Evening star., 1943-06-07
BY LLOYD BRADY.
~ 4 N ~ u
CHICAGO,

The wind was blowing-not exact
ly a bowling gale, but strong enough
to threaten the aerials of KYW,
Chicago's pioneer radio station.
Down below, in the little 18-by-
21-foot room that was hung with
red burlap and served as the broad
casting studio. Eddie and Fannie
Cavanaugh were doing their daily
stint on the air. 1t was in the days
when the crystal detector and head
| phones were standard equipment
for the radio bugs, and Chicago
stations were silent one night each
week so fans could pick up out-of-
town stations.
The wind kept right on blowing
and the two f1agpoles that support
ed the antenna atop a Loop Office
building bent precariously before
the gusts.
And you know" Fannie Cav
anaugh recalls, I'VE ended UP by
every one rushing up to the rooftop
and holding up the poles until the
| wind died bit - the show must
go on"
Her eyes twinkle in recollection
| and Eddie Cavanaugh. her partner
through all of the $500 broadcasts
in 81 years of continuous micro
phoning, chuckles with her.
Il remember that old studio" he
adds. Why, on the first day we
broadcast March 81, 1922 we had
to put a carpet over the head of
the banjo player
1T happened this way: I had
been, well, they called me director
of bands and orchestras for Water
son, Berlin-that's Irving. you know
-& Snyder Music Publishers.
You can call my job what you
want. but actually I was a. song
plugger, and one day the boss told
me TO go over to KYW and see what
this radio business looks like.
Into Tin Can.
so did. There were three of us
Jimmy Eggert who was killed not
long ago, and swell guy he was
too, Joey Stool, who is managing a
New York music publisher now, and
myself. We were all singers and
Fannie played the piano
The mike in those DAYS looked
like tin can hanging from couple
OF wires, and, because of its peculi-
arities. the banjo sounded above
everything else in the studio You
could hear 1T on the air when you
couldn't hear a trumpet.
There was banjoist there that
day, and when he played no one else
could be heard. We put him over in
a corner, but that didn't help.
Then We tossed the carpet over
his head, and that muffled him
enough to go on with the show"
Since that first broadcast from
KYW, Eddie and Fannie figure they
have interviewed every star except
Al Jolson and Burns and Allen" and
have attained "the longest record
of continuous broadcasting in radio -
One of the stars they interviewed
was Mae West in the days before
she answered the movies siren call
''She broadcast with us one day."
Eddie says. Nothing special; just
the routine broadcast.
There was a policeman in the
studio. Before the broadcast Mae
turned to him and said, You know
I don't drink, and 1 don's smoke
but oh. how I go for policemen! ,"
Eddie chuckles again. Mae liked
the joke" he said, ''but the cop
turned pink"
Fannie chimes in, land remember
when Martha Raye broadcast with
us?"
Sure do" Eddie answers. "She
had been doing few turns with her
brother around the theaters in Elgin
ILL.,, when we got to know her.
Il was program director and Fan
ME was staff pianist for the Elgin
station at the time, and Martha was
as bright as you'd want to see, but
she was SO small she had to stand
on chair"
Then Fannie explains that Mar
tina was only 6 years old at the time
There's one more incident that
stands out in Eddie's memory. That
was when he casually mentioned on
the air just before one Valentine