“BY TRANSCRIPTION…”
Most listeners during Network Radio’s Golden Age could identify the stations where they heard their favorite programs and most music fans could name the record labels that produced the music of their favorite orchestras and singers.
But if you asked the same people to identify their favorite band on Lang-Worth or the latest hit from Standard or World, you’d draw a blank expression. The names RCA-Tresaurus, Associated and C.P. MacGregor would get the same response.
That’s the way it was for these producers of electrical transcription, (ET), libraries for who worked anonymously but profitably in the backstage of the radio industry - accumulating a combined revenue of $10 Million by 1940 when an estimated 700 stations - over 90% of the them - subscribed to one or more of the services and were forced by the FCC to remind listeners that music was presented, "...by transcription."
The concept was simple when former Brunswick Records executives Percy Deutsch, Milton Diamond and Gus Haenschen founded the World Broadcasting System and its subsidiary, World Program Services, in 1929. (See Gus Haenschen on this site.)
They realized that radio stations needed program material - even stations with network affiliation were left with hours to fill every day. Music was the easiest and most entertaining solution to the problem but musicians could be expensive and/or undependable. Recorded music was the obvious alternative but phonograph record companies and artists were threatening to sue stations for the “unauthorized” use of their discs which were uneven in quality and durability.
World had answers for all of these obstacles. It would produce recorded programming, particularly music in quantity with top talent, duplicate it in the best techniques of the time and lease it to subscribing radio stations for a monthly fee.
The principal’s contacts and reputation from Brunswick made recruiting top talent a simple matter. Recording that talent in up to ten or more songs per disc called for the new methods developed in 1925 for Warner Brothers’ Vitaphone motion picture sound-on-disc system. Sixteen inch transcription discs were used, revolving at 33 & 1/3 r.p.m. (1) The technique could hold 15 minutes of content on each side of the disc - as opposed to 78 r.p.m. records‘ limit of three minutes, 15 seconds per side on a ten-inch disc.
The discs were produced as vertical recordings as opposed to commercial phonograph records’ lateral technique. The vertical process cut sound waves into the bottom of the grooves instead of the groove’s sides common in lateral recordings. Therefore a much lighter pickup arm was required for a vertically cut transcription and that reduced any surface noise and extended the life of the disc.
For better frequency response, one side of the discs was cut and played from the outside-in, (like a phonograph record), and the flip side was cut and played from the inside of the disc out to its edge. (Note the instructions on the two labels pictured above.) To facilitate all of this new technology World also leased and sold the required playback equipment to its subscribers.
To accompany its ever increasing number of music selections of all varieties World Program Service lived up to its name by providing formats and scripts for local announcers. This enabled stations to create programs under suggested titles like Carefree Capers, Hawaiian Holidays, Hymn Time, Magic Harmony, Metropolitan Moods and Western Serenades. Much of the music for these skeletal programs was provided by the World Transcription Orchestra, the World Transcription Chorus or artists whose identity was a mystery to most listeners.
This informal veil of secrecy was because many popular bandleaders and singers were reluctant to be identified with transcriptions in the early years. They welcomed the work and extra money but feared that association with ET’s would jeopardize their record company contracts and cheapen the value of their names for Network Radio jobs. (2)
Although their fears proved groundless, many artists recorded transcriptions anonymously or under pseudonyms for much of the 1930’s. Artie Shaw became John Carleton, Benny Goodman was Bill Dodge, Duke Ellington used Joe Turner, Fats Waller played and sang as Flip Wallace, Glen Gray was George Gregory, Hal Kemp became Hal Keen, Isham Jones was Jimmy Hale, Ozzie Nelson used Bill Burton, Russ Morgan alternated between Ralph Martin and Reed Murray, Tommy Dorsey adopted the name Harvey Tweed, Tony Pastor became Bill Ralston and Buddy Cole used his real name, Edwin Lemar. In addition, The Rhythm Makers was a house name occasionally given to the Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Les Brown bands by RCA's Thesaurus transcription service.
Singers also recorded under aliases. The Canadian Communications Foundation reports that Jan Peerce’s 1945 RCA-Victor hit recording, The Bluebird of Happiness, was originally heard in 1934 as a World Transcription on which Peerce used the pseudonym Paul Robinson accompanied by Erno Rapee’s Radio City Music Hall orchestra.
