From the time Westinghouse started commercial broadcasting in 1920 through the end of the radio soap operas in the early 1960s, hundreds of men and women performed on radio. Day after day, week after week, these performers (e.g., Jack Benny, Bing Crosby, Kate Smith, Lowell Thomas, Kay Kyser, and Bob Hope) became familiar voices and welcomed guests in the homes of millions of Americans. Actors, comedians, singers, commentators, announcers, emcees, newscasters, preachers and various other artists all gave voice to radio and 953 of them are covered in this unique reference work. Performers Fran...

Mayling Soong came to America at the age of 10. Her father, Charlie Soong, a practicing Christian who had spent time in America, was convinced that China's youth would need progressive, Western educations before returning to their homeland to take their places as leaders in the fields of government, education and engineering. The youngest of three daughters, Mayling followed her older siblings to the United States in search of a Western education, eventually entering Wellesley in 1913 at age 16. Here she made numerous friends including classmate Emma DeLong Mills. This lifelong friendship...

Not long after the end of World War II, television began to come into its own as an important household entertainment and informational medium. In the 1950s, New York expanded as the major broadcast hub for a wide spectrum of programs: dramatic anthologies, soap operas, quiz shows, sporting events, variety shows, newscasts, and "spectaculars" of every sort. And to maintain these extensive weekly schedules, more and more actors, emcees, musicians, news journalists and sportscasters turned to the far-reaching and influential new medium. Westport and Weston, Connecticut contributed a fair number...