NRR Project: WJSV – complete day of programming – Thursday,
Sept. 21, 1939
17 hours
It was a typical early fall day in 1939. Not many extensive
records exist of that day, save for this. The National Archives in Washington
collaborated with station WJSV, a CBS network affiliate in Washington, D.C., to
record an entire day of programming, from sign-on at 6 a.m. to sign-off at 1
a.m. the following day. The result is a fascinating document that, if listened
to in its completeness, offers a recorded portrait of a day in mainstream radio
during its golden age.
The ostensible reason this date was chosen for the recording
the fact that it was the date on which there was an address of President
Franklin D. Roosevelt to a joint session of Congress. However, the recording was
much more. It’s a look at a country not yet at war, but edging closer to it. It
tells us what was popular, what people listened to as they went about their
day. In the days before television, radio was how folks got their news and
entertainment, flowing free over the airwaves.
The day opened with several hours of recorded music and news
updates. The show was hosted by the avuncular Arthur Godfrey, not yet the
famous broadcaster he was to become in 1945. Godfrey had a unique style,
folksy, informal, and rambling, much different from the very proper announcers typical
of the time. Godfrey’s relaxed approach was perfect for people just waking up
and getting ready for work.
The music is the typical big-band content of the day (save
for the interpolation of a Black-stereotype passage – casual racism was still
the rule of thumb back in the day). At 8:30 a.m., the transcribed quiz show Certified
Magic Carpet hit the air, hosted by the venerable broadcaster John Daly,
normally heard only as a newsman. It demonstrates that announcers of the day were
called upon to do different kinds of hosting.
Then came the soap operas, a profusion of 15-minute serial dramas so named
because they were often sponsored by soap manufacturers. These turgid tales
inhabited the air for hours, as their heroines faced all sorts of challenges
both mundane and extraordinary. The soaps were punctuated with the occasional
cooking show and something called the Women’s Home Companion, which
advertised things for sale at a local department store.
Such well-known soaps as Myrt and Marge, Our Gal
Sunday, Life Can Be Beautiful, and The Road of Life are
represented here. They all sound the same, save for the offering at noon – The
Goldbergs. This saga of a Jewish family in the big city was much more of a
slice-of-life drama, and as such is much more listenable than the surrounding
fare.
At 1:45 p.m. came Roosevelt’s speech. Its subject was the
world war which was rapidly developing in Europe. America at the time had a
strict neutrality policy, but the president wanted to change that. He proposed
the repeal of an arms embargo mandated by Neutrality Act. Instead , he wanted
the country to sell arms to the allied belligerents on a “cash and carry” basis,
by which arms could be purchased up front, and then transported across the
Atlantic by the warring nations, not by the United States itself. It is
difficult to remember now that Roosevelt was strenuously opposed by a significant
number of isolationists – people who didn’t want America to get involved in foreign
wars. Roosevelt’s speech is eloquent, clear, and forceful – a remarkable
contrast with the speeches of many politicians today. FDR was a great
communicator, and this speech was no exception.
Roosevelt’s speech was followed by a partial address in
French by Premier Deladier, who accused the Nazis of wanting to dismember France
(which of course they did). More soaps and more music followed.
Finally, at 3:45 p.m. came the back end of a baseball game
between the Cleveland Indians and the Washington Senators, which Cleveland won
6-3. The illustrious Hall of Fame pitcher Walter Johnson called the
play-by-play of the game. A bit more music and news followed, which led into a
15-minute sports report from Harry McTigue at 5:45 p.m.
At last we arrived at what would be later called “prime
time.” First off was Amos ‘n’ Andy, a phenomenally popular daily 15-minute
show that began in 1928 and lasted until 1960. Two white actors, Freeman Gosden
and Charles Corell, portrayed two African-American friends in business together
(they ran the Fresh Air Taxi Company in Chicago). Today’s audiences would of
course reject the stereotyping that the show was based on, but at the time,
white people imitating Black people was par for the course.
Despite the offensive grounding of the show, Gosden and
Corell created two very likable and relatable characters whose misadventures
captivated listeners. So popular the show was that movie houses would pause
their screenings and play the show over loudspeakers for customers. My father
remembers walking down the street as a child and hearing the show come out of every
window on the block.
Following this was the 15-minute comedy The Parker Family,
a typical situation comedy. Next up was Joe E. Brown with a half-hour
variety and comedy program. Brown was a legendary performer. He literally ran
away with the circus when he was 10, became an acrobat, entered vaudeville, and
developed into a comic performer whose movies in the early 1930s made him one
of the most bankable Hollywood stars. His big mouth and eager grin were
familiar to almost everybody. (You may remember him best at Jack Lemmon’s foil
in Some Like It Hot). The show is notable for including, once again,
some casual racism, and the snappy tune “Are You Having Any Fun?”.
Next up was a quiz program, the Ask-It Basket. It’s
an interesting listen. It is popularly thought that quiz shows came to the fore
in radio after World War II, but here one is. It was followed by Strange As
It Seems, a kind of “reality show” that outlined unusual and inspiring
stories, and dramatizations of little-known historical incidents. Surprisingly,
the show includes a segment on the great African-American agricultural
scientist and inventor George Washington Carver – and includes an interview
with Carver himself!
After a brief news break with the venerable broadcaster
Elmer Davis came the Major Bowes’ Original Amateur Hour. Bowes was a
theater manager with a flair for promotion, and he came up with the idea of
creating a radio showcase for amateur talent to come on the air and compete for
the votes of the listening audience. Singers, comedians, vocalist,
impressionists, and even tap dancers appeared on the show. The most successful
performers were contracted by the Major to perform live across the country.
Frank Sinatra appeared on the show as a member of the
Hoboken Four Quartet, early in his career. Maria Callas, too, sang as a child
on the show. Bowes would spin a “wheel of fortune” on air to determine who
would perform next, and this generated his famous catchphrase “Round and round
she goes, and where she stops, nobody knows.” The show was eagerly listened to,
and thrived from 1934 until the Major’s death in 1946.
The Columbia Workshop succeeded the Amateur Hour. The
Workshop was a unique program – it accommodated dramatic and experimental
material that normally would not have made it on the air. The show was "sustained," meaning it carried no commercials and was presented as a public service. Poetry, music,
original dramas, literary adaptations (Orson Welles and his Mercury Theater did
a two-part adaptation of Hamlet for the show), and straight-up weirdness
was all fare for the Workshop, which lasted from 1936 to 1943. Unfortunately,
the piece recorded was an unexceptional drama, Now It’s Summer.
After this came Americans at Work, an educational
program that interviewed people from all walks of life about their porfessions.
The episode presented here involves auctioneers, and is somewhat interesting.
By now it was 10 p.m., and the station moved back into a
lineup of music and news briefs. There was a rebroadcast of Roosevelt’s speech,
followed by band remotes. In those days, orchestras were booked to perform at
various venues, and part of their performances would be piped onto the airwaves
live. Notable here is the appearance of Louis Prima’s orchestra. Prima would
become famous after World War II for his riotous, comic stage work – here he is
more subdued.
Finally, there was a brief summary of news, followed by a
rendition of the National Anthem and sign-off. The cumulative effect of the day’s
broadcast is to provide a portrait of a nation still undisturbed by war, amused
by a network’s concoction of music, drama, news, and performance. Those who listen
to isolated broadcasts of old-time radio shows would do well to give this
broadcast a listen. There was a lot of mediocre material on the air, punctuated
by fascinating bits that proved how engaging good radio could be.
The National Recording
Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in
the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: the premiere network broadcast of the Grand Ole
Opry.
