Here is a new addition to the Archive of late. These shows are 16 inch transcription discs that were cut in Springfield, Missouri by the RadiOzark company sometime in the first six months of 1954. RadiOzark (Radio Ozarks) was a company owned by some of the same people that owned (and founded, which opened Dec. 25, 1933) KWTO AM radio (which is still in business as an all talk station). Some of the discs has the owner of KWTO at the time, Ralph Foster, initials and an air date written on them. They also leased these discs out as some of them has other station call letters written on them, one that comes to mind was a station in Covington, Kentucky.
Bill Ring was a huge local star from the time KWTO went on the air till in the 1980`s when he and Slim Wilson were on some local television commercials. Bill was a fine singer, fisherman and teller of tall tales. His catch-phrase was "If you`re too busy to go fishin`, you`re too busy!". After he retired, he had a short fishing report on KWTO on Saturday mornings, I believe at 6:30.
Many local people around home here that are now in their mid 60`s or older remember Bill Ring vividly, seems everybody listened to him on the radio. He was also on the Ozark Jubilee that was on television in the mid 1950`s. I believe there`s a You Tube clip of him introducing Roy Acuff and the Smoky Mountain Boys on the Ozark Jubilee.
These discs are in decent condition, considering they are almost 60 years old and were leased out, shuffled through the mail and then mailed back, etc. They were to make a fifteen minute show, there`s about twelve minutes of show on the discs, then the local radio station playing the show would put in their own commercials, making a fifteen minute show. I`ll be posting sides from these from time to time, as I have thirty nine of these discs, making 78 shows. I don`t know if this was all they cut, but my discs number shows one straight through to 78. Hope someone likes these!
Track list---
1. Happy Heartache - Bill Ring
2. High Rockin` Swing - Speedy Haworth
3. Ain`t You Tired Of Making Me Blue - Slim Wilson & The Tall Timber Trio
4. Just A Little Old Rag Doll - Bill Ring
5. Till I Waltz Again With You - Doc Martin
6. A Touch Of God`s Hand - Bill Ring
7. High Rockin` Swing - Speedy Haworth
Click here to download The Bill Ring Show #1
Howdy,
ReplyDeleteThis is fabulous. I love these old western radio shows. This one is particularly good. Great singing and guitar playing. Please post more. They're greatly appreciated and listened to.
It would be nice if the shows were posted as a complete show (one file) with the entire intro and outtro so they can be heard contiguously as they were broadcasted.
Thank you. I'll be checking back for more.
The post is all one show, still in correct order. all I done was to make tracks for the song titles. If you just play it straight through it will be a continuous show, unless the program you play your stuff with does something strange.
ReplyDeleteHowdy,
ReplyDeleteMy player will play through so that's not the issue. I have a huge collection of old time radio shows of this type. The old time radio sites always keep shows as a single file. Though it’s nice to have the individual tunes it's more of a file management issue.
These are much easier to handle if the show is a single file as it was broadcasted. I usually fill-up a mp3-data CD and play them in my car as I’m on the road often going to various music festivals around the USofA during the Spring and Summer. Having the shows as a single file just makes it more convenient to deal with many files on a single disc.
You did a great job of splitting the show so I just pieced the individual pieces back together so it’s not a big deal. It was just a suggestion. Thanks again for the music.
All the best ~ Rich
I love these hard-to-find country radio transcriptions! Many thanks for posting these and I'll be watching for more.
ReplyDeleteBest Wishes,
Olddaysbanjo
I much prefer individual song files to one file containing all. With individual files you have the choice as to what to keep and what to delete.
ReplyDeleteWith all titles in one file you can be left with a lot of junk you don't want to listen to.
Thanks for sharing us this very informative and well written blog post.I like this type of information because you always can learn some interesting new knowledge and at the same time revive the knowledge you already know I love every bit of it especially the points that you expressed.
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Thanks for the nice words. I wanted to post this transcription stuff because it`s so rare to hear these. There`s many of them out there, they just don`t often get into circulation.
ReplyDeleteIt's a special treat to hear this. The wealth of undiscovered and unreleased music on radio transcriptions is rich but can't be appreciated until someone like you takes the time to get the stuff up online. I can't thank you (and the other avid collectors who do this) enough.
ReplyDeleteI started downloading and listening to these recently--thank you thank you thank you! Fantastic collection of classic country!!!
ReplyDeleteThanks!
DeleteThank you, Allen. I worked my way backward from #30. I look forward to the next ones.
ReplyDeleteStay tuned for more!
DeleteI've thank you before, but came to thank you once again for taking the time to put these up!
ReplyDelete