Around the World with Louise Brooks : Paramount's KNX Radio Station in Los Angeles

Who might know more about the Paramount radio station, KNX in Los Angeles? Is it the same, or related to, the KNX super-station currently heard in the LA area? Is there a history of the station or of broadcasting in the LA area that might be consulted? Are there records as to what was broadcast in the late 1920s? (I have looked at old newspaper listings, and they don't reveal all that much.)

I am wondering if Louise Brooks was ever heard on the station, or were one of her films featured? The microphone below pictures Clara Bow and two of Brooks' two-time co-stars, Adolphe Menjou and Wallace Berry.

The other day, I came across a few clippings about the station, which according to the second clipping went on the air on Armistice Day in 1928. These clipping seem to be somewhat at odds with the Wikipedia history of the station in that the station went on the air before 1928 and they don't mention the Paramount connection. Might Paramount have leased air time, or only broadcast at certain times? I would like to learn more. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Here is a clipping which notes the stations 1927 debut, and what was heard on that day.

And here is an article from the San Bernadino County Sun newspaper about the station's launch. There is only little mention of Paramount.

Louise Brooks Oddities #1

Louise Bridges -
"By diligence she wins her way"

In my ongoing research, I come across all sorts of material which is a little odd or unusual, and sometimes entertaining. Here is something I found yesterday. It is a page from The Oak Leaf, a 1929 high school year book from the Hugh Morson High School in Raleigh, North Carolina. I flipped through its pages, and I found it to be a typical high school year book, filled with portraits, a class poem, school history, bits of humor and the like.

What caught my eye was a reference to the silent film star Louise Brooks by Hazel McDonald, the "class prophet." In a two page spread, McDonald predicted the future's of various students, not doubt based on some characteristic of the student. One, she predicted, would become an opera singer, one a pianist, one a veterinarian, one the heavy weight boxing champion, one a race car driver, etc.... It is the sort of thing one might find in other yearbooks, and perhaps even your own.

McDonald predicted another classmate, named Louise Bridges, would find film stardom, writing "Last of all I saw Louise Bridges, who had taken Louise Brooks' place on the screen." (See the second from last line on page two of the "Class Prophecy" shown below.) This shout-out shows Brooks had a certain currency among high school students of the time.

That currency got me wondering. Why would McDonald had made such a particular prediction for this particular student. They were friends, apparently, and both were members of the Morson Literary Society as well as the school's Dramatic Club. But, did Louise Bridges share some trait with Louise Brooks, besides the same first name? Did Bridges and Brooks look-alike? Flipping through the yearbook, I found that a number of the girls wore bobbed hair, though Bridges' bob was closest to the style worn by Brooks, or Colleen Moore, another popular screen star. Bridges was pretty, like Brooks, and somewhat resembles the actress, in my opinion.

I also found the class prophet, Hazel McDonald, to have a rather interesting look, sporting a fashionable Eton Crop--unusual perhaps for a high school student for the time from the American south. I don't know what happened to either of these students, whether Louise became an actress, or whether Hazel became a writer, but each seemed to be pretty cool kids.

Hazel McDonald -
"I grow in with and worth and sense"