On March 21, 1952, Cleveland, Ohio hosted an event now
recognized as history’s first major rock-and-roll show…
the Moondog Coronation Ball.

Breathless promotion on the local radio station. Tickets
selling out in a single day. Thousands of teenagers,
hours before show time, lining up outside the biggest
venue in town.

The “Moondog” in question was the legendary disk jockey
Alan Freed, the self-styled “father of rock and roll” who
was then the host of the enormously popular “Moondog
Show” on Cleveland AM radio station WJW.

Voice of America is an international broadcasting state media
network funded by the federal government of the United States
of America. It is the largest and oldest of the U.S. international broadcasters. VOA produces digital, TV, and radio content in 48 languages, which it distributes to affiliate stations around the
world.

Its targeted and primary audience is non-American outside the
US borders. As of November 2022, its reporting reached 326
million adults per week across all platforms. It is financed by
the U.S. Agency for Global Media after approval by Congress.    

VOA was established in 1942, and on February 24, 1942, the
Foreign Information Service, precursor to the Voice of America,
made its first broadcast from New York City to Europe. 

The VOA charter was signed into law in 1976 by U.S. President
Gerald Ford. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C.

As of 2022, VOA had a weekly worldwide audience of about
326 million (up from 237 million in 2016) and employed 961
staff with an annual budget of $267.5 million.

Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (1913 – 2006)

Voice of America headquarters.

Louis Armstrong being interviewed in the Voice of America Studio.

Adrian Joseph Cronauer was an American radio personality
and United States Air Force Sergeant, whose experiences as
an innovative disc jockey on American Forces Network during
the Vietnam War inspired the 1987 film Good Morning, Vietnam
starring Robin Williams as Cronauer (below).
Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

1987

On March 12, 1933, eight days after his inauguration, President
Franklin D. Roosevelt gives his first national radio address—or
“fireside chat”—broadcast directly from the White House.

Roosevelt began that first address simply: “I want to talk for a
few minutes with the people of the United States about banking.”

The banks would be reopening the next day, Roosevelt said, and
he thanked the public for their “fortitude and good temper”
during the “banking holiday.”

On March 9, 1996, the legendary cigar-chomping performer
George Burns died at his home in Beverly Hills, California,
just weeks after celebrating his 100th birthday.

1977