But that changed in the early World War II years. As transcriptions became a staple of stations during the American Federation of Musicians various labor disputes with the record companies, artists recognized the value that their name recognition with transcriptions carried. And when their names became known World’s roster was Who’s Who of music’s elite. (3)
Competition developed with the great success that World enjoyed in the early 1930’s. World could only service one station per market so it welcomed newcomers Cyril Langlois & Ralph Wentworth who established Lang-Worth Feature Programs in 1933, focused on providing music free of ASCAP fees for subscribers. (4) By 1935, Lang-Worth had built a library of over 300 copyright free selections although it later offered two separate libraries - one that contained BMI, SESAC and public domain music and a second that was filled with nothing but ASCAP compositions. Both libraries were filled with the work of top flight artists. (5)
Next came the Standard Radio Program Service, founded in 1934 by Jerry King, business manager of KFWB/Los Angeles. By 1941 it boasted nearly 300 stations subscribing its library of 1,000 “tax free” selections with 100 new titles shipped every month. (6) Standard also became a leader in the production of recorded sound effects which were offered as part of its library.
RCA also entered the transcription library business in 1934 with the NBC Syndicated Recorded Program Service - shortly changing that mouthful to the RCA Thesaurus - a name that few could remember or spell. (7) A year later the Muzak organization entered the transcribed library field with the Associated Program Service (8) and C.P. MacGregor added music to his transcribed program service a short time later. (9)
By 1938 an estimated 25 companies of various sizes were supplying transcribed programming to radio stations and billing a combined $4.0 Million annually. That number doubled when World War II came.
World Program Service had over 300 subscribers to its library service in 1943 when it was sold to Decca Records for an undisclosed price. Not limited to songs, World offered musical production aids to its subscribers. Combined, they amounted to over 3,800 selections in 1944 with an additional 50 new cuts added every month.
A 1945 industry report credited World with 338 subscribers, Standard Radio Program Service with 400, Lang-Worth and RCA-Thesaurus with 250 each and Associated Program Service with 150. The number of subscribers had doubled in the five World War II years.
.
The Capitol Transcription Service - a division of Capitol Records - was the latecomer to ET industry in 1946, advertising a basic library of 2,000 selections with an additional 70 new ones every month. With its roster of popular artists, Capitol soon attracted 300 subscribers. (10) But as one record company was getting into the business, another was preparing to leave it.
After five years of ownership, Decca boasted it had doubled the number of World’s subscribers and sold the service with its basic library of 4,600 tracks to program syndicator Fredrick W. Ziv for $1.5 Million in 1948. (See Fred Ziv - King of Syndication on this site.)
The 1950’s weren’t kind to the transcription firms. The ET’s were no longer the only high quality vinyl recordings available to the thousands of disc jockeys across America - and when 45 and 33 1/3 r.p.m. technologies were introduced in early 1949, stations were flooded with free copies of the latest releases from every record company. These were the same record companies that once stamped their discs’ labels, “Not For Broadcast,” and in 1938-39 attempted to charge stations $100 to $300 a month for their use!
It was becoming painfully clear that radio stations no longer needed to pay an industry average minimum of $175 per month for transcribed music when record companies would cheerfully provide all the music they could use for nothing. Capitol saw the trend coming and dropped its ET service after seven years, proposing to sell its 700 unit inventory to its subscribers which were dropping fast from a peak of 300 stations.
Yet, under Ziv’s ownership and marketing, World’s number of subscribers grew to 1,000 in 1953. What was the Cincinnati syndication giant’s secret?
Under the headline Broadcasting Revolution Hits Gasping Transcription Firms, trade paper Billboard quoted World's Vice President Robert Freidheim, in October, 1952, “…the old concept of a library service as a music service is a dead pigeon.” Lang-Worth’s Cy Langlois added that his firm began changing from a music supplier to a program service in 1947 because, “We had to create programming which was not possible on a phonograph record.”
Ziv ostensibly bought World for its huge music library, but the hidden value was its attractive inventory of programs - series and holiday specials - many featuring highly saleable stars like Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, Gordon Jenkins, Judy Canova, Loretta Young, Maureen O’Sullivan, Orson Welles, Raymond Massey, Robert Montgomery, Thomas Mitchell, Walter Huston and Xavier Cugat. That kind of programming dovetailed with Ziv’s successful radio program syndication business model and kept it in profits while launching its equally successful television syndication activities.
Ziv wasn’t alone in focusing on programs but the company’s marketing strength kept it rolling while the other transcription companies began to fall by the wayside. Thus, World Program Services, the first of the major transcription services at the beginning of Network Radio’s Golden Age, was the last one still flourishing at the end of the era.
As services collapsed and stations evolved, many libraries were relegated to dumpsters - a tragic end to some truly wonderful gems of music. Luckily, a few survive in the care of collectors. (Note: Examples are posted below the footnotes.)
