2:20 p.m. D.C. airing.
3:45 PM (15 min.)	Scattergood Baines	CBS network: Serial drama (transcribed from the previous day)	Wrigley's spearmint gum	Postponed from its usual 1:45 p.m. D.C. airing (as a delayed broadcast of the live 4:45 p.m. CBS airing of the previous day.) Network note: This local WJSV broadcast pre-empted a CBS network music presentation of the Four Clubmen music program. Today's story: A scheme to rid the town of a gambler continues.
4:00 PM (77 min.)	Washington Senators baseball game—Cleveland Indians at Washington (joined in progress)	Local programming: Sports	Wheaties< cereal	Joined in progress in the last half of the 4th inning. The WJSV sports announcer was Harry McTigue and Walter Johnson did the play-by-play. Cleveland won 6-3, and a case of Wheaties was awarded to Washington player Charlie Gelbert for his 7th inning home run. Network note: This local WJSV broadcast pre-empted several CBS network programs, which, according to other cities' listings from that day, began with Genevieve Rowe. The pre-emptions continued with Patterns in Swing, March of Games, Scattergood Baines< and the news with Edwin C. Hill.
5:17 PM (13 min.)	The World Dances	Local programming: Transcribed music	Equitable Credit Co.	Postponed from its usual 5:00 p.m. D.C. airing. Network note: This local program pre-empted the CBS network's 5:15 p.m. news broadcast by H. V. Kaltenborn (CBS News).
5:30 PM (5 min.)	Arrow News Reporter	Local programming: News	Arrow Beer	Hugh Conover of WJSV did the reporting. Network note: The local WJSV programming which ran this day from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. pre-empted the CBS network's special religious broadcast, the .
5:35 PM (10 min.)	Time Out	Local programming: Organ interlude	Zlotnick the Furrier	Performed on a Hammond electric organ by Johnny Salb, WJSV staff organist.
5:45 PM (15 min.)	Goodrich Sports Reporter	Local programming: Sports news	B. F. Goodrich	Reported by WJSV sports announcer Harry McTigue. WJSV note: Local newspapers continued to cite the name of the previous host, former WJSV sports announcer Arch McDonald, in their daily radio listings, even though McDonald had left D.C. to broadcast baseball games in New York (he would return after a single baseball season.) Network note: This local sports report would normally pre-empt CBS's Judith Arlen's Penthouse Blues.
6:00 PM (15 min.)	Amos 'n' Andy	CBS network: Serial comedy/drama	Campbell's Tomato soup	The network feed of this show had an initial 3-minute gap which was covered locally by a transcribed organ interlude. Today's story: Complications arise over a singing recital.
6:15 PM (15 min.)	The Parker Family	CBS network: Comedy	Woodbury facial soap	This week: Junior mistakenly believes his parents are divorcing. Hilarity ensues.
6:30 PM (30 min.)	Joe E. Brown	CBS network: Comedy/variety	Post Toasties cereal	Comedy sketches and music. With Frank Gill and Bill Demling (Gill and Demling), Margaret McCrae, Paula Winslow, and Harry Sosnik and his Orchestra. The announcer was Don Wilson<.
7:00 PM (30 min.)	Ask-It Basket	CBS network: Audience quiz	Colgate dental cream	Four contestants were selected from the audience. A sailor, a student, a stenographer and a department store buyer competed for cash by answering questions sent in by the radio audience. Hosted by Jim McWilliams.
7:30 PM (25 min.)	Strange as It Seems	CBS network: Human interest	Palmolive shave cream	Stories were told that ranged from the unusual to the inspirational. The show was based on the cartoon panel of the same name. Hosted by Alois Havrilla<.
7:55 PM (5 min.)	Elmer Davis and the News	CBS network: News	(Sustaining)	Today's war-related news.
8:00 PM (60 min.)	Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour	CBS network: Talent contest	Chrysler products, this week featuring the new 1940 Plymouth<	This night's contestants consisted of an assortment of musicians, vocalists and one young tap dancer. This week's designated "honor city" was Mansfield, Ohio. Bowes read a profile of the city, and Mansfield residents had a dedicated phone number for voting. Note: The performance of "Over the Rainbow<" was one of several musical numbers heard on this broadcast day which came from the just-released The Wizard of Oz movie.
9:00 PM (30 min.)	Columbia Workshop Festival	CBS network: Radio play	(Sustaining)	This week's episode, part of the Workshop's third annual summer festival, featured Now It's Summer, an original radio play by Arthur Kober. Network note: The radio play originally planned for this date was Timothy Dexter by J. P. Marquand. Coincidentally, Dexter's unusual dealings were profiled earlier in the evening on a segment of Strange as It Seems.
9:30 PM (30 min.)	Americans at Work	CBS network: Educational	(Sustaining)	This series was presented by the CBS Department of Education as part of CBS's Adult Education Series. This week's episode explored the work of five different auctioneers. Network note: This episode had initially been scheduled for Saturday, September 23.
10:00 PM (5 min.)	Arrow News Reporter	Local programming: News	Arrow Beer	Hugh Conover of WJSV did the reporting.
10:05 PM (10 min.)	The Human Side of the News	CBS network: CBS news	Amoco gasoline products	Reported by Edwin C. Hill. Updates on the war in Europe.
10:15 PM (15 min.)	Streamline Interlude	Local programming: Transcribed music	Zlotnick the Furrier	Network note: This local program pre-empted the CBS network's presentation of Cab Calloway's Orchestra.
10:30 PM (15 min.)	Mid-Week Review	Local programming: News analysis	(Sustaining)	Presented by CBS's D.C. correspondent, Albert Warner. Note: In spite of Warner's network connections, program listings show that this was a local weekly program< which pre-empted the first half of CBS's presentation of Hal Kemp's Orchestra.
10:45 PM (36 min.)	Rebroadcast of President Roosevelt's address to a special session of Congress	Local programming: Political speech (transcribed)	Unsponsored	Network note: This local rebroadcast pre-empted the second half of the CBS network's presentation of Hal Kemp's Orchestra, and most of the subsequent CBS program, Jerry Livingston's Orchestra.
11:21 PM (9 min.)	Jerry Livingston's Orchestra (joined in progress)	CBS network: Orchestra remote	(Sustaining)	Joined in progress with 9 minutes remaining. Originating from Mother Kelly's Miami Room in New York City.
11:30 PM (30 min.)	Teddy Powell's Orchestra	CBS network: Orchestra remote	(Sustaining)	Originating from the Famous Doornightclub in New York City.
12:00 AM (30 min.)	Louis Prima's Orchestra	CBS network: Orchestra remote	(Sustaining)	Originating from the Hickory House in New York City.
12:30 AM (25 min.)	Bob Chester's Orchestra	CBS network: Orchestra remote	(Sustaining)	Originating from the Mayfair Restaurant of the Hotel Van Cleve in Dayton, Ohio.
12:55 AM (5 min.)	CBS News	CBS network: News	(Sustaining)	Presented by George Putnam, CBS news correspondent.
1:00 AM (3 min.)	Weather / National Anthem / Sign-off	Local programming