DJ Foster Brooks

Foster Brooks died in 2001 at the age of 89. His talent has largely been forgotten as he spend the peak of his career type-cast into a role as a lush. Cultural attitudes toward alcoholism had changed by the 1980s such that it wasn't funny anymore. The same thing happened to Dean Martin.  Brooks was was almost 70 at the time and it was late in life to re-make his image. But he still landed a reoccurring role on Mork & Mindy as Miles Sternhagen. The role was a manager at a TV station. With his background, it may have been an impersonation of someone from his own career. Brooks made do with these cameo appearances until finally retiring. Anyone born after the movie Dances with Wolves came out would likely have no idea who he was.  More here.

Brooks was born in Louisville in 1912 and was one of seven brothers. His career started in radio, at WHAS-AM right there in Louisville at the age of 13 singing with his mother Edna. He remained primarily a singer at WHAS for years. The station was barely three years old at the time, having only been founded in 1922.  The earliest record I have found of him at the station is from April of 1932. He would have been only 20 years old. "Foster Brooks and Jim Henry staff singers doing a prolog for Hayden Reads Organlog this week at Loew's State, Louisville."  Then in September of that year another issue of Variety reports "Foster Brooks, WHAS baritone will m.c. at Seville Tavern, Louisville."

He later sang harmony with staff pianist Joe Pierson and by January 1937, he was announcing the Bulova watch time during station breaks. But this was not his first radio program. I found a 1934 issue of Variety which puts him on KSO in Des Moines, IA in 1934. It's just one sentence "Foster Brooks and Joe Plerson a new duo for KSO, Des Moines." Plerson was announcing at WQAM in Miami by March of 1935, so clearly the duo split. Plerson later landed at WFBM in 1946 and stayed at least until 1952. Brooks went back to Louisville by 1936.  More here.

Breaking out of singing, Brooks did everything behind the mic he could. He announced softball games and had an oddball afternoon show called "Yellow Blank Salute" with Herbie Koch organ, Charles Hurta on violin and Brooks own recitations. Radio Daily describes it as the staff organist and a staff violinist and makes no mention of Brooks. It was sponsored by Western Union. Radio Dial confirms it was on the air from May 1937 through April of 1938. He was at WHAS for 7 years (total) and was even captain of their baseball team. 

The WHAS studios were in the Courier-Journal newspaper building in downtown Louisville. Brooks became a staff announcer.  In 1937 he raised his profile for his emergency reporting during a severe flood. This was broadcast on both WHAS and WSM-AM. [SOURCE] In one of the pictures he poses with equipment borrowed from WFIL-AM. Yes, that's Brooks up the pole. It looks like they were clowning, which they were, but Monroe died of an infection from an injury that occurred in that dirty water, he was a year younger than Brooks. He and Pete Monroe sent flood bulletins from Lock 41 on the Portland canal and ended up in Variety and Broadcasting magazine multiple quotes and pictures: 

"At that time WHAS bulletins were spaced five minutes apart... the critical stages of the rescue work had passed. An announcer (Pete Monroe) or (Foster Brooks) said "WSM, this is WHAS calling... we will keep our transmitter open to take whatever stray bulletins come in... perhaps five minutes apart. Our transmitters now working with reduced power— go home WSM and get some sleep..."

That coverage is probably why a year later in 1938 Brooks moved to KWK-AM in St, Louis as an announcer. Trade magazines already knew who he was and reported the move.  He followed WHAS alumni Allan Anthony to KWK. Even Rural Radio magazine called out the hire. (The 1978 book Golden Throats & Silver Tongues by Ray Poindexter incorrectly places this in 1931.) A 1939 issue of variety confusingly describes Brooks leaving again in 1939. [SOURCE]

In 1942 he replaced Jack Berry on WHEC-AM in Rochester, NY taking over the Musical Clock. (Those call letters come up again later.) [SOURCE] In 1946 Brooks made his first commercial record, a 78 on Continental "The Face On The Bar Room Floor" Parts 1 [LINK]  and 2 [LINK]. It's oddly rare. The recording is not music or singing or comedy. It's a recitation with multiple character voices, all of which are probably Brooks. The text is old, I found a copy of the poem in the Stone Cutters Journal in 1922. It's attributed to Hugh Antoine d'Arcy who wrote it in 1887 under the original title "The Face Upon the Floor".  I can't speak for the 78, but the poem was very popular for decades. He wasn't even alone in recording it. Harold Selman did a version in 1928 for Okeh, Art Leonard for Regal in 1930, Buddy Williams in 1942 for Zonophone, and that continued right into the vinyl era. Hank Snow did a version in 1968. 

In 1943 550 WGR-AM & WKBW in Buffalo, where he hosted "The Musical Clock" and "Million Dollar Ballroom". In Buffalo, Brooks also performed with a country and western vocal group known as the Hi-Hatters.  Foster continued to play up the zaniness and organized stunts. He co-hosted a quiz show called "Stump Bob Smith." In 1949 he coordinated a canoeing event with WKBW and WEBR. There is one picture from this even of four very soggy DJs: Clare "Butch" Allen, Al Healy, George Walker, and Foster Brooks. It's not clear who won but if that meant staying dry, everyone lost. 

In 1950 went back to Louisville and got a really weird gig on WKLO. The WKLO DJ page describes his time at the station as short and says little else but there are other sources. [SOURCE]  His show was on 15 minutes five nights a week, then Saturdays from 9:30 PM to 1:00 AM. The description (below) in Variety magazine sounds truly bizarre. It sounds vaguely like his old WHAS show, "Yellow Blank Salute." I wish there was a tape of this show somewhere. 

"Brooks has a telephone in the studio and invites listeners to phone in their requests. One of the few air comics in this town, and by far the most versatile, Brooks intersperses vocals with the disks. Accompanied by the electric organ by Jerry Bottorff WKLO program director, Brooks vocals ballads in an excellent baritone voice. He has a gift for ad lib, and his throw-away remarks are entirely unpredictable. His timing and razor sharp zanyisms [sic] are making him a standout ad lib jock." 

By 1950 Brooks was on 970 WAVE-AM. The advertised him in Broadcasting magazine with the note "A top notch MC and wit —has appeared appeared with Arthur Godfrey, Vaughn Monroe, Spade Cooley and others! ... Louisville's most colorful television personality!"  In 1950 He had a "Foster Brooks Show" in 1950" which again sounds oddly like that Yellow Blank Salute again, ad-libs, card trucks and telephone gimmicks and musical accompaniment by the Mart-John Duo playing piano and bass-fiddle. He had a morning show "wake up with WAVE."  H Then he had a kids show at WAVE-TV where he played mickey mouse cartoons and portrayed The Old Sheriff in a western jail set.  Disambiguation Brooks father was a real sheriff in Louisville and Bhis brother was "Cactus" Tom Brooks who portrayed a cowboy clown on WHAS-TV in the 1950s 

Brooks stayed at WAVE for about 5 years. In 1957 Broadcasting also reported when he jumped to WHAM-AM in Rochester, NY. Brooks moved from WHAM-AM/WHFM-FM to WHEC-AM-TV in 1959. [SOURCE] It was the same year he won a Ray-O-Vac radio announcer Top 10 contest. I wish that tape still existed. 

Most short biographies report that he moved to Los Angeles in the 60s and began acting in television and doing stand up comedy. But this is glosses over the details. A Buffalo Bills press book still puts Foster Brooks on WROC-TV, Rochester in 1960, but so does the 1963 issue which seems erroneous. In 1962 KHJ schedules put him on that station in L.A. from January through at least June of that year. This seems to be his last regular radio gig and it's terminus marks the end of his radio career and the transition into character acting and television. 

