The Hermit's Cave Radio Program

Background:
Detroit's clear channel powerhouse, WJR

Detroit's--then--CBS Basic Network affiliate, WJR, was one of Detroit's two powerhouse, clear channel stations to originate quality programming throughout Michigan and the midwest heartland. WXYZ, a Detroit NBC-Blue, Mutual, and ABC affiliate over the years also orginated a great deal of local and regional programming throughout the area, much of which went national. Some of WJR's most popular studio-originated features from the 1930s to the early 1940s were the various The Mummers programs:

• 1930 The Mummers
• 1935 The Mummers Little Theatre of the Air
• 1937 The Hermit's Cave

Founded in 1922 by The Detroit Free Press as 517-watt WCX at 580 on the AM dial, the station initially shared the 580 AM band with WWJ until about 1925. In 1925, the Jewett Radio and Phonograph Company of Pontiac, Michigan took control and 580 AM became shared by WCX and WJR (W-Jewett-Radio). From the February 15th, 1925 edition of the Oakland Tribune:

20,000 MILES
NEW RADIO RANGE

An announcement made this week in Detroit brings the news that the Jewett Radio and Phonograph Company will enter the broadcasting field with a station of 5000 watts.

The details of this massive project were explained in a statement by Howard E. Campbell, chief radio engineer and general manager of the broadcasting division of the Jewett Company, and until recently similarly connected with the Detroit News station. WWJ.

"For some time," said Mr. Campbell, "it has been the conviction of Jewett that the principal radio manufacturers should take the responsibility for supplying the quality programs to the public."

---

Jewett moved the station from The Detroit Free Press building to the Book-Cadillac Hotel. Jewett subsequently upgraded WWJ to 5,000 watts and renamed it WJR. From the August 16th 1925 edition of the Davenport Democrat and Leader:

WJR, the new 5,000 watt station created at Pontiac, Mich., by the Jewett Radio and Phonograph company, gave its inaugural program last night.

Broadcasting from the studios in the Book-Cadillac hotel in Detroit, the program traveled via telephone wires to the transmitter at Pontiac and thence out into the ether to the far reaches of the earth.

The great power of the station and its altogether superb technical equipment bring the farthest corners of this planet within its reach.

Dedicatory addresses by important parsonages and a program of musical brilliance gave a new highlight to broadcasting. Starting at 7 p. m., the program lasted until 3 o'clock in the morning.

The addresses numbered four, including those by Edward H. Jewett, president of the company which built and which operates WJR; the address of Governor Alex J. Groesbeck, speaking for the people of Michigan in whose state the station is located; J. B. Book, representing the hotel which houses the studios in Detroit, and C. T. Toomy who spoke for the Detroit Free Press with which WJR is associated.

Among the entertainers were Cameron McLean, Mme. Djina Ostrowska, the Detroit Operatic Ensemble, Joseph Corner, Marcus Kellerman, T. Stanley Perry, Albert Seibert, Mme. Homer DuBard, Ina M. Lockhart, the Detroit Symphony Trio, Jean Goldicetts's Concert orchestra, the Blue Room Dance orchestra, the Stellar Male quartet, Bernice, Charlotte Meyers, John Kailahue, Will Collins, Marion Partride and Ivan Severstrom.

Mr. Jewett, as president of the organization which fathered WJR, was the first speaker to be introduced by the station's director, Corley W. Kirby.

WJR will be on the air six nights a week. Present plans do not contemplate any Sunday programs. The wave length is 517 [516.9] meters, a division of time having been arranged with the Detroit Free Press for this wave-length. While succeeding programs will not last as long as did last night's inaugural, the same high standard will be maintained.

A brilliant audience viewed last night's program at first hand. In the richly appointed studios in Detroit were present important personages from many sections and a great many prominent men in the radio world.

WCX programming consisted of mostly news, sports, and The Red Apple Club while WJR aired primarily commercial, Pontiac-sponsored programming and was subsequently granted WJR's own AM frequency--680 kHz--in 1926.

Enter Mr. George A. Richards, then president of the new Pontiac Automobiles for Southern Michigan, who purchased The Detroit Free Press' interest in WCX and opened a new studio in the General Motors Building. WCX/WJR became the only station in the world to operate a ground-floor studio, providing passersby a chance to see the on-air entertainers. WJR began using a new air slogan "The Goodwill Station," in December of 1926.

In 1928, Richards obtained a frequency change to 750 on the AM dial and WJR became Michigan's most powerful radio station. WCX physically remained at the Book-Cadillac Hotel and Richards moved WJR's operations to the 28th floor of Detroit's beautiful beaux arts Fisher Building. WJR ultimately bought out The Detroit Free Press' interest in WCX and retired the station and its call-sign in 1929. A power increase in 1931 took WJR from 5,000 watts to 10,000 watts, making it a clear channel station under the FCC's 1928 rules.

