First episode

 
William Hooker Gillette

Based on the popular characters created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes aired on coast-to-coast radio 
beginning Monday October 20, 1930 and ran until June 5, 1955. Over 
time, there were 574 broadcasts on the NBC, Mutual and ABC network 
stations.

The original cast featured William Gillette as Holmes and Leigh Lovell
as Dr. Watson. The first sponsor was George Washington Coffee. The
announcer was Joseph Bell.

1950s comic book ad

Claire Trevor and Edward G. Robinson

Big Town is a popular radio drama series that was broadcast until
1952. Edward Robinson played Steve Wilson, the managing editor 
for Illustrated Press until 1942 when Edward J.Pawley took over for
most of the remaining episodes. Claire Trevor portrayed Lorelei
Kilbourne, a society editor and Wilson’s  sidekick. She was replaced
by Ona Munson in 1940.

Big Town was rated No-one among all of the reporter-type drama
series on radio. It was also rated in the top 15 among all radio
programs broadcast and had a listening audience rated between
10 and 20 million people. The program was later adapted to both
film and television and a comic book published by DC Comics. 

  
                                                                                                Photos: Dean Simmons

Besides promoting shows and co-starring with celebrities, Buddy Simmons 
worked as a disc jockey for KVAN in Vancouver, WA and KRDR in Gresham, 
OR where he was the program director as well. It is widely believed that 
he was the first person to play country music on the radio in the Pacific 
Northwest. He also had TV shows on three different stations, “Northwest
Jamboree” on KPTV 12, “Hoedown” on KATU channel 2, and “The Buddy 
Simmons Show” seen on KGW channel 8. 

 
Buddy behind the KRDR microphone in Gresham, Or

Willie ‘Buddy’ Simmons (February 3rd, 1926 – August 21st, 2012)

 
                                                                                                           (OSU collection)

Barney Keep posing with a box of chains in the KEX booth around the 1960s

Barney began his broadcasting career at KEX radio in 1943. He remained in the
”Keep Time” morning-drive slot for 35 years, retiring in 1979. Barney was a true professional in every sense of the word!

Barney (Byron William Keep/Jan. 9, 1917 – Feb. 19, 2000) rings the
“goodie gong” for the last time during his retirement party at the
Civic Theater in February of 1979.