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A voice from the deep-distant past. Teddy Roosevelt was considered to be the first Progressive President of the United States. During his time in office from 1901, (following the assassination of William McKinley) until 1908, he Created the National Park Service as we know it today. He signed into law the Pure Food and Drug Act, Child Labor laws, campaigned for a Healthcare System (which just goes to show you how long that argument's been going on), and introduced sweeping Anti-Trust legislation.

In 1912, after unsuccessfully attempting a nomination via the Republican Party, he formed his own Bullmoose Party and ran on a third-party ticket, against Woodrow Wilson.

Here is an address he made during that campaign, recorded on September 22, 1912 - the title of the address is "Liberty Of The People." Since the sound is a little rough (recording was in its infancy at the time), here is a transcript of that address:

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I would venture to guess, just based on uncovered evidence, that America in the 1950's was probably more balanced from a cultural standpoint, than it is now.

Why do I say that? The evidence - weekend radio in America was a veritable grab-bag of music, information and culture - all laid out, usually in one place. In 1955, NBC Radio introduced a Weekend service called Monitor. It was an adventuresome idea, geared along the lines of America's then-insatiable curiosity over how things worked.

Monitor's credo was "go anywhere, do anything" and it lived up to that credo over a 48 hour period, beginning at 12:01 on Saturday morning until 11:59 Sunday night.

This episode of The Grand Ole Opry comes from that service. For a half hour (On June 22, 1955) it featured the talents of "Little" Jimmy Dickens, "Cousin" Minnie Pearl, Del Wood, Jimmy Newman, Chester "Chet" Atkins and a host of others. Strictly Americana at its most rural.

But here's the thing - right after Grand Ole Opry, Monitor went to Birdland and featured a set by Woody Herman and Erroll Garner, and a half hour after that, a set by Tyree Glenn and "Philly Joe" Jones.

And the next day, you got the NBC Symphony. Quite a blast of disparate culture, to say the least. But if you were up for it, you got one hell of an education in the space of 48 hours. And your musical taste got very broad and all-encompassing. And if you were a musician, you stumbled into a gold mine.

So as a reminder of how potentially isolated we've become as a culture, here is a half-hour of down-home rural/middle America/roots music, supplied by Mainstream Radio in the form of NBC on June 22, 1955.

The Jazz portion comes tomorrow.

As an adjunct to the news of this day from Prague and the Czech crisis, there was also significant news regarding the very first Air Raid drill to take place in the U.S. on the night of May 16, 1938.

The site was a small rural community in New York State, which also housed an aircraft plant. The Air Raid, part of a new concept in War, was designed to better acquaint the public with the distinct possibilities that war could come just as easily from the air as anywhere else.

And since Radio was pretty new at this sort of on-the-spot reporting, it was an exciting evening for all parties concerned, and rather festive to the inhabitants of Farmingdale, New York.

So here is that broadcast, complete as it happened over WOR, New York on that night of May 16, 1938 - seventy-four years ago.

A lot has changed since then, to be sure.

Recovering from last weeks high-voltage Mott The Hoople Concert from 1974, here is something a bit more laid-back. Little Feat, a live concert from Ultrasonic Studios, recorded on September 19, 1974.

If you listen to both concerts back to back (this one and Mott), you'll get some idea of just how diverse the playing field was, even in the 1970's. And, with most fans at the time, had both Little Feat and Mott The Hoople albums in their collections. Musical taste was pretty broad back then and radio wasn't nearly as restricted in what it played. Even though the writing was on the wall for radio even in the early 70's, it was still possible to get a wide range of music to sample and form opinions on.

Little Feat were one of the very popular bands in concert in the 70's. Even though they weren't considered a "hit-making" operation, they recorded a lot of memorable material and they had a strong popularity with what was, at the time, referred to as the FM Underground audience. With several changes in personnel and some direction shifts, they're still together and still recording and touring. They've carried on the legacy of one of America's premier eclectic bands and it's good to know they're still very much with us.

But for now, here they are in 1974, at their early high point. If you haven't heard them before, now's a good time to check them out.

Leave it to somebody else to offer fresh insights where your own vision gets pretty dim. I am routinely blown away by the reporting going on in other news outlets around the world. And how, maybe because there's not much vested interest, media outlets around the world are able to pull no punches in their coverage of a story, especially one that has so much to do with America and the American state of politics.

From the Rear Vision program on ABC Radio National in Australia comes this half-hour look at the Tea Party Movement in the U.S.; how it began, what are its roots and what are its objectives.

In a half hour they manage to cram in a lot of information about the state of Conservatism in the U.S. and present it in a way that offers information, rather than an opinion.

As it was broadcast on October 26, 2011, full and complete with no cuts.

(Edward R. Murrow - the timeless voice of conscience)

I doubt there is anyone remotely interested in history who hasn't heard a commentary on the state of life in America from Edward R. Murrow.

But in case you haven't, I've included a commentary he made from one of his Red Scare era broadcasts of August 29, 1951. The state of affairs in 1951 are pretty much the same as they are now.

