Broadcasting Archives at the University of Maryland

MILESTONE: 9/11/2001 The collapse of the World Trade Center took four radio stations off the air. Only WKTU had a backup transmitter site at a different location. Harris (now GatesAir) shipped three 1 kW transmitters and ERI shipped antennas for WKCR, WPAT, WNYC arrived on 9/13. WKCR returned to the air on 9/13 from Columbia University dorm room. WPAT returned to the air from the Empire Station building on 9/14 as WNYC did on 9/16.

Read more at this Radio World article:
https://www.radioworld.com/news-and-business/headlines/from-the-archives-rebuilding-radio-stations-despite-the-rubble-post-9-11

(“Radio Antenna from North Tower of World Trade Center”, picture credit: Alamy)

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We're very excited to announce the return of NCRTV's Annual Gala! This year's Gala is an extra special occasion as we are also celebrating our 25th Anniversary! Join us for a wonderful evening of fun, food, dancing, and an amazing Silent Auction.

For tickets and more information please go to: https://ncrtv.org/about/gala/

Be sure to also follow the Facebook event page as we'll be sharing sneak peeks at some of the items donated towards our silent auction: https://www.facebook.com/share/aJNF7u6gSW5x613i/

Will McKinley () on Twitter points out:
"A new CNN series takes a 'deep dive' into 'TV history' with defining moments 'that shaped popular culture.'

"And everything they mention happened in the '80s or later."

CNN’s Newest Original Series Sets Sights on TV History (Exclusive) The CNN original series 'TV On the Edge' will explore TV moments that shaped pop culture, from Dan Quayle attacking 'Murphy Brown' to Ellen DeGeneres coming out in her sitcom.

"Performing the News: Identity, Authority, and the Myth of Neutrality" explores how journalists from historically marginalized groups have long felt pressure to conform when performing for audiences. Through in-depth interviews with journalists in broadcasting and podcasting and those who shape their performance, UMD alum Elia Powers suggests ways to make journalism more inclusive and representative of diverse audiences.

Happy National Radio Day! 📻📻📻

To celebrate , tune into your favorite program today, and then swing by NCRTV while we're open this weekend!

When you visit the museum, you’ll be able to see some beautiful radios and get a guided tour to learn about the history and impact of Radio! As an added bonus, you’ll also get to learn all about Radio with Pictures (aka Television) as well!

For years, radios were the foremost medium for local newscasts, entertainment, and learning about major world events. This radio in our collection has an intriguing backstory. Take a closer look at the writing that Edward Fries left on his Arvin Model 422 radio (years before donating it to NCRTV).

"Today (8/20) is National Radio Day, a day that recognizes Guglielmo Marconi’s invention, which has had practical uses ranging from military to distress signals. For most of us, though, it has meant music, news, entertainment, and careers.

Radio Pros Celebrate National Radio Day Today we will feature the best of the photos and memories from social media.

The headline read, “MITZI Lonely Lady Radio Soap Opera Broadcast Star.” Who was this enigmatic figure known as ‘Mitzi’? Was there indeed a radio soap opera titled ‘Lonely Lady’? When and where was this intriguing photograph captured? And what was the captivating ‘Mitzi’ actually doing? Read more: https://hornbakelibrary.wordpress.com/2024/07/25/the-mystery-of-mitzi/ -17961

Our curator, Laura Schnitker, has just been published in the Journal of Radio and Audio Media. Her article: "Declarations and Independents: How Chicago DJ Al Benson Brought Black Cultural Production to 1940s Commercial Radio." https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19376529.2024.2325076

"Televised political debates continue to disappoint viewers and critics. Sometimes they even frustrate the participants themselves.

"That’s because, since their inception, nobody has been able to come up with a model that rival candidates would accept, and that would be useful and informative for the viewing public. The only debate arrangement everyone agreed to nearly 60 years ago largely remains in place today – the game show format."

Think presidential debates are dull? Thank 1950s TV game shows The only satisfactory debate arrangement everyone agreed to nearly 60 years ago largely remains in place today – the game show format.

"Having spent the past year watching 'The Twilight Zone”' from start to finish, I can report that, on the whole, the series holds up surprisingly well. Aesthetically, it seldom exhibits the comical shoddiness associated with nineteen-fifties genre television. Often shot at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios, the series had access to a wide variety of sets and props from feature films... Each episode conjures up its own reality in an inventive and economic—if not unfailingly convincing—manner, but what holds it all together is the writing..."

What “The Twilight Zone” Reveals About Today’s Prestige TV Rod Serling’s early anthology series showed the ambitions and the potential pitfalls of high-minded television.

Letters: AM Is Doomsday Ready

Readers comment on AM radio's resiliency during emergency scenarios https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/readers-forum/letters-am-is-doomsday-ready

New SCPA collection on Jim Henson If you’ve visited the University of Maryland’s Adele H. Stamp Student Union since 2003, you’ll have spotted the statue of Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog on a bench to the left of the Campus Drive e…

Your new book, “Predicting the Winner: The Untold Story of Election Night 1952 and the Dawn of Computer Forecasting,” comes out May 1. Could you explain what it's about and what that process of putting it together was like?

"I was initially interested in why there was so much pushback against using the computer as a tool in the newsroom. I began to think about how journalism and computers first hooked up. And it turned out that it was a long time ago — Election Night 1952.

