Author Archives: Bob Stepno

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About Bob Stepno

mild-mannered reporter who found computers & the Web in grad school in the 1980s (Wesleyan) and '90s (UNC); taught journalism, media studies, Web production; retired to write, make music, photograph sunsets & walks in the woods.

Deadline U.S.A. — radio edition of a classic newspaper film

Posted on May 6, 2011 by Bob Stepno

The movie poster gives you the general idea of the plot, but here is the radio version of a classic “heroic newspapermen” movie called Deadline U.S.A. (click to play or download the mp3 if a “player” icon isn’t visible below). … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, closing, editors, ethics, journalism, movies, newspapers, Pulitzer Prize | 2 Comments

A critical view of an irresponsible newspaper

Posted on April 19, 2011 by Bob Stepno

One of the strongest critiques of journalistic ethics to be heard on classic radio was broadcast by NBC Radio City Playhouse. The original radioplay Correction is a 1949 newsroom drama with a person hurt by a news story showing up … Continue reading →

Posted in ethics, journalism, newspapers, publishers | Leave a comment

This Press Photographer didn’t need pictures!

Posted on April 17, 2011 by Bob Stepno

… because he was on radio. The show began as “Flashgun Casey, Press Photographer,” although its later name “Crime Photographer” was a better description of its typical plotlines — more detective stories than journalism-procedurals. However, I love the film “Meet … Continue reading →

Posted in crime, magazines, newspapers, photographer, reporters | Leave a comment

Press Warrior: Richard Harding Davis

Posted on April 10, 2011 by Bob Stepno

The title of this Cavalcade of America wartime episode, “Soldier of a Free Press” (1942), certainly describes Richard Harding Davis, star reporter from the Spanish American War through World War I. The radio broadcast’s brief biography of the most famous … Continue reading →

Posted in 1900s, 19th century, foreign correspondents, international, journalism, newspapers, reporters | Leave a comment

Reporting tips: Lois Lane at work

Posted on April 3, 2011 by Bob Stepno

Here’s Lois Lane’s first on-air interview, in the episode about Stolen Fuel for the Atomic Beam Machine from the 1940 Superman radio serial. (Click the title to download an MP3 if a player icon isn’t visible.) As mentioned here last … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, Clark Kent, Lois Lane, reporters, reporting, Superman | Leave a comment

Meet Lois Lane, high-flying journalist

Posted on March 28, 2011 by Bob Stepno

… but bored by atomic energy Episode 7 of the Superman radio series introduced Lois Lane to the listening audience in February 1940, in a storyline titled, “The Atomic Beam Machine.” (Click to download mp3 audio from the Internet Archive, … Continue reading →

Posted in Clark Kent, Horace Greeley, Lois Lane, reporters, Superman, women | Leave a comment

Margaret Fuller’s fountain of firsts

Posted on March 26, 2011 by Bob Stepno

Updated: 2014 with a link to a new biography, and shifted to more printable “page” format with editing in 2020, as “Margaret Fuller, The Heart and the Fountain.” Margaret Fuller was an author, the first editor of the transcendentalist magazine … Continue reading →

Posted in 19th century, cavalcade, historical figures, Horace Greeley, international, journalism, magazines, reporters, women | Leave a comment

Radio marked founding of women’s magazines

Posted on March 19, 2011 by Bob Stepno

I’ve already mentioned Godey’s Lady’s Book here, because Cavalcade of America did an episode about its editor, Sarah Josepha Hale. Here’s a women’s magazine whose name may be more familiar to 21st century readers: Ladies Home Journal. It’s still around … Continue reading →

Posted in 19th century, cavalcade, historical figures, magazines, publishers, women | Leave a comment

Anna Zenger: Romance or history?

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Bob Stepno

These two episodes from Calvacade of America fall into a journalism category we might call “stories too good to check,” but they are still fascinating. Remember Anna Zenger (1949, Rosalind Russell) Mother of Freedom (1946, Ann Harding, Bill Conrad) The … Continue reading →

Posted in cavalcade, historical figures, journalism, newspapers, women | Leave a comment

Anne Royall, no cure for a “common scold”

Posted on March 8, 2011 by Bob Stepno

By Bob Stepno Start with a national banking scandal (how timely) and add a tough frontier-bred woman editor who keeps her pistols handy — except when lecturing the president of the United States on the pen being mightier than the … Continue reading →

Posted in 19th century, cavalcade, historical figures, reporters, women | Leave a comment