(1) This process is not to be confused with the “Microgroove” technology introduced by Columbia Records in 1949.
(2) At their peak, transcription companies paid $2.0 Million annually in talent fees.
(3) WORLD PROGRAM SERVICES Orchestras & Instrumentalists: Larry Adler, Desi Arnaz, Ray Bloch, Johnny Bond, Nat Brandwynne, Les Brown, Carmen Cavallaro, Page Cavanaugh Trio, Bob Chester, Eddie Condon, Jesse Crawford, Bob Crosby, Xavier Cugat, Dorothy Donegan, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Roy Eldridge, Duke Ellington, Vincent Gomez, Benny Goodman, Bob Grant, Glen Gray’s Casa Loma Orchestra, Buddy Hackett, Gus Haenschen, Lionel Hampton, Milt Hearth, Woody Herman, Eddie Heywood, Tiny Hill, Richard Himber, Harry Horlick, The Hoosier Hot Shots, Eddy Howard, Harry James, Gordon Jenkins, Isham Jones, Jonah Jones, Louis Jordan, Johnny Long, Jimmy Lunceford, Frank Luther, Frankie Masters, Hal McIntyre, Lani McIntyre, Noro Morales, Russ Morgan, Red Norvo, Les Paul Trio, Erno Rapee, David Rose, Ethel Smith, Charlie Spivak, Claude Thornhill, The Three Suns, John S cott Trotter, Jerry Wald, Lawrence Welk and Victor Young. Vocalists: The Andrews Sisters, Mildred Bailey, Kenny Baker, The Delta Rhythm Boys, Joan Edwards, Bob Eberle, Red Foley, Helen Forrest, Bob Hannon, Dick Haymes, Kitty Kallen, Dorothy Kirsten, Evelyn Knight, Peggy Lee, Monica Lewis, Evelyn MacGregor, The Mills Brothers, Patsy Montana, Frank Munn, Helen O’Connell, Frank Parker, Jan Peerce, Lanny Ross, The Song Spinners, The Sportsmen, Thomas L. Thomas, Mel Torme, Ernest Tubb, Jimmy Wakely and Earl Wrightson,
(4) During the 1930's and 40's transcription companies paid music publishers a $15 royalty per song per year.
(5) LANG-WORTH FEATURE PROGRAMS Orchestras & Instrumentalists: The Air Lane Trio, Ray Anthony, Howard Barlow, Charlie Barnet, Blue Barron, Count Basie, Neal Bondshu, Randy Brooks, Henry Busse, Frankie Carle, Russ Case, Larry Clinton, Del Courtney, Alan Dale, Tommy Dorsey, Sonny Dunham, Les Elgart, Ziggy Elman, Shep Fields, Chuck Foster, Jan Garber, Lenny Herman, Woody Herman, Dean Hudson, Sammy Kaye, John Kirby, Gene Krupa, Henry Jerome, Jimmie Lunceford, Clyde McCoy, Vaughn Monroe, Art Mooney, Russ Morgan, Red Nichols, Tony Pastor, Boyd Raeburn, Erno Rapee, Bobby Sherwood, Claude Thornhill, Al Trace, Tommy Tucker and Fred Waring. Vocalists: The Ames Brothers, Toni Arden, Eugenie Baird, Elton Britt, Bob Carroll, Rosemary Clooney, Antia Ellis, The Four Knights, Tito Guizar, Connie Haines, Juanita Hall, Lena Horne, The Mills Brothers, The Modernaires, Buddy Moreno, Rose Murphy, Patti Page, Leon Payne, Fats Waller, Fran Warren and Foy Willing’s Riders of The Purple Sage.
(6) STANDARD RADIO PROGRAM SERVICE Orchestras & Instrumentalists: Buzz Adlam, Sonny Burke, Henry Busse, Bob Crosby, Leo Diamond, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Skinnay Ennis, Morton Gould, Jerry Gray, Will Hudson, Dick Jurgens, Freddy Martin, Matty Melneck, Leighton Noble, Red Norvo, Les Paul Trio, Boyd Raeburn, Joe Reichman, David Rose, Leith Stevens, Art Tatum, Jack Teagarden and Earl Towner. Vocalists: Doris Day, The DeCastro Sisters, Frankie Laine, Curt Massey, The Starlighters, Kay Starr, Jeri Sullivan, Martha Tilton.
