From the time Westinghouse started commercial broadcasting in 1920 through the end of the radio soap operas in the early 1960s, hundreds of men and women performed on radio. Day after day, week after week, these performers (e.g., Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, Kate Smith, Lowell Thomas, Kay Kyser, and Bob Hope) became familiar voices and welcomed guests in the homes of millions of Americans.
Actors, comedians, singers, commentators, announcers, emcees, newscasters, preachers and various other artists all gave voice to radio and 953 of them are covered in this unique reference work. Performers Fran Allison, Les Paul, Johnny Desmond, Alec Templeton, Don Wilson, Jerry Colonna and soap opera favorites Virginia Payne, Betty Garde, Macdonald Carey, David Gothard, Page Gilman, and Jan Miner are included herein, as well as Ezra Stone, Groucho Marx, Will Rogers, Frank Sinatra and hundreds more. For each, there is a listing of radio programs, birth and death dates (where appropriate) and a biography that focuses on work in radio. Heavily illustrated.

The late Thomas A. DeLong was an award winning author and biographer who wrote extensively on radio and television.

Thomas A. DeLong
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 316
Bibliographic Info: 302 photos, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2006 [1996]
pISBN: 978-0-7864-2834-2
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0763-4
Imprint: McFarland

Acknowledgments     vii
Introduction     1
The Performers     3
Select Bibliography     293
Index     295

“appealing…DeLong’s writing makes this work all the more important and memorable to the reader…invaluable”—ARBA; “recommended”—Choice; “highly recommended”—The Illustrated Press; “comprehensive”—Radiogram; “adds depth and breadth to the corpus of radio biography”—Rettig on Reference; “one of the most comprehensive encyclopedias of radio performers I have ever read…a valuable reference”—Classic Images; “essential”—Past Times.