Other names | Kay Kyser's Kampus Klass |
---|---|
Genre | Musical quiz |
Country of origin | United States |
Language(s) | English |
Home station | WGN |
Syndicates | Mutual NBC ABC |
TV adaptations | Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge College of Musical Knowledge |
Starring | Kay Kyser |
Announcer | Ken Niles Bud Hiestand Vern Smith Bill Forman Jack McCoy |
Written by | Fran Coughlin |
Directed by | Ed Cashman John Cleary William Warwick Harry Sax |
Produced by | Frank O'Connor |
Original release | February 1, 1939 – July 2, 1949 |
Sponsored by | American Tobacco Company Colgate-Palmolive Pillsbury |
Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge is an American old-time radio musical quiz program starring Kay Kyser. It was broadcast on Mutual, NBC, and ABC beginning on February 1, 1938, and ending on July 29, 1949. [1]
In the latter half of the 1930s, leaders of big bands sought ways to differentiate their groups from others who played similar music. Successful variations on the standard format of just playing one song after another could quickly move bands from "being merely late-hour fillers" without sponsors to having sponsored broadcasts in better time slots. Tommy Dorsey began featuring amateur musicians, Benny Goodman moved his trio and quartet into the spotlight, and Kay Kyser added a quiz component. Some of the changes were less innovation than adaptation. An article in the trade publication Billboard noted that Dorsey's airing of amateurs followed the example of Major Bowes, and Kyser's contest was a variation on the Professor Quiz program. [2]
In October 1937, [3] Kyser began including the Kollege as a segment in his Monday night broadcasts from the Blackhawk restaurant in Chicago, Illinois, via radio station WGN. [4]
Audience participation in the program occurred in two ways. Listeners were invited to submit questions to Kyser, with selected submissions being used on the program. [4] They also could send in answers to questions posed on the air. One episode in December 1937 resulted in more than 2,000 letters being sent to the program. [5] By mid-January 1938, the number of letters from listeners had exceeded 75,000. [3]
Besides Kyser, the show's personnel included singers Trudy Erwin, Julie Conway, Gloria Wood, Lucy Ann Polk, Mike Douglas, Sully Mason, the King Sisters, [1] Georgia Carroll (Kyser's wife), [6] Harry Babbitt and Ginny Simms. Other regulars were pianist Lyman Gandee, trumpeter Bobby Guy, and Merwyn Bogue (better known as Ish Kabibble). [7] Fran Coughlin was the writer. [8] Announcers were Ken Niles, Bud Hiestand, Vern Smith, Bill Forman, and Jack McCoy. Rex Koury was the organist, and Frank O'Connor was the producer. Directors included Ed Cashman, John Cleary, William Warwick, and Harry Sax. [1]
A review in Billboard in 1947 attributed the program's success more to Kyser than to its format. Paul Ackerman wrote: "In fact, the Old Professor's most noteworthy characteristic is ebullience. He's got it to a degree that makes other facets of the program secondary." [9]
On February 1, 1938, Kyser's program gained a sponsor, a network, a new location, and a new title. The American Tobacco Company began sponsoring Kollege, [1] which until then had been a sustaining program. [7] While the program remained on WGN, it was also carried on the Mutual Broadcasting System. At the same time, its site was moved from the Blackhawk to WGN's 600-seat studio. [10] The Chicago Sunday Tribune reported in its January 30, 1938, issue that the show's title would become Kay Kyser's Kampus Klass. [7]
Eight members of the studio audience were selected by random drawing to participate in the quizzes in each broadcast. The grand prize was $50, with another $50 going to other contestants. [7]
The program moved to New York on March 30, 1938, replacing Your Hollywood Parade on NBC. It resumed using the title Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge as it began broadcasting from NBC's Radio City headquarters. [8] Kyser reinforced the theme by wearing a cap and gown during broadcasts. [11] American Tobacco Company continued to sponsor the program until 1945, when a cigarette shortage caused it to cut back on advertising and Colgate-Palmolive became the sponsor. [12] The show's run on NBC ended on June 26, 1948. [1]
On November 4, 1948, Kollege moved to daytime on ABC. It ran until July 29, 1949, with Pillsbury sponsoring. [1]
Kyser took the program to television on December 1, 1949, on NBC, where it ran weekly until December 28, 1950. The format was essentially the same as that of the radio program, including Kyser's wearing a cap and gown. [13] Kyser, Douglas, and Kabibble were the only entertainers carried over from the radio version. Other regulars were Liza Palmer, Sue Bennett, Diane Sinclair, and Ken Spaulding. Ben Grauer and Roy Marshall were the announcers. [14] The program was sponsored by Ford. [15] It originated from WNBT in New York City. [16]
The program returned to TV on July 4, 1954, again on NBC, and ran until September 12, 1954. Tennessee Ernie Ford was the host, and the title used the traditional spelling, College of Musical Knowledge. [13] Frank De Vol's orchestra provided instrumental music, and the Cheerleaders Quintet sang. Jack Narz was the announcer. [14]
The year 1950 in television involved some significant events. Below is a list of television-related events during 1950.
