KDKA Radio's Legendary "Party Line":

[Larry Berger]

Does anyone remember KDKA Radio's legendary night-time radio program
called "Party Line" that aired from about 1950 or so to the late 1960s or
early 1970s?

Hosted by husband and wife team Ed and Wendy King, the show
featured listener calls that were not actually broadcast but instead
relayed through one of the hosts (e.g., "Ed, this caller's name is
Dorothy and she'd like to know the age of the Squirrel Hill
tunnels..."). The show was immensely popular and featured lots of
puzzles and trivia (including the famous "Party Pretzel", whose
answer was published daily in the Post Gazette).

Do you remember the exact years and hours of broadcast?
Do you have any special memories as a listener?

Thanks for your reply or post.

Larry Berger

[Mar-Jean A. Zamperini]

Excerpts from netnews.pgh.general: 23-Apr-96 KDKA Radio's Legendary
"Par.. by Larry Ber...@telerama.lm

I remember my Mom talking about it a lot...and she won a Polaroid Land
Camera on the show, in probably the late '50's!

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Mar-Jean Zamperini
Hunt Library, C.M.U.
mz...@andrew.cmu.edu
Butler Soundwave-Pit-Snare-'95-'96
Steel City Ambassadors-Snare-Bari-'89-'91

[David M. Spera]

s...@telerama.lm.com (Larry Berger) wrote:
>Does anyone remember KDKA Radio's legendary night-time radio program
>called "Party Line" that aired from about 1950 or so to the late 1960s or
>early 1970s?
>
>Hosted by husband and wife team Ed and Wendy King, the show
>featured listener calls that were not actually broadcast but instead
>relayed through one of the hosts (e.g., "Ed, this caller's name is
>Dorothy and she'd like to know the age of the Squirrel Hill
>tunnels..."). The show was immensely popular and featured lots of
>puzzles and trivia (including the famous "Party Pretzel", whose
>answer was published daily in the Post Gazette).
>
>Do you remember the exact years and hours of broadcast?
>Do you have any special memories as a listener?

I remember it. It was quiet and low key, quite nice.
I believe the hours were 9pm to midnight.

--Dave

sp...@telerama.lm.com

[Dan Sullivan]

"Mar-Jean A. Zamperini" <mz...@andrew.cmu.edu> wrote:

>Excerpts from netnews.pgh.general: 23-Apr-96 KDKA Radio's Legendary
>"Par.. by Larry Ber...@telerama.lm
>>

>> Does anyone remember KDKA Radio's legendary night-time radio program
>> called "Party Line" that aired from about 1950 or so to the late 1960s or
>> early 1970s?
>>
>> Hosted by husband and wife team Ed and Wendy King, the show
>> featured listener calls that were not actually broadcast but instead
>> relayed through one of the hosts (e.g., "Ed, this caller's name is
>> Dorothy and she'd like to know the age of the Squirrel Hill
>> tunnels..."). The show was immensely popular and featured lots of
>> puzzles and trivia (including the famous "Party Pretzel", whose
>> answer was published daily in the Post Gazette).
>>
>> Do you remember the exact years and hours of broadcast?
>> Do you have any special memories as a listener?
>>

>> Thanks for your reply or post.
>>
>> Larry Berger

>I remember my Mom talking about it a lot...and she won a Polaroid Land
>Camera on the show, in probably the late '50's!

I also remember it. It was extremely pleasant, as the hosts were
pleasant. Also, it was easier for real information to get through, as
people did not call to hear themselves talk. They took calls during
commercials, and sometimes one of them would take a call while the
other was passing on information from a previous call. They both had
unusually pleasant and soothing voices.

They did not discuss social or political issues, but they did take
questions from callers and solicit answers, and had delightful
exchanges of interesting trivia.

They fell out of favor when tape delay made "live" talk shows the
newer technology, but there was something there that did not come
through the with live call-in shows. It is perhaps similar to the way
silent films, which were full of action, were replaced for several
years with extremely dull talkies.

It also requires hosts who are more interested in what the callers
have to say than what they themselves have to say. That is rare,
especially on KDKA. Mike Pintek could probably pull it off.

Dan Sullivan

The only time my education was interrupted was when I was in school.
--George Bernard Shaw

[mpa]

Dan Sullivan (pim...@pobox.com) offered:

: It also requires hosts who are more interested in what the callers

: have to say than what they themselves have to say. That is rare,
: especially on KDKA. Mike Pintek could probably pull it off.

You have *got* to be kidding. Unless Pintek has changed dratically in the
few years since I've bothered to tune him in. (I think the last was his
half-hearted attempt at Cigna's old Halloween jaunt to a haunted house)

I listened to him for a bit in the late 80's and talked to him twice in
that time period and he was the epitomy of the ill-mannered, load-mouthed
talk show host that has now become the norm. When confronted with facts
and statistics that pointed to something other than his own brand of
"truth" (which could be summed up with the word "simple") he merely
cracked a joke, pushed his level up a notch and moved on.

Now the combination of Cigna from 9 to 12 and Perry Marshall through the
night was *Radio* as far as I'm concerned and I don't think that you
could find a better listener than Perry.

.mpa

--
-----------Experiential Engineering for an Interesting Tomorrow-----------
Intelligence is very much a two edged sword, Captain-Doctor.
It is useful only up to a point. It interferes with the business of living.
-The Swarm

[Kris Kress]

: Do you have any special memories as a listener?

I remember as a child listening to the Party Line and I especially
remember the wonderful ghost stories they told around Halloween. They
were superb to hear.

Kris
--

[tone...@gmail.com]

There was an "announcer" on Party Line. He read the commercials and chipped in a little during the broadcast. I can't remember his name. Does anyone remember his name?

[buck...@yahoo.com]

On Tuesday, April 23, 1996 at 3:00:00 AM UTC-4, Larry Berger wrote:
> Does anyone remember KDKA Radio's legendary night-time radio program
> called "Party Line" that aired from about 1950 or so to the late 1960s or
> early 1970s?
>
> Hosted by husband and wife team Ed and Wendy King, the show
> featured listener calls that were not actually broadcast but instead
> relayed through one of the hosts (e.g., "Ed, this caller's name is
> Dorothy and she'd like to know the age of the Squirrel Hill
> tunnels..."). The show was immensely popular and featured lots of
> puzzles and trivia (including the famous "Party Pretzel", whose
> answer was published daily in the Post Gazette).
>
> Do you remember the exact years and hours of broadcast?

> Do you have any special memories as a listener?
>

> Thanks for your reply or post.
>
> Larry Berger

"Party Line" ran six nights a week, from 10:00 PM until midnight. Ed King started it in 1951, and Wendy joined later. She has stated that she, originally, went in to keep Ed company, since he worked nights, but slowly and surely made her way on air, until they became a gangbuster team. Wendy King is thought to be the nation's first female talk show host. The show ran until November of 1971, when Ed died at the age of only 50. Wendy was so heartbroken that she decided it wouldn't be "Party Line" without Ed, and she left the air for good.

I was a kid during the 60's, and my parents were devout KDKA listeners, and we always listened to "Party Line." My mother loved all the information, and, of course, the "Party Pretzel" questions were always challenging. This was a time before Google and most people didn't have a set of encyclopedias to consult. The answers were almost always available by the end of the show, and if you were lucky enough, it was you who got the right answer, and received one of the Party Pretzel Prizes. We still have the can opener and the ruler!

I called in with a correct answer once. It was in 1969 or 1970, and the question was "What does the chemical formula 'NaCl' represent?" I won a Party Line ruler and still use it to this day!