This is an iHeart Podcast. Hey, it's Bobby from the Bobby Bone Show. I had an incredible time at this year's iHeartRadio Music Festival and even got the chance to hang out with Diplo and Bailey Zimmerman while I was there. How did Ashes come together, Diplo? I pulled up real quick.
He was about to leave on tour. You're about to jump in your tour bus, and we had like three hours. It was really cool. He literally just like randomly showed up to my house. I'm like, oh, hey, Diplo, what are you doing?
He's like, I have a song that I want to show you. And I was like, okay. You can listen to the full episode out now wherever you get your podcast. And big shout out to my friends at Hyundai for making this possible. At a blast, cruising around the festival weekend in the all-new Palisade Hybrid.
Hear that? That's what it sounds like when you plant more trees than you harvest. Work done by thousands of working forest professionals, like Adam, a district forest manager who works to protect our forests from fires. Keeping the forest fire resistant, synonymous with keeping the forest healthy. And we do that through planting more than we harvest and mitigate those risks through active management.
It's a long-term commitment. Visit WorkingForestsInitiative.com to learn more. I'm Scott Hanson, host of NFL Red Zone. Lowe's knows Sundays are for football. That's why we're here to help you get your next DIY project done, even when the clock isn't on your side.
Whether that's a new Filtrate filter or Bosch and Cobalt power tools, Lowe's has everything you need to feel like the MVP of DIY.
So get it done and earn your Sunday. Shop now in store and online. Lowe's, official partner of the NFL. The NFL International Games continue on NFL Network and here our stars come out in the morning. Week 10, Bajon Robinson and the Falcons.
Take on Daniel Jones and the Colts in Berlin. of the fourth quarter. Then in week 11, Jaden Daniels and the Commanders! Face Tua and the Dolphins in Madrid. Snooze off, game on.
It's Sunday morning football. continues November 9th at 9.30 Eastern only on NFL Network. This is Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang from Lost Culturists with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang. JBL Tor Pro 3 earbuds are for those who don't conform to the standard. Yeah, I mean, if you want to get into some touchscreen technology, how about the smart charging case, clear sound?
These are not standard things. You're only going to get them with the JBL Tor Pro 3, baby. And I love the sound of JBL when it goes. These earbuds are packed with innovation because you can't stand out by following others. Touchscreen smart charging case for one touch control, instant EQ customization, true adaptive noise canceling, and the one-of-a-kind audio transmitter, which can plug and play with everything from game consoles to in-flight entertainment.
What more could you want? First doesn't follow. Grab a pair at jbl.com. This is Lee Habib and this is Our American Stories. In the early 1920s, a brand new innovation swept across America.
It was audible, it was immediate, and as you'll soon hear, dangerous. We're talking about broadcast radio. Here to share the story of the early days of radio and the dramatic tale of Lester Wolfe. A 19-year-old radio tech who dropped out of high school to make a name for himself at WOK in the suburbs of Chicago. is Robert Anderson.
His great grand nephew. Let's get into this story. Take it away, Robert. In Homewood, Illinois, a south suburb of Chicago, at the time it was a community of about 2,000 people. Homewood actually had one of those.
Radio stations in the early days of commercial broadcasting. The name of the station, the call letters, WOK radio. 1380 on your AM dial. WOK had come into existence In 1925, owned and operated by neutral round manufacturing company which made radio receivers. Bulky, big, expensive, difficult to operate, WOK.
Like most radio stations at that time, even the Stations in bigger cities like Chicago or New York It was difficult to fill The time during the day with programming. There were no phonographs hooked up to. Mixers that would take a signal to a transmitter. And be able to play a record on the air. It didn't exist then.
There were no talk shows. There were no Broadcast of news every hour. What do you put on the air for people to listen to?
Well, A common program for stations all over the country and for WOK and Homewood. was to broadcast from local dance halls and orchestra halls. And these are the programs that people were Fascinated by this is wireless telegraphy. This was a phenomenon. This is like magic.
You turn on a box that's hooked up to a power source and you can hear something. A matter of a short walk from the WOK transmitter. A family named the Wolf Family lived on Dixie Highway. And the youngest of two boys to the Wolfe family was Lester J. Wolfe.
In 1926, Lester turned 19 years old. He was fascinated by this new electronics-based. Industry of Radio Broadcasting. Lester was so enamored with the local radio station that he actually dropped out of high school. His future was set.
He was known as the 19-year-old kid who gave up school to learn about electronics and spent every hour that he could at the local radio station WOK helping them put their remote broadcast on the air. Those who knew him knew that Lester J. Wolfe was the life of the party even when he was a kid. He had a pet goose named Hiram that all of the neighbors laughed about and enjoyed seeing him play with. He was the one cracking jokes, the one making fun of things, the one who had constant energy.
He was always the life of the party, the kid who had something fun or funny to say. And he had the good looks to go along with that effervescent personality. Full head of dark hair, tall, good looking, skinny kid. He was a musician. He played the ukulele.
He was comfortable in public settings. He could ham it up. He enjoyed being the center of attention. He was always aiming to please. The equipment was primitive and dangerous, at least potentially dangerous.
