Davey Tree Surgery Radio Hour

 

The Davey Tree Surgery Radio Hour was broadcast every Sunday 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM on WEAF for a period of time around 1930. The program used the Skinner Organ Company studio at 677 Fifth Avenue in New York for the live production. And what a production it was: ensembles, solo organ, male quartets, instrumental trios, mixed quartets...  14 musical numbers, exit and intro themes and a short lecture; syndicated on NBC.

The founder, John Davey, evangelized horticulture and tree surgery. In addition to founding his eponymous Tree Surgery Institute, he sponsored this radio program, he filed patents, gave lectures, ran magazine ads, and published books, pamphlets, and articles. By 1929 Davey Tree was a 3-million dollar company. He argued that trees need physicians, not "butchers".  His book on that topic was literally titled The Tree Doctor, published in 1907. Those "butchers" he comically refereed to as "ignorant tree men" in his book.  It's actually a great read. 

His company still exists, now known as The Davey Tree Expert Company. It's been employee-owned since 1979 and has about 12,000 employees. The definitive biography of the company, Green Leaves, by Robert Pfleger was published in 1977.  But back to 1930. His  Davey Institute is also still with us. Founded in 1870, that 1930 program was part of it's "Golden Anniversary." But that radio program was not John Davey's doing. He died in 1923. He was succeeded by his son Martin Luther Davey Sr.  The book  Green Leaves attributed the radio program to his grand plans:

"The Davey Company was one of the early users of radio network time as a sales tool. In 1929 Martin [L. Davey] contracted for the "Davey Hour" to be broadcast from New York City every Sunday afternoon over a network of twenty-four stations stretching from Boston to Kansas City. The program consisted of old time popular music, none of the selections being less than ten years old. ...During the hour long program Martin would devote 10 to 15 minutes to discuss some phases of tree care."

The program was broadcast live with no prerecorded segments; all live. Martin had to make a trip a trip into New York City each Saturday night for the Sunday broadcast. According to the book Green Leaves, the program continued for 9 months through the Fall, and Winter of 1930 and into the Spring of 1931. But we know from a Program flyer the "Golden Anniversary" of the program was in June of 1930; airing on at least June 1st and 8th. That's not Autumn. So it may be that the program began around June of 1930. The program as discontinued before June of 1931 due to the impact of the Great Depression.  

CALLS	City	Time
WEEI	Boston, MA	5 - 6 PM EST
WGR	Buffalo, NY	5 - 6 PM EST
WEAF	New York, NY	5 - 6 PM EST
WFI	Philadelphia, PA	5 - 6 PM EST
WCAE	Pittsburgh, PA	5 - 6 PM EST
WCSH	Portland, ME	5 - 6 PM EST
WJAR	Providence, RI	5 - 6 PM EST
WGY	Schenectady, NY	5 - 6 PM EST
CKGW	Toronto, ON	5 - 6 PM EST
WTAG	Worcester, MA	4 - 5 PM EST
WFJC	Akron, OH	4 - 5 PM EST
WSAI	Cincinnati, OH	4 - 5 PM EST
WENR	Chicago, IL	4 - 5 PM CST
WOC	Davenport, IA	3 - 4 PM CST
WHO	Des Moines, IA	3 - 4 PM CST
WDAF	Kansas City, MO	3 - 4 PM CST
WOW	Omaha, NE	3 - 4 PM CST

Davey Tree actually came back to radio in September of 2025 with a 30 minute podcast called "Talking Trees". [LINK] It's been running about bi-weekly for 50 episodes at the time of this writing.