By 1935, WJR had constructed a new 50,000 watt transmitter and a 733-foot tower in Riverview, Michigan, at about the same time it changed its network affiliation from NBC-Blue to CBS Basic. WJR moved to its final AM frequency--760 kHz--in March of 1941, where it's remained since then. WJR became a 24-hour, around the clock station in 1942.

Between 1942 and 1976 WJR remained affiliated with CBS except for the period 1959 through 1962, during which WJR aired its own, original programming and independently-syndicated programming. In 1976 WJR rejoined the NBC Network, then switched to ABC in 1985. WJR, now Michigan's eighth oldest continuously licensed radio station, is currently owned by the Citadel Broadcasting Corporation and still resides in the historic Fisher Building.

George A. 'Dick' Richards acquires KMPC, Beverly Hills

One of the West Coast's earliest successful Radio stations, KMPC traced its initial air date to February 19th 1927 under the call letters KRLO from studios located in the now historic Larchmont District of Los Angeles at 218 South Larchmont. KRLO was originally licensed to Freeman Lang and A.B. Scott. Ernest J. Krause, A Beverly Hills land developer bought out Lang and Scott's interests in February 1928, obtaining a call sign change from KRLO to KEJK (K-Ernest-J.-Krause).

Krause moved KEJK from the Larchmont facility to 9631 Wilshire Boulevard off of Camden Drive in Beverly Hills. In April of 1928 Krause sold KEJK to the R.S. MacMillan Petroleum Company, which moved KEJK's studios to 401 Camden Drive in the Home Beautiful Building. KEJK initially shared its broadcast day with Aimee Semple McPherson’s KFSG, located in The Angelus Temple just above Downtown, L.A.

In the Fall of 1928 KEJK moved to 1170 on the AM dial and doubled its power to 500 watts with a transmitter reportedly located at 81st and Compton. During the Winter of 1929 KEJK made its final change to 710 kHz on the AM dial and in March of 1930 MacMillan obtained the call letters, 'KMPC' (K-MacMillan-Petroleum-Company). MacMillan doubled KMPC's power to 1,000 watts in the Spring of 1932.

On March 11th 1933, MacMillan sold KMPC to the Beverly Hills Broadcasting Corporation for $50,000. A little over a year later Beverly Hills Broadcasting was forced to declare bankruptcy and KMPC was briefly acquired by Pacific Southwest Discount Corporation. In August 1934 WJR-Detroit and Detroit Lions owner George A. Richards bought the Beverly Hills Broadcasting Corporation for a reported $125,000. This was, after all, the post-Depression era during which hundreds of early Radio stations were forced to change hands. KMPC subsequently adopted the moniker, "The Station of the Stars," owing quite literally to the fact that Richards had brought in Bing Crosby, Paul Whiteman, Freeman Gosden, Charles Correll, and Harold Lloyd as stockholders.

In 1938 Dick Richards signed All-American Stanford Tackle Robert O. 'Horse' Reynolds to Richards' Detroit Lions. Richards also offered Reynolds a radio sales job at KMPC during the off-season to help Reynolds supplement his income. The offer was so good that Reynolds never returned to Football and in 1942 Richards named Reynolds as Vice President and General Manager of KMPC.

By 1940 KMPC was licensed to broadcast 24 hours a day and had increased its power to 5,000-watts (day) and 1,000-watts (night). Two years later, KMPC increased its power to 10,000 watts day and night with a transmitter located atop Burbank Boulevard in North Hollywood--where it resides to this day. In 1944, despite the fact that many of KMPC’s staff were serving in the Armed Forces, the station had outgrown its original studios in Beverly Hills, and in March of 1944 moved--yet again--to 5939 Sunset Boulevard. KMPC upped the ante even further, going to 50,000 daytime watts and 10,000 directional nighttime watts in 1947.

Recognized as the Southern California sports station of the era, KMPC covered Pacific Coast League Baseball, boxing, football, wrestling, golf, tennis and basketball. George A. Richards passed away in 1951, leaving KMPC to his widow and under the management of Bob Reynolds and Lloyd Sigmon (famous for creating L.A.'s "Sig-Alert" traffic alerts).

Another of Dick Richard's legacies of the era was his export of WJR's popular The Hermit's Cave series first to the Don Lee-Mutual Network [KFRC and KHJ] in December of 1938 as The Devil's Scrapbook, and ultimately to KMPC in 1940, with a West Coast cast comprised of some of Radio's most famous artists, among them: William Conrad, Elliott Lewis, and John Dehner.

