Landmark airship hangar in Tustin, California, 81

[[e-mail]]

It was the northern-sited one of the those two massive hangers that burned to the ground on Tuesday; its southern twin still stands, thank Heavens.

If you never been in Orange County, California, you probably don't realize that these two iconic structures could be seen in the distance over a great part of the expansive (and mostly flat in that area) SoCal county.

I've see it said they were each dirigible barns; I believe that is incorrect, though their elongated shape certainly suggests it; my limited understanding is that the U.S. Navy, still owner of the property, only flew blimps (at least after that oh-the-humanity! evening on a Lakehurst, New Jersey tarmac on Thursday, May 6, 1937*).

Beholding yet aother time these remarkable World War II-era structures looming in the distance whilst reporting over Southland radio stations from the Orange County freeways (for Metro Traffic during the mid-'80s) was ALWAYS a highlight of every workday I was assigned a southern-freeways beat by Metro's Vine St.-based anchors up in Hollywood.

Next time you're motoring around Orange County, be sure to gaze toward the Tustin horizon to see that remaining southern hangar--while you've still got the chance.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
===================
* The date on which (legally-cleared, but twice-convicted) quadruple-killer Hurricane Carter was born, as it happens.
===================
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-11-07/massive-fire-burns-landmark-17-story-blimp-hangar-in-tustin

[[e-mail]]

And oh yes, an oft-posed stumper is sometimes phrased:

Which reporter famously said, "Oh, the humanity!" while witnessing the Hindenburg catastrophe?

And of course the answer IS:

Herb Morrison,
straight-to-disc-recording for (but NOT airing live over) WLS/Chicago.

STYBLE/Florida

[A Friend]

Post by ***@gmail.com
Which reporter famously said, "Oh, the humanity!" while witnessing the
Hindenburg catastrophe?
Herb Morrison,
straight-to-disc-recording for (but NOT airing live over) WLS/Chicago.

We interviewed him following the Challenger explosion. Mr. Morrison
was in an old-age home (in Alabama, I think) and my editor found him
and did the interview. It was brilliant work. Mr. Morrison was
touched that someone had remembered him. BTW Mr. Morrison was not a
news broadcaster, but an advertising guy who was working the Hindenburg
arrival for a client. He never appeared on radio again until my editor
found and interviewed him.

[[e-mail]]

I was definitely NOT aware that the late Herb Morrison was not a WLS* reporter, so THANKS A BUNDLE for that AF. (Did you happen to keep a copy of the tape for posterity? If so, kindly post it, AF--it'll sure make my 2003 Phyllis Coates interview over KKNS/Albuquerque sound like small-potatoes in comparison.)

Wiki says that the recording was played back at the wrong speed, raising Morrison's voice a bit. It HAS always sounded like that to my ears, but I've never heard his voice anywhere else, so that was just a lucky hunch on my part. [Could you recognize that was the same aging voice when your boss was interviewing him, AF?]

Maybe it's my broadcaster's DNA, but had I been Morrison***, I would have parlayed that in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time**** good fortune into an on-air career!

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
===================
* WLS, with studios at the north edge of Chicago's famed Loop on State Street ("that GREAT street" as the familiar lyric insists)** has for decades been of special interest to this broadcast buff, as I worked on the third floor at WLS-TV as a writer/producer in local news 1998-99, and then Christmas week up on the nine floor, even finagled a two-night late-night audition over WLS-AM at 890 kHz (working under the name Bill Madison)...though I didn't end up landing the radio gig. (Just maybe might have, though, had I thought to close each broadcast with: "Oh, the humanity!...which comprises the wonderful, vast WLS talk radio audience."
** It's on the west side of State, directly across from the historic Chicago Theatre on State Street's east side, where David Letterman for several years would stage his NBC Late Night shows when doing a week in The Second City.
*** Died in West Virginia on Tuesday, January 10, 1989, which was just three days after demoted Japanese emperor (and, oddly, marine-life expert) Hirohito died the previous Saturday; ten days before Reagan's two-term presidency ended; and exactly a fortnight before Ted Bundy was (unlike the fish Hirohito so laboriously studied) fried.
**** Or more precisely, "in-the-right-place-at-the-right-time-with-the right-equipment", as recording-to-disc gear was both hard-to-transport bulky AND few-and-far-between in 1937.

[A Friend]

Post by ***@gmail.com
I was definitely NOT aware that the late Herb Morrison was not a WLS*
reporter, so THANKS A BUNDLE for that AF. (Did you happen to keep a copy of
the tape for posterity?

I did not.

