Former radio personality, Joe Goodpasture, provided me with his thoughts about radio, wishing he could go back and do it again. According to Joe:

"It was late summer, 1956, and I felt I had hit a jackpot trifecta. In short order, I had enrolled at East Tennessee State College, found a three-bedroom apartment with five other guys on West Pine St., only a few doors from where I had grown up.

"And, best of all, I had landed a full-time dream job as a radio announcer at WETB. This was before the term "disc jockey," or DJ, was commonly used.

"A bit of serendipity was involved in my getting the job. I was in the middle of an audition/interview with program director, Bernie Burleson, when fire engines were called to North Side School.

"Bernie, of course, had to rush to the scene and I tagged along. It turned out to be only a grease fire, but I took the initiative to talk with the fire chief and gather some details.

In 1940, an unidentified announcer at WJHL radio wanted readers to understand that the idea that all there was to do at a radio station was to put on a record and let it play was erroneous to the extreme. He chose to send a letter to the newspaper educating the public: "Every minute of program material," he said, "is carefully gone over and finally presented with a definite idea in mind. The purpose of the Program Department is to keep on the air the entertainment that is wanted by the listeners.

In August 2006, I wrote an article about Jobe's Opera House, a former popular entertainment venue once located at the corner of E. Main and Spring streets on the second floor above Gump Brothers, a fashionable clothing store. Today's column provides supplementary information about the once popular establishment.

During Sept. 20-25, 1909, an impressive exhibit pitted Tennessee against the world. When you put together an exhibition that displays Tennessee’s resources in miniature, you have a sight that is worth observing and an inspiration to return home and take better advantage of the natural opportunities afforded by the South. The purpose of Nashville's Tennessee State Fair was to make the people of the South realize that it's not so much the number of acres they possess but the production output from them that truly counts.

The May 27, 1957 edition of the Johnson City Press-Chronicle occupied an entire page in the newspaper with the words: "WETB proudly announces affiliation with the Mutual Broadcasting System." It went into effect on June 2 of that year.

Today's column is a glance back to August 1954 when 15-minute soap operas filled the weekday airways of radio and television. A contrast of these 14 programs with today's television "soaps" is rather noteworthy.

I recently came across a listing of Saturday morning ("no school today") television juvenile shows, ranging from 1946 through 1971. Since my family did not own a television set until about 1951, I had the option of going to a Johnson Avenue neighbor's house who owned a TV to watch a program or do without. The two generous neighbors I recall were the Gaines Johnson and William Wise families.

Older folks will likely recall the opening theme of television's "The Cisco Kid?" It began with thrilling background music as Cisco and Pancho rode their horses, Diablo and Loco respectively, down a hill, paused briefly and then continued their descent. The narration was "Here's adventure. Here's romance. Here's O. Henry's famous Robin Hood of the Old West. 'The Cisco Kid.'"

An October 1895 headline in The Comet newspaper proclaimed these eye-catching words: "Only a Few More Days Until Walter L. Main's Grandest and Best Show Will be Seen in all Its Glory." 

On Dec. 25, 1951, Bob Thomas, writer for the Johnson City Press-Chronicle posted an article in the paper titled, "Christmas Brings Film Rundown." "Another year in Hollywood is drawing to a close," he noted, "so it's time for me to sit down at my desk and pick the highs and lows of the year." He went on to list his choices: