The first commercial radio station begins operating in Detroit, Michigan with call sign 8MK (Now WWJ (Newsradio 950) ). (8MK went on the air without a license on this date. I understand that KDKA went on the air in Pittsburgh as the world’s first commercially licensed station on November 2, 1920.)
The radio station was started by The Detroit News newspaper and is now owned and run by CBS.
To celebrate the event, National Radio Day, UNESCO formally announced the formation of International Radio Day in February of 2012 (celebrated February 13th), after a suggestion put forward by Spain to celebrate this important means of communication. In some parts of the world, radio still remains an important lifeline to the outside world.
August 20, 1941 -
William Wyler's pitch-perfect adaptation of Lillian Hellman's The Little Foxes, starring Bette Davis, premiered on this date.
Bette Davis was a contract player for Warner Brothers at the time, earning $3000 a week. When she heard how much Warners was receiving for her services she demanded a share of the payment.
August 20, 1942 -
An almost forgotten comedy from Columbia Pictures, Talk of The Town, directed by George Stevens starring Cary Grant, Jean Arthur and Ronald Colman, premiered on this date.
This was the first time since the silent era that Ronald Colman was billed below another male lead.
August 20, 1972 -
Stax Records commemorates the seventh anniversary of the 1965 Watts riots with a star-studded benefit concert at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, on this date. More than 100,000 fans show up to hear Isaac Hayes, The Bar-Kays, The Staple Singers, and Kim Weston, among others, perform at what becomes known as Black Woodstock.
Originally The Bar-Kays were going to enter the L.A. Coliseum riding in horse-drawn chariots. However, when the executives of Stax Records heard what the group had planned they ordered them not to do it. It turned out that the reason they didn't want the group to do it was so that they wouldn't upstage the concert's headliner, Isaac Hayes.
August 20, 1977 -
The Emotions hit #1 in the US with the single Best Of My Love for the first of five weeks, on this date. (Two years earlier, the Eagles hit #1 with a song with the same title.)
Songwriter Maurice White sued Mariah Carey and C+C Music Factory for plagiarizing this song for Mariah's 1991 #1 hit Emotions (C+C produced the song for Mariah). Said White, "Sampling is one thing, but she took the whole song." The lawsuit was settled out of court.
August 20, 1988 -
Steve Winwood's single Roll With It when to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts on this date.
The song was Winwood's biggest solo hit in the US, spending four weeks at #1 and also topped the pop chart in his native Britain. The album of the same title also topped the US albums chart.
August 20, 1991 -
Spin Doctors release their debut album, Pocket Full of Kryptonite on this date.
The album went on to sell over 5 million copies thanks to the hits Little Miss Can't Be Wrong and Two Princes.
Another job posting for The ACME Employment Agency
Today in History:
August 20, 1865 -
In the great tradition of the American presidency, President Andrew Johnson rouses himself from an alcoholic stupor,
August 20, 1885 -
Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, The Mikado opened at the Fifth Street Theatre in New York on this date.
The production originally opened on March 14, 1885, in London, where it ran at the Savoy Theatre for 672 performances.
August 20, 1896 -
A patent application was filed (US Patent No. 597,062) by brothers John and Charles J. Erickson & Alexander E. Keith for the rotary dial telephone on this date.
The dial telephone made it possible for people to dial phone numbers on their own thereby making the communication process easier and more efficient. The patent issued January 11, 1898.
There is another clear, bright line on how old you are - have you ever had to dial a phone?
August 20, 1940 -
As the Battle of Britain, the aerial conflict between the Royal Air Force and the German Luftwaffe, reached its apex, Winston Churchill give another of his famous rousing speeches, on this date. Paying tribute to the fortitude of the Royal Air Force, he coined one of his most famous lines, "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few."
Churchill used the example of the success of the RAF to promote confidence in the British war effort, stressing that it was better equipped for modern warfare than in the Great War with the numerical strength of the army, the naval command of the sea and scientific superiority in weaponry and intelligence.
August 20, 1940 -
Soviet Professional Leon Trotsky liked his job, but the strain was wearing on him — dictatorial burnout. In the summer of 1940 he finally used some of the vacation time he'd accumulated to head down to Mexico and think through his options.
On this date, in Mexico City, Trotsky met with one of Stalin's human resources representatives, who suggested he take an early retirement.
The suggestion was accompanied by several persuasive blows to the head with an axe, which seriously impeded Trotsky's growth potential. Sadly, he died the next day before he could sue for damages.
August 20, 1948 -
... I'm so aware of the fact that if I hadn't taken the chances that I've taken along the line, I probably wouldn't be getting the best out of my voice anymore, I might have messed it up in that awful, predictable place.
Robert Anthony Plant CBE, button phobia rock singer and songwriter, was born on this date.
August 20, 1977 -
NASA bizarrely decided to go into the record business. Scientists, not quite understanding the record industry, press only one record but make it out of gold, believing that the unaffordable price will boost profit. The record is nearly unlistenable except for the recording of the Chuck Berry song, Johnny B Goode. NASA decided to hide this costly blunder by including the recording in the payload of the space probe Voyager 2, launched on this date, on a mission to Jupiter and beyond. (This will confused the aliens when they realize that NASA launched Voyager 1 on September 5, 1977.)
The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind, and thunder, and animal sounds, including the songs of birds and whales. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earthlings in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Jimmy Carter and U.N. Secretary-General (and ex-Nazi) Kurt Waldheim. Remember these facts when the aliens come to invade the planet. It passed Jupiter in the summer of 1979, and is still traveling, probably right out of our solar system.
In a memorable Saturday Night Live segment, it was announced by Steve Martin that the first message from extraterrestrials was being received. Once decoded, the message stated, "Send more Chuck Berry."
August 20, 1986 -
US Postal worker Patrick Sherrill shot and killed 14 coworkers, and then himself, on this date.
August 20, 1989 -
The two Menendez brothers, Lyle and Erik, shot their parents to death on this date and then went to the movies to establish an alibi. They called 911 when they returned home from the movies to report the murders.
Though they weren't initially suspected, the two brothers ultimately were convicted and sentenced to life in prison.
On August 20, 1991, the Estonian parliament declared independence from the Soviet Union.
Full control of exactly what?
Today's brief quiz: What did Vincenzo Peruggia steal on August 21, 1911?
a. The Shroud of Turin
b. Home plate
c. The Mona Lisa
d. documents from Mar-a-Lago
e. The Hope Diamond
Bonus: what was his day job? (Answer tomorrow)
And so it goes.
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