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The 1932 WLS Family Album...
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"This
book is dedicated to you, our listener---our friend. Your cheery letters encourage
us; your criticisms guide us. Together we shall continue to build, in WLS, an
institution of increasing service to mankind. We want you to think of us always
as folks with a handshake and a smile---and remember, here at Prairie Farmer's
home, the latchstring is always out".
| Curator's
note: So reads the preface to the 1932 WLS Family Album, which
I offer here in an HTML version. The copy I've scanned originally belonged, according
to a notation inside the back cover, to Ruby Peck of Sparta, Wisconsin. I purchased
it several years ago at an antique store in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin. |
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Contents...
- Meet Burridge Davenal Butler. He was
the publisher of Prairie Farmer, the President of WLS---and therefore the
boss man.
- Program
Building. Meet the folks who develope and write those great shows you hear
on WLS.
- Farm
Service on WLS. The editorial staff of Prairie Farmer who tell you
everything you need to know about the world of agriculture as it effects your
family's farm.
- This
Program was Announced by...Hal O'Halloran, Martha Crane, Al Rice, Jack Holden,
Margaret McKay and Bill Cline: voices loud and clear, heard over the static.
- The
Maple City 4.
That zany bunch that keeps you laughing and the studio engineer guessing.
- Ralph
Waldo Emerson, WLS Organist. Yeah, that really was his name. See him
at the console of his instrument. And take a peek inside the organ chamber.
- "Arkie".
Transplanted from the Ozarks to the Windy City, the "Arkansas Woodchopper"
and his guitar will keep your foot tapping. He's a mighty funny guy, too.
- The
Cumberland Ridge Runners. A first-rate bluegrass group.
- Bill
Vickland. The voice of The Book Shop and lay pastor of The Little
Brown Church, Bill is in charge of dramatic productions at WLS.
- The
Sunday School Singers. The three little girls whose voices you hear each week
on The Cross Roads Sunday School.
- The
WLS Staff Orchestra. Under Herman Felber's direction, they play more music
more often. And it's always live.
- Mac
and Bob. You play their records. But now you can hear this bluegrass duo live
over WLS!
- Variety.
The Hawaiian guitars (predecessors of the Dobro and steel guitars) of Cecil and
Esther Ward; the keyboard artistry of Princess Tsianina---and the uncertain pitch
of soprano Grace Wilson.
- From
the Studios of Swift and Company. As WLS's major time-buyer, Swift was allotted
two pages in the Family Album. Among the featured artists you'll see here
are a very young Win Stracke (one of the great folk singers of the Midwest
and Great Plains) and a middle-aged Cliff Soubier (whose Chicago radio career
ran from NBC radio's First Nighter to ABC television's Super Circus).
- At
the State Fairs. The WLS crew goes on the road to the 1931 Illinois and Indiana
state fairs.
- Sue,
Anne and Leone. Gathered around the double-button carbon mike, this trio will
tell you everything you need to know to be a sophisticated farm wife. These days
they'd be doing news, traffic and weather.
- Eddie
and Lonnie. WLS had two harmonica players on staff. What other station could
make that claim?
- Harry
Steele, The Chicago Post Reporter. He gives you the latest news. And
he wears his hat in the studio.
- Jim
Poole, Chicago Live Stock Exchange. Even if your clueless as to the fundamental
differences between a cow and a bull, you'll enjoy Jim's reports direct from the
Union Stockyards.
- John
Brown and the Three Contraltos. Ten nimble fingers and three melifluous voices.
- Ballads
and Melodies. Harpist Margaret Sweeney, William O'Connor (the obligatory "Irish
tenor") and balladeer Bradley Kincaid (the "Kentucky Mountain Boy").
- The
Chicago Gospel Tabernacle. Old time religion on the air.
- Sophia
Germanich. The stenographer who doubled as a soprano.
- Following
the Huskers. WLS keeps you on top of the state and national corn husking contests
(no wagering, please).
- 50,000
Watts. Technicians at work in the WLS studios and at the transmitter site.
Meet engineer Charlie Nehlsen who, in May of 1937, would be at the controls to
record Herbert Morrison's legendary description of the crash of the "Hindenberg"
at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
- Our
Visitors.
Some of the thousands of visitors who stopped by the WLS studios in 1931.
- Some
of our Girls at WLS. Don't stand up too quickly, or you'll hit the glass ceiling.
- The
WLS Guest Book. Wonder what ever happened to it
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Comments
or suggestions? click
here to send them to Rich Samuels
Created by
Rich Samuels (e-mail to rich@richsamuels.com)
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