Old Radio

By definition, all Radio Stars are voice actors. No one had as many voices as Mel Blanc . Or perhaps, all those voices had Mel Blanc . Several voice actors have been called “the man of a thousand voices” with some degree of exaggeration. Mel's son, Noel, claimed that Mel's count was closer to 1500. Mel was born in San Francisco, the second son of Frank and Eva Blanc, on May 30, 1908. The family moved to Portland, OR, where Mel attended Lincoln High school. Mel has been always fond of making up voices and clowning. At the age of 16,  he decided to change his last name because a teacher warned him that he could end up that way, a Blank, a nothing. It is hard to imagine someone as good natured being kept down by such a prediction. He began working in vaudeville throughout the Northwest, and at 17 was the youngest orchestra conductor in the country. Mel's radio career began at KGW in Portland on the show The Hoot Owls. Mel became  popular with his ability to so many voic...

Kate Smith was born on this day in 1907, and it's not every day we get to celebrate the birth of the First Lady of Radio. The Kate Smith Show  featured not only Smith's rich voice but comedy skits, musical performances, even drama. Guests included Gene Kelley , Al Jolson , Dorothy Lamour , and Ed Sullivan . What's more, Henny Youngman served as regulars, delivering their now legendary radio comedy . Some of you may remember a lesser-known program, Kate Smith Speaks, on which "The Songbird of the South" gave her opinions on current events issues. One thing you may not know about her was that it was she who introduced the public to Irving Berlin's rousing anthem "God Bless America" in 1938. Happy Birthday, first lady!

May 1, 1931: The start of singer Kate Smith 's long and rosy radio career on CBS coincided with this, her birthday. Smith, then 22, had to do her nationally broadcast daily program with no sponsors and a measly pay of $10 a week (equivalent of $149 in 2012 economics). But in a month's time, her pay rose to $1,500 a week, (equivalent to $22,466 in 2012 economics)-quite an improvement from when she started out! Kate Smith was a great American singer. She had sung at the opening of sport events and could amazed the audience and official crew including the player. They said ""It ain't BEGUN 'til the fat lady sings!"" Smith was 5'10"" tall and weighed 235 pounds at the age of 30. In he autobiography, she mentioned that she was Living in a Great Big Way. She assinged Ted Collins to help he wrote he autobiography. Smith was a pioneer star of radio, usually accompanied by Jack Miller's Orchestra. Her debut program was twice-a-week N...