Remembrances

Fresh Air Remembers Long-Time New York TV And Radio Personality Joe Franklin

2:29pm January 30, 2015

Franklin was a talk-show host for more than 40 years. Guests ranged from Elvis Presley, Woody Allen and Barbra Streisand. He died Jan. 24 at 88 years old. In 1988, Franklin talked with Terry Gross.

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Singer-songwriter Rod McKuen poses for the media before presenting actress-songwriter Dolly Parton the "Johnny Mercer Songwriter Award" at the 2007 Songwriters Hall of Fame ceremonies held in New York in 2007.

Songwriter, Poet Rod McKuen Dies At 81

8:54am January 30, 2015

by Doreen McCallister

Rod McKuen is credited with more than 200 albums and more than 30 collections of poetry. He died on Thursday after a lengthy illness.

Sports

Baseball Hall Of Fame Legend Ernie Banks Dies At 83

8:03am January 26, 2015

The Chicago Cubs slugger was affectionately called "Mr. Cub" and "Mr. Sunshine." He spoke about his life in baseball with Steve Inskeep. (This piece initially aired Oct. 13, 2009 on Morning Edition).

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Chicago Cub Ernie Banks, right, told NPR's Scott Simon, left, in 2014 that he had a lot of fun winning games, but the main thing in his life was "making friends."

Sports

Let's Play Two! Remembering Chicago Cub Ernie Banks

12:00pm January 24, 2015

by Scott Simon

Chicago Cubs Hall of Famer Ernie Banks has died. NPR's Scott Simon remembers the two-time National League MVP as the nice guy who finished first and brought smiles to all his fans' faces.

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World News

Saudi Arabia's King Abullah Dies At 90

2:27pm January 23, 2015

King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud of Saudi Arabia has died. He was born before Saudi Arabia was even a country. David Greene talks to journalist and author Thomas Lippman about the king's death.

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Saudi King Abdullah, seen here last November, died early Friday. NPR's Kelly McEvers says he was a man who laid the foundation for reform in the conservative Arab country.

World News

Saudi King Abdullah Leaves Behind A Complex Legacy

1:14pm January 23, 2015

by Krishnadev Calamur

In the wake of the king's death, he is being remembered as a man who laid the foundation for reform, but also as someone who promised much but accomplished little.

The Army-Navy game on Dec. 7, 1963, was the first televised sports game featuring instant replay. Its inventor, Tony Verna, died Sunday at 81.

He Invented Instant Replay, The TV Trick We Now Take For Granted

12:41pm January 21, 2015

When Tony Verna was a young CBS News director, he created instant replay during the 1963 Army-Navy football game. His new visual effect changed the way we watch live sports. Verna died Sunday at 81.

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Instant Replay Inventor Changed The Way We Watch Sports

11:25am January 21, 2015

In 1963, Tony Verna changed the way we watch sports forever when he created "instant replay." He died this week at the age of 81. Robert Siegel talks to freelance writer Anna Clark about his legacy.

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Music & Culture

Kim Fowley, Producer And Rock Svengali, Dies

12:57pm January 18, 2015

by Neda Ulaby

Checkered barely begins to describe Fowley's long, crazy career in music. He was the infamous first manager and producer of the all-girl band The Runaways.

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Employees of the U.S. Radium Corp. paint numbers on the faces of wristwatches using dangerous radioactive paint. Dozens of women, known as "radium girls," later died of radium poisoning. One of the last radium girls died this year at 107.

Mae Keane, One Of The Last 'Radium Girls,' Dies At 107

2:49pm January 15, 2015

by Rebecca Hersher

In the 1920s, working-class women were hired to paint radium onto glowing watch dials — and told to sharpen the brush with their lips. Dozens died within a few years, but Keane quit, and survived.

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