Category Archives: radio

Sports heroes meet journalism heroes

Posted on May 16, 2025 by Bob Stepno

Time for some reorganizing. JHeroes hasn’t had a “Sports” heading on its main menu, but there have been at least a half-dozen posts and pages over the years with baseball, football and boxing themes. Here’s a list of the date-stamped … Continue reading →

Posted in movies, newspapers, radio, sports | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

D-Day Updated (again)

Posted on June 6, 2024 by Bob Stepno

Back when I was still teaching, I did annual D-Day updates of my JHeroes pages about the “Soldiers of the Press” radio series, which dramatized the lives of United Press reporters whose bylines appeared in newspapers across America and around … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, radio, reporters, reporting, Soldiers of the Press, United Press | Leave a comment

Fibber in the newsroom? Ask Aunt Jenny

Posted on October 24, 2023 by Bob Stepno

The regular “Aunt Jenny” at The Gazette is out of action, and Fibber McGee volunteers to replace the advice columnist for a day, with wife Molly as his secretary. Old-time radio programs of all kinds worked newspapers and journalism into … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, columnists, comedy, newspaper readers, newspapers, radio | Leave a comment

“Front Page Farrell” wasn’t front page news on D-Day

Posted on March 29, 2023 by Bob Stepno

On D-Day, one of America’s most famous reporters, Front Page Farrell, was not involved in the war coverage at all… But, of course, Dave Farrell was fictional. Still, his June 7, 1944, episode above has hints of America’s mood on … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, Europe, radio, reporters, soap opera, Uncategorized, World War II | Leave a comment

A Truman-era Front Page!?

Posted on March 28, 2021 by Bob Stepno

In 1948, ABC radio tried out an updated version of the Ben Hecht & Charles MacArthur newsroom classic The Front Page as a 13-week summer-replacement series. Newsroom-background sounds set the opening scene, not unlike the start of the gender-shifted Front … Continue reading →

Posted in 1920s, 1940s, adaptations, detectives, Drama, editors, Hildy Johnson, newspapers, radio | 2 Comments

30 Years of NBC Radio plus Balloo in a Balloon, and me

Posted on September 10, 2019 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/BiographiesInSound560515RecollectionsAtThirty/Biographies%20in%20Sound%2056-05-15%20Recollections%20at%20Thirty.mp3 In 1956, NBC radio’s “Biographies in Sound” featured veteran radio news commentator H.V. Kaltenborn and radio satirists Bob & Ray in the episode above, paying tribute to the first 30 years of commercial radio — news, music, drama and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, 1950s, Drama, historical figures, Korea, media history, radio, World War II | Leave a comment

Will reporter uncover secret plans?

Posted on August 31, 2019 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Lux_Radio_Theater_Singles/Lux_Radio_Theatre_43-04-26_393_The_Lady_Has_Plans.mp3 “The Lady Has Plans” has World War II’s favorite pinup Rita Hayworth (so described by host Cecil B. DeMille) in the role of a veteran newspaper reporter making a transition to radio news in Lisbon, and William Powell as … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, foreign correspondents, international, radio, reporters, Uncategorized, women, World War II | Leave a comment

Radio reporter killed; Hornet on the case

Posted on September 14, 2016 by Bob Stepno

“A Man of Many Words,” July 7, 1946 https://archive.org/download/TheGreenHornet/Thegreenhornet-460706AManOfManyWords.mp3 This unusual 70-year-old episode of The Green Hornet begins with a heroic  (or foolhardy?) journalist defying death threats — but he’s a radio columnist, not one of the series’ usual newspaper … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, GreenHornet, radio | Leave a comment

Doctor still thinks reporter is crazy

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Bob Stepno

Half-way into this half-hour broadcast of The March of Time, February 3, 1938, we get to hear a newspaper reporter sign himself into a mental hospital as a patient — only to have trouble getting out. Stories about New York’s … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, New York City, newspapers, radio, reporting, The March of Time, true stories, undercover | Leave a comment

Halloween journalists on old-time radio

Posted on October 28, 2012 by Bob Stepno

The obvious choice for a Halloween-week radio show incorporating journalist characters in a dramatic production has to be Orson Welles’ Mercury Theater broadcast of “War of the Worlds.” Welles’ dramatic technique of imitating radio news alerts, simulating interruption of a … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, Orson Welles, radio, science fiction, science reporting, sensationalism | 2 Comments