WTTW is a PBS member television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Owned by not-for-profit broadcaster Window to the World Communications, Inc., it is sister to commercial classical music radio station WFMT. The two stations share studios in the Renée Crown Public Media Center, located at 5400 North Saint Louis Avenue in the city's North Park neighborhood; its transmitter facility is atop the Willis Tower on South Wacker Drive in the Chicago Loop. WTTW also owns and operates The Chicago Production Center, a video production and editing facility that is operated alongside the two stations.
WGN is a commercial AM radio station in Chicago, Illinois, featuring a talk radio format. WGN's studios are in the Chicago Loop, while the transmitter is in Elk Grove Village. WGN also features broadcasts of Chicago Blackhawks hockey and Northwestern University football and basketball.
Harry Babbitt was an American singer and star during the Big Band era.
James Kern Kyser, known as Kay Kyser, was an American bandleader and radio personality of the 1930s and 1940s.
Tribune Broadcasting Company, LLC was an American media company which operated as a subsidiary of Tribune Media, a media conglomerate based in Chicago, Illinois. The group owned and operated television and radio stations throughout the United States, as well as full- or partial-ownership of cable television and national digital subchannel networks.
Ish Kabibble was an American comedian and cornet player.
Frances Rappaport Horwich was an American educator, television personality and television executive. As Miss Frances, she was the host of the children's television program Ding Dong School, seen weekday mornings on the NBC network in the 1950s and nationally syndicated between 1959 and 1965.
Franklyn MacCormack was an American radio personality in Chicago, Illinois, from the 1930s into the 1970s. After his death, Ward Quaal, the president of the last company for which MacCormack worked, described him as "a natural talent and one of the truly great performers of broadcasting's first 50 years."
Ding Dong School, billed as "the nursery school of the air", is a half-hour children's TV show which began on WNBQ-TV in Chicago, Illinois a few months before its four-year run on NBC. It is the earliest known preschool series to be produced in the United States, predating Romper Room by a year.
Bachelor's Children is a domestic daytime drama broadcast that originated on Chicago's WGN in 1935–36, continuing on CBS and NBC until September 27, 1946.
Beat the Band is a musical quiz show heard on NBC radio from 1940 to 1944 in two distinctly different series. The program popularized the show business catch phrase, "Give me a little traveling music", often uttered on TV a decade later by Jackie Gleason.
Bonino is a thirty-minute ethnic situation comedy television series starring Ezio Pinza. Originating in the Hudson Theatre in New York City, the program aired live on NBC from September 12 to December 26, 1953. The show was also known as I, Bonino, an alternate title that many newspapers and columnists used in place of the official name when the series premiered.
WSNS-TV is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, serving as the local outlet for the Spanish-language network Telemundo. It is owned and operated by NBCUniversal's Telemundo Station Group alongside NBC outlet WMAQ-TV ; it is also sister to regional sports network NBC Sports Chicago. WSNS-TV and WMAQ-TV share studios at the NBC Tower on North Columbus Drive in the city's Streeterville neighborhood; both stations are broadcast from the same transmitter atop the Willis Tower in the Chicago Loop.
WGN Sports was the programming division of WGN-TV, an independent television station located in Chicago, Illinois, United States—which is owned by the Nexstar Media Group—that was responsible for all sports broadcasts on the station, some of which were previously also broadcast on its former national superstation feed, WGN America.
Judith Cary Waller was an American broadcasting pioneer. Despite the fact that she knew nothing about radio at the time, she became the first station manager of Chicago radio station WMAQ when it went on the air in 1922. She was one of the first female radio station managers in the United States, along with Eleanor Poehler of WLAG/WCCO in Minneapolis, and Bertha Brainard of WJZ and Vaughn De Leath of WDT in New York City. During her tenure as station manager, Waller was responsible for obtaining broadcast rights for Chicago Cubs home games for WMAQ and for hiring Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll as Amos 'n' Andy after they left WGN radio over syndication rights. Waller tried to interest the CBS radio network in the program with no success. NBC brought the program to its Blue Network three years before its purchase of WMAQ in 1931.
MargeryEloise Kummer was an American radio and television actress.
Jesse Bertram Kirkpatrick was an American film and television actor.
Ford Star Revue is an American television variety series that was broadcast on NBC as the summer replacement for Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge from July 6, 1950, to September 28, 1950. It returned on January 4, 1951, and ended on March 29, 1951.
The Fabulous Dr. Tweedy is an American radio situation comedy that was broadcast on NBC from June 2, 1946, through March 26, 1947.