According to Brooks he quit drinking in 1964 on a $10 bet. "I never drew a sober breath from Friday night to Monday. Eight years ago I quit. Fellow made me a $10 bet I couldn't quit, and I haven't had a drink since. At the time I needed the $10." His first TV appearance was on Gunsmoke in 1962, and his did dozens more; clearly playing a drunk was better for his career than being one. [SOURCE] He had a 30 year career in radio and then had another 20 year career in television. In 1997 Brooks was inducted into the Buffalo Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. He died in 2001.

DJ Bennie Hess

 

 

Orville "Bennie" Hess was born in Chriesman, TX in 1914, It's is an unincorporated community in Burleson County. In the year 2000 the population was just 30 people. it's the definition of a small town. It's population peaked at about 200 in 1925. Inexplicably it does still have a post office today, it also has one restaurant, Front Street Burgers and one Methodist church. The whole neighborhood is mapped on Google Street view so you can see the locals surprised on their porches, and a dog chasing the Google car. All of this to say... Bennie had humble beginnings.

Jimmie Rodgers Guitar Sidebar:
Interestingly, his father, Vestral Hess worked on the railroad with Jimmie Rodgers who even stayed at their house on occasion. Purportedly Jimmie gave Bennie his first guitar lessons and even gave him a guitar. In one tale this is the first Martin guitar ever made though that is an obvious Texas Tall Tale. The first Martins were made in 1833. These were parlor guitars with gut strings. Even when he was born this would have been an 80+ year old guitar and completely inappropriate for a child. But Jimmie was the first country artist to endorse a guitar brand in 1928. But that was not a Martin, that was the Weymann “Jimmie Rodgers Special” Style 890 [LINK]. But he did also play Martins. That same year he was photographed playing a Martin Model 000-45; and he is known to have played a 00-18 as his Bristol sessions. Did he give a guitar to Bennie? Maybe?  The whole connection to Rodgers is based on Hess's hearsay which as you will learn... is not always a great source.

Back to Bennie: 
In 1940 Bennie Hess formed his first band, The Rhythm Wranglers in 1940 when he was 26 years old. That landed him a show on radio station 1310 KFYO-AM in Lubbock, TX. It's an odd station with tall tales of it's own. The station was founded by the Kirksey Bros. Battery and Electric Company and moved to 1310 kHz in 1932 having been on 1420 kHz since it's founding in Breckenridge, TX in 1927. In 1929 it increased power from 15 to 100 watts. 

But Breckenridge is about halfway between Abilene and Fort Worth... that's odd... In 1928 the station moved to Abilene now daytiming at 250 watts. Then in 1932 in a fit of boldness, Kirksey was approved to move KFYO to Lubbock on 1310 kHz. The full move was about 500 miles. That might be a record. Speaking of records, KFYO is typoed at KXYO in the book Sparks Out of the Plowed Ground by Bob Doll. Good book though. But AI has propagated that error onto various websites since then. They went on to make the first broadcast of a Texas Tech football game which was their patriotic duty in Lubbock. 

By 1944 Hess was performing on the Cornbread Matinee at KRLP in Dallas, TX. Other regulars on the program included host Hal Horton, Ruby Allmond, announcer Johnny Hicks, Georgia Slim Rutland, and Howard Howdy Forrester. This is not to be confused with the Cornbread Matinee that broadcast out of WKYW in the mid 1950s. That was hosted by Thorne Hall then Car Shook. The KRLP program was broadcast out of the Arcadia Theatre through at least 1948. But according to Hess, the show was carried on 43 different radio stations in Texas. But that's another tall tale. 

There is a gap in his career here where he recorded and performed with the Oklahoma Tornadoes 1946–1947 which he self-released on Opera. Multiple artists from the session appear on Gold Star and other Cajun recordings Pee Wee Lyons, Riley Clark, Floyd Leblanc in particular.  But his connection to Gold Star is tenuous.

Bennie was just kind of a grifter, all 6-foot-six of him. It permeated his whole recording career. Bennie cut his first record in 1945 for the Black And White Records. He could only be pleased by sharing a label with greats like T-Bone Walker. It is unknown how many records that sold, but purportedly it won him some appearances in western films as a singing cowboy. But Imdb lists nothing. But that might be him as the singing cowboy in the 1939 Wagon Train starring Tim Holt. More here

However Bennie used pseudonyms frequently in his career: Buddy Page, Benny Leaders, Georgia Harrison. He started his own record label Opera while still under contract to Black And White, which might be after his deal with Bill Quinn and Gulf records in Houston in 1944, but the latter might be another fib attempting to tie himself to the career of Harry Choates. But the book Cajun Breakdown by Ryan Brasseux ties him to Gold Star records, but only to leave without recording anything to found Opera records. 

Thought it was true that he signed to a major label, Mercury in 1948 and recorded a few sides. But Mercury fired him for bootlegging his own release via his bogus Opera label. In fairness Mercury hired Hess because he could mimic Ernest Tubb's style , the same way they signed Allen Flatt in 1954. Bennie Probably didn't see much of a future in that. So in 1953 he launched a new label OK'ed which aped the branding of the Okeh label. I've only seen one 78 rpm release with that imprint.

 

In November, 1955 he managed to get his own single "Queen of Sylvan Beach" reviewed in the C&W section. But it didn't become a hit. Billboard literally wrote "While he does a good job, the material is not strong enough for commercial prospects." That was the story of his whole career. Bennie had a good ear for finding talent. He could have been an A&R man for a major label. But his own recordings didn't have that certain something. He appeared in Billboard again just a month later, in a passing reference in a December 1955 issue of Billboard.

"Denny Denver, C&W deejay at WCMW, Canton OH, has Jimmy Dickens, Del Woods, the Louvin Brothers, Cousin Judy and Dusty Owens going into Memoruial auditorium there January 1 for two shows, same package plays Warren, OH, January 2 and Zanesville, OH January 3... Elsie Pierce Wilks composer of 'Turn Back the Clock to Davy Crockett' and others, has a new Christmas tune, 'Oh the Man in the Moon is Santa Claus,' which has been waxed for Jet Records by Bennie Hess..."

Bennie went on to perform on Louisiana Hayride on KWKH in Shreveport, LA with his new band The Nation Playboys. In January 1957 he's quoted in Cashbox magazine not about about his own hits, or shows, or tour dates but about the artists he's releasing on his new record label, Spade. Thus began a  trend, that Bennie's taste for rockabilly and boogie-woogie would endear him to legions of collectors in the future but never amount to personal fame and fortune.

"Bennie Hess, owner Spade Record Co., Houston believes he has something in these three recent Spade label releases: “It Hurts The One Who Loves Me”, Ray Doggett; “I End Up Crying”, Royce Porter; “Is There No Love For Me”, Johnny McAdams. Spade records are distributed locally by Gulf Record Co."

Some stories about Bennie were true. Bennie did also perform on the Big D Jamboree in Dallas on KRLD-AM and on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville at WSM. George Jones really was in his band and and Billie Collie at KNUZ who discovered Elvis really did believe in Bennie. When listing off artists KNUZ pushed in a 1954 ad in Sponsor, Bennie was top of the list. Collie it seems did try to "break" Hess as an artist. Bennie even has a brief promotional stint as a DJ on KNUZ as described by Radio Daily in October of 1949

"What  is  probably  the  largest  regularly scheduled  western  disc  jockey show  has  made  another "first" for  KNUZ,  Houston  indie.  "Rhythm Ranch"  has  a  new approach  in  that it  will  consistently  use  more  live  recording talent  than  any previous Houston  program.  Each  recording artist  will  emcee  a  15-minute  period in  "Rhythm  Ranch,"  which  hits  the air  at  1:45  p.m.  each  Saturday,  with chatter and  news  about  their  recent releases  and  bands  while  spinning their  own  records  with  the  able  assistance of  KNUZ  staffers  Ken Grant  and  Buddy  Covington. Already signed  for  "Rhythm  Ranch" are  Bennie  Hess,  Tiny  Smith,  Leon  Payne,  Ben  Christian,  Benny  Leaders, Jimmy  Short,  Collie  Cornpatch, Little  Marge,  Pete  Hunter,  Floyd Tillman,  Hank  Lochlin,  Jerry  Jericho, Jerry  Irby,  and  Woody  and Smitty. "

In 1974 after open heart surgery Bennie finally slowed down a bit. Unable to become a big star on his own, Bennie worked hard to build a career for his son Troy Hess. Troy released his first single at the age of four (some sources say two). These early recordings, on Hess's labels are ... not great.  But Troy got to appear alongside huge stars such as Bob Wills, Ernest Tubb, Porter Waggoner, Dolly Parton, Johnny Cash, George Jones and Tammy Wynette. Troy still performs today but he didn't get the recording bug like Bennie did. More here. 

