WNAX schedule in 1929

The book House of Gurney was published in 1929 commemorating the 63rd anniversary of the Gurney Seed and Nursery company but also the 8th anniversary of 570 WNAX-AM which had signed on in 1921. It's worth pointing out that WNAX did a lot of publishing. In addition to the above, they had their seed catalogs, there were vocational learning newspapers, The Common Sense newspaper, innumerable cook books, and then what at first appear to be at least two teen interest books.

The books were both also printed in 1929. Messages to Boys was written by Edmund Reed Gurnsey, clearly a member of the family. But these are not adventure stories, these are stories, parables intended in instill moral guidance. Edmund had nicknamed himself the "Radio Philosopher" and every Sunday evening for an hour he lectured and gave advice intended to make young men into upstanding citizens. It sounds a tad patronizing.

Radio Heart Throbs was written by Pastor Denton E. Cleveland. So Heart Throbs turns out to be a collection of sermons. He writes in the introduction "at the request of hundreds of friends for a printed copy of sermons that your Radio Pastor has given. I am putting seventeen years of my life of ministry into this book...we hope that it will serve as a personal handclasp in friendship and heart –to- heart talk..." So he does not mean Heart Throb in that sense. Despite the fact that the etym0ology of that phrase goes back to the 1820s. Both books were printed by the Verstegen Printing Co., Sioux City, Iowa on cornstalk paper. [More here]

The schedule included is meant to be generic, it doesn't mention a specific day of the week, but I'm assuming it's somewhat representative. So I wanted to post a chunk of their schedule. More here.

TIME	PROGRAM	NOTE
6:00 AM	Variety Entertainment
	Welk's Novelty band	Lawrence Welk's first band
	Bill's Harness Makers
	Master Co. Music Makers	I hope this is connected to Master Liquid Hog Tonic
	Battery Boy's Program	Jada Wyman & Bill Goodrich
	Sunshine Paint Orchestra	Performed at Daum's Opera House with Lawrence Welk's band
	Old Time Variety
7:30	Children's Variety	Hosted by "Aunt" Esther Smith and Roy Eastmanaka "Harmonica Dutch"
8:00	Price Quoting Hour
	Old Time Melodies	This could be the syndicated NBC program
	Gurney's Hawaiians	Bob, Lon & Frances Kia
	John Jensen, songs	A harmonica & guitar player
	Happy Jack's Trio	Happy Jack O'Malley
	Esther Smith, Contralto	"Aunt" Esther Smith again
9:00	Radio Orchestra
	Sunshine Coffee Boys	Happy Sunshine Coffee Boys, Violinists, Eddie Dean and Johnnie
	Grain and Livestock Markets
10:00	Sacred Services	Pastor Denton E. Cleveland did a 20 minute weekday service and more on Sunday with studio choir
	Meridian Trio	Nancy Wyborny Gurney (aka Aunt Sammy) , Harvey Nelson & Corenne Horst
	Art Haring, Cornetist	Often played with Corenne Horst
	J.V. Barborka, Harpist	Joseph V. "Dad" Barborka
11:00	Old Time Variety
	Concert Orchestra	Orchestra directed by Art Haring
	Grain and Livestock Markets
12:05	Announcements
	Weather, News, Markets
	D.B. Gurney, President	Deloss Butler Gurney
1:00	Concert Orchestra	Orchestra directed by Art Haring
	Gurney's Hawaiians	Bob, Lon & Frances Kia
	Grain Market Close
2:00	Welk's Novelty Orchestra	Lawrence Welk's first band
	Sunshine Coffee Boys	Happy Sunshine Coffee Boys, Violinists, Eddie Dean and Johnnie
	Saxophone Quintet	Frank Hobbs, Harvey, Paul Donnelly, Zeke Stout, Rolly Chesney, John Matuska (also a member of the Royal Serenaders)
3:00	Harmony String Trio
	Earl and Esther, Duets	"Aunt" Esther Smith probably with C. Earl Williams
	John Jensen, Songs
	Edith Gurney, Soprano	Sang Irish songs with Alice Williams on Piano
4:00	Radio Orchestra
	Gurney's Hawaiians	Bob, Lon & Frances Kia
	Bohemian Program	polka and/or polish language program
	Old Time Variety
5:00	E. R. Gurney	Ed Gurney and wholesome moral talks
	Little German band	There were multiple bands in the region, by this name in that era.
	George B. German, Cowboy	A country guitarist and singer, later host of RFD
	Musical Clock Program	This is a long-running thing in radioland there were numerous musical clock programs. . More here.
6:00	Weather, News and markets
	Delila Jorgenson
	Hawaiian Melodies
	Sunshine Cord Orchestra	Sunshine Cord Tire Orchestra: Harvey Nelson, John Matuska, Zeke Stout, Charley Steinbach & Jada Wyman
7:00	H. Lemke, German singer	Herbert Lemke, mostly sacred songs in German
	Gurney Little Symphony
	Hubbard Milling Trio	sponsored by the Hubbard Milling Co.
	Radio Orchestra
	E.R. Gurney	Ed Gurney again
8:30	Sign Off