WJR's The Mummers of the 1930s

The origin of the term 'mummers' reportedly traces its roots to as early as 400 B.C. Rome when annual celebrants of Saturnalia would dress in costume and make sacrifices, feast, sing and generally cavort in honor of Saturn, the mythical father of Jupiter, primary god of the Romans. That 'festival of Cronos' was reportedly exported to the medieval Celts of Wales, Ireland and Scotland becoming an annual celebration of the winter solstice--and even later of Christmas.

The Mummers, in the guise of the name adopted by a troupe of Detroit-area actors, represented the concept of a group of versatile stage actors who regularly performed in imaginative--and often mythical--skits and sketches for the entertainment of their viewers or listeners. WJR's The Mummers began appearing over WJR--and throughout the midwest--in 1930 in a weekly series of 15-minute dramatic sketch performances.

Beginning around 1935, WJR's Mummers began referring to their productions as The Mummers' Little Theatre of the Air. Their versatility caught the attention of the Carter Coal Company in 1937, one of the largest regional distributors of West Virginia's Olga Coal from the Pocahontas Mine. Concentrating on the eerier productions The Mummers had become known for, the initial unsponsored 1936 series was dubbed In the Hermit's Cave.

WJR and Olga Coal bring The Hermit's Cave to Radio

In the Hermit's Cave began airing over WJR on September 13th 1936 on Sunday nights near the witching hour. In the Hermit's Cave replaced the long-running Vincent Lopez Dance Orchestra that WJR had previously slotted at the 10 p.m. hour on Sunday evenings. WJR had long been noted for its heavy emphasis on dance orchestras and music programming throughout its weekly schedule.

The new series was introduced and narrated by "The Hermit" of 'The Hermit's Cave.' Reminiscent of Old Nancy, the witch from The Witch's Tale (1931), The Hermit of WJR's 'cave' would cackle with glee as he announced:

[hounds howling in]

"Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee . . . Gho-o-o-o-st stories,we-i-i-i-i-rd stories . . . murders, too! Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee. The Hermit knows of them all! Turn our y'er lights. Tu-r-r-r-n them out . . . ahhhh . . . 'ave you heard the story, [insert story name]? 'Eh? Then listen while The Hermit tells you the story . . . Hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee, hee!"

[hounds howling out]

Needless to say, The Hermit's Cave's loyal listeners seemed to never get their fill of The Hermit's gleeful schadenfreude from beginning to end. An almost instant hit throughout the midwest, the series was soon heard over other CBS Basic stations in the midwest via electrical transcription (E.T.).

And what wasn't there to love?

For the dyed-in-the-wool supernatural mystery fan, The Hermit's Cave had all the archetypal components: a scary host, compelling scripts, surprise endings, and a consistent theme. The Olga Coal-sponsored WJR run was the most authentic of the various renditions of The Hermit's Cave over its eleven year franchise. The five presently definable variants of The Hermit's Cave were:

• The 1930-1936 The Mummers 15-minute sketches over WJR that featured The Hermit.
• The 1936 introductory run of In The Hermit's Cave over WJR.
• The 1937 to 1947 Olga Coal-sponsored WJR run of The Hermit's Cave.
• The 1938-1939 Don Lee-Mutual run of The Devil's Scrapbook
• The 1940-1944 KMPC run of The Hermit's Cave

All of the variants of the franchise had the good sense to stick with the tried and true formula developed by WJR and The Mummers Troupe. The Hermit himself presented a compelling setting for each of the franchise's dramas. As described by Peter Lorre in the AFRS Mystery Playhouse introductions to The Hermit's Cave:

"High on some lonely promontory, lives a strange old fellow. He's The Hermit, his home a cave hollowed from the rocky hillside . . . his only companions a pack of evil looking, evil smelling dogs. It has been said that no tale of mystery or horror of this world--or the next--has escaped The Hermit's knowing gaze."

Fitting imagery indeed but entirely accurate, as anyone who's heard The Hermit's Cave can attest. Geraldine Elliott, the writer credited with the majority of the WJR-originated scripts for The Hermit's Cave managed to consistently peg out all the important meters one associates with a compelling thriller: eeriness, suspension of disbelief, a steadily arcing narrative, and the surprise ending.

But of course the most emblematic element of The Hermit's Cave was The Hermit himself variously portrayed by John Kent, Charles Penman, Klock Ryder, and Toby Grimmer over the years of the WJR run. The Hermit's gleeful cackling, the campy sounds of his howling hounds, and his introductions, expositional narratives and closing comments were all of a piece--and brilliantly consistent throughout the run irrespective of the actor portraying 'The Hermit.'

