July 18 Illinois History Minute

It’s July 18th. And on this day in 1940, the University of Illinois’ student newspaper, the Daily Illini, congratulated U of I music professor Bruce Foote for signing a contract to perform on Chicago’s WGN Radio.

That’s Professor Foote singing on WGN’s Chicago Theater of the Air, which aired nationwide over the Mutual network. 

From a 1998 commercial, a small boy blows an Oscar Meyer Wiener whistle, and a hot-dog-shaped Wienermobile pulls up. The original Wienermobile, designed by Oscar Mayer’s nephew, Carl, rolled out of an auto plant in Chicago on this day in 1936.