Martin Block

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Martin Block (1901-1967) was the first radio disc jockey to become a star in his own right. He was born in Los Angeles, California. Walter Winchell coined the term "disc jockey" as a description of Block.

In 1935, while listeners to New York's WNEW in New York (now information outlet WBBR) were awaiting developments in the Lindbergh kidnapping, Block built and audience by playing records between the Lindbergh news bulletins.

This led to his Make Believe Ballroom, which began February 3, 1935 with Block borrowing both the concept and the title from West Coast disc jockey Al Jarvis. With Block creating the illusion that he was broadcasting from a ballroom with the nation’s top dance bands performing live, Make Believe Ballroom was nationally syndicated in 1940. The illusion was shattered by a 1948 musical short in which Block talked about the show while sitting in front of his extensive record library. Both Block and Jarvis appeared in Columbia Pictures' musical comedy feature film, Make Believe Ballroom (1949), with Frankie Laine and other recording artists.

Though the show continued in New York, Block was imported to Los Angeles by KFWB in 1946 to do Make Believe Ballroom on the West Coast. He did not like Los Angeles and returned to New York at the end of his contract.

Block left Make Believe Ballroom in 1954 to host The Martin Block Show for ABC Radio. Towards the end of his career, he was heard on WOR/New York.

After his death in 1967, the Make Believe Ballroom aired on WNEW into the late 1980s, and it is currently hosted on New York's WSHR by Bill Frisch.

Block was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 1988.