NAME YOUR MUSIC KGW AWARD WINNING SHOW FOR NBC Today January 12, 1946 KGW Radio launched the audience participation program Name Your Music for 20 NBC Pacific Coast stations on Saturday afternoons 4:30 to 5:00pm. The show was said to be The biggest weekly network program ever to originate from Portland. Name Your Music was broadcast from the stage of The Oriental Theater at: 822 S.E. Grand Ave. Audience members could not see the network show unless they paid to watch the movie on the bill. KGW & NBC listeners were asked to write in and suggest modern song titles or old-time music. If the writers suggestion was used, they were awarded Radios. Eight 1946 table model radios were given away on each program. NBC at the time was owned by RCA so Im guessing they gave away RCA Victor table top model 65X1, manufactured in 1946. Each title selected was played or sung in competition with another song. The winner of each round was selected by theater applause. NBC PACIFIC STATIONS KIDO 1380kc Boise KOA 850kc Denver KMJ 580kc Fresno KWJB 1240kc Globe KFI 640kc Los Angeles KMED 1440kc Medford KTAR 620kc Phoenix KSEI 930kc Pocatello KGW 620kc Portland KYCA 1490kc Prescott KOH 630kc Reno KCRA 1340kc Sacramento KGLU 1450kc Safford KFSD 600kc San Diego KPO 680kc San Francisco KOMO 1000kc Seattle KHQ 590kc Spokane KTUC 1400kc Tucson KTFI 1270kc Twin Falls KYUM 1240kc Yuma Name Your Music had a cast of about 35 including: Homer Welch as M.C.; Phil Irwin, announcer; Singers included: Neva Clark; Eddie Gipson; Margaret Carroll & Tommy Cauthers duet; Margaret Carroll solo and bands included: Jerry Van Hoomissen & his Orchestra; Smiley Miles & his Sage Riders; Men About Town Quartet; Glenn Shelley & his Hammond Organ; Kash Duncan, violinist. The show was directed by Thomas J. Tom Swafford; produced by J. Showalter Bud Lynch who had produced an NBC show via KEX 1941-43. Lynch would check the applause meter reading against a transcription made during shows but it was Homer Welsh, also standing by the meter, who announced the winners. The winner of each round was determined by the highest point recorded by the needle, not by how long the applause was sustained. The show had four musical rounds on each program, with an A and B selection in each round. The Name Your Music theme song was called Say It With Music written by Irving Berlin from the 1921 Broadway musical Music Box Revue popularized that year by Paul Whiteman & His Orchestra, hitting number 1 on the charts. Name Your Music was sponsored by Neighbors of Woodcraft. Only four programs originated from The Oriental Theater before a change was made. On February 9, 1946 Name Your Music moved to the Pompeian Room of The Congress Hotel at: 1024 S.W. 6th Ave., just across the street from KGW studios at 1011 S.W. 6th Ave. in the KWJJ building. At The Congress Hotel no tickets were required, you were free to attend. For the first time Name Your Music had to generate its own audience by popularity. Three weeks later KGW must have been close to turning away people so on February 23, 1946 it was announced free tickets could be picked up at KGW offices. Any NBC program, even ones produced by affiliate stations like KGW, all played the NBC hand-chime notes live with a xylophone to cue the end of NBC programs. On the February 23, 1946 Name Your Music sign off, Homer Welch mistakenly hit the NBC hand-chimes four times instead of the standard three. The NBC Sales Manager in the audience, almost laughed himself sick. The NBC code for 4 chimes was a warning of grave emergency. The Sales Manager was picturing NBC personnel in Hollywood hearing this and leaping out of their chairs and falling all over each other to get downstairs into the studio. On June 14, 1946 it was reported Name Your Music had made a record in coastal Hooper ratings. On November 2, 1946 Name Your Music moved from The Congress Hotel to the House of Hicks at 821 S.W. 4th Ave. The new location was said to provide plenty of room for a large studio audience. On the November 23, 1946 broadcast, Edith Lyon, took the place of Margaret Carroll, who was having an appendectomy. The last KGW - NBC broadcast of Name Your Music happened on January 11, 1947 one year to the day the program began. During the year the show was on, listeners had sent in more than 136,000 letters and postcards. On January 25, 1947 Mrs. Victor S. of Milwaukie wrote into the Behind The Mike column: Sure hope Name Your Music is put back on the air soon. The show would never return. On March 31, 1947 at the 3rd annual Radio and Business Conference in New York City under the auspices of City College of New York, a national award of merit for The Most Effective Direct Selling Regional Program was given to Portland-produced Name Your Music show. The program was submitted by the Western Division of the National Broadcasting Co. in Hollywood. NAME YOUR MUSIC SCHEDULE KGW debut: Saturday 4:30pm to 5pm beginning on Jan 12, 1946. Moved to 3:30pm on Saturdays on May 3, 1946. Moved to 4:00pm on Saturdays on July 13, 1946. Moved to 3:00pm on Saturdays on Oct 5, 1946. Last broadcast on January 11, 1947. Reference: The Oregonian. Photo The Oriental Theater courtesy of PSTOS.
Posted on: Mon, 12 Jan 2015 08:09:24 +0000
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