Talk shows through the ages

[Donna Halper]

At 12:44 PM 8/30/2007, Dan Strassberg wrote:
>Aah, but the issue was who did the first TWO-WAY telephone talk show and
>where. Almost two decades later, Feller was still doing shows in which he
>paraphrased and repeated the caller's words over the air. I could be wrong,
>but I don't believe he EVER did TWO-WAY telephone talk--where the listeners
>could hear the callers as well as the host, almost live, or live if you
>don't count the seven-second (or so) delay.

Yes that's how it used to be done-- Ed and Wendy King had a very 
popular talk show on KDKA in Pittsburgh in the late 40s, if I recall 
correctly, and that's what they had to do-- paraphrase what the 
caller said and then reply.  SO was that due to technical issues?  I 
mean, in the 1940s, was it impossible technically to put a call on 
the air and have it sound good? Or was this a carry-over from earlier 
FCC and FRC decisions?   I ask because in the 1920s, the Department 
of Commerce ruled that calls could NOT be put on the air because they 
considered that "point to point communication," which was reserved 
for ham radio... broadcasting was supposed to differentiate itself by 
reaching out to a mass audience.