On March 26, 1953, American medical researcher Dr. Jonas Salk announces on a national radio show that he has successfully
tested a vaccine against poliomyelitis, the virus that causes the
crippling disease of polio.

Burns started smoking cigars when he was 14.

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

George Burns is one of the few entertainers whose career
successfully spanned vaudeville, radio, film and television.

 
                                                             Zenith Console Floor Radio
                                                             Model 11S474, 1940s.

Burns and Allen’s radio show was inducted into the National Radio
Hall of Fame in 1994.

Burns is also a member of the Television Hall of Fame, where he
and Gracie Allen were inducted in 1988.

The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show premiered on
CBS on October 12, 1950 and ran through 1958. 

1977

On March 6, 1981, CBS Evening News anchor Walter
Cronkite signs off with his trademark valediction,
"And that’s the way it is," for the final time.

Over the previous 19 years, Cronkite had established
himself not only as the nation’s leading newsman but
as "the most trusted man in America," he was a steady
presence during two decades of social and political
upheaval.

        
        
        
        
       

Walter Leland Cronkite Jr. (November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009)

Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009)

Harvey died on February 28, 2009, at age 90 at a hospital in
Phoenix, Arizona, surrounded by family and friends. No
cause of death was stated.

Paul Harvey (right) was an on – air guest when this blogger worked at KATN radio in Boise, Idaho.

Have Gun – Will Travel is a Western television series that was
produced and originally broadcast by CBS on both television
and radio from 1957 through 1963. The television version of
the series starring Richard Boone was rated number three
or number four in the Nielsen ratings every year of its first
four seasons.

Richard Allen Boone
(June 18, 1917 – January 10, 1981)

John Dehner (November 23, 1915 – February 4, 1992)

The sound effects department.