Cleveland 1950s

The public schools, for example, provided industrial training for their pupils, and in the city's Industrial Development Committee reported that industrial training could be found in all school grades. Moreover, thousands of workers were enrolled in the public schools' adult-education classes. Trade and industrial unions were also a means of accommodating industrialization. The city early acquired a reputation for strong trade and craft unions, which joined workers of similar skills to maintain or improve wages and working conditions.

The consistent training of Cleveland's workers, and the unionization of important industrial sectors, made the city attractive both to job-seekers and to businessmen, and did much to promote Cleveland's industrial growth.

In the U. Census of the Cleveland metropolitan area including Cuyahoga and Lorain counties ranked it 8th nationally by the number of industrial employees, and 7th by value of its products.

This ranking held essentially the same through the economic depression of the following decade, and through the ensuing war years. During World War II, manufacturers and workers strained the city's productive capacity. Ferguson, contributed materially to the Manhattan atomic bomb Project.

Nevertheless, the concentration of Cleveland industry on producers' goods, such as machine tools or construction equipment, which made it a wartime arsenal, also made it especially susceptible to economic fluctuations. Measured by national averages, Cleveland workers suffered more during depressions and recessions but did better in times of economic growth.

Cleveland's industry entered the s with its boom years in the past and no obvious directions for change. The census of indicated that its traditional leading industries were essentially in the same positions as before the Great Depression. In terms of employment and value of products, the Cleveland area's leaders were transportation equipment 1st, 1st ; machinery 2nd, 2nd ; iron-and-steel making 3rd, 3rd ; metal products 4th, 4th ; and electrical machinery 5th, 6th. By the s, some sources of future change were visible.

Most notably, the international iron and steel market was adverse to American industry as a whole and Cleveland in particular. The impact was symbolized by the dismantling of the U. In the late s, Cleveland's decline in manufacturing was led by its basic steel, motor vehicle and equipment, and metalworking industries, with aging facilities, mismanagement, and outside ownership among the reasons for their departure.

Challenges from Japanese and European automakers and drastic increases in gasoline prices changed American automobile buyer's habits and required shutdowns or retooling of many Cleveland plants. Few new industries seemed likely to take a major role in Cleveland soon, although the making of instruments and medical equipment grew significantly during the post-World War II years, and the manufacture of chemicals and plastics and the printing and publishing business remained strong.

As Cleveland looked to the future, organized research seemed likely to assume a major role in new industrial development. From the establishment of the National Electric Lamp Assn. Later the federal government's Lewis Laboratory and the facilities of Case Institute of Technology became important sites for pioneering development. By the mids, the Cleveland area had over corporate industrial research laboratories.

While Cleveland became a major American industrial center during the century after , dependence on an industrial economy has brought periods of high unemployment and air and water pollution, among other problems. Go to case. Encyclopedia of Cleveland History. Darwin H. Len "Boom Boom" Goldberg. His was the booming voice on the station's hourly IDs, music segues, sweepers, and commercials. He was also a member of "The Buzzard Morning Zoo" in the mids. John Gorman.

Gorman returned to the Buzzard for a second brief run from , but has spent most of the past 20 years as a radio consultant. In , he founded oWOW, a thriving Cleveland-based internet radio. Lucy Grant. Donna Halper. She was among the first DJs to put the group's seven-minute opus, "Working Man," into regular rotation. Halper left Cleveland in to work at Mercury Records in New York City, then spent years working in radio as a consultant and various other capacities. Today, she is an assistant professor of communication at Lesley University in Cambridge, Mass.

She has written several books, including "Boston Radio: Tom Hamilton. Waaaaaay back! It's gone! He became a fan favorite during the Indians s heyday, known for his baseball knowledge, enthusiasm and trademark calls. He remains the radio voice of the Indians, currently working with Jim Rosenhaus. In the baseball off-season, Hamilton calls college basketball games for the Big Ten Network. One of the first black DJs in Cleveland radio, Hawkins broadcasted from the front of his record store on E.

He was on the air when Alan Freed arrived in Cleveland and reportedly had influence on Freed's DJ style and musicals tastes. A jaw injury, suffered in a car accident, affected his speech and ended his radio career. His son, W. Photo courtesy of Western Reserve Historical Society. Johnny Holliday. The fast-talking deejay was one of WHK's most popular rock jocks from helping take the station to No. He broadcast from "the glass cage" at Euclid Ave.

Buy bonds. Save chicken fat, and join the WACs. He eventually became a sports broadcaster, calling University of Maryland football and basketball games and working for the ABC radio network. Mary Holt. She got the job after recording commercials for the record shop she co-owned with Hymie Kaye on 55th and Woodland. WSRS liked them so much, they hired her. She moved to WJMO in Over the course of a long career, she did everything from music to news. She even had a country radio show under the name "Cindy Lou.

She died in at the age of Wes Hopkins. Hopkins got caught up in the payola scandals of the late s and early s, along with many other DJs in Cleveland, including fellow KYW personality Joe Finan.

He and Finan were called to testify at the congressional payola hearings. Specs Howard. His real name was Jerry Liebman, and he made a name for himself as one half of the "Martin and Howard Show" on KYW in Cleveland during the mids and early '60s before moving to Detroit. The name of the school was changed in to Specs Howard School of Media Arts due to the addition of graphic design and film courses. Scott Howitt. Howitt is now retired and "hangs out with his basset hound, Louise," according to Miceli.

