On top of everything else keeping America up at night, the fixation over Flying Saucers, beings from another planet, Little Green Men, Unexplained phenomena, mysterious sightings were enough to make sure America didn’t get enough sleep.
First you had the birth of the all-night call-in show, where anyone with an observation or a complaint would have free reign to rant. And then you had the All-Night Call In show with a guest, who was either controversial or notorious and the legion of callers would assault the radio stations phone banks.
The 1950s saw the biggest growth of the All-Night Radio call-in show and probably the best example of that was Long John Nebel, a hugely popular all-night radio host, with millions of regular listeners and what was described as “a fanatically loyal following” to his syndicated program, which dealt mainly with anomalous phenomena, UFOs, and other offbeat topics.
In the mid-1950s, radio throughout the United States was floundering and trying to redefine itself after the explosive popularity of television. Over several years, Nebel had many friends at various New York radio stations when he bought commercial time to advertise his auction house. WOR, one of New York’s leading stations, faced poor ratings in 1954 when Nebel proposed an interview show. The format would be devoted to discussing strange and unexplained topics.
WOR’s management was not especially impressed by Nebel’s idea. However, deciding they had little to lose (following WOR’s failed foray into broadcasting facsimile editions of the morning paper during the early morning hours), WOR offered him a midnight to 5:30 am time slot, the poorest-rated hours. Building on the modest fame of his auction house (and also hoping to generate more business), he used the same name, Long John, when he went on radio.
To the surprise of WOR’s management, Nebel’s show was a quick success among New York’s night-owls and early risers. Unidentified flying objects were discussed almost daily, alongside topics such as voodoo, witchcraft, parapsychology, hypnotism, conspiracy theories, and ghosts. Perhaps fittingly for an overnight show, one of Nebel’s sponsors was No-Doz caffeine pills.
Within a few months Nebel was getting not only high ratings, but press attention from throughout the United States for his distinctive and in many ways unprecedented program (WOR’s powerful signal assured that Nebel’s show was broadcast to over half of the United States’ population). Some listeners were put off by his “grating, often vicious manner”, but many more adored him because of (or in spite of) his abrasive style. Though Nebel could be brusque and even imperious in the phone, he was always a sympathetic listener and compassionate host.
WOR was worried about some of Nebel’s guests or callers using profanity on the air. Nebel used one of the first broadcast delay systems in radio, giving engineers a chance to edit any unacceptable language before it was broadcast. In 1956, engineer Russell Tinklepaugh invented the system Nebel used. He built a modified Ampex 300 tape deck with an additional set of heads. The deck was able to record on a loop of 1/4″ tape, and carry the tape around the perimeter of the deck to be played on the second set of heads. This resulted in a delay of several seconds, enough time to hit the “stop” button to avoid airing foul language.
As an example of his show and of the UFO phenomenon in the 1950s, here is a three hour slice of Long John Nebel from May 30, 1958 featuring Bob Ewing, Ambassador to Venus.
Because these shows were recorded at a very slow speed, they make for difficult listening in places. But even getting a gist of how outrageous and off-the-wall these shows were is worth the price of straining your ears.
The 50s. What a decade.