"The book is about how and why computers got their rollout in journalism on an election night. There's a famous picture of President Truman in 1948 holding up a newspaper headline that said 'Dewey defeats Truman' when the newspapers got it wrong and the TV got it wrong — this new medium that's supposed to be great for news didn't work out so well." https://merrill.umd.edu/articles/qa-merrill-associate-professor-ira-chinoy-retire-end-spring-2024-semester

This is a promotional recording (on plastic-coated cardboard) for NBC’s groundbreaking weekend radio program, Monitor (1955-1975). The program offered a magazine-of-the-air mix of news, sports, comedy, variety, music, celebrity interviews, and other short segments.

In the show’s early years, actress Tedi Thurman delivered weather reports in a breathy voice as “Miss Monitor.”

Several radio comedy shows were revived in the form of regular five-minute Monitor segments, including Duffy’s Tavern, Fibber McGee and Molly, and Ethel and Albert. (Dennis Hart papers)

Photos: Historic WMTW station IDs WMTW aired some very creative station ID's to celebrate various holidays and events, in addition to letting viewers know when the station was having technical problems. The IDs remind viewers which station they are watching. Click to check them out.

This week marks a big moment in television history - after many years of experimentation and promises, on March 25, 1954, RCA announced that it had begun producing color television sets out of its manufacturing plant in Bloomington, Indiana. https://www.hagley.org/research/news/hagley-vault/week-marks-big-moment-television-history

(Top) John Payne and Ellen Drew in a publicity photo for the 1949 movie "The Crooked Way" with some sort of promotional tie-in for a television set and (below) Ellen Drew alone promoting the same movie and the newest radio.

"The Crooked Way" was a film noir directed by Robert Florey. It was based on Robert Munroe's radio play "No Blade Too Sharp." Benedict Bogeaus, an independent film producer and former owner of General Service Studios, produced the film. It featured John Payne, Sonny Tufts, Ellen Drew, Rhys Williams, and others. Distributed by United Artists, the film is remembered today less for the plot or acting than for the brooding work of noted cameraman John Alton.

Search as we could, we could find no trace of a promotional tie-in with a manufacturer of radios and televisions. There was an ad in LIFE magazine in which John Payne endorsed an anti-dandruff hair tonic in exchange for a mention of "The Crooked Way," but that’s all we could dig up.

P.S. Checking out the movie, now in the public domain, on YouTube, it seems that both models were featured in the background of different scenes.

P.P.S. The television shown in the top photo is a Philco model 49-1450, top of the line in 1949. (We actually have one on display here.) Our friends at the National Capital Radio and Television Museum tell us: “Television picture tubes of the late 1940s were generally smaller than those of just a few years later. In 1949, this set would have been considered a fairly large screen.”

Remember these?

(This model lives at the National Capital Radio and Television Museum in Bowie, Maryland.)

February 25, 1961 — "Davey and Goliath" debuted in television syndication. The stop-motion animated series was produced by GUMBY creator Art Clokey. All episodes (including a 2004 special produced by Clokey’s son) are on : https://tubitv.com/tv-shows/467424

Credit: Will McKinley on Twitter (currently known as "X").

WHY BROADCAST ARCHIVES? Most of broadcast history is lost because most stations and networks make no attempt to preserve it. Significant portions of our materials were pulled from dumpsters. Others were saved by individuals with careers in broadcasting.

"Langston Hughes, Duke Ellington, Diahann Carroll, and Harry Belafonte in the same photo? YES! Mr. Hughes wrote the script, and Mr. Belafonte produced this television special called “The Strollin’ 20’s”, a celebration of the Harlem Renaissance. The show aired on CBS on February 21, 1966, and this iconic photo was taken by Rowland Scherman.

"From left: Comedian George Kirby, Sidney Poitier, singer Gloria Lynne, Langston Hughes (he wrote the script for the show!), Harry Belafonte, singer Joe Williams, Diahann Carroll, Nipsey Russell, Paula Kelly and, yes, Duke Ellington." -- from https://vintageblackglamour.tumblr.com/

“The Strollin’ 20’s” is now on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoj69PJp2Kw

18 Facts About Your Favorite Christmas TV Specials Here are some behind-the-scenes tidbits about a handful of holiday small-screen favorites.

On this day (Dec. 14) in 1959, "The World of Sholom Aleichem" airs as part of the syndicated "Play of the Week" series, featuring many blacklisted actors in its cast. Read more here: https://classictvhistory.wordpress.com/2012/05/21/the-world-of-sholom-aleichem-and-the-dybbuk/

Originally posted December 12, 2013.

University of Maryland professor Ira Chinoy's new book is a riveting narrative about election night in 1952 when computers were used for the first time to predict winners from early returns. The results were launched live and untested on the newest medium for news: television. The book will be released on May 1 and is available for pre-order.

Day 14:

This is our 1924 RCA Radiola AR-812. This was one of the first superheterodyne radios offered to the public. The superheterodyne was a breakthrough at the time. The same design concept is used today, except of course, with transistors and integrated circuits rather than tubes. Battery operated, it was intended to be “portable” (note the carrying handle). Users would have to carry along a horn speaker. Cost in 1924: $286. *note also that the beach picture above says it was as heavy as a suitcase lol

Day 10:

This is a section of the first Trans-Atlantic cable used to connect Europe to the United States in 1874. Cable laying was difficult, extremely expensive, and cutting edge technology at the time. This artifact is on display in our Spark to Byte exhibit.

We've wanted a picture of this sign to share for years. This is a Philco Radios neon sign, circa 1940, on permanent display at the National Capital Radio & Television Museum in Bowie, MD. Philco encouraged its dealers to purchase signs and display them on their storefronts.