DJ Lucky Lang

Above is a scan of the cover of the Lucky Lang Original Song Folio. My copy is in poor, maybe even vile condition. It's been stored in a moist place, it's biodegrading at the spine and bears strange brown and purple stains related to the moisture. It could be mold, possibly Stachybotrys leprosus. The staples are even rusted and have further stained the pages. It's a tad gross really. But the hand notations on the cover make up for all that. I had to soak it in bleach to proceed.

This copy is  Book #1, and I've seen that there actually is a Book #2. Interestingly it's cover is identical except for the "No. 2" text. Both editions list the following radio stations: WLS, WSBA, WSAL, WDBJ, WAPO, WSB, WJAX, WNAX, WGST, and WAGA. My copy continues with hand notations: WORK, WHBB(?) WHHB, and WLBR. I was able to corroborate the WLBR reference from January copies of the Harrisburg Evening News, and the Lebanon Daily News.

He appears to remain in the music biz through about 1959 and then he disappeared. In this songbook is a very short biography. I'll paraphrase: Lucky was born in Georgia on January 27th 1913. He's 5 foot 9 inches tall, and has brown hair and brown eyes. He didn't finish medical school but did take music lessons from Bob Burns in his home town.  The first radio station he played on was 740 WSB-AM in his home town where he teamed up with Chuck Swain.

So we can infer from this that Lucky is from Atlanta, or at least near Atlanta. Chuck Swain is much better known Lucky. Swain also played on WLS with Langdon L. Howe on the Smile-A-While program, and the National Barn Dance as the Blue Grass Boys. In the folio Lucky refers to it as the Blue Ridge Boys. One may be wrong, or perhaps both are right. But it's clear that Langdon L. Howe is Lucky Lang.  After they parted ways, Swain later played on WZIP in Covington, KY back in 1948.  He was a member of the Fiesta gang which also included Shorty Hobbs.  An October 1943 Billboard article notes that Swain had come to WLS from WLAV in Grand Rapids, MI, and Lang had come from WAPO in Chattanooga, TN.

Also notable about the song book; Lucky isn't listed as the author on all the lyrics. Some are unattributed, but the last few are by Mary Jean Shurtz. She was a well-known another country song-writer, and poet, but more importantly one of the earliest journalists in country music. So in addition to writing songs for performers such as Webb Pierce, Hawkshaw Hawkins, Cowboy Copas, and Hank Snow. In 1948 she signed an exclusive deal with Hill & Range Songs Inc. You may not know the name but they also controlled much of Elvis Presley's early recorded material. She has a short bio at Hillbilly-music.com HERE.

Excluding their mutual levels of concurrent fame, the only connection I've found between them is radio station WORK-AM. WORK is a very annoying station to research as it's one of those rare call signs which is a common word. 1000 WORK-AM signed on in York, PA on March 17, 1932. After NARBA in 1941 they moved to 1350.  Shorty Fincher and His Prairie Pals of WORK-AM played Shurtz's songs and even published her poems in their song books. When Lucky Lang's folio was printed he was playing with the 101 Ranch Boys who were also based in York PA and reputedly played at WORK-AM twice daily in 1947.  But their publicity photos usually bear the  900 WSBA-AM calls around the mic.  But WSBA didn't sign on until 1942.  It appears they played both stations at different times in the 1940s. (WORK changed calls to WOYK around 1983).  It's also possible that WORK is a red herring, and  Lucky thought it was just good business sense to score points with columnist Mary Jean Shurtz.

But back to 1946 and my folio: There is a notation on an interior page from 1946 that Lucky was playing in December with "Coco." The August 3rd, 1946 issue of Billboard does reference Coco...

"...Golden Valley Boys featuring Ray Myers, the armless wonder boy, headlined show at Mount Gretna (Pa.) Park, together with Mickie McKay, Pop Melchor and Marie, and The Blue Ridge Boys and Coco."

The Lebanon Daily News on August 30th also mentions Coco with the Blue Ridge Boys. Lucky Lang is on that same bill, so it's possible Lucky ran off into the sunset with Coco, whomever or whatever it was. But as far as the rest of Lucky's career, I see he played the West Coast Shows carnival in 1955 and again in 1959, then he disappears.
As for the folio, I've uploaded all 25 pages HERE

The Novelty Boys

Jimmie Pierson and Richard "Dick" Klasi were the Novelty Boys,leaders of a touring and yodeling old time country music troupe. I say troupe because their group grew to include a number of other members including Cora Deane, Cleora Cooper, Johnny Buffington and others. Dick and Jimmie were farms boys that first met in 1931 working at the Henry Field Company.

