April 22, 1938
April 22, 2008 | 9:48
am
Above, there are people in this world who insist that before the advent of top-40 radio in the 1950s, programming was a formless blob. Note, in fact, that programming was often tightly organized in 15-minute blocks. Below, Officer Donald M. Draper testifies that he rented the LAPD observation post at 2711 E. 7th St. on behalf of Police Capt. Earle Kynette to spy on bombing victim Harry Raymond. Draper takes the 5th Amendment on questions of whether he tapped Raymond's phone ... And look at the labor news: Violence in the strike at the Ford Motor plant ... reinstatement of strikers at Douglas Aircraft and indictments of 11 Los Angeles members of the Teamsters.
A little remembered quality about radio in 1938 - even local radio - is that there were no disc jockeys. When you see 'music', it was LIVE music performed either in studio, or from a remote location like a ballroom. Musicians found work in American towns big and small in radio.
Posted by: Arye Michael Bender | April 22, 2008 at 12:47 PM