He was a respected Broadway thespian who depended on radio to pay the bills…and for Raymond Edward Johnson, born on this date in 1911, his contributions to the aural medium would make him immortal in the eyes of old-time radio fans.  Of particular interest was an over-the-top horror program known as Inner Sanctum Mysteries, which […]

The man who let audiences know what he liked about the South would have celebrated his 109th birthday today.  When wife Alice Faye would jokingly refer to him as “Wonga” on their popular radio comedy program, she was, in fact, addressing him by his given birth name: Wonga Phil Harris.   Phil Harris was a […]

In the 1949 Looney Tunes short Curtain Razor, cartoon star Porky Pig channels his inner Major Bowes by auditioning acts at a talent agency.  One client, a turtle, brags that he is “the man of a thousand voices”—and goes through his repertoire (including Lionel Barrymore and Bugs Bunny) for the porcine agent.  The only problem […]

Seventy-six years ago on this date, a program that would soon become the number one radio show in the nation premiered over the Red network of NBC.  The Chase and Sanborn Hour was big-time radio: it featured the likes of Nelson Eddy, Don Ameche, Dorothy Lamour and W.C. Fields—all of whom were audience pleasers at […]

One hundred and seven years ago on this date in New York City, Samuel and Margaret Benaderet welcomed one of radio and TV’s finest supporting comedic talents into the world.  Their daughter Beatrice—or Bea, as she was better known—would use her vocal gifts (including a one-of-a-kind giggle) on shows headlined by major radio-TV personalities like […]

One of old-time radio’s true blue veterans—not to mention one of the preeminent voice artists of any generation—celebrates her 89th birthday today.  Janet Waldo, whose instantly recognizable voice has been heard since the 1930s on radio, television and movies, is still active in show business today as one of the performers on the weekly radio […]

Francis Albert Sinatra—Oscar-winning actor, Grammy-winning recording artist, and star of the Emmy Award-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music (1965)—would have celebrated his 97th birthday today.  A retrospective of his amazing career would eat up more than the allotted bandwidth of the Internet…so Radio Spirits thought a focus on Ol’ Blue Eyes’ relationship […]

Eugene Curran “Gene” Kelly was born 100 years ago on this date—a Pittsburgh, PA native from the Highland Hills section of that American city.  The man who would later establish himself as one of the most talented and innovative practitioners of the terpsichorean art began his dancing career at the age of eight, when his mother […]