[Dixielandjazz] AM radio

[Walker, Maurice]

Charlie Hooks <charliehooks@earthlink.net
<mailto:charliehooks@earthlink.net> > wrote:
	> I was told by a friend in Monterrey MX that the Del Rio station
actually
	> broadcast from Mexico.   This was probably in the '50's.

No, dear.  Primarily in the 30's and 40's.  Dr. Brinkley (of whom, say
Halleleulah!) died in the early 50's I believe.  But I recall hearing his
hundred thousand watts come blasting in when I was a kid in Texas during the
30s.
>

My high school buddy and I had a darkroom and used to print photos while
listening to the likes of Ray Charles and Bo Diddley as broadcast from Del
Rio.   I'm certain that this was in 1954 and 1955.

Another of the sponsors IIRC was Royal Crown Hair Dressing.  The DJ
performed some "Name-Game" kind of trick and it came out sounding something
like "Ree-a-zol Cree-o-zar Hee-o-zar Dree-o-zessing."  Could that have been
Wolf-man Jack?

Another long-distance radio experience closer to the roots of this list:  In
that mid-50s period I was living in a suburb of St. Louis.  Every Sunday
night I would tune in clear channel station WWL from New Orleans, where I
could listen to a half-hour of old recordings presented by the New Orleans
Jazz Club. That was the first place I heard Snake Rag by King Oliver, which
I still remember vividly. They played a lot of local bands old and new (New
Orleans Owls, Halfway House Orchestra, Johnny Bayersdorffer, Sam Morgan,
Sharkey, Six and 7/8 String Band, Dodds, Armstrong, you name it).  The theme
for the show was Congo Square.  As you can imagine, this show did a great
deal to educate me about early jazz.

In the next half hour there was a live broadcast of Tony Almerico's band,
featuring Buglin' Sam DeKemel, and vocalist Lizzie Miles. This was broadcast
from a famous room in the local famous hotel, but the name of the room and
of the hotel have slipped from my mind.

Every great once in a while WWL would fade out, to be replaced by the signal
from a station in French Canada (Montreal I think), where I might hear
"Ee-see Rrrrah-dee-o Ca-na-DAH"".  

Maurie Walker