Among Troy's own recordings was a single “Please Don’t Go Topless, Mother” which probably led to some awkward moments at the dinner table. Writer Dan Beck called his young music career "child abuse", and compared him to David Allen Coe. That sure did piss off Hess but it's hard to say which he took as the greater insult. Their letters are worth reading. [LINK] Bennie Hess died November 22, 1984 in Houston (Texas). More here. Troy still has the guitar Bennie said was from Jimmie Rodgers. Bennie Hess died November 22, 1984.

The John Daniel Quartet on WSM

 

These articles usually start with a chance find, and then basic research to block in the timeline. John Daniel was unknown to me, even in the context of WSM. So the multi-decade career was very unexpected. The hymnal above says that he was born in 1906, which would put him in his mid to late 30s on that cover. It gives his wife's name as Vida Lou Miller Daniel, and their kids as Edward and James Daniel. The John Daniel Quartet was originally one of the Vaughan Company's traveling quartets. These groups performed for free like a walking advertisement for Vaughan songbooks.

It's a southern style gospel hymnal. WSM is referenced on the front and rear covers and the phrase "Tune them in and listen to them daily" from which I assume that their spot ran on weekdays. I found another hymnal that was just called Song Book No. 6. which was copyrighted in 1949.  John Daniel looks much older in that 2nd hymnal so I'm assuming his career started in the late 1930s. Books 4 and 5 are listed for sale on the back cover, and all copies could be ordered by writing to John Daniel directly at 2607 Belcourt Ave, in Nashville, TN.  I also found the sheet music for "Heavenly Treasures" under Denson Music Publishing dated to 1952.

But the microphone in the glamor shot I found for the group bore the CBS logo, not WSM. The names at that time were: Boyce Hawkins, John Daniel, Herman Grizzard, Hoyt Hawkins, Troy Daniel, and Jim Penland. Other sources site Jake Hess, "Big Jim" Waits, Clyde Roach, , Wallace "Wally" Fowler and Tommy Fairchild as members of the John Daniel Quartet. Troy Daniel, sang lead, and bis brother John was first tenor, Jim Penland sang bass.

Many mambers of the group graduated into big careers in music and radio. Herman there is certainly the same Herman Grizzard who was a rhythm and blues DJ on WLAC in the 1940s. It certainly looks like him in the headshot at Nashvillebroadcastinghistory.com. Though it says little more than that he was with the station since the 1930s. This is a bit of an understatement. Born in Nashville in 1900 he was even older than Daniel. He died in 1971.This issue of Broadcast News from July of 1932 has him on the cover.

Hoyt Hawkins was later in the more prominent singing group The Jordanaires. His work with them as a baritone appears in his obituary but The John Daniel Quartet does not. Hawkins played piano and bass fiddle and sang for a number of prominent artists: Elvis Presley, Perry Como, patsy Cline; lots of big names. The Obit also notes that his brother, Boyce Hawkins was a DJ at WSMV-TV Channel 4. Hoyt got his start singing at the age of 10 with a family quartet on a local radio show. Interestingly the only member shared between the Jordainaires and John Daniel were Hoyt and Gordon Stoker, not Boyce oddly. Boyce obituary says that they ended up performing regularly on the Eddy Arnold TV show in Chicago in 1955.

Boyce Hawkins had a heart attack while swimming at Percy Priest Lake, just East of Nashville and drowned in 1987 at the age of 58.  He had a long career in music. Boyce Hawkins was even in the Oak Ridge Boys in 1948 playing piano. Speaking of pianists, Gordon Stoker was recruited by John Daniel straight out of high school as a church pianist. He was born in 1924, much younger than the rest of the group. Some articles call him the leader of the Jordanaires. Stoker died in 2013 at the age of 88.

Clyde Roach and his brother Wilford Roach went on to sing in one of the many iterations of the Stamps-Baxter quartet in the late 1950s. In fact when Clarice Howard "Ma" Baxter died in 1972 she willed the company to four employees: Lonnie B. Combs, Clyde Roach, Videt Polk, and Dwight Brock. They sold it in 1974 but for about 2 years Clude owned a 25% stake in Stamps-Baxter keeping the shape note dream alive.

 Jim Penland died at the age of 77 in 2003. He had traveled with the John Daniel Quartet in the 50’s and 60’s who was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Dollywood in 1997. He got out of music and with his wife they operated two shoe stores in Tennessee.

Around 1950 the John Daniel Quartet recorded a few 78s, and 45s on their own label the "Daniel Record Co." But some sides where released or re-released on Bama, Bullet, and Liberty records. One 45 released in 1964 lists them as "(The late" John Daniel Quartet. Possibly a post-humous release. I've started a small discography below...

Catalog	Format	A	B
215	78	Echoes from the Burning Bush	Heavenly Treasures
228	78	Justice called and Mercy Answered	When We All get there
230	45	Heavenly Treasures	Just a Rose will Do
231	45	I will Live Forever	When The Savior Reached Down For Me
232	45	Heaven Joys I'll Share	Come And Dine
233	45	Joy Bells	Sing A Happy Song
N/A	45	You Can't Streamline Salvation	Echoes In The Valley
N/A	45	Beautiful Star of Bethlehem	He Said If I Be lifted Up

All the Opry's in the Land

We all know the The Grand Ole Opry. It's been on 650 WSM-AM for 92 years. It was originally called WLS and WMC in Memphis, TN. Hay was key to the renaming of the barn dance into the Opry.
"The WSM Barn Dance." At that time is was broadcasting live from the fifth-floor radio studio of the National Life & Accident Insurance Company in downtown Nashville, TN. It's first airdate was November 28, 1925. They had hired announcer George D. Hay 26 days earlier.  He had already worked at

The program was re-named on December 10, 1927. That year on NBC the barn dance was preceded by NBC Red Network's Music Appreciation Hour. It was a schlock program of classical music and opera presented conductor Walter Damrosch. Damrosch however was no stuffed shirt. His father and brother were also conductors, and his mother was an opera singer. He studied at the Dresden Conservatory, and was conducting himself in New York and New Jersey by the age of 19. Damrosch was the National Broadcasting Company's music director under David Sarnoff, from 1928 to 1942. Yet critic Theo Adorno wrote that the Damrosch approach towards popularizing classical music was infantilizing and authoritarian. Anyway back in 1927 Damrosch stated "there is no place in the classics for realism." George Hay decided to make hay of it. Hay responded as follows:

" Friends, the program which just came to a close was devoted to the classics. Doctor Damrosch told us that there is no place in the classics for realism. However, from here on out for the next three hours, we will present nothing but realism. It will be down to earth for the "earthy"... For the past hour, we have been listening to music taken largely from Grand Opera. From now on, we will present the "Grand Ole Opry".