Howitt is shown here with frequent radio partner Ravenna Miceli in Don Imus. One of the nation's original — and most notorious — shock jocks, Imus had two memorable stints in Cleveland. It was a tumultuous year. WGAR shot to No. But drug and alcohol abuse, violent episodes and other bizarre behavior got him fired eventually and he headed back to Cleveland, this time to work as the afternoon-drive host at WHK.

The even more vile Gary Dee did mornings. Imus was back to New York the following year and eventually built an "Imus in the Morning" media empire that had him syndicated across the country. He got fired from CBS from that gig in after making racist and insulting remarks about the Rutgers women's basketball team. Jeff Kinzbach and Ed "Flash" Ferenc.

The duo reigned over a zany — and revolving — supporting cast of characters on "Buzzard Morning Zoo" for 18 years from The show was a blend of music, comedy, news and sports, all with a definitively Cleveland sensibility.

Kinzbach left the station in Ferenc is now the public information officer at the Cleveland Municipal Court. He can still be heard on the radio, too. His voice is also heard on a number of Cleveland area radio and TV commercials. Casey Kasem. Kasem was the legendary host of the syndicated "American Top 40" countdown, and the voice of Shaggy on the "Scooby-Doo" cartoons.

He billed himself as "Casey at the Mike," and peppered his show with the comedy bits, trivia and teasers that became his trademark. He used his signature sign-off in Cleveland, too: "Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars. Associaed Press photo. Dick "The Wilde Childe" Kemp. Kemp, a Texas native, may have been the fastest-talking of them all. Hired in , he was known for his rapid-fire style, delivered in Southern drawl. He worked at the station until Lou "King" Kirby.

Chuck Knapp. Knapp left the station in Betty Korvan. She started at the Buzzard in , and stayed until , working mostly the evening shift. Korvan now lives in South Dakota. Jim LaBarbara.

John Landecker. He left the station in July of , just 19 months into his 3-year contract. John Lanigan. John Lanigan has amassed a year broadcast career — most of them in Cleveland radio and TV.

The show was a big hit and stayed atop the ratings for years. Lanigan was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in He retired from WMJI in Lanigan calls in from his Florida home to hash out current events with Triv. Les Levine. Veteran Cleveland sportscaster and sports-talk host Les Levine has worked just about every gig you can imagine in his four-plus decades in the radio and TV business.

Frequently, he took a sales or sales manager job so that he could underwrite the shows he loved to do on radio. His "More Sports and Les Levine" airs weeknights at 6 p. Matt "The Cat" Lapczinski. He became one of the station's most popular jocks during its Buzzard heyday, and was perhaps best known as the host of the live Wednesday "Coffeebreak Concerts. He now works for Progressive Insurance.

He was the station's best-known personality and instrumental in breaking artists such as Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie, Pat Benatar and Mott the Hoople. Rio created the Mr. Leonard character over several years at stations in Houston, New York and Philadelphia before his Cleveland debut. Leonard supposedly worked at the Buzzard, as the assistant public service director, but he was never able to make it into the office.

Each daily call-in would include an excuse that was crazier than the last. He now lives in Texas and works at an addiction recovery center, but he still does the Mr. Bill Louis. He took a leave of absence in December for prostate cancer, and resumed his duties the first week of January.

Howie Lund. Lund died in Jimmy Malone. He joined the program full time in , and eventually became a co-host of the "Lanigan and Malone" show when Webster left the station in Jim Mantel. Jim McIntyre. Michael K. Longtime Plain Dealer columnist and comedy reporter Michael K. He is the younger brother of longtime Cleveland radio newsman Jim McIntyre. Photo by Joshua Gunter, cleveland. Phil McLean. One of the most distinctive voices in Cleveland radio history, McLean combined a smooth baritone, mastery of language and a deep knowledge of music to become one of the top DJs in the country during the s.

The two were national tastemakers, breaking many acts of the day. He could have been a much higher paid broadcaster, but he wouldn't pander to the public taste.

He only liked the best in everything — the best jazz, the best country, the best rock 'n' roll, the best classical music. Ravenna Miceli. She is now an on-air personality for oWOW, a thriving Cleveland-based Internet radio station created by Gorman in Photo courtesy of Gray and Company. Larry Morrow. In , he did a brief stint on Sirius satellite radio. He now does consulting and public speaking. Pete "Mad Daddy" Myers. Myers, a trained actor, had a wild and theatrical on-air style, full of rhymes and shouts that bordered on manic poetry.

If one storm left an impact on the area, it was the Thanksgiving snowstorm of in Cleveland. This startling storm hit a world without modern snow plows and snow tires, leaving 22 states affected in its wake. Do you remember this startling Thanksgiving snowstorm? These images are truly a walk down memory lane. Craving more? These 9 unforgettable winters in Cleveland will linger in local memory for years to come.

Posted in Cleveland November 23, by Nikki Rhoades. During these uncertain times, please keep safety in mind and consider adding destinations to your bucket list to visit at a later date. The week of November 20, started out just like any other. Joseph E. This weather pattern triggered an extratropical cyclone that moved up into the Ohio Valley and into the Appalachians. The Great Appalachian Storm of rolled into Ohio and along the east coast, bringing with it hurricane-force winds into nearly half of the nation.

A total of people perished nationally, many left without power in the midst of a deep freeze.