William Gibiral Hay (18 April 1887 - 12 October 1978) was an American radio announcer who was famous for his many years of work on the ''

Amos 'n' Andy ''Amos 'n' Andy'' is an American radio sitcom about black characters, initially set in Chicago and later in the Harlem section of New York City. While the show had a brief life on 1950s television with black actors, the 1928 to 1960 radio show ...

'' show with Charles Correll and Freeman Gosden.

Biography

Hay was born on 18 April 1887 in Dumfries, Scotland. He migrated to the United States at age 22 in 1909. He became a citizen on 25 January 1917. He got his start in radio at Westinghouse station KFKX in Hastings, Nebraska. In 1927 that station's operations were moved to

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

."Alterations and Corrections"
''Radio Service Bulletin'', September 30, 1927, page 7. Gosden and Correll had a show similar to ''Amos 'n' Andy'' called ''

Sam 'n' Henry ''Sam 'n' Henry'' was a radio series performed by Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll that aired on Chicago radio station WGN (AM), WGN from 1926 through 1928. The ten-minute program is often considered the first situation comedy. Gosden and Corre ...

'' at Chicago radio station WGN, but after a dispute in 1927, they took the program's concept and WGN announcer Bill Hay across town to WMAQ. The ''Amos 'n' Andy'' team created the first syndicated radio show in history. The sponsor of ''Amos 'n' Andy'', Pepsodent, contractually stipulated that no one but Bill Hay was ever to announce their show. Hay died on 12 October 1978 in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

Legacy

Bill Hay has a star on the

Hollywood Walk of Fame The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Californ ...

Biography

Legacy

References

Further reading