The Independent Radio Stations in the Early Evening
For the most part the independent radio stations in New York broadcast recorded music and news during the hours from 5:00 to 7:00 PM. One of the most popular shows was "Make Believe Ballroom" on WNEW which played big band music as a simulated broadcast from a hotel ballroom. WLIB broadcast a pre-recorded show daily from society hostess Elsa Maxwell.
Bespectacled comedian Robert Q. Lewis, later a familiar television panelist, was on WHN. Pianist and comedian Bob Howard had a 15-minute daily spot on the station as well. In 1948 he would become the first African American to have a television show. WHN also was home for daily commentary from Johannes Steel, the German-born leftist who ran for Congress in a special election that year on the American Labor Party ticket in the Lower East Side. As reported elsewhere on this site, the press, outside of The Daily Worker and PM, decried his pro-Stalin sympathies but the CIO unions and Communist and American Labor Party activists mounted a strong bring-out-the-vote campaign that came close to scoring an upset victory for Steel over the Democratic candidate in an election with a low turnout in sort of a Leftist version on the Tea Party enthusiasm. In the regular election in November the ALP backed the Democratic candidate whom they had denounced as a Tammy Hall stooge during the primary.
The city-owned station WNYC broadcast several recitals by folk singers that week, including Oscar Brand, who had a long association with the station, Pete Seeger, Margot Mayer and Leadbelly. The station also broadcast "An Easter Fantasy" from Cardinal Spellman, the spiritual head of the city's Catholics.
In addition to its live and recorded classical music shows, WQXR had a daily show "Books You Love Best" and on Friday broadcast services from Temple Emanu-el.