Music from Studio X

Last updated

Music from Studio X was an American network radio program of recorded music on the Mutual Broadcasting System originating from WOR in New York City. The program premiered on July 9, 1956 with host John A. Gambling; it was heard Monday through Saturday between 9:05 PM and 1 AM EST, and on Sundays between 1:30 PM and 5 PM, with a 15-minute news break at 11 PM by newscaster Lyle Van. [1] The theme music was written and conducted by Joe Leahy. [2] Columnist J. P. Shanley's New York Times' review of July 10, 1956 praised the program, calling it "a welcome step in the direction of civilized radio entertainment", designed to appeal to "listeners who are interested neither in the classics nor in rock and roll". Lush instrumentals and vocal recordings were aired, many of them original to the program. On the program's premiere broadcast, music from the then-contemporary "My Fair Lady" was featured. [1] WOR actually did construct a special studio - Studio X - for the new program at the station. [3] Gambling remained host of "Music from Studio X" until it ended in 1960. [4]

General Teleradio, later known as RKO-General, a division of the General Tire & Rubber Co. at that time controlled RKO Radio Pictures and its record subsidiary RKO/Unique Records as well as the Mutual network, and used the Studio X program to promote recordings by RKO/Unique artists; including performers like Rudy Vallee, Ted Lewis, and The Harmonicats, whose most successful years were past them by this time. RKO/Unique also released an LP of Joe Leahy's theme music from the program.[ citation needed ] WPAT-FM in Paterson, New Jersey had been presenting a similar program entitled "Gaslight". [5]

Related Research Articles

MCA Inc. (originally an initialism for Music Corporation of America) was an American media conglomerate founded in 1924. Originally a talent agency with artists in the music business as clients, the company became a major force in the film industry, and later expanded into television production. MCA published music, booked acts, ran a record company, represented film, television, and radio stars, and eventually produced and sold television programs to the three major television networks, especially NBC.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mutual Broadcasting System</span> American radio broadcasting network (1934–1999)

The Mutual Broadcasting System was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the golden age of U.S. radio drama, Mutual was best known as the original network home of The Lone Ranger and The Adventures of Superman and as the long-time radio residence of The Shadow. For many years, it was a national broadcaster for Major League Baseball, the National Football League, and Notre Dame Fighting Irish football. From the mid-1930s and until the retirement of the network in 1999, Mutual ran a highly respected news service accompanied by a variety of popular commentary shows. Mutual pioneered the nationwide late night call-in talk radio program in the late 1970s, introducing the country to Larry King and later Jim Bohannon.

RKO Records and Unique Jazz are two record labels which began in 1955 as Unique Records, a New York City pop music record label. After several small pop hits, such as "Man in the Raincoat" by fourteen-year-old Priscilla Wright, the label was acquired by General Tire subsidiary RKO Teleradio in 1957 and placed its owner, Stanley Borden, in charge of its music entertainment division. From 1957 on, the label was billed as RKO/Unique.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WOR (AM)</span> Clear-channel AM radio station in New York City

WOR is a 50,000-watt class A clear-channel AM radio station owned by iHeartMedia and licensed to New York City. The station airs a mix of local and syndicated talk radio shows, primarily from co-owned Premiere Networks, including The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show, The Sean Hannity Show, and Coast to Coast AM with George Noory. CBS Eye on the World with John Batchelor, from CBS Audio Network is heard at night. Since 2016, the station has served as the New York outlet for co-owned NBC News Radio. The station's studios are located in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan at the former AT&T Building, with its transmitter in Rutherford, New Jersey. WOR began broadcasting on Wednesday, February 22, 1922, and is one of the oldest continuously operating radio stations in the United States with a three–letter call sign, characteristic of a station dating from the 1920s. WOR is the only New York City station to have retained its original three-letter call sign, making those the oldest continuously used call letters in the New York City area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jean Shepherd</span> American writer and radio host (1921–1999)

Jean Parker "Shep" Shepherd Jr. was an American storyteller, humorist, radio and TV personality, writer, and actor. With a career that spanned decades, Shepherd is known for the film A Christmas Story (1983), which he narrated and co-scripted, based on his own semiautobiographical stories.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">KCAL-TV</span> Independent TV station in Los Angeles

KCAL-TV is an independent television station in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is owned by the CBS News and Stations group alongside CBS West Coast flagship KCBS-TV. The two stations share studios at the Radford Studio Center on Radford Avenue in the Studio City section of Los Angeles; KCAL-TV's transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WEPN-FM</span> ESPN Radio station in New York City

WEPN-FM (98.7 MHz) branded as ESPN New York, is an all-sports radio station licensed to New York City. The station is owned by Emmis Communications and its operations are controlled by Good Karma Brands, under a local marketing agreement. The station's transmitter is located at the Empire State Building.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WWOR-TV</span> MyNetworkTV station in Secaucus, New Jersey

WWOR-TV is a television station licensed to Secaucus, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area as the flagship of the MyNetworkTV programming service. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox flagship WNYW. The two stations share studios at the Fox Television Center on East 67th Street in Manhattan's Lenox Hill neighborhood; WWOR-TV's transmitter is located at One World Trade Center.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RKO General</span> Former broadcasting mass media corporation