Edward R. Murrow: “There seem to be fewer radical, nonconformists than there used to be. Rebels seem rather to have gone out of fashion, which is perhaps only a reflection of the current hysteria which confuses unpopular or minority views with subversion or disloyalty.

His was a voice of calm resolve and keen insight.

And sixty years later, it still is.

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This day in 1941 was staring at the 600th since that ominous overture to Poland in 1939. And in that time, Europe was engulfed in a series of invasions, surrenders and daily desperation.

From London came word that German bombing raids over Britain the previous night were mostly confined to the Southeast and Northeast of England, but casualties were reported to be small. It was also the second successive night London went without a raid alarm.

The RAF retaliated with attacks on targets throughout occupied Europe.

The Free French Island of Tahiti declared itself on the side of DeGaulle.

There were unconfirmed yet persistent reports that Athens had fallen to the Germans and that Greece was in danger of being a lost Allied cause.

From Berlin came news that the previous nights address by Charles Lindbergh of the America First Committee at Madison Square Garden in New York drew praise in the German press, fueling speculation that maybe America would not get involved in the War after all.

Hitler concluded talks with Hungarian leaders in the wake of preparing German plans for the occupied Balkan region. Japanese Foreign Minister Matsuoka returned to Tokyo, armed with assurances and a renewed alliance with Berlin. Rumors that Germany was planning a move to Spain and Portugal were shrugged off as British propaganda, despite credible reports that some 2,500 German operatives posing as "tourists" were roaming the streets of Madrid.

It was also learned that German brewers were considering the idea of "light beer" to go with calls from the government to curb alcohol use, even though they hadn't even entered the experimental stage yet. And shortages were turning into rationing of cigarettes and cigars, in the wake of government calls to ban tobacco, which was deemed not such a good thing from a morale point of view.

And back in the U.S. - Secretary of State Cordell Hull called for renewed support of Britain in their fight against the axis and to support Lend-Lease.

All on this day in April, 1941 as reported by NBC and it's News Of The World.

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Since I've been going on a familiarity binge the past few days (with Bowie, Led Zeppelin and Elvis Costello) I thought I would dig a bit deeper and pull up this one. Black Sabbath from one of their earliest surviving sessions for the BBC. Recorded for the John Peel Program on April 26th 1970, this session features the band right at the tipping point in their careers. It's ironic that Black Sabbath achieved a larger following in England and Europe than America, at first. It was around 1970 the U.S. finally caught up with the rest of the world and Black Sabbath became a household name ever since.

Before Black Sabbath came along, there really weren't any bands characterized as Heavy Metal, as least to the extent they explored doom-laden lyrics with dramatic word pictures. Most bands considered Heavy Metal had a basis in blues or hard Rock. Black Sabbath came along and changed all that, and in doing so, carved out their own niche in the annals of music.

Here is a rundown of what they play tonight:

1. Black Sabbath
2. Walpurgis
3. Fairies Wear Boots
4. Behind The Wall Of Sleep
5. Evil Woman

This should give you a good introduction of what the band were capable of. You may have missed some of these the first time around. The sound is a little strange in places. But the band certainly weren't.

This is a slight cheat. This session wasn't done for BBC Radio but rather it's the audio portion of a BBC-TV session The Mothers Of Invention did in on October 23, 1968.

Frank makes mention of the fact that this is something that never would have been done on American TV at the time and he was right. America just wasn't ready for Frank, or anything experimental. And even though we joke about it now, it spoke volumes about where the mainstream were in the so-called "Swinging 60's" and what an uphill slog it was just to get an audience.

So tonight's session comes from BBC-TV. And the tracks featured are:

1. Improvisations
2. King Kong
3. Oh, In The Sky

Vintage Frank Zappa and the reason music of the 60's took a huge leap forward. I can't imagine what the music scene would have been like without him.

Struggles all over, this 12th day of April in 1973. The U.S. lodged a formal protest over PLO radio broadcasts "Hate America" propaganda, whipping up anti-American demonstrations and violence. More fighting in Beirut as the PLO held a funeral for four guerrillas, gunned down by Israeli Commandos.

President Nixon consults with Gen. Alexander Haig over the worsening situation in Cambodia.

On Capitol Hill - the house struggles with rising consumer prices. Chairman of the House Ways & Means Committee Wilbur Mills calls for a roll back to the Phase One spending freeze.

A Federal judge ruled the dismantling of OEO was illegal and further layoffs and firings were put on hold.

Watergate was busily bubbling along. Dr. Armand Hammer's Occidental Petroleum signed an $8 Billion contract with the Soviet Union for Chemical supplies. The Senate votes unanimously for the Vietnam War Memorial. Nixon asks Congress to establish a minimum Unemployment compensation.

And two planes, one a military trainer and the other carrying NASA scientists collided and crashed just outside San Francisco, with 16 confirmed dead as of air-time.

And so it went, this April 12, 1973 as told by NBC Nightly News.