The year 1958 saw a number of significant events in radio broadcasting history.

List of years in radio (table)
In television
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
+...

Events

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Debuts

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  • January – Pete Myers, with his frenetic, rapid-fire "Mad Daddy" persona, delivered entirely in rhyme, debuts on WJW (AM) in Cleveland (today WKNR). His evening show has a brief run (he leaves WJW in May). After a 90-day non-compete clause is enforced, Myers joins cross-town WHK, coining phrases that are still uttered to this day, such as "wavy gravy" and "mellow jello".
  • 4 March – WDCR/1340-Hanover, New Hampshire (Dartmouth College Radio) begins broadcasting at 21:00 Eastern Standard Time.
  • 26 August – KMAQ of Maquoketa, Iowa signs on the air at 1320 AM, with Dennis Voy as one of the main personalities. The station operates as a strictly sunrise to sunset operation at a power of 500 watts.
  • 23 November – "Have Gun, Will Travel", one of the last radio dramas featuring continuing characters, debuts on the CBS Radio Network.

Closings

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Births

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  • 29 January – Linda Smith, English comedian (died 2006)
  • 3 May – Sandi Toksvig, Danish-born British comic performer
  • 14 May – Jan Ravens, English actress and impressionist
  • 23 May – Mitch Albom, American author and radio personality
  • 29 June – Jeff Coopwood, American actor, broadcaster and singer
  • 27 July – Vincenzo Nicoli, English actor
  • 27 August – Normand Brathwaite, Québécois television and radio presenter
  • 29 August – Michael Jackson, American singer and songwriter
  • 6 September – Jeff Foxworthy, American comedian, actor, author, and radio and television personality
  • 21 September – Simon Mayo, British radio presenter
  • 26 September – Dan Foster, American radio personality (died 2020)[2]
  • 23 October – Michael Dyson, African American writer, professor and radio talk show host

Deaths

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  • 18 May – Elmer Davis, 68, American news reporter, author, and a Peabody Award recipient[1]

References

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  1. ^ a b c d Cox, Jim (2008). This Day in Network Radio: A Daily Calendar of Births, Debuts, Cancellations and Other Events in Broadcasting History. McFarland & Company, Inc. ISBN 978-0-7864-3848-8.
  2. ^ Leland, John (24 June 2020). "Dan Foster, the American-Born 'Big Dawg' of Nigerian Radio, Dies at 61". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 26 December 2023.