I don’t know who printed up this postcard showing the southeast corner of Hollywood and Vine in the 1940s, but seeing as how it prominently shows the Owl Rexall drug store, I’m guessing maybe they did. But what caught my eye was the sign on the 3rd floor of the Taft building for the Warner Brothers radio station, KFBW. The station began broadcasting on March 4, 1925 but I’ve often wondered what that electronic scroll curved around the corner of the building was called. We can see from this image that it was called a ‘flashcast.’ Mystery solved!
This is a newspaper advertisement to promote inaugural broadcast on March 4, 1925, and first remote broadcast from the Montmartre Cafe and nightclub on Hollywood Blvd:
I don’t know who printed up this postcard showing the southeast corner of Hollywood and Vine in the 1940s, but seeing as how it prominently shows the Owl Rexall drug store, I’m guessing maybe they did. But what caught my eye was the sign on the 3rd floor of the Taft building for the Warner Brothers radio station, KFBW. The station began broadcasting on March 4, 1925 but I’ve often wondered what that electronic scroll curved around the corner of the building was called. We can see from this image that it was called a ‘flashcast.’ Mystery solved!
As a side note, KFWB stands for “Four Warner Brothers”.
Some cynics, such as myself, substitute a different four-letter-word beginning with “F”, but that’s just us. ^.^
I didn’t know that’s what the letters were for but now, of course, I’ll remember!
I can barely see a Philco radio at the bottom of the KFWB ad. It looks very much like one I inherited from a grandmother. Can’t attach pix here.