Talk shows through the ages

[thomas heathwood]

Think Russ (Butler) is thinking of Jim Fitzgerald who did a 40's music / telephone calls (one-way) show at midnight on WVOM live from the Hotel Commander weeknights.  He always answered the callers:  "Hello Telephone!"
Don't think the WVDA Hotel Bradford studio were in the old WBZ studios.  One was on the 6th floor and the other
was on the 10th floor - can't remember which was which.
Tom Heathwood    HeritageRadio@msn.com<mailto:HeritageRadio@msn.com>      8/30

----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Donna Halper<mailto:dlh@donnahalper.com> 
  To: Dan Strassberg<mailto:dan.strassberg@att.net> ; brouder@juno.com<mailto:brouder@juno.com> ; Roger Kirk<mailto:rogerkirk@ttlc.net> 
  Cc: boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org<mailto:boston-radio-interest@lists.BostonRadio.org> 
  Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 12:41 PM
  Subject: Re: Talk shows through the ages


  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.