October 1947







Obviously, Alabama got the message ... by 1958, US 31 would be four-lane through most of north Alabama, with I-65 waiting in the wings. 

And if you're not home by midnight, you'll turn into a pumpkin.  Your innards will then be gutted out, triangular holes will be cut in you and you'll live out your days while a candle burns inside you as you sit on a front porch somewhere in east Walker County.

Talk about a whole new meaning for "Amber Alert"...

While phonographs at Pizitz were playing "regular 10-inch records" (what we now quaintly refer to as "78s"), deep in the bowels of a CBS laboratory, aural revolution is sparked by a mild-mannered scientist named Clyde, dressed in stereotypical white labcoat.  Suddenly, he jumps up and shouts, "Eureka!  I have perfected my creation!"

His assistant, a short silent guy named Leonardo, tugs on the tails of Clyde's labcoat.  Clyde bends down.  Leonardo whispers something into his ear. 

"Good idea, Leonardo.  We shall call this invention ... the Long-Playing Record."

[The LP record was first developed in 1948, although Mr. Crashcup and his companion wouldn't come along for another decade or so.]

In 1947, "local" class AM stations like WJLD and WTNB were a paltry 250 watts, both day and night.  It can be assumed here that there was little overlap in their signals, since both carried Mutual Broadcasting System (MBS) network programs, often duplicating each other.   (WTNB would go dark a couple of years later and reemerge at 850, where it would eventually become WYDE) 

09/28/2007 -- 253 AM EDT

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