Launch with the President: The Way It Was, 2 November

1920: AND THE WINNERS ARE . . . ---Well, Sen. Warren G. Harding (R-Ohio) is the winner of the White House over Ohio governor James M. Cox (whose running mate is a freshly-resigned assistant Navy Secretary named Franklin D. Roosevelt), but the greater Pittsburgh area and the United States radio audience is also the winner---because the evening's election returns are the first things listeners hear when KDKA goes on the air as the world's first commercial radio station, after several years playing music as experimental station 8XK.

In due course, KDKA (the call letters stand for nothing, believe it or not: they are chosen from a roster of ship-to-shore identifiers and these letters happen to be the next available when its license is granted)---whose earliest days are broadcast out of a tent---becomes part of the NBC Blue Network; shifting to the Red Network in 1941; becoming the longtime home of baseball's Pittsburgh Pirates; and, becoming all news/talk (airing Don McLean's "American Pie," of all songs, as its final music selection: "the day the music died") as a CBS affiliate in April 1992.

CHANNEL SURFING . . .

1947: FROM RADIO CITY: CHARLIE GOES TO HECK---Under gas sedation for a tooth extraction, Charlie (McCarthy) was nervous enough going in---but then he has a nightmare about dying and being sent to heck . . . where Fred Allen himself is the presiding mischief maker, on tonight's edition of The Charlie McCarthy Show. (NBC.)

Additional cast: Edgar Bergen, Carlton Chase, Mortimer Snerd, Anita Jordan, Pat Patrick, Herschel Swing. Music: Ray Noble and His Orchestra. Writers: Carroll Carroll, Roland McLane, possibly Joe Connelly, Bob Mosher.

1951: THE BOWERY CASE---Being a singing detective is enough for Diamond (Dick Powell) on the threshold of a hot date with Helen (Virginia Gregg), but his plans are interrupted when his old police mentor is shot by a Bowery punk, on tonight's edition of Richard Diamond, Private Detective. (ABC.)

Lt. Levinson: Alan Reed. Smiley: Howard McNear. Additional cast: Herbert Butterfield, Paul Richards. Writer: Dick Carr.

1953: TRYING TO CATCH A PHANTOM BURGLAR---While Molly (Marian Jordan) attempts to train their new parakeet, Fibber (Jim Jordan) blasts home unexpectedly early from a night of bowling edgy over a burglar reported on the prowl . . . who's already hit Doc Gamble's (Arthur Q. Bryan) house, and who inspires Fibber to rig one of his elaborately useless traps, on today's edition of Fibber McGee & Molly. (NBC.)

Mr. Wimpole: Bill Thompson. Writers: Phil Leslie, Ralph Goodman.

1956: THE SILENT QUEEN MATTER (CONCLUSION)---In the last episode of both the incumbent storyline and the show's life as a daily serial, Johnny (Bob Bailey)---having survived a bid on his own life while trying to solve the attempted murder of a silent movie star's husband, whose intended killer blew the job prompting the contractor to try himself---gets closer to unraveling that plot plus a parallel blackmail wrinkle, on tonight's edition of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. (CBS.)

Additional cast: Paula Winslowe, Virginia Gregg, Victor Perrin, Paul Duvall, Frank Erstal, John Dehner, Lawrence Dobkin, Chet Stratton. Writer: Adrian Jondeau.

PREMIERING TODAY . . .

1886---Philip Merivale (actor: One Foot in Heaven), Rehutia, Manickpur, India.
1892---Alice Brady (actress: Hollywood Hotel), New York City.
1899---Evelyn MacGregor (singer: The American Melody Hour; The American Album of Familiar Music), Pittsfield, Massachussetts; Glenn Rowell (singer/comedian: The Quaker Early Birds; Gene and Glenn), Pontiac, Michigan.
1901---James Dunn (actor: Lux Radio Theater), New York City; Paul Ford (actor: Tom Corbett, Space Cadet; Suspense), Baltimore.
1906---Peggy Conklin (actress: McGarry and His Mouse; The Life of Riley), Dobbs Ferry, New York.
1908---Bunny Berigan (as Rowland Bernard Berigan; jazz trumpeter/vocalist: Let's Dance (with Benny Goodman and His Orchestra); Saturday Night Swing Club; Tim and Irene; The Norge Program), Hilbert, Wisconsin.
1909---Fred Lowrey (The Blind Whistler: The New Fred Lowrey Show; The Horace Heidt Show), Palestine, Texas.
1913---Burt Lancaster (actor: Ford Theater; Lux Radio Theater), New York City.
1918---Janette Davis (singer: Arthur Godfrey Time; Avalon Time; The Red Skelton Show), Memphis, Tennessee.
1919---Warren Stevens (actor: Quiet, Please), Clark's Summit, Pennsylvania.
1920---Kay Armen (singer: Stop the Music; The Pet Milk Show; The Bob Crosby Show), Chicago; Ann Rutherford (actress: Blondie; The Eddie Bracken Show), Vancouver, British Columbia.