(7) RCA TRESAURUS Orchestras & Instrumentalists: Tex Beneke (Glenn Miller), Les Brown, Benny Goodman Johnny Guarnieri, Sammy Kaye, Wayne King, Richard Liebert, Vincent Lopez, Freddy Martin, The Novatime Trio, Alan Roth, Artie Shaw, Phil Spitalny, Claude Thornhill, The Three Suns, The Art Van Damme Quintet, George Wright. Vocalists: Slim Bryant, Louise Carlyle, Gloria DeHaven, Eddie Fisher, The Jumpin’ Jacks, Carson Robison and Fran Warren.
(8) ASSOCIATED PROGRAM SERVICE Orchestras & Instrumentalists: Alfredo Antonini,, Ray Bloch,, Ted Dale, Ralph Flanagan, Ernie Fiorita, Lud Gluskin, Al Goodman, Harry Horlick, Eddy Howard, Dick Jurgens, Art Kassell, Andre Kostelanetz, Elliot Lawrence, Frankie Masters, George Olson, Glenn Osser, George Paxton, Freddie Rich, Denny Vaughan and Alfred Wallenstein. Vocalists: Kay Armen, Mindy Carson, The Cherioteers, Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, The Deep River Boys, Evelyn Knight, Guy Mitchell, The Satisfiers and Martha Wright..
(9) Hollywood producer C.P. MacGregor entered the transcription field with a limited roster of artists, but the company’s main thrust was a string of successful programs including The Shadow, Hopalong Cassidy and The Skippy Hollywood Theater.
(10) CAPITOL TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE Orchestras & Instrumentalists: Buddy Cole, Hal Derwin, Frank DeVol, Duke Ellington, Jan Garber, Skitch Henderson, Pee Wee Hunt, Stan Kenton, Gene Krupa, Eddie LeMar, Enric Madriguera, Alvino Rey, Tex Ritter, Merle Travis and Paul Weston. Vocalists: June Christy, Nat King Cole, The Dinning Sisters, Carolyn Grey, Peggy Lee, The King Sisters and Jo Stafford.
Copyright © 2015 Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
The selections posted below are all from the Standard transcription library housed at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting in Minneapolis. (See www.museumofbroadcasting.org) Our thanks to Steve Raymer and Dan Henry for providing these cuts which demonstrate the quality of transcriptions which compared favorably to commercial recordings of the day.
1/ Contrasts - The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra’s theme song with Dorsey featured on tenor sax.
2/ Sweet Georgia Brown - The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra featuring Charlie Shavers on trumpet and Sam Donahue on tenor sax.
3/ I Wish I Didn’t Love You So - CBS star Curt Massey is accompanied by Buzz Adlam’s orchestra. Adlam was best known as musical conductor for the long running U.S. Treasury Department’s transcribed series, Guest Star.
4/ My Silent Love - The Billy May orchestra and a duplicate of its Capitol Records disc.
5/ Where Or When - David Rose and his studio orchestra.
6/ Blue Skies - Columbia Records star Doris Day with a 1:43 brief programming standard.
7/ I Can’t Give You Anything But Love - Another short, 1:44, programmer from Doris Day.
8/ On The Sunny Side of The Street - The Freddy Martin orchestra with vocal by Artie Wayne
9/ Old Fashioned Love - Mercury Records star Frankie Laine with the Carl Fischer orchestra.
10/ Basin Street Blues - Jack Teagarden’s vocal, trombone and orchestra.
11/ There’s A Small Hotel - Jeri Sullivan with Mel Torme’s Mel-Tones & The Johnny White Quintet.
12/ Pennsylvania 6-5000 - The Jerry Gray orchestra.
13/ The Lonesomest Gal In Town - A 2:08 programmer with Capitol Records vocalist Kay Starr and Buzz Adlam’s studio orchestra.
14/ Them There Eyes - The second of three short programmers by Kay Starr two minutes.
15/ You’ve Gotta See Your Momma Every Night - At 1:55 the third programmer by Kay Starr and Buzz Adlam.
16/ I’ll Never Smile Again - The Leith Stevens orchestra lush instrumental treatment of a standard.
17/ The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise - Jazz violinist Matty Malneck’s Dixieland group.
18/ Exactly Like You - The Red Norvo Trio in a quickly paced 2:02 programmer.
19/ Sunday - The Red Norvo Trio’s 1:36 treatment of the standard
20/ I Want To Be Happy - JoAnn Greer, longtime Les Brown band vocalist and movie “ghost singer” for Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak, sings with Sonny Burke’s studio orchestra.
Most listeners during Network Radio’s Golden Age could identify the stations where they heard their favorite programs and most music fans could name the record labels that produced the music of their favorite orchestras and singers.
But if you asked the same people to identify their favorite band on Lang-Worth or the latest hit from Standard or World, you’d draw a blank expression. The names RCA-Tresaurus, Associated and C.P. MacGregor would get the same response.