He followed that up with a performance by DeFord Bailey who played "The Pan-American Blues," which is a semi-improvisational and impressive series of train noises played on harmonica. By December newspapers were using the new name. Sociologists have oft remarked on this expression of "rural values" in a Southern City. We can skip that. The story is apocryphal, but it is notable that the word "opry" was thus born. But the word didn't stop here. Other barn dances took up term and the original Grand Ole Opry finally trade marked the word in 1950. They further trademarked "Opryland USA" for their theme park in 1974 and "Opryland Talent Agency" in 1981. But the word "Opry" not until 1982.

• Country Shindig Opry (1979 - 1982)
• Myrtlebeach Opry (1970-1973)
• The Ozark Opry (1954-1980)
• Austin's Nashville Opry (1954)
• Austin's Ozark Nashville Opry
• The Carolina Opry (1986)

Legal action ensued. WSM sued for trademark infringement. There were numerous cases but three in particular put the question to rest. WSM, Inc. v. Hilton in 1985, and before that WSM, Inc. v. Bailey and

Rainwater in 1969.  That same year was WSM, Inc. v. Kansas City Industries.  But let's start with Bailey. Donald Bailey had recorded a record released by Jay Rainwater which in part bore the name Grand Ole Opry. Actually they had named their recording company "Opry Records." WSM had never used their brand in that manner, but Bailey and Rainwater didn't have the right to misappropriate it either. They got shut down.


In 1970 the court went the other way. Lee Mace operated the "Ozark Opry" and registered that trademark in 1962. Then in 1962 Austin Wood licensed the Opry name from WSM and began operating "Austin's Ozark Nashville Opry" in Branson Missouri. Lee Mace objected in 1962 and Austin changed the name to Austin's Nashville Opry. WSM got around to suing in 1969, and the parties settled. Lee was prohibited from using the name "Ozark Opry" in Kentucky and Tennessee but was licensed for the other 48 states.

The Hilton case was more interesting. The central issue was whether or not the word "Opry" was a generic term for country music entertainment. The Federal Circuit held surprisingly in 1982 that the word "opry" is generic! At the core was not George Hay's first use of the word but it's etymology as common vernacular. For that I'll quote the court:

"Certain persons who reside along the mid-Atlantic seaboard, in Appalachia and in the Ozarks have adhered to a rule of pronunciation under which words ending with the letter "a" are pronounced as if the word ended with the letter "y". The word "opera" is among at least 175 words to which this rule of dialectic pronunciation applies. For example, "opera" is pronounced as "opery" or "opry". The horse, medicine and jig operas were often respectively referred to as "horse opry" or "hoss opry", "medicine opry" or "med-opry", and "jig opry."

More problematic was that the word "opry" is listed and defined in Webster's New Third International Dictionary as a dialectic variation of the word "opera." The American Thesaurus of Slang lists "opry" as a "musical performance," describes an "opery house" as a "theatre," and includes "horse opera" and "hoss opry" among terms referring to a "circus." So the court applied the Lanham Act, which provides that if a registered mark at any time becomes generic, it provides for the cancellation of that mark's registration. George D. Hay died in 1968 and was unable to make his case. The court for what it's worth was correct. The term "horse opry" appears in every John Wayne biography, and a dozen 1940's-era issues of Billboard hocking disposable C&W 78s.

The WSM-AM birthday cake phenomenon

As of today, 650  WSM-AM is 90 years old.We all know their iconic brand, and even more iconic Grand Ole Opry. WSM first signed on Monday, October 5th, 1925. But the Opry was first broadcast November 28th 1925 so it's 90th anniversary is just a few weeks away. WSM-AM had a cake to celebrate it's anniversary.. funny thing though. It's something they've been doing for a long time. They did it last year with a bit of pomp and ceremony despite the big anniversary being around the corner.

Actually these cake images are all over the internet. Here's birthday number 55 [HERE].
Getty Images even has a few pictures of the WSM 33rd Grand Ole Opry anniversary cake from 1956 [HERE].  If they've been doing it consistently, that would mean their 60th anniversary of ordering radio-themed cakes is in October of 2016.

I know personalized cakes are a popular these days but I was surprised at how much so. A slew of other stations have celebrated anniversaries with them as well: WKUF, WNYC, WMSI, KXTE, KBUT, WLFR, KFSH, WGBH, WMBR and many others. Somewhere out there must be a Pinterest page that catalogs this.

DJ DeFord Bailey

DeFord Bailey was the first first African-American performer on the Grand Ole Opry radio program on WSM-AM in Nashville, TN. His first documented appearance on the station was  June 19th, 1926. He was an ace harmonica player. He was also only 4'10" having had polio as a child and weighted all of 90 lbs. You should probably listen to one of his tunes before we move on.

But WSM wasn't the first radio station that found DeFord. It was WDAD-AM. More here. It was run out of a Dad's Auto Accessories, a shop that sole auto parts, bike parts and radio supplies on 8th Avenue owned by L. N. Smith. It's transmitter was used and had been bought on the cheap from WOAN-AM in Lawrenceburg, TN.  The store manager Fred Exum started the station to promote the shop.  But in those days a 150 watt station could be heard for hundreds of miles. DeFord was goaded into participating in a harmonica contest on the station. As you'd expect the

A month later the National Life and Accident Insurance Company founded WSM... a well-funded and far larger station. It' signed on with 1,000 watts. One of the WDAD regulars, Dr. Humphrey Bate eventually dragged DeFord across the street to play on WSM. That's not much exaggeration, DeFord was very concerned about upsetting the bigoted white people of that era. But George Hay, a former WLS alum, was Director at WSM, and Hay liked DeFord's style. DeFord became known as the "Harmonica Wizard."

In 1928, W.C. Taylor of WNOX-AM in Knoxville poached DeFord by doubling his salary. DeFord had been underpaid and was easily wooed. But DeFordtired of Knoxville and WNOX, which then was a small station. He got the urge to leave and discovered that Taylor had promised to return him to WSM should he leave. Technically DeFord was a free man, but.. it was the South. DeFord returned to WSM in February of 1929. He remained there until he was fired in 1941 under somewhat complex circumstances.

The summer of 1941 was the climax of the ASCAP and BMI royalty spat. Radio stations and networks were boycotting ASCAP owned music to avoid a threatened doubling of the royalty rate. BMI had been created hastily to gather some more fiscally amenable content... but artists like DeForest who were playing old-time music had their hits ripped out from under them. DeForest didn't have a second set of favorites in his back pocket and was cut from the roster. He still toured some, and guested on radio programs around the country but his big days were over. He politely rejected a large number of interview and appearance invitations. He did attended some old-timer nights at WSM in the 1970s but died in 1982 before mounting his long-awaited comeback.

Freedom Theater on WSM

 I've noted before that integration was slow coming in broadcasting. It's interesting that one of the earliest integrated programs was a theater program in Nashville, TN. The book Don't Touch That Dial by J. Fred MacDonald makes a single reference to an integrated radio theater program.

"More indicative of postwar attitudes toward blacks in radio was a special series, Freedom Theater, produced in 1948 at WSM (Nashville). In this thirteen-part public service show, music was provided by a traditional country-western ensemble, Roy Acuff and His Smokey Mountain Boys, as well as by a black chorus, the Fisk University Choir. The series represented the first time racially-mixed programs had been broadcast from the same studio of that important southern station."

In 1948 WSM-AM aired one of the first racially mixed radio programs in the South. There were undoubtedly minor roles on more minor stations, but this was WSM-AM, the home of the Grand old Opry. It's highly unusual and surprisingly forward-thinking for the era.  There were already integrated theater programs in Philadelphia, Atlanta, and New York at the time.. some possibly as early as 1945. But in the USA the legal foundation to end segregation didn't start until the mid 1950s. Brown v. Board of Education wasn't ruled on until 1954. Interracial marriage was still illegal in some states until 1967. The Fair Housing act wasn't signed until 1968! More here.

