enjoying the new Jerry Williams book

[rj carpenter]

Dan.Strassberg wrote:
> I guess the young announcer was hired by CBS, all right, but not 
> right away in New York; he remained in DC for several years.

Godfrey moved to WJSV in the early/mid 30s, signing on the station from
the transmitter which was near the present location of National
Airport.  A tour of the present 1500 building usually includes being
shouwn the transmitter / program log signed by Godfrey.

> I don't know whether the WJSV calls gave way to WTOP before, after, 
> or coincident with NARBA (3/31/1941), which was when the DC station 
> moved up from 1460 to 1500. (Around the time of NARBA, WTOP also 
> increased to 50 kW.) The move to Wheaton, MD, coincided with the
> increase to 50 kW. and three-tower DA. Western Electric used to show
> the transmitter room in their glossy ads.

The WTOP call appeared during WW2, IIRC.

> But when I was a kid growing up in New York City in the '40s, 
> Godfrey's AM-drive program at first orignated in DC and was heard on 
> both WTOP and the old WABC 880 (now WCBS (AM)). After a while (still 
> in the '40s), Godfrey moved the show to New York. At that point, I 
> don't know whether or not WTOP still also carried it.

It was duplicated for at least a while after he went to NYC in the 40s,
then the DC mornings were hosted by Mark Evans (Marcus Austad). I 
remember my aunt was a regular Godfrey listener as had been my 
grandmother before she died in 1942.

> But Godfrey himself was most assuredly still heard in DC (and on 
> WTOP) because by then he was doing at least one show on the CBS 
> network in addition to the AM drive show in NYC (and maybe also in 
> DC). Now, curiously, CBS may not yet have owned WTOP at that time, 
> but it very definitely was the CBS affiliate for DC, northern VA, and
>  parts of MD.

CBS bought WJSV in the early-mid 30s.  They sold half to the Washington
Post in the 40s and then the remaining half.

> All of the networks were handicapped by the FCC's ownership limits, 
> which prevented them from owning more than six stations nationally 
> (later expanded to seven and then to seven AMs and seven FMs).

But CBS originated a lot of news from WJSV/WTOP, even after the Post was
in ownership.


bob c.