Category Archives: radio

The most beautiful newspaper reporter on radio

Posted on September 9, 2012 by Bob Stepno

“Give me a chance, just give me a chance, and I’ll be the best male Jane Arden in the racket.” — Jerry Delaney, the newspaper’s cub reporter Clearly, she was inspiring! Jane Arden was a long-running comic strip about an … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, crime, editors, journalism, movies, radio, reporters, soap opera, women | 2 Comments

A journalist poet with a passion for croquet

Posted on July 6, 2012 by Bob Stepno

Journalism’s a shrew and a scold. I like her. She makes you sick, she makes you old. I like her. She’s daily trouble, storm and strife. She’s love and hate, and death and life. She ain’t no lady. She’s my … Continue reading →

Posted in 1920s, 1930s, 1940s, columnists, New York City, newspapers, radio | 1 Comment

A phone call, shoe-leather and compassion turn a story into a crusade

Posted on July 2, 2012 by Bob Stepno

Call Northside 777 “Well, it made a pretty good yarn, I guess. Y’know — ‘Mother slaves to save $5,000, offers it to clear her son.’ I told myself it was all in a day’s work…” — Reporter Mac McNeal About … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, editors, journalism, movies, newspaper crusades, radio, reporters, reporting | Leave a comment

Mike Wallace on radio, from Information Please to the Green Hornet

Posted on April 8, 2012 by Bob Stepno

While this blog usually deals with fictional journalists and the  dramatized lives of historic journalists, today’s news is worth an exception. Legendary television newsman Mike Wallace, who died Saturday at 93, got his broadcasting start in radio, and this may be … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, GreenHornet, historical figures, journalism, radio, reporters | Leave a comment

Something Green for St. Patrick’s Day

Posted on March 17, 2012 by Bob Stepno

  The band played an Irish jig  whenever derby-wearing Michael Axford entered the scene in The Green Hornet Strikes Again, the 1941 movie serial closely based on the Green Hornet radio program. Cop-turned-reporter Axford, played by Wade Boteler in the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adventure, GreenHornet, movies, radio, reporters, undercover, women | Leave a comment

Newspapers as Madness: Is Bob Ready to Take Control?

Posted on March 7, 2012 by Bob Stepno

“You wouldn’t have made a bad detective, either of you” — ex-police chief to editors Betty & Bob In last week’s eighth episode in our 16-part “Betty and Bob” story, crusading editor and publisher Bob Drake hired a former police chief … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, editors, journalism, newspaper crusades, political corruption, publishers, radio, soap opera | Leave a comment

Will police chief trade his badge for a press card?

Posted on February 29, 2012 by Bob Stepno

“I never knew there was so much rottenness and corruption in Monroe until you and Betty and The Trumpet began to dig it up and tried to get rid of it” — police chief. “Ex-Police Chief Henderson Visits,” the seventh episode … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, newspaper crusades, political corruption, publishers, radio, reporters, soap opera | Leave a comment

‘There’s Murder in the Air Tonight…’

Posted on February 1, 2012 by Bob Stepno

As with the last episode, you can push past the opening two minutes of syrupy music to get to the 13 minutes of action in Neighbor Shoots Deputy Sheriff, the second installment in our continuing story from the 1930s radio … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, editors, newspapers, publishers, radio, soap opera | Leave a comment

Another journalist named Bob: Newspaper life as soap opera

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Bob Stepno

“Running a newspaper is our line of duty” — Betty Drake, co-publisher of The Trumpet, pioneer soap opera heroine “Betty and Bob,” one of radio’s first soap operas, eventually twisted its troubled-marriage plot around to journalism — not surprising, considering … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, newspapers, publishers, radio, soap opera, women | Leave a comment

Eerie control of the press hits small midwestern town

Posted on January 6, 2012 by Bob Stepno

This “Rogers of the Gazette” episode from January 1954, titled “Something’s Going On,” has a terrible pun in the first line and a hint of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” terror in the plot. (Of course, given that it’s “Rogers … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, cold war, editors, journalism, newspapers, radio | Leave a comment