Some of these programs existed in a different form on television many years later! The first CBS program listed, Art Linkletter's House Party entertained me on either KFMB-TV, channel 8, or KNXT, channel 2, when I came home from school almost 40 years ago. Don McNeill's "Breakfast Club" remained an ABC Radio staple until December 27, 1968. I also remember "Queen for a Day," a game show which I remember on the ABC TV network (XETV, channel 6, or KABC-TV channel 7). On this show women told their sob stories to emcee Jack Bailey. The winner would get something to help her through life's obstacles. A later version of this was "Hal Styles' Help Thy Neighbor" on station KTLA in Los Angeles during the early 1970s. This was not a game show and it did not only involve women, although very few men appeared on the show. The emcee was Larry Van Nuys.
On the schedule below, observe how late the CBS affiliate, WJAS signs
on. Technically, KDKA has not changed owners or locations since it
signed on in 1920. Those of us on this side of the Rocky Mountains
might have a little trouble with that, in that KCBS in San Francisco signed
on in 1909 under the watchful eye of West Coast radio pioneer Charles Herrold.
Only it wasn't KCBS then and it wasn't in San Francisco. It would
be known as religious broadcaster KQW until 1949 and its home would be
in San Jose. KDKA has always been KDKA. It is one of a handful
of stations which has the wrong initial call letter (stations beginning
with a "K" are to be west of the Mississippi River and those beginning
with a "W" are to be on the other side). KDKA has always been a part
of Pittsburgh. Its first owner was Westinghouse. In the late 1990s,
Westinghouse bought the CBS network, thus KDKA became a CBS owned station.
CBS owned stations later became part of Infinity Radio, which is now KDKA's
owner. KDKA has been Pittsburgh's CBS affiliate for many years.
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8/15/44 EVENING |
1250 KC (ABC) |
1320 KC (CBS) |
1020 KC (NBC) |
1410 KC (Mutual) |
1490 KC (Independent) |
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(w/Art Linkletter) |
Backstage Wife |
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Pittsburgh Pirates at NY Giants |
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(2nd of 2 shows ever aired) |
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(w/Bud Collyer) |
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(w/Michael Rye) |
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(w/Irene Wicker) |
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(w/Goodman & Jane Ace) |
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(CBS News) |
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This is New York |
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(w/Brace Beemer) |
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(w/Richard Kollmar) |
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(w/Pick Malone & Pat Padgett) |
(w/Brian Aherne) |
(w/Alice Frost, Joseph Curtin) |
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(w/Jim Hurley & Dave Navell) |
(w/Jean Hersholt) |
(sponsored by Listerine) |
(w/Bert Lahr) |
(w/Orson Welles) [possibly a rerun?] |
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8:55 News |
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(w/Staats Cotsworth) |
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(w/Sammy Hill & Scott Farnsorth) |
(w/Lew Lehr) |
(sponsored by Vitalis) |
(sponsored by Coca-Cola) |
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(w/Don McLaughlin) |
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(w/William Gargan) |
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Dreams |
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11:55 News |
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12:55 News |
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to 6 am |
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MORNING & AFTERNOON |
1250 KC (ABC) |
1320 KC (CBS) |
1020 KC (NBC) |
1410 KC (Mutual) |
1490 KC (Independent) |
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(Ed & Rainbow) |
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(w/Don McNeill) |
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(Bing Crosby) |
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[rerun from 1938-39 CBS series???] |
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(w/Glenn Riggs) |
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(sponsored by White Owl Cigars) |
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[Martyn would be a pioneer newsman at Los Angeles TV station KTLA] |
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(w/Ted Malone) |
(sponsored by Spry Shortening) |
(sponsored by Bab-O Cleanser) |
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(w/Cliff Arquette) |
(sponsored by Sanka) |
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(sponsored by Coca-Cola) |
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hear it twice! SEE 3:15 on KDKA! |
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[Lopez's was the first voice heard on New York station WJZ (today's WABC) in 1921] |
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1:55 Tune Factory |
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(Help for Marital Problems) |
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(w/Louise Finch & Ned Weaver) |
(sponsored by General Mills) |
(sponsored by Employers' Insurance & Grove Laboratories) |
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(w/Betty Winkler) |
(w/Helen Kane) |
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(the radio soap opera became TV's "The Edge of Night") |
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(w/Jack Bailey) |
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(w/Peggy Beckmark) |
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(w/Milton Bacon) |
(sponsored by Wrigley's Gum) |
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(sponsoreded by Oxydol) |
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(most popular soap opera of the OTR era) |
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(possibly a rerun???) |
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(forerunner to ABC TV affiliate WTAE-TV, channel 4) |
1320 kHz |
1020 kHz (CBS) |
1410 kHz (ABC) |
970 kHz |
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pgh.html |
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This is the first in several new sections added to the OTR section of the website to substantiate some of the information included elsewhere. For those to whom I have given erroneous information, please accept my apologies. There is a lot of misinformation on the WWW. Never use the web as a sole source of finding research for any academic project. This has been one of my mistakes in the past. Use the web in addition to books, magazines, and newspapers, especially those which would be considered first hand information. Although the radio schedule above used an actual page from an actual newspaper, even it was checked against other sources I own or borrowed (program titles in the newspaper are often abbreviated). Even some of it was gleaned from the internet (e.g., that the Perry Mason radio soap opera led up to TV's "The Edge of Night" and not the later introduced prime time drama, which is my favorite TV show!) Pittsburgh is used because the newspaper was handy. I may add another schedule (or other schedules) from a different part (or different parts) of the country. Pittsburgh is unique in that most of the stations on this list still exist; three of them by the same call letters listed. If this were a section showing similar stations in Los Angeles (KECA-ABC, KNX-CBS, KFI-NBC, KHJ-Mutual, and KFWB or KMTR) some of those same facts could also be said but there were many other stations in Los Angeles which would also have to be included and would not be as easily read.
For anyone interested in creating a schedule like the one above, if there aren't any actual newspapers available, most public and university libraries maintain archives of older newspapers on microfilm. Some microfilm viewers make copies of what is viewed.
Last Updated October 25, 2001