Post by ***@gmail.com
If so, kindly post it, AF--it'll sure make my 2003
Phyllis Coates interview over KKNS/Albuquerque sound like small-potatoes in
comparison.)
Wiki says that the recording was played back at the wrong speed, raising
Morrison's voice a bit. It HAS always sounded like that to my ears, but I've
never heard his voice anywhere else, so that was just a lucky hunch on my
part. [Could you recognize that was the same aging voice when your boss was
interviewing him, AF?]

No. He did not sound like his younger self.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by ***@gmail.com
* WLS, with studios at the north edge of Chicago's famed Loop on State
Street ("that GREAT street" as the familiar lyric insists)** has for
decades been of special interest to this broadcast buff, as I worked on
the third floor at WLS-TV as a writer/producer in local news 1998-99,
and then Christmas week up on the nine floor, even finagled a two-night
late-night audition over WLS-AM at 890 kHz (working under the name Bill
Madison)...though I didn't end up landing the radio gig. (Just maybe
might have, though, had I thought to close each broadcast with: "Oh,
the humanity!...which comprises the wonderful, vast WLS talk radio
audience."
** It's on the west side of State, directly across from the historic
Chicago Theatre on State Street's east side, where David Letterman for
several years would stage his NBC Late Night shows when doing a week in
The Second City.

WLS is the ABC O&O. The building they are in, 190 N State Street, was the
State-Lake Theater (1919), designed by Rapp & Rapp. It predates the Chicago
Theater (1921). It was initially a vaudeville house on the Orpheum Circuit,
and became a movie theater later and by 1938 was part of the Balaban and
Katz theater chain.

The movie theater went dark in 1984.

ABC purchased the property to produce the Oprah Winfrey Show. WLS-TV was
already a tenant; a few years later, WLS-AM and FM would move in as
well. The movie theater was gutted to be turned into a tv studio. Oprah built
her own studio, gutting an industrial building on the near west side, and
moved the show there in January 1990.

[Louis Epstein]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by ***@gmail.com
* WLS, with studios at the north edge of Chicago's famed Loop on State
Street ("that GREAT street" as the familiar lyric insists)** has for
decades been of special interest to this broadcast buff, as I worked on
the third floor at WLS-TV as a writer/producer in local news 1998-99,
and then Christmas week up on the nine floor, even finagled a two-night
late-night audition over WLS-AM at 890 kHz (working under the name Bill
Madison)...though I didn't end up landing the radio gig. (Just maybe
might have, though, had I thought to close each broadcast with: "Oh,
the humanity!...which comprises the wonderful, vast WLS talk radio
audience."
** It's on the west side of State, directly across from the historic
Chicago Theatre on State Street's east side, where David Letterman for
several years would stage his NBC Late Night shows when doing a week in
The Second City.

WLS is the ABC O&O. The building they are in, 190 N State Street, was the

Do any other network O&Os retain three-letter call signs?

Post by Adam H. Kerman
State-Lake Theater (1919), designed by Rapp & Rapp. It predates the Chicago
Theater (1921). It was initially a vaudeville house on the Orpheum Circuit,

Did part of Orpheum not go with Keith,or did it first come under
B.F. Keith and then either Keith-Orpheum or Radio-Keith-Orpheum
unloaded it?

Post by Adam H. Kerman
and became a movie theater later and by 1938 was part of the Balaban and
Katz theater chain.
The movie theater went dark in 1984.
ABC purchased the property to produce the Oprah Winfrey Show. WLS-TV was
already a tenant; a few years later, WLS-AM and FM would move in as
well. The movie theater was gutted to be turned into a tv studio. Oprah built
her own studio, gutting an industrial building on the near west side, and
moved the show there in January 1990.

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

[[e-mail]]

WJR/Detroit and KGO/San Francisco Bay Area sure did [retain their three-letter heritage call letters].

I suspect there's several others. WHO/Des Moines would probably apply, too.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

[A Friend]

Post by ***@gmail.com
WJR/Detroit and KGO/San Francisco Bay Area sure did [retain their
three-letter heritage call letters].
I suspect there's several others. WHO/Des Moines would probably apply, too.

The FCC doesn't fiddle with three-letter calls unless the station
changes hands. That's when WOR became WWOR, for example.

Neat little article about three-letter calls here:


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_three-letter_broadcast_call_signs_
in_the_United_States

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Louis Epstein

Post by Adam H. Kerman
State-Lake Theater (1919), designed by Rapp & Rapp. It predates the Chicago
Theater (1921). It was initially a vaudeville house on the Orpheum Circuit,

Did part of Orpheum not go with Keith,or did it first come under
B.F. Keith and then either Keith-Orpheum or Radio-Keith-Orpheum
unloaded it?

I've never read the history of this, sorry. I actually don't know if
they owned any vaudeville houses or just booked acts.

Post by Louis Epstein

Post by Adam H. Kerman
. . .

