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Abstract
The use of live entertainers is well-documented on radio networks, but not for local stations in rural America. This study examines the period of decline in the use of live entertainers starting in 1940 and the pinnacle of live performance on WDZ, an independent broadcaster in central Illinois that featured folk and hillbilly style entertainment. World War II, the FCC's tolerance for recordings, union struggles, and changing management emphasis from programming to sales were factors in the live performance decline. Management transitioned from emphasizing local interests to maximizing economic return with less expensive programming while relocating to a larger market.
Notes
1On p. 229 of his book, Barnouw cites the FCC “Blue Book,” Public Service Responsibility of Broadcast Licensees, as his source. Neither the page he lists nor a more thorough search of the “Blue Book” revealed this information.
2WDZ was said to “serve an area of 12,250 square miles and a population of 603,397. This area, while predominantly rural, has within it 31 towns (in Illinois and Indiana), having a population of more than 2,500 and the metropolitan district in which Decatur is located.” (Federal Communications Commission, 1949, p. 582). It went on the air in March 1921 specifically to provide market reports to farmers and grain elevator operators in central Illinois (CitationPerry, 2001).
3Jimm Seaney of WDZ broadcast an interview of former announcer Curt Marsh, who started on the air early in 1921 as a 14-year-old office boy reading most of the market reports in the commodities broker's office (see also WDZ Broadcasting Company, 1938).
4Program listings for WDZ are only available for selected months starting in 1933, WDZ Collection, Douglas County Museum, Tuscola, Illinois.
5Interviews with Helen Skinner of Effingham, Illinois, March 12, 2003 indicated a preference for the bluegrass label and Esther Fullerton of Tuscola, Illinois, March 10, 2003, indicated that some of the performers were more folk singers than hillbilly. CitationMalone (1968) uses all these terms in his book.
6According to ‘Blue Grass’ (1975), Roy Freeman moved to a station in Kentucky. Artists known as “The Kentuckians” moved on to WIBC, Indianapolis, WHOP and WPAD in Kentucky, WVLN, Olney, Illinois, and WSIX and WLAC, Nashville (Kentuckians File of the Country Music Foundation Library and Media Center in Nashville, Tennessee contains various unidentified clippings of various dates). Former WDZ entertainer Ray Livesay went to Mattoon, Illinois, to station WLBH. Fran Booton went to a station in Eau Claire, Wisconsin (Jim Wulliman, personal communication, January 26, 2011). Other artists spent time at KMA radio (CitationBirkby, 1985). Various interviews with former talent reflected moves to stations around Illinois and in Missouri, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, and Ohio.
7The group Sons of the Pioneer performed on WDZ in 1937.
8Clifford had success as a songwriter with songs recorded by country artists like Lonzo and Oscar and Dean Mathis (personal communication, June 17, 2001).
9Former WDZ entertainer “Buz” Barton and announcer Larry Sanford who had moved on to other stations also enlisted and were killed in action, showing enlistments affected stations broadly (“Former WDZ,” 1943).
10Similarly, two members of the Neighborhood Boys, a group on WDZ in the late 1930s, entered the military ending their group's radio career (“Bob Storey,” 1945).
11See also WDZ advertisement in The Tuscola Review, December 6, 1945, p. 2. WDZ program schedules are from the WDZ Collection, Douglas County Museum, Tuscola, Illinois.
12It's enlightening to note that Schafer had been an entertainer and Stufflebam had been in radio sales before going into management.
13Martin had been on WDZ for six months in 1946 as well. (“Roster of,” n.d.)
14Rosemary Cox was the last WDZ announcer for the Tuscola studio. Rick Marsh was the son of the late Curtis Marsh, who ran the Tuscola studio from 1949 to 1956.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
Stephen D. Perry
Stephen D. Perry (Ph.D., University of Alabama, 1995) is professor and Mass Media Coordinator at Illinois State University in the School of Communication. His research interests include media effects, religion and media, broadcast history, and disaster warning dissemination.