ALCStudies Journal

I enjoyed the first installment on AM radio in the ‘Burgh in the Post-Gazette. I vividly recall personalities such as Jack Bogut and shows such as KDKA’s Sixty-to-Six (not to mention Bob Prince) on my visits to Pittsburgh.

Bob Prince broadcast Pirates baseball on a set like this during summer evenings on my grandparents patio.

Of course,commercial radio started in Pittsburgh.  One thing left out of the 10/13 article (at least the first one) is that the William Penn Hotel was the site of the world’s first live orchestra broadcasts in the 1920s and broadcasts of the Count Basie and Lawrence Welk orchestras in the 1930s. We are partnering with Arcade Comedy and the Omni to evoke this experience with a sketch comedy show on November 1st and a live radio adaptation of ‘The Thin Man’ on November 23rd.  Please see the following links for more information and tickets:

Retro Radio Review at Arcade Comedy Theater November 1st (sketches inspired by radio scripts from the 1930s and 40s)

‘The Thin Man Comes to Pittsburgh’ Live Radio (at the Omni William Penn November 23rd)

Incidentally, one of the stars of the original Thin Man film, William Powell, was a native of Pittsburgh. With a grant from the Pennsylvania Partners in the Arts, we are hoping to do a live broadcast and streaming webcast of the Omni event during Pittsburgh’s traditional start to the holiday season. Ironically, the local stations we approached so far say that the technical demands and logistics of doing a broadcast on location in 2013 make this a challenge!

Advertisers, the news media and education often give the mistaken assumption that new technology (e.g., podcasts, Instagram and Facebook) inevitably supersedes older, established technology such as radio (and newspapers ; – )). In reality human beings rediscover and reapply older technology all the time to meet problems and create new forms of expression where there is a need and benefit.  Just ask anyone who owns a Prius or a 1904 Columbia Electric Runabout.  Please see the following links:

The Marx Brothers on Radio (marx-brothers.org)

An Appreciation of Damon Runyon  (by Adam Gopnik in the New Yorker)

Original Inner Sanctum Mystery Radio Recordings (Realaudio at OTR Network)

A Few Words About Copyrights  (Interesting take on a confusing subject from the Generic Radio Workshop)

– CDL