Henry Field was a seed company, they still exist today. Like many small businesses of the era, they sponsored tom on their local radio station. In this case that was 780 WJAG-AM in Norfolk, NE.  WJAG was owned by the Norfolk Daily News, so you can imagine there was some reciprocity there. While the station's main studio was at the Hotel Norfolk, the Henry Field Company programs aired daily from a studio built at one of their branch stores.It is there that Jimmie and Dick debuted on air. They later played KSOO-AM for Henry Field as well. First they played as the Nebraskan Trio, then as The Oklahoma Wranglers which they used for about 3 years. 

They went on to play at KFNF-AM near Shenandoah, IA and on KOIL-AM in Omaha, NE.
In was there that they picked up the name "The Novelty Boys."  There they were sponsored by the Aksarben Horse Show and were also able to play WAAW-AM and WOW-AM. In 1934 they played on KMOX-AM.  They also played for a time on WNAX-AM in Yankton, SD. In 1937 Jimmie Pierson's little brother, Melvin "Willie" Pierson, joined the group. He stayed on for a New England tour that included WABI-AM in Bangor.

In WWII Jimmie went into the service, and his brother Willie filled in for him. the group returned to St. Louis and appeared on several stations, then stayed on at KMA-AM in Shenandoah. When Jimmie returned they tried to reunite, but illness struck and many members struck off. Jimmie and Willie played as part of a trio with Willies wife Lois on WIBW-TV, but the good times were over. Willie has a second career as a DJ on KRFM, a radioman at last.

The Neighbor Lady

Even among minor markets Yankton is diminutive. They air farm market reports. It's considered an unrated market area  among MSAs, but gets it's own book as a DMA in the bottom half of the list at #119. DMAs are generally kinder to the Midwest. The flat topography there milks extra miles out of each watt in ways that are impossible on the East coast. At 5,000 Watts, 570 WNAX-AM beamed the Neighbor Lady into homes from Sioux Falls to Sioux City. This is how the Neighbor Lady became an institution in Yankton, South Dakota for 66 years.

The 15 minute program broadcast weekday afternoons, first at 4:30 then 3:30. When she had her first child rather than let her quit she began broadcasting the program from her home. That continued until 1967.
Originally hired for ad work, she was later asked to do a recipe show. Needless to say it caught on. Wynn Speece began hosting the program back in 1939 (some sources say 1941). She was a fresh graduating of Drake University, located in nearby Des Moines. These days KDRA-LP operates from Drake, but they signed on only months after she retired from broadcasting. They did recognize her as a distinguished alumni in 2001. That same year she was commended on the floor of Congress.

Speece shared recipes, household tips and personal anecdotes. She did live cooking demonstrations, speaking appearances, county fairs, judged baking contests, and sometimes her daughter Gretchen came along. She plugged products too. Everybody needs a sponsor. Starting in 1941 she began publishing an annual Neighbor Lady book, mostly a collection of recipes and coupons.They even compiled a "best-of" edition in 1987. She won a Marconi award in 1992 for "small market personality of the year."  She looks elated in the pictures, but she'd already been doing the program for 5 decades. It was about time they noticed.

She retired in 2005 at the age of  90. She'd only been retired for 2 years.

Hot Buttered WNAX

570 WNAX-AM first signed on in 1922, and are coming up on their 90th anniversary.  It was purchased by the Gurney's Seed and Nursery Company in 1926, hence the appearance of all the Gurneys in this pamphlet. Gurneys in this case were administrators, musicians, singers and performers. The Better Butter Ballads pamphlet was printed in 1930, the same year as their Radio Digest award for most popular radio station. It's also a rare piece of anti-margarine propaganda. Allow me to quote:

"Thus full of germs, and maybe worms 
It lies there rank, and fusing 
As Coco oil, they're using 
Yes, Coco oil, to form the base 
Of margarine in making 
And do not worry of the case 
of farmers they are breaking"

It goes on like that for several more equally riveting verses. I had no idea such a movement existed, but the booklet includes several anti-margarine ballads. I guess if you were a dairy farmer in the great depression, margarine was the enemy more than any commie.

So here they are: 38 pages of black and white anti-margarine, pro-WNAX propaganda. It includes lyrics, and black & white pictures of various Gurney family members. The file is 27.5 MB. Enjoy

DOWNLOAD 

HERE