Category: History

Early Ventura County newspapers offered one of the few ways to connect pioneer communities with stories, opinions, and news of the day. The first newspapers in Ventura County were all closely identified with political parties and had unyielding editors who loved to rile up the community and often teetered on the edge of libel.

Source: Museum of Ventura County

Today is the 75^th anniversary of the D-Day invasion and the Battle of Normandy.  On this day in 1944 and the summer that followed, soldiers from all over the world came to Normandy to fight Nazism and re-establish freedom.

Over 425,000 Allied and German troops were killed, wounded or went missing during the Battle of Normandy. This figure includes over 209,000 Allied casualties.

Five years ago, for the 70^th anniversary of D-Day, KFWB News 980 in Los Angeles was able to air recordings made of the station on the night of the D-day invasion.  The programs had not been heard in Los Angeles since they were broadcast live in 1944.

This first story describes the effort to restore these delicate pieces of broadcast history:

The second story describes the reactions of Los Angeles residents when news of the D-Day invasion reached them:

Both stories were broadcast on KFWB News 980 and feature the voice of my friend, the very talented Paul Lowe.