Eddie Hubbard
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Charles Edward "Eddie" Hubbard (August 29, 1917 – March 26, 2007) was an American easy-listening/MOR disc jockey and radio personality in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
, at such radio stations as
WIND Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...
and WGN. At WGN he co-hosted a popular show with
Jack Brickhouse John Beasley Brickhouse (January 24, 1916 – August 6, 1998) was an American sportscaster. Known primarily for his play-by-play coverage of Chicago Cubs games on WGN-TV from 1948 to 1981, he received the Ford C. Frick Award from the Baseball H ...
.


Early years

Born in
Baltimore, Maryland Baltimore is the List of municipalities in Maryland, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the List of United States ...
, Hubbard attended the
University of Baltimore The University of Baltimore (UBalt, UB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is part of the University System of Maryland. UBalt consists of four colleges in applied arts and sciences, Robert G. Merrick School of Bu ...
, following his father's advice to prepare for a secure profession. While there, he found participating in shows to be more appealing. During his sophomore year in college, he began working at radio station WITH as a disk jockey. During his years in
Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...
, he also worked at
WCAO WCAO (600 AM "Heaven 600") is a commercial radio station in Baltimore, Maryland. It broadcasts an urban gospel radio format and is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. It also airs some Christian talk and teaching programs. The studios and offices ar ...
and entertained in theaters, night clubs and on a
vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
circuit.


Career in Chicago

Hubbard moved to
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
in the mid-1940s. He worked at WIND-AM and hosted stage shows at the big Loop theaters. He also played the ukulele, performing at lounges around Chicago on weekends. In 1956, he joined WGN as a personality. In addition to his regular duties, that included hosting the morning drive time show until 1965, he appeared on the Saturday night "Barn Dance" show. He wrote some of TV scripts for ''
Hawaiian Eye ''Hawaiian Eye'' is an American detective television series that ran from October 1959 to April 1963 on the American Broadcasting Company, ABC television network. Premise Private investigator Tracy Steele (Anthony Eisley) and his half-Hawaiian ...
'' and ''
Love, American Style ''Love, American Style'' is an American anthology comedy television series that aired on ABC from September 29, 1969, to January 11, 1974. The series was produced by Paramount Television. During the 1971–72 and 1972–73 seasons, it was a pa ...
''. Some sources give Hubbard partial credit for the success of
Jerry Murad's Harmonicats Jerry Murad's Harmonicats were an American harmonica-based group. Background The earliest iteration of The Harmonicats was known as the Harmonica Madcaps, later renamed The Quintones by Jimmy Mulcay, who promoted and produced the group until 1 ...
' recording of
Peg o' My Heart "Peg o' My Heart" is a popular song written by Alfred Bryan (lyricist), Alfred Bryan (words) and Fred Fisher (music). It was published on March 15, 1913 and it featured in the 1913 musical ''Ziegfeld Follies''. The song was first performed publ ...
in 1947. An article in the Chicago Sunday Tribune noted, "His way of plugging the tune was the subject of articles in national magazines." In the early 1980s, Hubbard was host of a daily talk program on WVVX-FM. Hubbard joined WJJD in March 1982, when the station adopted an
adult standards Adult standards (also sometimes known as the nostalgia or Big Band format) is a North American radio format heard primarily on AM or class A FM stations. Adult standards started in the 1950s and is aimed at "mature" adults, meaning mainly tho ...
format. In 1983, he left WJJD and joined WAIT.


Television

Hubbard supplemented his work in radio by venturing into television. In the late 1940s, he was master of ceremonies for ''Dollars and Sense'' on Monday nights and ''Vaudeo Varieties'' on Friday nights. Both were on Chicago's WENR-TV, which became
WLS-TV WLS-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the market's ABC network outlet. It has been owned and operated by the network's ABC Owned Television Stations division since the station's inception. ...
. In 1956, he was selected to be host of ''Dance Party'' on
WBKB-TV WBKB-TV (channel 11) is a television station in Alpena, Michigan, United States, affiliated with CBS, NBC, American Broadcasting Company, ABC, Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox and MyNetworkTV. Owned by Morgan Murphy Media, the station maintains st ...
in Chicago.


Disc jockey organization

In 1947, Hubbard was elected the first president of the Chicago Disc Jockeys Association.


Dallas

In 1990, he moved from Chicago to Dallas, the new home of the
Satellite Music Network Satellite Music Network was the first satellite delivered Radio network, network to provide complete live 24-hour-a-day music programming to radio stations, local stations, under several different formats. History Affiliate stations, mostly i ...
, known later as
ABC Radio Networks ABC Radio may refer to: Australia * History of ABC Radio (Australia), the division of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) responsible for: ** ABC Classic, a classical music radio station ** ABC Classic 2, an un-presented streaming-only ...
, where he was the afternoon host on the Stardust format and was heard on hundreds of stations. While with ABC, Hubbard teamed with
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
radio legend Bud Buschardt. Prior to his move to
Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...
, Hubbard broadcast at WJJD, again playing popular recordings of the 1940s/1950s.


Jackie Smith

Hubbard was married to Jackie Smith (''née'' Alice Jacqueline Hartman) (died 1987), first publicity director of
Mercury Records Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. Mercury Records released ...
. Smith was the mother of Conrad Robert Falk, who would later, as an actor, adopt the stage name
Robert Conrad Robert Conrad (born Conrad Robert Falk; March 1, 1935 – February 8, 2020) was an American film and television actor, singer, and stuntman. He is best known for his role in the 1965–1969 television series ''The Wild Wild West'', playin ...
. Hubbard thus was Conrad's stepfather for approximately a decade until he and Smith divorced around 1958.


Death

Hubbard died, aged 89, on March 26, 2007 in a
Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant County, covering nearly into Denton County, Texas, Denton, Johnson County, Texas, Johnson, Parker County, Texas, Parker, and Wise County, Te ...
hospital from injuries sustained in an automobile accident in
Grand Prairie, Texas Grand Prairie is a city in the U.S. state of Texas, located in Dallas County, Texas, Dallas, Tarrant County, Texas, Tarrant, and Ellis County, Texas, Ellis counties with a small part extending into Johnson County, Texas , Johnson county. It ...
.


References


External links


WGN News story (audio)
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hubbard, Eddie Radio personalities from Baltimore Road incident deaths in Texas American radio personalities 1917 births 2007 deaths