New! Mild! Bob and Ray!

Bob and Ray had seemingly countless time-slots and shows that it’s hard to keep up with them.

I really liked their 15-minute shows on NBC starting in 1951 and CBS in 1959. NBC had musical interludes like their half-hour show in Boston, CBS stuck pretty much with characters interacting and sketches.

In between they did a longer show on Mutual that is a little too cumbersome for my liking. They played pop songs that came out of nowhere and had an announcer doing intros and real commercials.

Apparently, one of NBC radio’s formats was a late-night, hour-long jock show. It was eagerly anticipated in Minneapolis by Star Tribune TV-radio writer Will Jones. First up, a note from his column of May 13, 1953:

AFTER LAST NIGHT
By Will Jones
Sometimes TV Is Worth While
Some choice items that have made TV watching worth while in the past few days:. . .
Bob and Bay's takeoff on a hobbyists' convention (5:30 p.m. Monday, Ch. 5). It was a gathering of people who collect things that disprove old clichés—a moss-covered rolling stone and microscopic particle over which Bob exclaimed: "Isn't that the ugliest bug's ear you ever saw?
An avid Bob and Ray fan called the other day to assure me that KSTP radio's failure to carry the new late-night Bob and Ray disk show is no loss. He said that by fiddling a little bit with his radio dial he has been able to hear the show three times in one night at 10 p.m., 11 p.m. and midnight, from stations in three different time zones.
I started out at 10 p.m. trying to duplicate his luck. I couldn't find Bob and Ray, but I did pick up Henry Morgan from WMGM in New York at 1050 on the dial. Reception got muddy around 11 p.m., and in fiddling with the set I suddenly found I had Bob and Ray, a fraction of an inch away on the dial. The reception, again, was a little muddy. But it all beat the stuff that comes in sharp-and clear from the local stations.

KSTP changed its mind. Here’s the column from May 25, 1953. There were even box ads in the paper for the show for the first few days.

AFTER LAST NIGHT
By Will Jones
We'll Write If We Get Work
It might be fun to sit down by a radio all day just to hear the advance announcements KSTP has planned for "Bob and Ray."
The local bow of their new night-time program is being heralded with announcements like this:
"KSTP more or less proudly announces the new Bob and Ray show will be heard over most of this same station every night. Monday through Friday—at 11:05 p.m. It's the program that was one of four which did not win the Ohio State university award in 1953."
For people who can't spend all of today by a radio waiting for the station breaks, however, here's a brief anthology of the announcements. They were created by Joe Cook of the KSTP promotion department, with some liberal help from Bob and Ray:
*There's real drama tonight at 11:05 when Bob and Ray present another thrilling episode of "Arthur Sturdley—Boy Jerk." Bob and Ray present NBC tonight at 11:05.
*Webley Webster wants you ... to dial Bob and Ray tonight at 11:05. There are many exciting new things to hear such as an interview with the inventer [sic] of the link sausage. Remember, the new milder Bob and Ray at 11:05.
*Kindly old Bob and Ray return to KSTP tonight with such interesting and instructive things as "Appendectomy, Self-Taught" . . . "How to Become a Successful Smuggler."
*Enter the new Bob and Ray contest . . . "I would like to own a state because . . ." First prize a real state with a real governor, police, land and waterways.
*There are bargains galore . . . on the Bob and Ray show tonight! Big sale on box hedges made from real boxes! Breeze-ways with real breezes! Un-tinted sun glasses for cloudy days! Hit phonograph records only slightly cracked. These records were dropped ONLY A FEW INCHES off the delivery truck! A heap of wonderful things at 11:05 on the Bob and Ray show. Miss it!

The midnight (Eastern time) jock show doesn’t appear to have lasted long. It vanished from the NBC schedule after September 18, 1953. replaced with Skitch Henderson. The two were already doing Pick and Play With Bob and Ray from 9:30 to 10 on radio in addition to a 15-minute early evening TV show. They stuck with the latter two. For a while. Bob and Ray were all over the radio dial, it’s like there was a change every year. Fans ignored the ad advice. They didn't "miss it."