But lets get back to the program. The Fisk University Choir was established in 1879 by Adam K. Spence, who was also the first principal of the Fisk School.  The group was assembled to back up the Fisk Jubilee Singers during their heavy touring season. The Jubilee singers were first assembled in 1871 to tour and raise funds for college singing spirituals. That's not hyperbole. While the choir was assembled by the principal, the Jubilee singers were assembled by Fisk's treasurer and music director, George L. White. the important detail here is that despite being local talent, the choir was nationally famous.

While little is written about  Freedom Theater as a series, a single program called "Freedom Train about integration on WSM-AM was praised by Billboard magazine in May of 1948.  I believe this was an episode of Freedom Theater. It has all the known participants, and is an integrated theater program.  Billboard awarded the program "Freedom Train" a third place award among Public Service Programs for the year. While it's not an Obie, it does importantly list some names surely connected to Freedom Theater.

• Producer-Director: Jack Stapp
• Assistant Producer-Director: Tom Stewart
• Writer: Saul Carson
• Cast: Eddy Arnold, Roy Acuff, Bradley Kincaid, Snooky Lanson
• Music: Fisk University Choir, WSM Staff Orchestra

These were not carpet-baggers, anti-segregation protesters, or outsiders of any kind. Though in WWII he did help write propaganda for the OWI (Office of War Information.)  Stapp was born in Atlanta, former PD of WGST-AM. He had been at WSM since1939 and stayed through 1957. Tom Stewart had been there even longer and helped design their studios. Eddy Arnold, Roy Acuff, Bradley Kincaid, and Snooky Lanson were all Opry regulars. The one thing not described in that short article were black actors. Damn. Thankfully the scrips are archived at Vanderbuilt University.  More here.

*In about 1947, WNYC-AM  also carried a program called Freedom Theater. It is totally unrelated.

Bradley Kincaid's Favorite Mountain Ballads

Bradley Kincaid was born in Point Leavell, KY and I have the post card to prove it. But built his music career in the northern states. His first radio appearance came in 1926 when he performed on the National Barn Dance show on WLS-AM in Chicago, IL. Kincaid was born in 1895 so he was already 31 when he first stood facing the microphone at WLS-AM. So lets back up so we can have a little continuity here.

At the age of 14 his father gave him a guitar that he got in trade for a fox hound. That has got to be the best story in the history of country music. At the age of 19 he entered the Berea College Foundation School as a sixth-grader but left less than 2 years later to fight in WWI. After the war he resumed his education at Berea and graduated from the academy in 1921 at the age of 26.  He then moved to Chicago to attend Y.M.C.A. College. It's now known as George Williams College. There he joined a singing quartet which led to his famous 1928 solo audition for the National Barn Dance.

Throughout that time he collected folk songs. It was his passion. In addition to collecting song books he wrote country songs and his song books sold big time. His 1928 songbook called My Favorite Mountain Ballads sold more than 400,000 copies. He spent 4 years on WLS and paired up with Louis Marshall “Grandpa” Jones. He went onto play at WBZ-AM in Boston, at WHAM in Rochester in 1939, WLW in Cincinnati in 1941, and on WKRC-AM, with Cowboy Copas on the Cornhuskers Jamboree in 1945.


His last major radio gig was a stretch on the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville from 1942-1947 on WSM-AM. He did continue to perform but less and less on radio. He was mostly retired by the 60s but continued to record into the 1970s. In 1971, he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame. He died in 1989. His papers reside at Berea College. More here.

Zeke Clements was not a dwarf

Marlon "Zeke" Clements was not a dwarf. He just played one on the big screen. In 1937 Clements yodeled the part of Bashful, in Walt Disney's 1937 version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. To be clear, Scotty Mattraw was the speaking voice of bashful, but when Disney needed Bashful to yodel they used Zeke. Apparently even in the 1930s they couldn't find a single voice-over man to handle both the voice over and the yodeling parts. He wasn't always a dwarf however, he also appeared as a singing cowboy in several B-Westerns.

Over his career he performed as both under his stage name Zeke, the Alabama Cowboy and the Dixie Yodeler. Clements was born in Warrior, Alabama in 1911. His music career began in 1928 when he joined the touring show of Otto Gray and his Oklahoma Cowboys touring show. The band was formerly known as McGinty's Oklahoma Cowboy Band. McGinty had been a real-deal cowboy and a Rough Rider under Roosvelt. Graywas more of a band manager which is probably how they ended up on the National Barn Dance at WLS-AM in Chicago. they had been playing on KFRU-AM in Bristow, OK, and KFJF-AM in Kansas City. The barn Dance had only started in 1924, so in these early regional years of radio they were genuine celebrities. Gray actually made the cover of Billboard.

In 1933, he joined  singer Texas Ruby as member of the Bronco Busters. The book The Cowboy in Country Music by Don Cusic claims that in 1934 Zeke was the first Opry act to wear cowboy clothing. It's unclear if this was his first appearance on the Opry, or just his first appearance with the Bronco Busters... or just the first clad in chaps and boots. I find that "first" claim dubious. However, this was before the era of singing cowboy movies. Gene Autry's first cowboy movie began a year later, in 1935. Though Autry and Clements had both been on the National barn Dance by 1929, it's clear that Autry popularized the clothing fad. You can't see the outfits on the radio.

After the Opry, Clements also spent time on WHO-AM in Des Moints and WHAS-AM in Louisville.  The book The Encyclopedia of Country Music claims that it was while playing on the Hollywood Barn Dance on KNX-AM, that Zeke answered the Disney ad for a yodeler. But the Hollywood Barn Dance supposedly only ran from 1943 to 1948. This is long after Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released. Only one of these things can be true. By all reports Ruby  was supposed to audition for a role as well but was too drunk. In 1939, Zeke broke it off with Ruby and went back to the Opry. He continued to be a successful songwriter for the rest of his life writing hits for both Eddy Arnold and Red Foley. He died in Nashville in 1994.

Hollywood Walk of Fame: A - C

As of this writing there are 2,476 stars in the Hollywood walk of fame. I recently read that only 10% of those are so-called radio stars.  By that math there should be about 248 radio stars on the walk. There are in fact only 238, which is 9.61%... close enough.

Because many stars cross media formats from music, to film to print and broadcasting the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce breaks this down into categories for us. Each category has an identifying emblem for it's brass radio star.  Inside the coral-pink terrazzo five-point star rimmed with brass is a circular 4-inch brass plaque showing an antique studio-style microphone Radio microphone. I'll warn you now that some category inclusions are dubious.

Since there are hundreds of these lets go at it alphabetically. This will take all week. In cases where there are two names or a state name absent a surname I have alphabetized by the first name of the listed first party. If I have already written a post about them I have inserted a link, if not then just a very abbreviated bio.

Bud Abbott - The straight man of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Lou Costello which his listed under "C."  Many comedy duos share a star. They do not.  Costello appears below.

Dear Abby - Dear Abby of the advice column by the same name. It was founded in 1956 by Pauline Phillips under the pseudonym Abigail Van Buren. Her daughter Jeanne Phillips. There was in fact a Dear Abby radio show.

Fred Allen - He was a vaudeville performer, who became a guest on a couple radio shows then began hosting The Linit Bath Club Revue starting in 1934. The eponymous Fred Allen Show debuted on NBC in 1945. His radio career is long and storied.

Steve Allen - You already know his voice. The Steve Allen Show began airing in 1956,  but his first radio gig was on KOY-AM way back in 1945. You'd know him best as the first host of the tonight show.

Don Ameche - He was a film actor in the 1930s and '40s but he started in radio. He had numerous bit parts over the years, but his big radio role was as John Bickerson... of the Bickersons. It ran 1946 to 1951 but it lives on as a model for sitcoms today.

