NATIONAL BARN DANCE

OLD TIME RADIO - 1 CD - 12 mp3 - Total Playtime: 6:18:22

National Barn Dance, broadcast by WLS-AM in Chicago, Illinois starting in 1924, was one of the first American country music radio programs and a direct precursor of the Grand Ole Opry.
It also set the stage for other similar programs, in part because the clear-channel signal of WLS could be received throughout most of the Midwest and even beyond in the late evening and nighttime hours, making much of the United States (and Canada) a potential audience. The program was well received and thus widely imitated. National Barn Dance ended its broadcast in 1968.
National Barn Dance was founded by Edgar L. Bill. To him goes the credit for arranging to have a program of "down-home" tunes broadcast from radio station WLS, of which Bill was then director. Having lived on a farm, he knew how people loved the familiar music and informal spirit of old-fashioned barn dance music. The first broadcast was an impromptu sustaining program. An avalanche of telephone calls and letters indicated a definite demand from the public for this type of broadcast, and National Barn Dance was born. It first aired on WLS on April 19, 1924 and originated from the Eighth Street Theater starting in 1931. The show was picked up by NBC Radio in 1933. NBC expanded the program's coverage in 1942, adding it to the schedules of international shortwave stations. In 1946 it switched to the ABC Radio network and aired until 1952 on Saturday nights from 6:30 p.m. to midnight.
George D. Hay (a.k.a. The Solemn Ole Judge) has always claimed that he started the WLS Barn Dance when he worked for them as an announcer, but research is showing that this was a falsehood of documented history and that his claim was to help him get a job as the first director of WSM Radio c. 1925 Nashville, Tennessee.
The show regularly featured Gene Autry, Red Foley, The Three Little Maids, Jenny Lou Carson, Eddie Dean, Lulu Belle and Scotty, Pat Buttram, George Gobel, The Williams Brothers (featuring future crooner Andy Williams), The DeZurik Sisters and the Hoosier Hot Shots. Other guests included Smiley Burnette, Eddie Peabody and Joe Kelly, best remembered today as the host and moderator of NBC's Quiz Kids. The announcer was Jack Holden and it was once sponsored by Alka-Seltzer.
ABC made two moves that ultimately led to National Barn Dance's slow demise. The first was the cancellation of the network broadcast in 1952. After a few years, audiences finally began to wane, and the program ceased live performances after 1957. The show continued to air on WLS, however, until 1959 when ABC bought the station and changed the format to Top 40 rock and roll, canceling National Barn Dance outright. The show, then a shadow of its former self, moved to Chicago's WGN-AM until it finally left the air in 1968.

EPISODES LIST

The National Barn Dance 390401 - Joe Kelly, Uncle Ezra, Hoosier Hotshots, Others
The National Barn Dance 400921 - Hosted by Joe Kelly
The National Barn Dance 421000 - From the 1942 Wisconsin State Fair
The National Barn Dance 421003 - Ninth Anniversary Show
The National Barn Dance 421205 - First Song - Rosie the Riveter
The National Barn Dance 421212 - First Song - Keep Your Love On Ice
The National Barn Dance 431002 - Tenth Anniversary Show
The National Barn Dance 440129 - First Song - I Like Mountain Music
The National Barn Dance 440415 - Jack Holden, Lulu Belle and Scotty, Others
The National Barn Dance 440708 - First Song - Dancing Around
The National Barn Dance 450804 - First Song - Alabama Jubilee
The National Barn Dance 450922 - Jack Holden, Lulu Belle and Scotty, Phil Regan, Others

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