DJ Adolph Hofner

Not that Adolph , the other Adolph.Originally billed as "Adolph And the Boys," they changed their name to Dolph Hofner and the San Antonians for obvious reasons. Some history books call it "anti-German hysteria" but I prefer to think of the anti-German sentiments of WWI as pretty understandable.

His musical career began in 1936 with a touring western band, Jimmie Revard and the Oklahoma Playboys. In 1938 he played with Tom Dickey's Show Boys and probably was on air at WDAI-AM. In 1939 the same band went back out on tour playing more western swing and even cut a couple sides for Columbia. After WWII Adolph began cutting more ethnic tunes, specializing in Czech music for Imperial records. In 1941, Hofner signed a recording contract with Okeh and began touring the Foreman Phillips chain of dance hall.  More here.

In 1950 he mixed it up and with a sponsorship from Pearl Beer, Hofner formed the "Pearl Wranglers" and worked a regular slot on KTSA-AM  in San Antonio. It aired on at Mondays at 5PM. He was already 34 and turning the corner of his musical career. (Foreman Phillips was a radioman himself and had a programs on KFOX, KRKD, KFWB, and KXLA.)  They got what they could out of a 15-minute spot every Sunday. It ended poorly by all reports and they did guest performances but never had a regular program again. The last broadcast show I found for them was on KENS-AM.

Hofner continued to record for the tiny Sarg label for another 20 years.  Their last release was in 1998, a post-humous, self-titled LP.  Dolph died in 2000. As you might expect he is a member of the Texas Polka Music Association Hall of Fame.

Radio Voting Drive

Today voting drives are often tied to the internet, new media. It led to a landslide victory for the dems. Young people, always tapped into new media were disproportionately connected. the same was true in the 1970s. FM radio was new media and so FM radio registered them in droves.FM was particularly active in the contentious election of 1972 Nixon Vs. McGovern. The Democratic ticket was in chaos. Kennedy was supposed to run but accidentally drowning his mistress at Chappaquiddick ended any chance of that. There was a police riot in Chicago where hundreds of young war protesters were beaten by Chicago cops at the DNC. The election was a contest between an incumbent Republican and an anti-war Democrat. It's more complicated than that but all elections are. I highlight that topic because the anti-war vote is a youth vote. That's where FM came in.

FM radio was the new media at the time and it's demographics leaned heavily toward the young. This is the kind of thing that excites pollsters. Young people generally vote liberal, the problem is that they generally don't vote. It's a two step process, you have to register them, then they have to show up. So FM radio stations made a push for the first part.

In Philadelphia WMMR pushed the youth vote all day every day. They ran announcements about voter registration. They even regularly announced the locations of voting drives. Because of Pennsylvania law they were not allowed to register voters themselves, but they could advocate, so they did.

Program Director Jerry Stevens was fully committed to the project. In San Antonio KTSA made a similar effort, sponsoring a free rock concert for the high school registering the most new voters. The winner was Holy Cross High school for registering 3,800 voters.

KPFK in Los Angeles sponsored voting drives even giving away free records to the newly registered. KMET carried voter registration drives live on air. WBSR in Pensacola sponsored registration drives as well. Registering voters in their own lobby they signed up 2,500 new voters in time for the primaries.

In Sacramento KROY painted their radio station red white and blue for the election season. PD Bob Sherwood had the station staff deputized so that they all could register voters personally.

Altogether it was a monumental effort. The results weren't inspiring. Nixon swept the election, McGovern only carrying Massachusetts and Delaware. but two years later, as Nixon was impeached the tide turned and emboldened those same new voters elected Jimmy Carter. Better late than never.