SoundHistory

Radio News and Interviews -- This Week in History

February Broadcasts by Day of the Month

33 broadcasts


How are American Wives Faring?

Broadcast Date:   February 2, 1938

Series:   The March of Time

Speaker(s):   Time Magazine / ABC Blue Network


Length:   29:30

Program Producer:   Time Magazine / ABC Blue Network


Hear It Now

Broadcast Date:   February 2, 1951

Speaker(s):   Edward R. Murrow (anchor)


Special Report on Detroit, and other stories.

Length:   59:42

Program Producer:   CBS


Edward R. Murrow with the news

Broadcast Date:   February 2, 1951

Speaker(s):   Don Hollenbeck (anchor)


Don Hollenbeck filled in for Edward R. Murrow.

Length:   14:19

Program Producer:   CBS


What is the Future of Plastics?

Broadcast Date:   February 3, 1946

Series:   The National Hour

Speaker(s):   Robert St. John (host)


NBC ran "The National Hour" on Sunday afternoons at 4pm from November 1945 to September 1946. Each program dealt with a different subject or issue facing America as the nation moved forward after the end of World War II.

Length:   28:57

Program Producer:   NBC Radio Network


Mayor Laguardia's Midwest Tour

Broadcast Date:   February 3, 1938

Series:   The March of Time


Length:   28:56

Program Producer:   Time Magazine / ABC Blue Network


What Does Democracy Mean?

Broadcast Date:   February 3, 1938

Series:   America's Town Meeting of the Air


The guests on this edition of the program are Salvado di Madariaga, Spanish historian, author and diplomat; Clarence Hathaway, Central Committee of the Communist Party and editor of The Daily Worker; Isaac Don Levine, author and Hearst Newspaper columnist; Max Lerner, editor of The Nation; and Dr. Ruth Alexander, Political Economist and Lecturer.

Length:   1:00:20

Program Producer:   ABC Network


About Radio

Broadcast Date:   February 3, 1947

Series:   Time for Reason

Speaker(s):   Lyman Bryson


The host, Lyman Bryson, was a prominent educator and the CBS Director of Education. During his tenure, his educational and public affairs programs, such as "The People's Platform," were broadcast over CBS affiliate stations, which included WBAB in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Here, he reads listener letters and discusses facts about radio broadcasting.

Length:   14:36

Program Producer:   CBS Radio, WBAB


Newsreel Digest

Broadcast Date:   February 6, 1950


A news wrap-up of the events from the previous week.

Length:   16:04

Program Producer:   Mutual Broadcasting System


World News Today

Broadcast Date:   February 6, 1944


Produced by CBS, recorded on WBBM, Chicago.

Length:   24:32

Program Producer:   CBS


Canadian News Aircheck

Broadcast Date:   February 6, 1969

Speaker(s):   Dick Smyth (anchor)


Length:   7:44

Program Producer:   Radio Station CKLW


Hear It Now

Broadcast Date:   February 9, 1951

Speaker(s):   Edward R. Murrow (anchor)


A train wreck in New Jersey, Josephy McCarthy speaks in Washington, other stories.

Length:   59:31

Program Producer:   CBS


Winston Churchill's "Give Us the Tools" Speech

Broadcast Date:   February 9, 1941

Speaker(s):   Winston Churchill


Length:   36:25

Program Producer:   BBC


Spock on The Spock Generation

Broadcast Date:   February 10, 1969

Series:   Night Call

Speaker(s):   Dr. Benjamin Spock, Del Shields (host)


Dr. Benjamin M. Spock (1903-1998) was an American pediatrician whose book "Baby and Child Care" (1946) is one of the best-selling volumes in history. The book's premise to mothers is that "you know more than you think you do." Spock was the first pediatrician to study psychoanalysis to try to understand children's needs and family dynamics. His ideas about childcare influenced generations of parents to be more flexible and affectionate with their children, and to treat them as individuals. By the time of this program, Spock was an activist in the New Left and anti- Vietnam War movements. His books were criticized for propagating permissiveness and an expectation of instant gratification which allegedly led young people to join these movements. Spock denied his books had that effect. In this program, he says the new generation was less focused on money and more on integrity than earlier generations. He said young people were more concerned with education and health. Callers want to talk mostly about anti-war issues, but some call to push their own, somewhat off-subject, issues.

Length:   59:06

Program Producer:   The United Methodist Church


The War Against Inflation

Broadcast Date:   February 10, 1946

Series:   The National Hour

Speaker(s):   Robert St. John (host)


NBC ran "The National Hour" on Sunday afternoons at 4pm from November 1945 to September 1946. Each program dealt with a different subject or issue facing America as the nation moved forward after the end of World War II.

Length:   29:20

Program Producer:   NBC


Being Prepared to Destroy Any Power That Would Dare to Attack

Broadcast Date:   February 10, 1938

Series:   The March of Time


Length:   28:44

Program Producer:   Time Magazine / ABC Blue Network


News of the World

Broadcast Date:   February 11, 1941


Recording stops before the end of the program. The quality of reports on shortwave is not good.

Length:   14:57


Meet The Press

Broadcast Date:   February 12, 1961

Speaker(s):   The guest is Adam Clayton Powell


Length:   28:01

Program Producer:   NBC


The Isolationist Debate in Washington DC

Broadcast Date:   February 16, 1951

Series:   Hear It Now

Speaker(s):   Edward R. Murrow (anchor)


Length:   59:24

Program Producer:   CBS


What Now for the Marines?

