Re: Sinatra the Radio Man

[Donna Halper <dlh@donnahalper.com>]

Dan wrote--
>
>Wow. Another dynamite, well researched post. Donna, you'd better watch out!
>It looks as if the title of de-facto Boston Radio Historian is "in play".
>You just may have met your match :-)
>
The late great Rick Sklar of WABC once said when he was asked if he was
worried his competition, "There IS no competition."  He went on to explain
that he simply put forth the best product he could and did not spend much
time worrying about what everybody else was doing.  As for me, I am
delighted to have other historians on the list, as I love to learn new
things from new perspectives.  I've even learnt a few things from your
posts, Dan!!!
 
You then asked about the WLAW network affiliation.  I have many clippings
from the Lawrence Eagle Tribune (which owend WLAW), so they will probably be
the best resource for what the station was doing.  I'll check back through
them and see what they said about their CBS affiliation.  In the 1943 Radio
Annual (which reflects what occurred in 1942), the big WLAW ad states that
the station is "Columbia's Voice in Northern New England."  Since ABC as a
network did not exist yet when WLAW went on the air on 19 December 1937, it
is safe to say they were not originally with ABC!!!  Eventually, WLAW did
change-- as did many stations in those days.  Shepard changed WNAC so often
that CBS tried to sue him, according to Variety... he wanted to pick and
choose what he carried, using Mutual, CBS, and any NBC programming that WBZ
didn't want!  Needless to say, this did not make his competitors terribly
happy.  More on WLAW after I check my clip file.  With more historians now
on the list, I need to be extra careful not to compromise what little
credibility I have! <g>  

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End of boston-radio-interest-digest V2 #81
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