Radio doings (Dec 1930-Jun1932)

his strength and vitality, he still receives dozens of letters daily begging him once again to bring back Little Boy Blue, Daffodil, Little Red Riding Hood, the Boy Monologist, and the host of others. Uncle John Daggett was born in Missouri in 1879. When he was nine years old he moved with his parents to Pasadena. As a boy he spent much of his time rambling in the hills and in the Arroyo Seco near Pasadena. He thought nothing of hiking up Mt. Wilson and back in one day's time. Uncle John graduated from Stanford University in 1900. During his college days he wrote weekly news letters to the Los Angeles Times. In the summers he reported tennis tournaments and other sporting events. Upon graduation he joined the Times staff. The four years between 1905 and 1909 found him in Nevada. He was a prospector. And when he wasn't prospecting for gold or silver, or writing accounts of his experiences for the Times, he was wandering alone drinking in the solitude of the Nevada hills. He returned to Los Angeles late in 1909. The World War took him to Detroit where he held a civilian's position in the aviation department of the Signal Corps. Early in 1922 he was doing special assignments, interviews and covering the hotel beat for the Times when Ralph Trueblood, managing editor of that newspaper, called him into his office. "Daggett," he said, "we're going to put in a radio station and I want you to take charge of it." "What's radio?" Uncle John asked. fjfc ' At first we had to feel our way," Uncle John said. "Radio was an amazing invention, a miracle comparable to anything Aladdin might have done with his lamp. People were enthralled and mystified by the fact that by the use of a few wires, a crystal, a whisker, and a few other gadgets they could hear a human voice or a musical instrument miles away. People swarmed into our little studio on the roof of the Times. Often our studio was so crowded with professional and amateur entertainers desiring to speak over the magic device that the only way I could get out of the studio was to climb out of the window." Well does he remember back in 1 92 ^ Endowed Broadcasting? Uncle john believes that radio is a universal channel of endeavor. He believes that radio was brought into the world with a purpose, and that that purpose should be one of uplift, and not for the profits of commercialism. "I hope someday," he says in this interview with Deborah Barrington, "to see America with endowed radio stations. I am against a general subsidized radio. Some day some great public-spirited man will do for radio what Carnegie did for the libraries of this country. I am firmly convinced that this is the ultimate goal of radio. . . . "One of the most recent marvels of radio was Pope Pius' address, heard by over forty million people. . . . Radio will be among the forces which will go toward molding the world's fulure. It wi!l reach out to all nations and be the stepping stone for a universal language, and universal peace and goodwill." when the Shriners' convention was held in Los Angeles. Forty-two bands played over KHJ in one week providing a continuous program of 150 hours, 19 minutes. So crowded was the canvas-covered roof of the Times with musicians and musical instruments, that Uncle John had to climb upon the roof of the penthouse studio to manipulate the microphone. There was no such thing as synchronization in those days. One mike was all that could be used. Uncle John placed it on a long steel arm which he swung back and forth to pick up a sound here — to avoid one there. When it was necessary to make a station announcement he had to climb half-way out on the steel arm, clasping the studio wall with one hand, and shout at the microphone. If his hold on the steel arm or the wall had given away, or his foot slipped, he would have fallen headfirst into the gaping brass mouth of a giant tuba. It was great fun in those pioneer days! The famous Uncle John bedtime stories and the children's hours came as a natural development during his attempts to fill the vacant hours between scheduled artists. "Very few children would walk up to the microphone if I asked them to. So I hit upon the idea of carrying the mike around the room with me. We attached it to a long rope with a weight fastened at the end. Then, with the microphone in my hand, I would walk up to a youngster, sit down beside him and ask him to say something to his friends at home. With children you have to be natural to get natural, spontaneous results." Many of the child entertainers that developed through KHJ have since gained fame in motion pictures. Leon Raymond, the Boy Monologist, is a highly paid star under the name of Leon Janney. Phillipe De Lacy and Richard Durand are equally well known. Richard Headrick, known as the Little Minister, is an evangelist under the Angelus Temple banner. Names given these child performers came about naturally through some characteristic of their performance, the clothes they wore or some mannerism. Little Red Ridinghood was so named by Uncle John because, on first visiting the studio, she wore a red cloak and red hat. Little Daffodil carried a bunch of these flowers. Richard Durand became known as Little Boy Blue because he made people cry when he recited Eugene Field's poem of that name: Richard Headrick, the Little Minister, because of his evangelistic ability displayed even at this early age. Pal-o'-Mine served for several years as hostess to the children and their mothers on the days of the children's programs. She assisted Uncle John in arranging Christmas and other parties, but seldom was heard over the radio. Although Uncle John was forced to give up the major part of his broadcasting activities in 1927 and to restrict them to less strenuous news broadcasting, Baby John has now stepped to the fore and is carrying on. At Christmas time, New Year's and Thanksgiving, Baby John broadcasts a short poem or a greeting to the children of radioland. Lately he has joined Doug Douglas, Uncle John's assistant at the Times, in the Sunday comic strip of the air. RADIO DOINGS Page Fourteen