RKO General Inc. was an American broadcasting company that, from 1952 through 1991, served as the main holding company for the noncore businesses of the General Tire and Rubber Company and later on GenCorp. The concern was based around the consolidation of its parent company's broadcasting interests, which dated to 1943 and were brought together under the General Teleradio umbrella in 1952. The company was renamed RKO Teleradio Pictures following its 1955 purchase of the RKO Pictures film studio, and then RKO General in 1959 after dissolving the motion picture division. Headquartered in New York City, the company operated six television stations and more than a dozen major radio stations around North America between 1959 and 1991.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RKO Radio Network</span> American radio network

The RKO Radio Network, a subsidiary of RKO General, was the first commercial radio network to distribute programming entirely by satellite. When it began operations on October 1, 1979, the initial RKO network was the first new full-service American radio network in 40 years. Satellite distribution allowed high-fidelity stereo programming to its affiliates.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WRKO</span> Talk radio station in Boston, Massachusetts

WRKO is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to Boston, Massachusetts, serving Greater Boston and much of surrounding New England. Owned by iHeartMedia, WRKO is a Class B AM station that provides secondary coverage to portions of Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Maine during the day, but is highly directional at night to protect a number of clear-channel stations on adjacent frequencies. WRKO serves as the Boston affiliate for ABC News Radio, Coast to Coast AM and This Morning, America's First News with Gordon Deal; syndicated personalities Joe Pags, John Batchelor and Bill Cunningham; the flagship station of The Howie Carr Show, and the home of radio personality Jeff Kuhner. The WRKO studios are located in the Boston suburb of Medford, while the station transmitter resides in nearby Burlington. Besides its main analog transmission, WRKO simulcasts over the HD2 subchannel of sister station WZLX, and streams online via iHeartRadio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WADO</span> Radio station in New York City

WADO is a commercial radio station licensed to New York City. It is owned by Latino Media Network. It broadcasts a Spanish-language sports radio format.

Alfred Wallenstein was an American cellist and conductor. A successful solo and orchestral cellist in his early life, Wallenstein took up conducting in the 1930s and served as music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 1943 to 1956.

NHL on RKO General relates to a small, syndicated network of stations owned by RKO General which broadcast National Hockey League games.

Bandleader, arranger, conductor, record producer and trumpeter Joseph J. Leahy was a native of Boston, Massachusetts. He joined Les Brown and his Band of Renown at twenty, then the Charlie Barnet band and later the Artie Shaw band, eventually forming his own orchestra for cross-country tours of ballrooms, hotel circuits, college proms and one-nighters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WWRC</span> Radio station in Bethesda, Maryland

WWRC – branded AM 570 The Answer – is a commercial conservative talk radio station licensed to serve Bethesda, Maryland. Owned by the Salem Media Group, the station services the Washington metro area and is the market affiliate for the Salem Radio Network and The Sean Hannity Show. The WWRC studios are located in Arlington, while the station transmitter resides in nearby Germantown. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WWRC is available online.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">RKO Pictures</span> American film production and distribution company

RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orpheum theater chain and Joseph P. Kennedy's Film Booking Offices of America studio were brought together under the control of the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) in October 1928. RCA executive David Sarnoff engineered the merger to create a market for the company's sound-on-film technology, RCA Photophone, and in early 1929 production began under the RKO name. Two years later, another Kennedy concern, the Pathé studio, was folded into the operation. By the mid-1940s, RKO was controlled by investor Floyd Odlum.

From 1965 through 1975, in addition to the Saturday night game on CBC, Hockey Night in Canada also produced and broadcast a Wednesday night game on CTV, CBC's privately owned competitor; beginning in the 1975–76 NHL season, these midweek games would begin to be broadcast by local stations.

Martha Davis Coe was a musician, composer, PR executive and inventor. She was on the staff of Girl Scouts of the USA (GSUSA) for ten years.

Anita Blanch Boyer Dukoff, known as Anita Boyer was an American singer of the Big Band Era, described by Billboard as "one of the music business's most proficient canaries". She was noted for performances with Tommy Dorsey (1939), Leo Reisman (1940–41), Artie Shaw (1940), Nat King Cole (1941–44), Jerry Wald (1942–43) and Hoagy Carmichael (1945). With Dorsey she helped popularize the song "I Concentrate On You", and with Reisman she recorded the song "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" for Pal Joey.

References

  1. 1 2 Shanley, J. p (1956-07-10). "Radio: Easy Listening; New WOR Program of Recorded 'Music From Studio X' Is Soft and Sweet". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-12-07 via Proquest.
  2. Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. Library of Congress Copyright Office. 1957. p. 620.
  3. Stengren, Bernard (1956-07-15). "DESIGN FOR EASY RADIO LISTENING; Investment". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2023-12-07 via Proquest.
  4. Sterling, Christopher H. (2004). Encyclopedia of Radio 3-Volume Set. Taylor & Francis. p. 1045. ISBN   978-1-135-45649-8.
  5. Sterling, Christopher H.; O'Dell, Cary (2010-04-12). The Concise Encyclopedia of American Radio. Routledge. p. 245. ISBN   978-1-135-17684-6.