Blogpost #27

Welcome back, loyal listeners. For you newcomers, here's a look at what's coming up soon on A Time To Remember.

September 20: A birthday salute to Ray Charles (born September 23, 1930). A rare concert taped on September 22, 1963 for Brazilian TV. Listen for "Hit The Road Jack", "What'd I Say", "You Don't Know Me" and a dozen other favorites from Ray, his orchestra, and the Raelettes. Bonus track: Ray sings a duet with his biggest fan, Flip Wilson on a February 1, 1973 broadcast of TV's "Flip Wilson Show".

September 27: A birthday salute to Groucho Marx (born October 2, 1890). A rare unedited full-length recording session for the "You Bet Your Life" quiz show from December 5, 1949. Listen for technical errors, retakes, and lots of risque wisecracks from Groucho that never made it past the censor.

October 4: A birthday salute to John Lennon (born October 9, 1940). An historic and poignant interview taped December 8, 1980, just hours before his death. Listen for John's tragically ironic comment: "My work won't be finished until I am dead and buried - and I hope that's a long, long time".

If you have suggestions for future birthday salutes or anniversary tributes, send them to johnbialas@yahoo.com. Thanks for listening. See you again next month!

Blogpost #26

This past September 12 marked what would have been the 96th birthday of the late Jesse Owens, an outstanding track and field star of the early 20th century. As a college athlete in the early 1930's, he tied or broke several world records. His medal-winning performance at the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, Germany established him as the greatest living American athlete.

Sadly, his dire financial condition led him to resign from the American Olympic team to pursue lucrative offers that were later withdrawn. He struggled to support his family, and was often forced to accept embarrassing jobs such as attempting to outrun a racehorse in Cuba.

To his credit, he never lost his dignity or his high moral standards. He launched a new career as a motivational speaker for the state of Illinois, inspiring students and teachers alike to pursue their own level of excellence, just as he did. From the late 50's to the mid 60's, he was a jazz deejay on Chicago radio station WAAF 950 AM. He passed away in 1980, shortly after hearing the disappointing news of the 1980 Olympic boycott.

This week's show draws on a rare collection of audio clips from an out-of-print tribute LP celebrating the life and achievements of Jesse Owens. It's titled "Jesse Owens: The Olympic Years", and it was released in 1983 on the nostalgia label Mark 56 records. I did extensive research to put the audio clips in their proper context, much of it coming from a 2007 book by ESPN's Jeremy Schaap titled "Triumph: The Untold Story of Jesse Owens and Hitler's Olympics". It's available as a "bargain book" from Amazon.

Next week is Ray Charles' birthday, and I'll be playing a rare Brazilian TV concert appearance from 1963 featuring Ray on piano and sax along with his orchestra and his backup singers, the Raelettes. Thanks for listening and thanks for reading.

Blogpost #25

Walter Cronkite began his career as a radio news reporter, just like I did. Unfortunately, the similarity ends there.

He covered World War II from start to finish as a correspondent for United Press, and joined CBS News in 1950 after being recruited by Edward R. Murrow. He anchored the first half-hour network TV newscast on September 2, 1963, where he presented an exclusive interview with President John Kennedy just a few short weeks before his assassination.

On August 31, 1959, Cronkite marked the 20th anniversary of the start of World War II with an hour-long CBS Radio documentary titled "Blitzkrieg". The program dramatically recounted the events that led up to World War II in Europe, including Adolph Hitler's unprovoked military invasion of Poland. The broadcast received such favorable comment that it was soon released as an LP on Columbia Masterworks. This week's show features that rare album in its entirety, fifty years after its original broadcast. A copy was available on eBay today, and here's a link to it.

Next week's show features a birthday tribute to the late Jesse Owens, gold-medal winning athlete who defeated Germany's best in Track and Field at the 1936 Olympics in Munich, Germany. It was a major embarrassment to Adolph Hitler, who attended the track meet but was so upset by Jesse's victory that he refused to congratulate him afterwards. You'll hear Jesse describing that event in his own words, along with rare clips from interviews and speeches from his later years. Here's a link to a page on About.com that examines the myth of the Hitler snub. Thanks for listening and thanks for listening.