Morey Amsterdam - He had an eponymous TV program starting in 1948. He did relatively little notable radio. He was was a regular guest on The Al Pearce Show show, and himself hosted an obscure series called the Night Club of the Air which only ran for 2 months in 1937. His inclusion is dubious.

Eddie Anderson - Anderson rose to fame playing the character of Rochester, Jack Benny's personal valet.  He began playing bit parts on the program starting in 1937.  Anderson made it to the Radio Hall of Fame in 2001. He was the man. His gravelly voice tops even Tom Waits.

Eve Arden - She was a a regular on Danny Kaye's variety program in 1946. But her career was playing the character Connie Brooks in the sitcom "Our Miss Brooks." Arden portrayed the character on radio from 1948 to 1957 then for TV from 1952 - 1956, and then a film in 1956.

Eddy Arnold - He was a country artist with over a hundred singles to his name. He made his career the hard way playing live on air. He was on WTJS-AM in Jackson, WMPS-AM in Memphis, KWK-AM in St. Louis, WHAS-AM in Louisville eventually making it to the Grand Ol' Opry on WSM-AM.

Cliff Arquette - It has been said that at one point he was performing on 13 different daily radio shows in the Chicago metro. The big one was called "Dave and Charley" which Arquette hosted with Dave Willock,it even made it on TV briefly. He later revisited his characters for the Tonight Show while Jack Paar was host.

Gene Autry - See previous post here.

Dan Avey - Avey won over 30 major journalism awards in his career including 15 Golden Mikes, which might be a record. He was a sportscaster and newscaster on stations like KXLY-AM, KWIZ-AM, KFI-AM, KFWB-AM, and KABC-AM. He retired in 2007.

Lew Ayres - He was in more than 50 films in his career but he did a tour of radioland. He acted the part of Kildare on the program "The Story of Doctor Kildare" airing 1950 through 1951. He also played the part in film. His inclusion is dubious.

Jack Bailey - He was the host of a daytime game show called "Queen for a Day."  It debuted on the Mutual Radio Network in 1945 continuing through 1948 when it jumped to television.

Art Baker - His real name was Arthur Shank. The program "Art Baker's Notebook" debuted on KFI-AM in Los Angeles in 1938. It ran for 20 years. If that wasn't enough, he went on to host the TV show "You Asked for It."

Kenny Baker - This is different fellow than the Kenny Baker that was in R2D2. This Baker was a singer on  The Jack Benny Program in the 1930s. He had his own program which didn't do so well. He went on to sang on the Texaco Star Theater radio program and do film.

Phil Baker - He hosted a number of big radio programs in his career. Starting in 1933 Baker starred in his own NBC series "The Armour Jester." He was also the host of the popular quiz show "Take It or Leave It," which later became "The $64 Question." He also appeared on Duffy's Tavern in 1944.

Lionel Barrymore - He portrayed the character Doctor Gillespie on the program Doctor Kildare in the 1940s. He also performed in the radio series, Mayor of the Town, and got a bit typecast playing Ebenezer Scrooge on the radio every Xmas from 1934 to1953. He also hosted the AFRS "Concert Hall" Radio Show in he late 1940s.

Brian Beirne -  He actually trade-marked the nick name "Mr. Rock N' Roll."  Beirne was a DJ for KRTH-FM known as K-EARTH 101. After 29 years on air years he retired in 2004.

William Bendix -  His program "The Life of Riley" aired from 1944 through 1951. When it was revised for television "The Life of Riley" ran from 1953 to 1958. His character's tag line "What a revoltin' development" lives on.

Jack Benny - The Jack Benny show ran from 1932 to 1955. It became a television program from 1960 through 1964 on CBS, then NBC for another year. His career requires no further explanation.

Edgar Bergen - A ventriloquist who guested on Rudy Vallée's program in 1936, then a regular bit on the Chase and Sanborn Hour in 1937. That was followed by the Charlie McCarthy Show which lasted 2 years. He jumped to Film and TV from there.

Milton Berle - He made his reputation as a regular on on The Rudy Vallee Hour, and the Gillette Original Community Sing in 1936. The Milton Berle Show only ran a year from 1947 - 1948. Berle became the host of NBC's Texaco Star Theater taking over for Jack Carter.. His reign ran from 1948 to 1955 when it jumped to TV.

Ben Bernie - He was called  The Old Maestro. He broadcast on NBC Blue WJZ-AM starting in 1923. His program ran on CBS through most of the 1930s.  He slowly started to segue into film around 1937 and left radio. His last starring radio role was the "Ben Bernie War Workers" program" which ran from 1941 to 1943.

Rodney Bingenheimer - Rodney has been hosting his own program "Rodney on the ROQ" on KROQ since August of 1976. They'll probably have to tear it from his cold dead hands.

Mel Blanc - Now just famous for his voice work on Warner Bros cartoons, he actually began in radio. In 1927 he began doing voice over the KGW-AM program The Hoot Owls. He jumped to KEX-AM in 1933 to produce his Cobweb And Nuts show which lasted 2 years. He followed that with a spin on the Johnny Murray Show, then The Joe Penner Show, then a big win on the Jack Benny Show. He got his own program "The Mel Blanc Show", which ran from 1946  into 1947. It didn't matter.. he'd already discovered cartoon work. The die was cast.

Ford Bond - Bond was a radio announcer peaking in the mid 1940s. He did Manhattan Merry-Go-Round, Fun At Breakfast, Kraft Music Hall, Easy Aces, and many others. He began on WHAS-AM in Louisville in 1922. He died in 1962 after retiring to the Virgin islands. Can't knock that.

Edward Bowes - He was host of  Major Bowes' Amateur Hour on WHN-AM in 1934. The show ran until 1946 when he retired. He died two months later.

Bill Boyd - A western Swing man he played on air at many stations including WRR-AM,  KTER-AM and KSKY-AM in Dallas and alter WKNE and WPWA. His band The Cowboys Ramblers, had their own popular radio show, "The Bill Boyd Ranch House" around 1947 on WRR.

Eddie Bracken - Another vaudeville man who moved to radio. It was his success in film that landed him his very own "Eddie Bracken Show." It ran for 2 years on CBS 1946 and 1947.

Tom Breneman - Breneman was the host of "Breakfast in Hollywood." It debuted on the Blue Network in 1941, but moved to ABC, NBC and Mutual at various times. It initially launched as "Breakfast on the Boulevard" on KFWB-AM in Los Angeles.  It was so big it had a magazine, he had a restaurant and they made a movie about the program in 1946. It was finally cancelled in 1948 only because he died.

Fanny Brice - She spent most of her career trapped in the role of Baby Snooks. The character first appeared in a skit on The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air. At the age of 60 she was still typecast as a child.

Ray Briem - Ray retired from radio in 2008 after a long career at KABC-AM. As a conservative talk show host. He'd been a long time radio man having even hosted programs for AFRS.

Cecil Brown - Brown was famous as a WWII news commentator. He was hired by CBS in 1940. His career gained ground criticizing Mussolini but lost it criticizing the British. After the war he became a commentator for the Mutual Network.

Bob Burns - He was a regular on the Kraft Music Hall program, and Rudy Vallee's show The Fleischmann Hour starting in 1935. Prior to that he'd only done random appearances on programs like "The Fun Factory." He hosted the Academy Awards in 1938 which improved is cache. His own radio show, The Arkansas Traveler ran from 1941 to 1943 and was followed by  The Bob Burns Show  which ran 1943 to 1947.

Judy Canova - Her career exploded after a 1931 guest spot on the Fleischmann Yeast Hour. She did a series of films, then got her own radio show 1in 1943, The Judy Canova Show. It ran for 12 years. She moved on to TV and had a long career there as well.

Eddie Cantor - See previous post here.

