The Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia

It appears by looking at the Daily Program Sheet that this was when CBS had dropped many programs such as the soap operas and others leaving hours of time without network service thus began the downfall of radio. It was filled by playing music hour after hour and naming the shows after the announcers, i.e., The Bill Bransome Show, The George Thomas Show, etc. Creighton Stewart is gone. What a crime! Mike Grant, a former announcer, became Program Director and he believed in this crap. This was when Doug Arthur came from WIBG to play his brand of awful progressive jazz. A nice man though and easy to work with all the time. He was always properly prepared, neat, etc.

Here's a program from 1958 called, "World on Parade," a news commentary program aired over WCAU Radio in Philadelphia. George Lord is normally the host. However, listen carefully a the end. The announcer is John Trent who is reading copy that has George Lord's name in it. Trent reads the copy as it was written. Only, he realizes that he just said that he, Trent, was George Lord. So at the very end, he adds, "This is John Trent filling in."

Be advised! The original tape made from the original transcription recording was full of pops, clicks and an extreme amount of surface noise (both hiss and hum). On the original, you could hardly hear John's voice and quite often, you had no idea what he was saying. We have cleaned the audio so, at least, it is now understandable. While it isn't perfect (not even close), it is audible and listenable.

From the official archives of the Broadcast Pioneers of Philadelphia
Audio originally donated by Broadcast Pioneers member Michael Muderick
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