WOK was powered by five thousand small. Wet batteries. Batteries like in your Grandfather's old car. That could be potentially dangerous in a car. Certainly 5,000 wet batteries in a primitive radio station could could also be potentially very dangerous.
And the harnessing of the electricity generated by the batteries was also. Primitive and something to be very careful around. The circuit breakers really didn't function all that safely. There weren't checks and balances built into the equipment because the equipment was brand new technology. It wasn't very advanced at all.
Late that Saturday night on July 10, 1926. It was a clean broadcast for WOK. They had the line hooked up to Hyde Park in Chicago, maybe some 20, 25 miles away. And the dance band was coming in loud and clear, and the people listening in Homewood. We're enjoying the program.
and they were enjoying it so much at the dance hall that there was thunderous applause. That not only almost brought the house down, But it brought a fuse down back at WOK in Homewood. The fuse blew. And the station immediately went off the air. And those late Saturday night technicians were probably half asleep, and suddenly they're wide awake.
We're off the air. that little panic sets in, and young Lester Wolfe is among the crew there that night. Johnny on the spot, chance to impress the bosses.
So Leicester takes it upon himself to get the station back on the air, change that fuse and save the day. Little did he know what was going to happen. He charges into the room where the equipment. That had been affected is located by those 5,000 wet batteries. he puts in the new fuse.
But having forgotten to take down the power of the station first, he becomes a conduit. He completes the circuit with his body. He has sixty-five thousand volts of power. go through his body. And he collapses to the floor.
He falls to the floor. he bounces right back up. He says I'm okay. And he collapses again. This time he doesn't get back up.
LEUSTER J. WOLF is on the floor of the radio station. Dead. at the age of 19. Two days after the tragedy, The WOK studio located in Hyde Park received a telegram from WRNY Radio in New York from a Charles Isaacson.
It was a short telegram message that said We want to do something in the industry to memorialize Lester J. Wolfe, the first martyr to radio, which is what he was already being called around this fledgling, close knit industry around the country. Would family approve fundraising effort to build a monument for Leicester? They liked the idea of some sort of a monument because the word had gotten around the country that something terrible happened at a radio station in Chicago and a nineteen year old has died as a result of a terrible accident. The goal was ten thousand dollars in 1926.
That was a big goal. The NeutralWound company that owned WOK Radio in Homewood, where Lester worked and died. came up with the initial $1,000 to get the effort started. Other money came in from radio operators around the country. But after that Nothing.
No money, no word about the money. The money never surfaced.
Someone absconded with it, It was gone.
So the memorial for Lester J. Wolfe. never got built. But there is a memorial of sorts. at Homewood Memorial Garden Cemetery.
A short distance from where Lester both lived and where he died at WOK. There is on his tombstone a reference to him being the first to die in service at a radio station. His tombstone references Lester J. Wolfe, Born nineteen oh seven. Died 1926 while in service to WOK Radio.
Lester J. Wolfe, Yeah. The First Martyr To radio. And a terrific job on the production, editing, and storytelling by John Elfner. He's a history teacher in Illinois.
The story of Lester J. Wolfe. Here on Our American Stories. Hey, it's Bobby from the Bobby Bones Show. I had an incredible time at this year's iHeartRadio Music Festival and even got the chance to hang out with Diplo and Bailey Zimmerman while I was there.
How did Ashes come together, Diplo? I pulled up real quick. He was about to leave on tour. You're about to jump in your tour bus and we had like three hours. It was really cool.
He literally just like randomly showed up to my house. I'm like, oh, hey, Diplo, what are you doing? He's like, I have a song that I want to show you. And I was like, okay. You can listen to the full episode out now wherever you get your podcast.
And big shout out to my friends at Hyundai for making this possible. At a blast, cruising around the festival weekend in the all-new Palisade Hybrid. This is Alec Murdoch. I need police and an ambulance immediately. Murdoch Death in the Family official podcast is here.
I'm joining Patricia Arquette, Jason Clark, and the cast to uncover all things Murdoch. Family first. To unravel the story piece by piece was really surprising because you don't want to believe it. Murdoch, Death in the Family official podcast. Wednesdays.
and stream Murdoch Death in the Family on Hulu and Hulu on Disney Plus for bundle subscribers. Terms apply. The NFL International Games continue on NFL Network. And here, our stars come out in the morning. Week 10, Bajon Robinson and the Falcons.
Take on Daniel Jones and the Colts in Berlin. To the floor. Then in week 11, Jaden Daniels and the Commanders! Face Tua and the Dolphins in Madrid. Snooze off, game on.
It's Sunday morning football. Continues November 9th at 9.30 Eastern only on NFL Network. Get ready to power up your play with Nintendo Switch 2. Power up the visuals with 4K support and a bigger, more vivid screen. Power up the fun with exclusive new games like Mario Kart World.
And Donkey Kong Bonanza. Nintendo Switch 2, all together, anytime, anywhere. Games rated E to E10 Plus. Games and systems sold separately. Compatible TV required for 4K display.
Wednesdays on BET, an all-new episode of 106 and Sports from executive producers LeBron James and Maverick Carter. Ashley Nicole Moss and Cam Newton breakdown top moments in sports, culture, and entertainment. Check out 106 and Sports on BET and next day on BET Plus. This is an iHeart podcast.