Ken Carpenter - Ken was an NBC Radio Announcer. He was probably best known for announcing Bing Crosby on the Kraft Music Hall radio variety program for 27 years. He started his career in KFI-AM in 1929 as a sports announcer. He stayed with NBC doing sports color until 1942.

Jack Carson - He appeared in 1938 on the Kraft Music Hall while Bing Crosby's was host. He guested several more times and got own CBS radio show, the Jack Carson Show,  in 1943.  The show lasted 4 years. he left to host The Sealtest Village Store program where he stayed until 1948.

Bud Collyer - Bud was Superman on The Adventures of Superman on the Mutual Network in 1940. That iconic work would probably be enough but he also acted on all 3 major networks. He went on to host TV game shows like Beat the Clock and to Tell the Truth.

Jerry Colonna - He had the greatest mustache ever made. He was famous on radio as Bob Hope's zany sidekick. He actually started as a serious trombonist in the CBS house orchestra. He even recorded as a part Raymond Scott's famous Quintette and of course played on the Kraft Music Hall.

Perry Como - Como is most famous for his recording career and his early work hosting television programs. His work on the radio program "Beat the Band" was notable, lasting on NBC radio from 1940 to 1944. Btu it represents the bulk of his radio career.

Spade Cooley - He had his own TV show starting in 1947 but before that he was on radio a bit. He guested in 1946 on Gene Autry's Program "Melody Ranch." Then with his own show "Spade Cooley Time" on KFVD-AM. He went straight from there to KTLA-TV.

Charles Correll - He played the character Andy Brown of Amos & Andy alongside Freeman Gosden. The bit began on WMAQ-AM in 1926 as Sam 'n' Henry and continued on to WGN-AM, where it became Amos and Andy. It became syndicated and continued on in different forms until 1962.

Lou Costello - He was the shorter stouter half of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello, with Bud Abbott. They began in vaudeville individually, then as a team and signed up with the William Morris Agency in 1938. They became a regular feature on The Kate Smith Hour and rapidly moved into film.

Bing Crosby - Bing appears at least 5 other times on this page for launching other careers during his tenure on the Kraft Music Hall from 1935 to 1946. But he'd already been host of the Woodbury Soap Program, the Chesterfield's Music Program, The Cremo Singers and The Radio Singers on CBS back in 1931. his first appearance was probably in 1929 on Old Gold presents the Paul Whiteman Orchestra.

Bob Crosby - Despite am 18-month interruption for WWII the "Bob Crosby Show" ran on NBC and CBS separately from  1943 to 1950. He moved from there to a show called "Club Fifteen" on CBS from 1947 to 1953. From 1952 to 1955 he was a band leader on the Jack Benny Show. That was followed by a half hour Bob Crosby Show that ran on CBS from 1953–1957. He tried a little TV show in Australia in the 1960s but it fizzled.

Milton Cross - See previous post here.

Frank Crumit - Crumit was a vaudeville man. He and his wife Julia Sanderson were a comedy and singing duo in 1928 on CBS as the "Singing Sweethearts" even though they were already divorced. In 1030 they started co-hosting a quiz show called "The Battle of the Sexes", which ran 13 years. they started a new program on WABC-AM, but it was abruptly cut short when Crumit died of  a heart attack in 1943.

Bill Cunningham - This is not the same radio man as right-winger Bill Cunningham in Cincinnati. This is the man who hosted "Meet the Boss" from 1944-1952 carried by Mutual Broadcasting.

Asher Sizemore & Little Jimmy

I bought this from an 85-year-old man who remembered listening to Little Jimmy as a boy. he sent away for their songbook and 80 years later sold it to me with an Ernest Tubb record. In 1931 Asher Sizemore & Little Jimmy started broadcasting from WSM-AM in Nashville. Little Jimmy was a child star. On his own Asher lacked star power, but with Little Jimmy in tow, there was a revolting cuteness that sold songbooks like the proverbial hotcakes.

Asher had played his own cowboy ballads on WCKY-AM in Cincinatti, and WHAS-AM in Louisville as early as 1931. By 1933 Little Jimmy was big enough to join him and even to harmonize. Early on they split time between the Grand Ole Opry and WHAS but as they began syndication that all came out of WSM. Some of those segments are presenved on 16" transcription disc. By 1940 they had added his younger son, Buddy to the act and were on NBC syndicated across the midwest. By 1950 a third child, Nancy a daughter this time, was added to the act and they were working out of WKLO-AM in Louisville.

Things didn't last much longer than that. Buddy was drafted and killed in the Korean war. The cuteness wore off as the kids grew up. That left nothign behind but Asher's songcraft which had never been enough to get the job done solo.

You can get all 35.8 MB if you
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An Unfortunate Advertisement

Gaylord Broadcasting still exists as Gaylord Entertainment(NYSE: GET). In past years they owned a number of AM, FM and TV signals across the US including: KYTE-AM, WKY-AM, KYTE-FM, KRKE-AM, and KRKE-FM. The corporation was formed by the merger of The Tampa Television Company and the Oklahoma Publishing Company. They've focused mroe on Television in the last decade but still own WSM.
But what I found interesting was the double entendre in this 1978 advertisement. As early as the 1960s the word "gay" was used to mean homosexual. so this 1978 ad was either a deliberate entendre, or the last time this joke could have been made inadvertently.

Carl Smith on WROL

You probably know Carl Smith for his singles "Hey Joe" or "Loose Talk" or any number of the string to #1 hits he had in the 1950s. Or maybe you remember him as the first husband of June Carter Cash. No matter how you know him, you know his career lost steam in the 1960s. His sound was very old country soaked in lap steel and western swing. It was a sound like much of the old WSM-AM Grand Ole Opry players, but he actually got his break at WROL-AM.

While Smith grew up listening to the Grand Ole Opry, It was in Knoxville that he found his break subbing for studio musicians at WROL. In 1944 Cas Walker gave him his first radio work there. It turned into a full-time gig. In 1947, Carl and banjo player Hoke Jenkins moved to Asheville, North Carolina and appeared on WWNC-AM with the Smokey Mountaineers. He moved onto 580 WGAC-AM in Augusta, Georgia within a year. But that gig didnt' work out so well. Only months later he was busking to make ends meet.

He decided to return to Knoxville and WROL where things had worked out well in the past. He was eventually rehired, this time playing bass for Archie Campbell. He started playing on the programs Country Playhouse and The Dinner Bell. It was about then that a Knoxville dobro player named George “Speedy” Krise made an acetate demo of Smith. he sent it to sent it to Troy Martin a talent scout for Columbia records. It led to an audition for Jack Stapp at WSM.

Carl started doing guest spots at WSM in March 1950. It eventually led to his own program, and a series fo spots on the Opry. That May he signed to Columbiai records.

Fiddlin' John Carson

Today country music is the most common radio format in America. About 2,200 stations of the approximately 14,000 broadcasters are country-formatted stations. That's almost 16%. But long ago, there was a strong resistance among programmers to county music. For regular readers and radiophiles that's all review.On March 6th 1922 750 WSB-AM went on air in Atlanta. It was the first big station in the American south. 880 WSM-AM would not sign-on in Nashville until 1925. Both would become country-music taste-makers, but WSB was first hands down. WSB also can lay claim to creating the first comuntry-music superstar- Fiddlin' John Carson.

Cartson was a local boy, born in 1868, in Blue Ridge, Georgia. Within a few weeks of WSB first going live, Carson was performing there. Carson played on several programs, even with groups of musicians playing non-country music. It is rumored that radioman Lambdin Kay was the one that gave him airtime and paid Carson in whiskey. By June 14th 1923 he had a hot selling 78 rpm platter on Okeh records. The A side was "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" and the B side was "The Old Hen Cackled and the Rooster's Going to Crow."

