Big band remote
A big band remote (a.k.a. dance band remote) was a remote broadcast, common on radio during the 1930s and 1940s, involving a coast-to-coast live transmission of a big band.
Overview
Broadcasts were usually transmitted by the major radio networks directly from hotels, ballrooms, restaurants and clubs. During World War II, the remote locations expanded to include military bases and defense plants. Band remotes mostly originated in major cities, including Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Chicago.
The usual procedure involved the network sending a two-man team, announcer and engineer, with remote radio equipment to a designated location. The announcer would open with music behind an introduction:
For your dancing pleasure, Columbia brings you the music of Count Basie and his orchestra, coming to you from the Famous Door on Fifty-Second Street in New York City.[1]
Broadcast venues
The Chicago broadcasts featured bands headed by
and Griff Williams.As early as 1923, listeners could tune in
External image | |
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Photograph: New Year's Eve with Guy Lombardo for CBS Television in 1971 Here on Getty Images |
Starting in 1929,
By 1930,
Glen Island Casino
The
Bands heard on 1930s–40s radio remotes
- Desi Arnaz
- Gus Arnheim
- Glen Island casinoin New Rochelle)
- Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra (from the Blackhawk Restaurant),
- Count Basie (from Kansas City's Reno Club, the Famous Door in New York and California's Palomar Ballroom)
- Bunny Berigan
- Les Brown (Café Rouge at Hotel Pennsylvania, New York City)
- Cab Calloway (from the Savoy Ballroom)
- Bob Chester
- Glen Island casinoinNew Rochelle)
- Francis Craig (from the Belle Meade Country Club in Nashville)
- Bob Crosby
- Glen Island casinoin New Rochelle)
- Roy Eldridge
- Duke Ellington (from the London Palladium in the UK)
- Skinnay Ennis (from the Statler Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles)
- Palmer Housein Chicago)
- Ella Fitzgerald and Her Orchestra (from the Roseland Ballroom, NBC, February 16, 1949)
- Jan Garber (from the Blue Room of the Hotel Roosevelt in New Orleans)
- Glen Island casinoin New Rochelle))
- Glen Gray
- Phil Harris (from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu)
- Tiny Hill (from the Trianon Ballroom, South Gate CA, June 1946)
- Harry James (from the Hollywood Palladium)
- Hotel Astor)
- Stan Kenton
- Henry King
- Andy Kirk
- Glen Island casinoin New Rochelle)
- Kay Kyser (from the Blackhawk Restaurant)
- The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel)
- Freddy Martin (from the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles)
- Ray McKinley
- Glen Island casino)
- Freddy Nagel (from the Empire Room in the Palmer House in Chicago)
- Glen Island casinoin New Rochelle)
- Will Osborne (from the Heigh-Ho Club in New York)
- Tony Pastor (from the Century Room of the Hotel Adolphus in Dallas)
- Jan Savitt
- Cincinnati, Ohio)
- Bobby Sherwood (from Camp Atterbury, Indiana),
- Jack Teagarden
- Orrin Tucker (from Elitch's Gardens in Denver)
- Chick Webb[15]
See also
- Martin Streek, Canadian broadcaster/DJ who did live-to-air broadcasts at Toronto nightclubs from the 1980s to the 2000s
- The Lawrence Welk Show, a television variety show heavily based on the big band remote format
Sources
References
- ^ Orgill, Roxane. Dream Lucky: When FDR Was in the White House, Count Basie Was on the Radio, and Everyone Wore a Hat. Smithsonian Books/Collins, 2008.
- ^ "Encyclopedia of Recorded Sound", Hoffman, Fred, 2004 Palmer House & Shep Fields on Google Books
- ^ "America's Music Makers", Behrens, John, 2011, pg. 27 Palmer House and Shep Fields on Google Books
- ^ Harrison, Jennifer. Elvis As We Knew Him, iUniverse, 2003
- ^ Monitor
- ^ Crump, William D. Encyclopedia of New Year's Holidays Worldwide. McFarland & Co. Publishers. London. 2008 p. 101 Guy lombardo on Google Books ISBN 978-0-7864-3393-3
- ^ Auld Lang Syne: Guy Lombardo. CBC Radio December 31, 2015 Biography of Guy Lombardo on the Canadian Broadcasting Company CBC on cbc.ca
- ^ The Los Angeles Examiner, October 9, 1938, pg. 1 "Shep Fields Orchestra broadcasting from the Biltmore Hotel, Los Angeles"
- ^ The Billboard. Feb. 24, 1945 p. 34 "New Band for Kelly-Wood" - Shep Fields is set for the Copacabana on Google Books
- ^ What A Swell Party It Was: Rediscovering Food and Drink from the Golden Age of the American Nightclub. Turback,Michael. Skyhorse Publishing January 16, 2018 "Copacabana (New York, New York)" Shep Fields Copacabana on Google Books ISBN 9781210727793
- ^ The Copacabana. Baggelaar, Kristin. Arcadia Publishing. 2006 p. 61 Shep Fields - the Copa's first society band leader & WOR-Mutual Radio on Google Books ISBN 9780738549194
- ^ Glen Island Harbor Club - Casino History
- ^ NY Times - Pop/Jazz; Glenn Miller Sound of 1939 at Glen Island Casino
- ^ The Billboard. October 18, 1947 p. 35 "Shep Fields Reviewed at Glen island Casino" on Google Books
- ^ Music & Big Bands
Listen to
- Big Band/Swing Internet Broadcast schedules
- Live365: Big Band Remote Internet stream
- Outlaws Old Time Radio Big Band Remote Internet stream
- Big Band Remotes in the Old-Time Radio Collection
- Cab Calloway music remote from New Zanzibar (NYC) interrupted by VJ Day report (1:50am, August 14, 1945)
- Wisconsin Public Radio: New Year's Eve remotes (December 31, 1945)
- WKHR (Cleveland, Ohio)
- Big Band