[Louis Epstein]

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Louis Epstein

Post by Adam H. Kerman
State-Lake Theater (1919), designed by Rapp & Rapp. It predates the Chicago
Theater (1921). It was initially a vaudeville house on the Orpheum Circuit,

Did part of Orpheum not go with Keith,or did it first come under
B.F. Keith and then either Keith-Orpheum or Radio-Keith-Orpheum
unloaded it?

I've never read the history of this, sorry. I actually don't know if
they owned any vaudeville houses or just booked acts.

Looking things up,they did own some theaters and booked others.
B.F. Keith and his son were dead before Keith-Albee merged with
Orpheum,which was run by Martin Beck.
Still not sure how some RKO theaters went to Balaban & Katz.

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by Louis Epstein

Post by Adam H. Kerman

Post by Louis Epstein

Post by Adam H. Kerman
State-Lake Theater (1919), designed by Rapp & Rapp. It predates the Chicago
Theater (1921). It was initially a vaudeville house on the Orpheum Circuit,

Did part of Orpheum not go with Keith,or did it first come under
B.F. Keith and then either Keith-Orpheum or Radio-Keith-Orpheum
unloaded it?

I've never read the history of this, sorry. I actually don't know if
they owned any vaudeville houses or just booked acts.

Looking things up,they did own some theaters and booked others.
B.F. Keith and his son were dead before Keith-Albee merged with
Orpheum,which was run by Martin Beck.
Still not sure how some RKO theaters went to Balaban & Katz.

EIther RKO was short of cash or it was a Sherman Anti-Trust thing.

B&K was sort of independent within the Paramount conglomerate as Balaban
continued to run the theaters, till the Paramount vertical conglomerate
was broken up after WWII.

[[e-mail]]

While on the subject of RKO Studios (either pre-Howard Hughes, under him, or post-Hughes):

Can anyone explain the relationship between WRKO/Boston* and the RKO Studio? I mean, I presume there WAS one, at least at one time, correct?

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
===================
* A longtime Top 40 AM powerhouse but these days a talk-radio outlet over which this Boston University alumnus never plied his commercial newstalk radio schtick, alas.

[Adam H. Kerman]

Post by ***@gmail.com
Can anyone explain the relationship between WRKO/Boston* and the RKO
Studio? I mean, I presume there WAS one, at least at one time, correct?

There was no direct relationship with the movie studio, which itself had
radio station ownership through theater subsidiaries that founded radio
stations.

General Tire and Rubber (Sooner or later, you'll own General) bought a
controlling interest in a regional radio network in New England in 1943,
the Yankee Network, based at WNAC Boston. Other regional radio networks and
radio stations were purchased and then they got into the television station
business. The broadcast subsidiary was renamed General Teleradio in 1952.

General Tire purchased RKO in 1955 for the film library to provide
programming for its television stations. They didn't want the movie
studio, which they dissolved by 1959. General Teleradio was renamed RKO
Teleradio Pictures in 1955.

In Boston, General Tire already owned WNAC 1260 AM. In 1953, they bought
the license of WLAW 680 AM and FM, sold the 1260 AM license, and moved
WNAC AM's call letters and format to 680 AM which was licensed for a
more powerful transmitter.

General retained 98.5 FM, becoming WNAC-FM in 1953. This became WRKO-FM
in 1957 because of the renaming of the Teleradio subsidiary, not because
of the movie studio with General was about to dissolve.

The call sign of WNAC was changed to WRKO in 1967 and Yankee Network was
dissolved.

I got this from the Wikipedia articles for WRKO and RKO General.

Post by ***@gmail.com
BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
===================
* A longtime Top 40 AM powerhouse but these days a talk-radio outlet
over which this Boston University alumnus never plied his commercial
newstalk radio schtick, alas.

[[e-mail]]

Authoritative answer to the WRKO question; appreciate the effort you put into it, Adam.

I suppose the WRKO calls were applied for merely because that RKO sequence was so embedded in the public consciousness that the guys applying to the FCC figured they'd pick up some listeners merely on the basis of that. (Believe that what talk radio outlet WJFK/D.C. did.

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida

[Louis Epstein]

Post by ***@gmail.com
It was the northern-sited one of the those two massive hangers that burned to the ground on Tuesday; its southern twin still stands, thank Heavens.
If you never been in Orange County, California, you probably don't realize that these two iconic structures could be seen in the distance over a great part of the expansive (and mostly flat in that area) SoCal county.
I've see it said they were each dirigible barns; I believe that is incorrect, though their elongated shape certainly suggests it; my limited understanding is that the U.S. Navy, still owner of the property, only flew blimps (at least after that oh-the-humanity! evening on a Lakehurst, New Jersey tarmac on Thursday, May 6, 1937*).
Beholding yet aother time these remarkable World War II-era structures looming in the distance whilst reporting over Southland radio stations from the Orange County freeways (for Metro Traffic during the mid-'80s) was ALWAYS a highlight of every workday I was assigned a southern-freeways beat by Metro's Vine St.-based anchors up in Hollywood.
Next time you're motoring around Orange County, be sure to gaze toward the Tustin horizon to see that remaining southern hangar--while you've still got the chance.
BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
===================
* The date on which (legally-cleared, but twice-convicted) quadruple-killer
Hurricane Carter was born, as it happens.