There was disconnect between what the affluent programmers wanted to play, and what the rural listeners wanted to hear. The instant popularity of Carson directed the future path of many programming decisions. At the urging of A&R man Polk C. Brockman, Okeh records initially pressed 500 copies. They had to rush back to re-press. Eventually it sold over half a million copies. He recorded another 150 sides fo Okeh and Bluebird. This was some of the first commercial country music ever. In that moment country music as we think of it began to grow as an off shoot of the indigenous hillbilly music. His recording career, which yielded some 165 recorded songs, lasted into the 1930s. Carson spent the last years of his life as an elevator operator in Atlanta. He was inducted into the Georgia music hall of fame in 1994.

Tallest Towers

We've all seen lists of the tallest buildings in the world. But "building" is a limitation. We've built radio towers far taller than any building. I found a list on Wikipedia that was very complete. Their stories are fascinating, but the first two are amazing as they trades places twice for the rank of tallest. Click the Header for more towers.

Warsaw Radio Mast (2118 feet) The full name of the facility was Radiofoniczny Ośrodek Nadawczy w Konstantynowie. It was the world's tallest structure until its collapsed. It still remains the tallest land-based structure ever built. Approximately ten years after completion of the mast, inspections revealed structural damage caused by wind-induced oscillations. On August 8th 1991. The mast collapsed due to a human error while replacing guy wires. The contractor and worker involved most directly were actually sentenced to prison time over the catastrophe.

KVLY/KTHI TV Mast : (2063 feet) After the collapse, the KVLY-TV mast outside Fargo, ND regained the title as the world's tallest structure. The call letters of the television station for which it was built were originally KTHI, the "HI" referring to the height of the mast.

The picture to the right is the WSM tower. It's only 878 feet by comparison, but when it was built, it was the tallest tower in the world. The tower was erected in 1932 and is still in use today. More here.

WSM radio acquired licenses on FM and Television in the following years. In 1986 WSMV-TV put up a tower that was one of the world's tallest. At 1,369 feet it's 60% taller than their old AM stick.

Hank Williams & Radio

If you do not yet own any Hank williams CDs I recomend one of the collections on Lost Highway records. Click here.

In 1937 a 14-year old Hank Williams, (legally still named Hiram) began playing shows on WSFA-AM in Montgomery as "the Singing kid." He'd won a talent show at the Empire theatre and a few others, and after spending the prize money on booze, he bought a new Gibson. His unpayed gigs on WSFA grew into a twice weekly gig with a house band. - star of hsi own show and not yet allowed to drive. He'd not written any songs either. He was still mostly covering Roy Acuff.

He used his show to promote his concerts, and tours. It was on one of those tours that he met Pappy Neal McCormick who had a show on WCOA-AM in Pensacola. Pappy was a band leader for a Hawaiian-syled band showcasing steel guitar. A huge influence on the later song writing of little Hank.

The WSFA gig grew into a daily gig Monday through Friday. hank formed hsi own band, the Drifting Cowboys and dropped the WSFA house band. But by 1942 he got fired for habitual drunkeness. Yes he was barely 19. Hank stayed drunk, but recorded a "Hank Williams Show" to shop around. Nobody bit. He was a known drunk and he took a gig ship building in WWII.

He took a job backing Pee Wee King the polka star and slowly returned to music. By 1945 he was back on WSFA daily, brodcasting from the Jefferson davis Hotel. He was punctual and soder enough at the time that when he asked for an exclusive deal ( no other country bands) he got it. He even realeased a song book of his lyrics. But the sobriety didn't last. Soon they were airing canned shows when Hank was too liquored to to show.

By the end of the decade hank was trying to move onto the Opry at WSM, it didn't happen for years yet, but his later in troduction to Fred Rose was a step, and Rose shopped hank around Nashville, even to WLAC-AM for a regular gigdown the street from that very barn dance. While thsi was going ton WSFA got tired of drunken absenteeism and fired Hank again. About then Hank started a new habit of getting arrested.. for public drunkeness.

In 1948 he scored a new gig at KWKH-AM in Shreveport. They ran a saturdaynight barn-dance type program just like the opry, the Louisiana hayride. they made him promise to stay sober for 6 whole months before they let him at a mic. the program ran 15 minutes every weekday morning just him and solo guitar. Johnny Fair Syrup was the sponsor. (They later sponsored Red Sovine)

The gig did well by hank, bigger gis came as did some hit singles. But Fred Rose still had to bribe two Opry managers to finally get him a gues spot in 1949. His guest appearance was so huge, the crowd so insanely responsive he ended up doing 6 encores. It was the beginning of his superstardom. When The opry relocated, the bosses at WSM-AM actually had a six-foot circle cut out of the stage where Mr. Williams stood, and took it with them.

WSFA became WHHY, and in 1999 dropped their longtime simulcast with WHHY-FM to go right wing talk as WLWI-AM. http://www.newsradio1440.com/

Barn Dance on the radio!

In the early days of radio, the recording industry divided music into two primary categories: race music and hillbilly music. If you hadnt' guessed those are euphamisms for black people and white people. For the record, the adjective hillbilly is also derived from music. It's first appearance is in Uncle Dave Macon's "Hill Billie Blues" circa 1924. More here.

The Barn Dance was originated in Scotland in the 1860's. It was also known as the "Pas de Quartre" which basically was a generic term for any American folk dancing. A barn raising was a community event, and afterwards a party was given to all involved hands. Pretty much only the amish build barns in America now so we dont see these so much anymore since the Amish don't allow that deviant stuff goin' on.

Early Country Radio Timeline
1910 John Lomax publishes "Frontier Ballads"
1916 Cecil Sharp publishes Appalachian folk songs
1922 Eck Robertson, cuts the first recording of Mountain music.
1922 WBAP launches first barn dance
1923 Little Old Log Cabin by Ralph Peer is a national hit
1925 Carl Sprague records cowboy songs
1924 WLS debuts barn dance
1924 Vernon Dalhart sells 1 million copies of "The Prisoner’s Song"
1925 WSM launches the barn dance that becomes Grand Ole Opry
1927 Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers cut first records
1928 First record is made in Nashville

Timeline contines here.

Eventually there came to be a multitude of small regional radio barn dance programs, (WRVA for example) but there were 3 big national ones. 820 WBAP-AM in Fort-Worth launched the first barn dance progam in 1923 shortly after WSM debuted hillbilly music. Thsi program really defined the radio barn dance. It even had cadance callers like a typical barn dance. A real barn dance has dance callers. A caller is a musician who shounts out dance movements. These are specificly times and on many old time recordings are ill-timed. [When your club DJ tells you to raise the roof... that's the same thing so dont get smug kid.] Little story here .

In 1922, WSM-AM was the first to broadcast these mountain songs to its audience. WSM is famous world-round for the Opry, the afformentoned Mr. Macon quite appropriately was one of the first stars of the Grand Ole Opry. It was Nashville's first radio station and the Barn dance they began broadcasting in 1923 would eventually change name to "Grand Ole Opry". Until his death in 1952, "Uncle Dave" Macon regularly performed on the radio show.

On April 19th 1924, Chicago's radio station WLS-AM began broadcasting a barn dance that could be heard throughout the Midwest. The WLS National Barn Dance had music, comedy and skits. The program ran for more than 50 years. Regularly featured were : Gene Autry, Lulu Belle and Scotty, Pat Buttram, George Gobel, and The DeZurik Sisters. Read about it here. In 1949, ABC attempted to lanuch a version of the program for TV. Sadly it tanked after only a few months. ABC Moved the program to to WGN-AM in 1960. In 1944,the show's origins were made the topic of a feature film of the same name. It sucked.

The barn dances are largely gone now, but some programs try to keep thatlantern lit like Don & Steve's BIG Fresno Barn Dance on KFSR in Fresno here. [Click the header to hear the Coon Creek Girls on the Renfro Valley Barn Dance on WHAS.]