WJR's The Hermit's Cave became so popular that the demand to syndicate the series via electrical transcription discs found the series syndicated even further throughout the midwest and as far away as Maryland. Distributed by the transcription giant of the era, World Broadcasting System, numerous independent or loosely affiliated stations were airing The Hermit's Cave, almost always on late Sunday evenings, across the U.S.

Ultimately running for five hundred and fifty-eight episodes, the WJR-originated The Hermit's Cave aired virtually uninterrupted for over ten years between at least 1936 and 1947.

Dick Richards exports The Hermit's Cave formula to California

Richards was one of at least three successful Automobile Sales executives to exert great influence over Radio during its Golden Age:

• G.A. 'Dick' Richards himself owned a highly successful chain of Pontiac dealerships throughout Southern Michigan in addition to his ownership of WJR, Detroit and the Detroit Lions professional football team.
• Earle C. Anthony had been the largest distributor of Packards throughout the West in addition to founding Los Angeles Radio stations KFI and KECA, and KFI-FM and KFI-TV.
• Don Lee had been the exclusive distributor of Cadillacs on the West Coast in addition to founding the Don Lee Network first affiliated with CBS then later with the Mutual Broadcasting System as Don Lee-Mutual, the largest regional component of Mutual.

In 1938 Dick Richards collaborated with Don Lee, another Michigan emigrant, to bring The Hermit's Cave to West Coast audiences as The Devil's Scrapbook airing over Lee's huge Don Lee-Columbia/Don-Lee Mutual Network(s). The Devil's Scrapbook was the only significant departure from The Hermit's Cave format, featuring 'The Devil' as the host and presenting ghost stories from 'The Devil's' own 'Scrapbook.' Charles Penman appears to have been the actor portraying 'The Devil' as well as performing in at least one of the episodes of the series.

In most other respects, the format of The Devil's Scrapbook was identical to that of The Hermit's Cave. One might conjecture that owing to WJR's relationship with CBS, Olga Coal and the Carter Coal Company, Dick Richards wasn't--at that point--yet free to employ the title or character of 'The Hermit' in a West Coast rendition of The Hermit's Cave.

The Devil's Scrapbook aired over the Don Lee-Mutual Network for a total of thirty-seven, 30-minute episodes between its November 21st 1938 premiere and its final installment on July 31st 1939.

Dick Richards brings The Hermit's Cave to his new L.A. station

Richards' The Devil's Scrapbook had whetted West Coast appetites for The Hermit's Cave. And by 1940 Richards' own Los Angeles station, KMPC, had extended its operations to twenty-fours a day, seven days a week. Its new 5,000 watt daytime and 1,000 watt nighttime transmitter dramatically extended KMPC's reach throughout the West Coast. With more hours to fill with programming, Richards apparently obtained the necessary clearances to begin airing KMPC's own rendition of The Hermit's Cave with 24 year old Mel Johnson as KMPC's first 'Hermit.' Even more fortuitous, Richards signed young West Coast Radio sensation William Conrad to produce, direct and even write The Hermit's Cave for Southern California audiences.

KMPC's The Hermit's Cave debuted over Southern California airwaves late Sunday evening on the 22nd of September, 1940. Initially airing all over the late Sunday evening schedule, after twenty-six episodes The Hermit's Cave found regular sponsors and began airing on Sunday nights at 9:30 for the following four years without interruption. The KMPC run of The Hermit's Cave ended with its 217th episode on November 12th 1944. Versatile Southern California animator, pianist, newscaster and Radio actor John Dehner assumed the role of 'The Hermit' for the latter half of the KMPC run.

And so it was that The Hermit's Cave ultimately extended its reach quite literally from East Coast to West Coast across America--from Maryland broadcasts of the WJR-transcribed run to KMPC's own orginal California run. Between 1940 and 1944 The Hermit's Cave was being heard over at least three of the four major networks, at least four regional powerhouse stations, and over at least twenty-three independent stations via transcription.

All told, the original WJR/The Mummers run of The Hermit's Cave encompassed 558 half-hour programs; The Devil's Scrapbook Mutual run another thirty-seven half-hour programs; and the KMPC-originated The Hermit's Cave run added yet another 217 programs to The Hermit's Cave's durable franchise. It would seem that The Hermit had a great deal to cackle about indeed--along with Dick Richards, to be sure.

Series Derivatives:

Notes on Provenances:

The most helpful provenances were the log of the radioGOLDINdex and newspaper listings.

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