Also the 27th anniversary of the death of Edward VII of the United Kingdom,
and 22nd birthday of Elder Marvin J. Ashton,who would go on to serve on the
Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints from 1971 until his death in 1994.

Post by ***@gmail.com
===================
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2023-11-07/massive-fire-burns-landmark-17-story-blimp-hangar-in-tustin

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

[[e-mail]]

I am glad to have met and chatted with at length with the late Rubin Carter*, and just in case some Hurricane defender--or, for that matter, a fan of that fellow with the funny nose, the funnier hair and the funniest voice--wants to dispute my body-count:

They might point out that the Free-the-Hurricane! movement anthem "Hurricane" (a minor 1975 hit on AM radio for the short-statured rock giant, as well the most celebrated track of his "Desire" sessions) is a song which clearly and repeatedly stipulates that only THREE people were killed that murderous night at The Lafayette Grille:

"We want to pin this triple-murder on...", or "...The triple-murder/That happened in a bar".

It's true those lyrics read that way, but a wounded survivor of the early hours of Friday, June 17, 1966 in Paterson**, New Jersey would die a decade or so later, and his premature death was attributed to aftereffects of that bloodbath, making it a quadruple-murder. (And one extra syllable for Mr. Mumble to warble.)

BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
===================
* At an MLK Day book-signing on the snowy night of Monday, January 17, 2000 on Chicago's famous South Side...which the late Jim Croce reminds us all is the baddest part of town. But I went down there/And did indeed beware...not the lyrical LeRoy Brown, but rather meeting a professional boxer I've long been convinced "did it", though a terrific a protest song also happened to be written about him.
** It's unfortunate that a town named after a Founding Father is now thought of, at least as Mr. Inscrutable sang it: "In Paterson, that's just the way things GO/If you're black, you might as well not SHOW/Up on the STREET/'Less ya wanna draw the HEAT!".

[Louis Epstein]

Post by ***@gmail.com
"We want to pin this triple-murder on...", or "...The triple-murder/That happened in a bar".
It's true those lyrics read that way, but a wounded survivor of the early hours of Friday, June 17, 1966 in Paterson**, New Jersey would die a decade or so later, and his premature death was attributed to aftereffects of that bloodbath, making it a quadruple-murder. (And one extra syllable for Mr. Mumble to warble.)
BRYAN STYBLE/Florida
===================
* At an MLK Day book-signing on the snowy night of Monday, January 17, 2000 on Chicago's famous South Side...which the late Jim Croce reminds us all is the baddest part of town. But I went down there/And did indeed beware...not the lyrical LeRoy Brown, but rather meeting a professional boxer I've long been convinced "did it", though a terrific a protest song also happened to be written about him.
** It's unfortunate that a town named after a Founding Father is now thought
of, at least as Mr. Inscrutable sang it: "In Paterson, that's just the way
things GO/If you're black, you might as well not SHOW/Up on the STREET/'Less
ya wanna draw the HEAT!".

Hmmm...in the neighboring-to-mine town of Patterson,New York
(co-opted by Elizabeth Montgomery as the setting of "Bewitched"
because of her fond memories of visits to relatives-by-marriage
there),the story goes that the town name (adopted in 1808) was
spelled differently from the one-T town in New Jersey (despite
the Matthew Paterson (one T) Elementary School being in
Patterson-with-two-Ts) was because the New Jersey kinsmen of
Matthew were pro-British during the 1776 kerfluffle while the
New Yorkers were rebels...not to mention wanting to cut down
on misdirected mail.

-=-=-
The World Trade Center towers MUST rise again,
at least as tall as before...or terror has triumphed.

[[e-mail]]

KTLA Channel 5 was longtime home of that late terrific, no-nonsense anchor (AND serious aviator) Hal Fishman. (He died Tuesday, August 7, 2007, five days before another TV icon, Merv Griffin.) I imagine Fishman would have been especially pained introducing coverage of this fire.

KTLA has a bunch of photos from different perspectives illustrating what a spectacle this was on Tuesday. Not quite a Hindenburg replay, but something to witness nonetheless. Oh, the humanity (devoted to erecting this pair of magnificent structures in 1942) !

STYBLE/Florida
=============
https://ktla.com/news/local-news/photos-firefighters-battle-massive-blaze-that-partially-destroyed-hangar-at-historic-air-base-in-orange-county/