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Martin Block

American Radio DJ and Jazz songwriter. He achieved success with the WNEW New York music show ''Make Believe Ballroom" started in 1935, nationally syndicated in 1940 and led until 1954. Block borrowing both the concept and the title from West Coast DJ [a800660], of which he had been junior assistant at KFWB in Los Angeles, creating the illusion that he was broadcasting from a ballroom with the nation’s top dance bands performing live. "Make Believe Ballroom" became so popular that when WNEW moved to a new studio on Fifth Avenue, they constructed a simulated ballroom (complete with chandelier and black linoleum) for the show. With this new location available, Block broadcast real live improvised jam sessions with musicians including the Dorsey brothers, Count Basie, Harry James, Gene Krupa, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. [a1909045] coined the term “disc jockey” to describe Block, whose citation when he was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame (1998) gives him credit for being “the first radio disc jockey to become a star in his own right.” Born: February 3, 1903 in Los Angeles, California Died: September 18, 1967 in Englewood, New Jersey

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