The WSM transmitter building

The FM transmitter that operated at 44.7 Mhz.

On March 1, 1941 W47NV (WSM-FM) began operations in Nashville, Tennessee, becoming the first modern commercial FM radio station. It was in operation for
about ten years, until The National Life and Accident Insurance Company (NL&AI), owners of WSM, realized that few area households had FM receivers and that
its commercial potential was lacking, unlike the company’s television station, WSM-
TV (now WSMV). shut down the FM operations in 1951 and returned the license
to the FCC. The station went back on the air in the late 1950s after an upsurge
in high fidelity equipment.  

A 1950’s Zenith Bakelite AM/FM radio

The first definitive series of U.S. postage stamps offered iconic American
pictorial images other than portraits of statesmen (above). The scenes
included the Statue of Liberty, the Lincoln Memorial and even an image
of an American Buffalo. At first the general public disapproved of the
stamps, complaining that the scenes were no substitute for images of
presidents.

A later issue of the stamps presented pictorial images only on the higher-
value stamps, the more commonly used dominations of 12 cents and
lower, along with the traditional portraits. 

                                                                                        

                                                                                                Photo: Adrian Zmed

Flatbush is an American sitcom that aired on CBS for only three weeks
from February 26, 1979 to March 12, 1979, The series followed five high 
school graduates living in an Italian section of Brooklyn. They are called
‘The Flatbush Fungos’.

The sitcom was criticized for its ethnic stereotypes, but it was the lack of 
laughs (and viewers) that caused CBS to cancel it after only airing three episodes. 

One of the stars of the series was Joseph Cali who portrayed Presto
Prestopopolos  He is most remembered for playing Joey in the 1977 film 
Saturday Night Fever.

Joseph Cali

The song was recorded at Norman Petty Recording Studio in Clovis, New 
Mexico. The idea for the song came when Holly, Allison, and Sonny Curtis
returned from a trip to the movies in June of 1956. The movie was “The
Searchers” starring John Wayne. It was the actors frequently-used phrase
(below) that inspired the young musicians. The single was inducted into the
Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.

Vigoda began his career with a small roles on the television series, Studio One.
His debut film was 1953’s The Joe Louis Story.

He went on to appear in dramas, including The Godfather (1972), and comedies
such as Barney Miller (ABC-TV, 1975-1982), and Joe Versus The Volcano (1990).

Hal Linden (left) and Abe Vigoda publicity photo for Barney Miller