Newsletter May 2026

Carl’s Corner

by Carl Amari

With its no-frills approach and tried-and-tested formula of one part comedy to one party soap opera, Lum & Abner was an affectionate portrayal of the good folks who lived in 1930s rural Arkansas.  The program’s leads, Chester Lauck and Norris Goff, had previously experimented in blackface comedy but while working at KTHS in Hot Springs, Arkansas, they shifted focus to “fellers from the hills” and created Lum and Abner.  The “boys,” a pair of old-timers, were co-proprietors of the Jot ‘Em Down store in the fictional small town of Pine Ridge.  Columbus “Lum” Edwards, played by Lauck, was careful with money and civic minded.  Goff’s Abner Peabody was a sucker for get-rich-quick schemes that were always too good to be true.  Week by week they waged a running battle with arch-enemy Squire Skimp, tried to sell a crooked silver mine, opened up a Jot ‘Em Down bank without proper legal permits, and participated in scrap drives for the war effort.  

 

Always along the way the storekeepers encountered an assortment of characters that Lauck and Goff loosely based on residents of the community of Waters, Arkansas: Squire Skimp was the local con man, loan shark, and insurance hustler; Dick Huddlestone, the postmaster; Cedric Weehunt, the blacksmith’s son.  Another popular inhabitant was inquisitive, checkers-playing Grandpappy Spears.  Between them, Lauck and Goff played all the principal characters.

 

The Lum & Abner radio program was broadcast nationally from New York’s Radio City Music Hall in 1931 and its two leads played Lum and Abner in a series of seven motion pictures when broadcasts shifted to Hollywood.  In 1948, the daily serial made the transition to a weekly sitcom (hear a 30-minute episode the week of May 16th on Hollywood 360), its organ was replaced by an orchestra, and for the first time the show as broadcast in front of a live studio audience.  The half-hour self-contained episodes, however, didn’t prove as popular as the shorter format that brought tall tales of small town life into the homes of millions of listeners nationwide.  

 

FUN FACT: Through the state legislature, in 1938, the town of Waters, Arkansas — the inspiration for the fictional town in the Lum & Abner radio show — officially changed its name to Pine Ridge, Arkansas.  

 

$400 VALUE – YOURS FOR ONLY $100 — SPECIAL BLOW-OUT SALE ON 50 AUDIO CDS OF 100 CLASSIC RADIO SHOWS!!!

Each month we order extra audio CD sets for Classic Radio Club members and once or twice per year we offer a blow-out sale on the excess inventory. 

 

You can buy 10 sets (50 audio CDs) with brilliant-sounding classic radio shows for OUR MANUFACTURING COSTS … Just $1 per half-hour classic radio show which is just $2 per audio CD, plus we include 10 storage cases and liner notes (with pictures of the radio stars) that detail every show!

 

You can receive 100 half-hour classic radio shows on 50 audio CDs for only $100 plus $10 shipping and handling WHILE SUPPLIES LAST.  These CD sets won’t last long so order by calling 1-815-900-7535 and leave your name and return phone number and Carl or Lisa will call you back to take your order.

 

If you are a Classic Radio Club member, we suggest you do not place an order as you will likely receive duplicate classic radio shows from your monthly CD sets.  But if you are not a Classic Radio Club member, there are no duplicate shows in the 100 half-hour classic radio shows you will receive.

 

Order by calling 1-815-900-7535 and leave your name and return phone number and Carl or Lisa will call you back to take your order.  Make sure to hurry and order before we run out of excess stock.

 

PS: If you’d like to learn more about the Classic Radio Club, visit www.classicradioclub.com

LEND ME YOUR EARS by Lisa Wolf

MY GIRL, by The Temptations

Watch On YouTube

When The Temptations released “My Girl” in 1964, it marked a turning point not only for the group, but for Motown itself. Written and produced by Smokey Robinson, the song became The Temptations’ first number-one hit and helped define the smooth, joyful sound that would dominate mid-1960s radio. At the time, the group had already built a following, but “My Girl” gave them a signature record—one that still opens with one of the most recognizable bass lines in popular music.

Smokey Robinson later said he wrote “My Girl” specifically with David Ruffin’s voice in mind, explaining, “I wrote it for David because I knew he had that kind of voice that could really bring it home.”

The song’s cultural life expanded well beyond radio. In 1991, it found a whole new audience through the film My Girl, proving once again how classic records can gain fresh meaning with each generation. Its presence in film and television has cemented it as shorthand for nostalgia and innocence.

More than sixty years later, “My Girl” remains one of the most beloved songs in American music. In a month like May—when graduations, weddings, and celebrations fill the calendar—it feels especially fitting. Bright, joyful, and instantly familiar, it reminds us that sometimes the simplest songs are the ones that stay with us the longest.