Red Hot Hits: The Way It Was, 17 December

1926---Destined to have the most owners in California radio history before becoming KOIT in 1983, KYA premieres in San Francisco.

In due course, it will become the Bay Area's number one rock and roll station (from which legendary Top 40 programming pioneer Bill Drake---credited with returning radio to programmers from sales, among other creations---will spring, among others) before Bonneville Broadcasting, an arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, buys the station in 1983.

By December 2007, the station (as KOIT) will have been sold to Immaculate Heart Radio and become, reportedly, an all-religious station.

CHANNEL SURFING . . .

VIC & SADE: A BIJOU LIFETIME PASS (NBC, 1940)---Vic (Art Van Harvey) and Sade (Bernadine Flynn) are puzzled by a plan to buy a new baboon for the park zoo, and Rush (Bill Idelson) wants to buy a lifetime pass to the Bijou from Leland Richards---assuming his parents will let him find his bank book. Writer: Paul Rhymer.

THE WHISTLER: LUCKY NIGHT (CBS; Armed Forces Radio Service rebroadcast, 1945)---It seems anything but, at first, at a seamy boarding house whose occupants include a snobbish actor complaining about amenities, a recent arrival killed in a hit-and-run accident, and owners whose miserliness provoke problems beyond the expected. Campion: Possibly Gale Gordon. Detective: Possibly Arthur Q. Bryan. Additional cast: Unknown. The Whistler: Bill Forman. Writer: Unknown.

BOSTON BLACKIE: POLICE IMPERSONATOR (ABC, 1946)---Blackie (Dick Kollmar) rebuffs an acquaintance who needs $10,000---unaware the acquaintance's accomplice can mimic his voice and decoy Faraday (Maurice Tarplin) and his men into killing a rival. Mary: Jan Minor. Additional cast: Unknown. Writers: Kenny Lyons, Ralph Rosenberg.

THE LIFE OF RILEY: A CAR, NOT A WIFE (NBC, 1948)---Their weekly night at the movies has Riley (William Bendix) fantasising himself as James Mason and Peg (Paula Winslowe) fantasising about a family car at long enough last. Babs: Sharon Douglas. Junior: Scotty Beckett. Digger: John Brown. Announcer: Ken Niles. Writers: Ruben Schipp, Alan Lipscott.

THE BIG SHOW: SATCHMO AND FRIENDS (NBC, 1950)---Louis Armstrong's charming "Ain't Misbehavin'" and Martin & Lewis's usual, semi-controlled mayhem highlight an evening of music (also from Frankie Laine and Dorothy McGuire), comedy (also from Bob Hope and an uncredited Phil Harris), and drama (from Deborah Kerr). Host: Tallulah Bankhead. Additional cast: Jimmy Wallington, Meredith Willson. Announcer: Jimmy Wallington. Music: Meredith Willson, the Big Show Orchestra and Chorus. Writers: Goodman Ace, Selma Diamond, George Foster, Mort Greene, Frank Wilson.

FIBBER McGEE & MOLLY: OVER THIRTY DOLLARS FOR MOLLY'S WOMEN'S CLUB (NBC, 1953)---Molly (Marian Jordan) needs to turn ninety cents into thirty dollars for the club's Christmas fund, but she's nervous---and then surprised---when she learns how McGee (Jim Jordan) turns it into larger amounts every half hour. Doc: Arthur Q. Bryan. Writer: Phil Leslie.

PREMIERING TODAY . . .

1895---Rudolph Anders (actor: Space Patrol), Germany.
1896---Arthur Fiedler (conductor: The Boston Pops), South Boston.
1900---Katina Paxinou (actress: Suspense; Hallmark Playhouse), Piraeus, Greece.
1902---House Jameson (actor: The Aldrich Family; Renfrew of the Mounted; The Plot to Overthrow Christmas), Austin, Texas.
1903---Erskine Caldwell (author/playwright: Information, Please; Short Story), Morland, Georgia.
1913---Herbert Nelson (actor: Dan Harding's Wife; The Romance of Helen Trent), Stillwater, Minnesota.
1919---Shrimp Wragge (as Edward Wragge; actor: Gold Spot Pal), New York City.
1927---Richard Long (actor: Lux Radio Theater; So Proudly We Hail), Chicago.