Broadcast Date:   February 17, 1946

Series:   The National Hour

Speaker(s):   Robert St. John (host)


NBC ran "The National Hour" on Sunday afternoons at 4pm from November 1945 to September 1946. Each program dealt with a different subject or issue facing America as the nation moved forward after the end of World War II.

Length:   29:44

Program Producer:   NBC


The Singing Valentine

Broadcast Date:   February 17, 1938

Series:   The March of Time


Sponsored by Time Magazine and Life Magazine. Postal Telegraph Valentines prove overwhelmingly popular. Tenant farmers suffer in the South. The Bankhead-Jones Tenancy Act is passed. A Constitutional "Equal Rights Amendment" is debated. Gracie Fields ("the highest paid actress in the world") receives an honor from King George. Dunninger reads minds for Vice President and Mrs. Gardner. A biography of New York columnist Oscar O. McIntyre, who died this week. Hitler dominates the government of Austria in a bloodless coup.

Length:   28:21

Program Producer:   Time Magazine / ABC Blue Network


Meet The Press

Broadcast Date:   February 19, 1961

Speaker(s):   Abraham Ribicoff (guest)


Abraham Alexander Ribicoff (1910-1998) was an American Democratic Party politician. He served as a United States Senator, as the 80th Governor of Connecticut, and as President John F. Kennedy's Secretary of Health, Education, and Welfare. He was Connecticut's first and, to-date, only Jewish governor.

Length:   26:31

Program Producer:   CBS Radio Network


Live Coverage of U.S. Marines Landing on Iwo Jima

Broadcast Date:   February 19, 1945

Speaker(s):   Unknown Announcer


Length:   4:47


The First American in Orbit

Broadcast Date:   February 20, 1962

Speaker(s):   Stephen Flanders (anchor)


NBC News runs a recap of the day's top story: John Glenn was launched into space and orbited the planet three times. The 5-hour mission was a success and many of the key parts of the mission are heard in this special report.

Length:   4:10

Program Producer:   NBC Radio Network


Jimmy Carter Foreign Policy Problems

Broadcast Date:   February 20, 1979

Series:   CBS News and Commentary

Speaker(s):   Walter Cronkite


Cronkite reports and comments on President Jimmy Carter's foreign policy issues and an address Carter made this day.

Length:   4:48

Program Producer:   CBS Radio News


World News Today

Broadcast Date:   February 20, 1944


Produced by CBS, recorded on WBBM, Chicago.

Length:   24:21

Program Producer:   CBS


Adlai Stevenson's Congo Speech / United Nations Melee

Broadcast Date:   February 22, 1961

Series:   NBC Special Report

Speaker(s):   Adlai Stevenson


The Congo Crisis was a period of political upheaval and conflict in the Republic of the Congo (today the Democratic Republic of the Congo) between 1960 and 1965.On February 15, 1961, U.S. Ambassador Adlai Stevenson addressed the United Nations General Assembly on the Congo crisis. He pledged American support for the U.N.'s peacekeeping efforts and warned against Cold War politics in the civil war. This was broadcast of that speech a few days later. At about 19-minutes into this recording, the worst fist-bearing fight in the history of the U.N. took place.

Length:   36:56

Program Producer:   NBC


President Truman Names a Tank

Broadcast Date:   February 23, 1951

Series:   Hear It Now

Speaker(s):   Edward R. Murrow (anchor)


Length:   59:43

Program Producer:   CBS


The Railroads of America

Broadcast Date:   February 24, 1946

Series:   The National Hour

Speaker(s):   Robert St. John (host)


NBC ran "The National Hour" on Sunday afternoons at 4pm from November 1945 to September 1946. Each program dealt with a different subject or issue facing America as the nation moved forward after the end of World War II.

Length:   29:24

Program Producer:   NBC


H. V. Kaltenborn Edits the News

Broadcast Date:   February 24, 1941

Speaker(s):   H. V. Kaltenborn


Length:   14:01

Program Producer:   NBC


Atomic City USA (Oak Ridge, Tennessee)

Broadcast Date:   February 25, 1950


CBS Radio Network explores life at the place where the U.S. developed atomic energy systems. What's it like to live in Oak Ridge, Tennessee in 1950?

Length:   29:45

Program Producer:   CBS


Walter Winchell and the News

Broadcast Date:   February 25, 1945

Speaker(s):   Walter Winchell


Length:   10:25

Program Producer:   ABC


World News Today

Broadcast Date:   February 27, 1944


Produced by CBS, recorded on WBBM, Chicago.

Length:   24:35

Program Producer:   CBS


Seabiscuit Loses to Rosemont "by an eyelash" at Santa Anita

Broadcast Date:   February 27, 1937


Arguably the most famous horse to ever win the Santa Anita Handicap was Seabiscuit, the hard-knock horse with a jockey named Red Pollard. But in 1937, in a race worth over $125,000, Seabiscuit and rider Red Pollard were seemingly home free until a horse named Rosemont flew up on their right side. In the shadow of the wire, Rosemont put his nose down first. It was later revealed that Pollard had not seen the horse due to the fact that Pollard was blind in his right eye.

Length:   4:11