That’s the way it was for these producers of electrical transcription, (ET), libraries for who worked anonymously but profitably in the backstage of the radio industry - accumulating a combined revenue of $10 Million by 1940 when an estimated 700 stations - over 90% of the them - subscribed to one or more of the services and were forced by the FCC to remind listeners that music was presented, "...by transcription."
The concept was simple when former Brunswick Records executives Percy Deutsch, Milton Diamond and Gus Haenschen founded the World Broadcasting System and its subsidiary, World Program Services, in 1929. (See Gus Haenschen on this site.)
They realized that radio stations needed program material - even stations with network affiliation were left with hours to fill every day. Music was the easiest and most entertaining solution to the problem but musicians could be expensive and/or undependable. Recorded music was the obvious alternative but phonograph record companies and artists were threatening to sue stations for the “unauthorized” use of their discs which were uneven in quality and durability.
World had answers for all of these obstacles. It would produce recorded programming, particularly music in quantity with top talent, duplicate it in the best techniques of the time and lease it to subscribing radio stations for a monthly fee.
The principal’s contacts and reputation from Brunswick made recruiting top talent a simple matter. Recording that talent in up to ten or more songs per disc called for the new methods developed in 1925 for Warner Brothers’ Vitaphone motion picture sound-on-disc system. Sixteen inch transcription discs were used, revolving at 33 & 1/3 r.p.m. (1) The technique could hold 15 minutes of content on each side of the disc - as opposed to 78 r.p.m. records‘ limit of three minutes, 15 seconds per side on a ten-inch disc.
The discs were produced as vertical recordings as opposed to commercial phonograph records’ lateral technique. The vertical process cut sound waves into the bottom of the grooves instead of the groove’s sides common in lateral recordings. Therefore a much lighter pickup arm was required for a vertically cut transcription and that reduced any surface noise and extended the life of the disc.
For better frequency response, one side of the discs was cut and played from the outside-in, (like a phonograph record), and the flip side was cut and played from the inside of the disc out to its edge. (Note the instructions on the two labels pictured above.) To facilitate all of this new technology World also leased and sold the required playback equipment to its subscribers.
To accompany its ever increasing number of music selections of all varieties World Program Service lived up to its name by providing formats and scripts for local announcers. This enabled stations to create programs under suggested titles like Carefree Capers, Hawaiian Holidays, Hymn Time, Magic Harmony, Metropolitan Moods and Western Serenades. Much of the music for these skeletal programs was provided by the World Transcription Orchestra, the World Transcription Chorus or artists whose identity was a mystery to most listeners.
This informal veil of secrecy was because many popular bandleaders and singers were reluctant to be identified with transcriptions in the early years. They welcomed the work and extra money but feared that association with ET’s would jeopardize their record company contracts and cheapen the value of their names for Network Radio jobs. (2)
Although their fears proved groundless, many artists recorded transcriptions anonymously or under pseudonyms for much of the 1930’s. Artie Shaw became John Carleton, Benny Goodman was Bill Dodge, Duke Ellington used Joe Turner, Fats Waller played and sang as Flip Wallace, Glen Gray was George Gregory, Hal Kemp became Hal Keen, Isham Jones was Jimmy Hale, Ozzie Nelson used Bill Burton, Russ Morgan alternated between Ralph Martin and Reed Murray, Tommy Dorsey adopted the name Harvey Tweed, Tony Pastor became Bill Ralston and Buddy Cole used his real name, Edwin Lemar. In addition, The Rhythm Makers was a house name occasionally given to the Benny Goodman, Artie Shaw and Les Brown bands by RCA's Thesaurus transcription service.
Singers also recorded under aliases. The Canadian Communications Foundation reports that Jan Peerce’s 1945 RCA-Victor hit recording, The Bluebird of Happiness, was originally heard in 1934 as a World Transcription on which Peerce used the pseudonym Paul Robinson accompanied by Erno Rapee’s Radio City Music Hall orchestra.
But that changed in the early World War II years. As transcriptions became a staple of stations during the American Federation of Musicians various labor disputes with the record companies, artists recognized the value that their name recognition with transcriptions carried. And when their names became known World’s roster was Who’s Who of music’s elite. (3)
Competition developed with the great success that World enjoyed in the early 1930’s. World could only service one station per market so it welcomed newcomers Cyril Langlois & Ralph Wentworth who established Lang-Worth Feature Programs in 1933, focused on providing music free of ASCAP fees for subscribers. (4) By 1935, Lang-Worth had built a library of over 300 copyright free selections although it later offered two separate libraries - one that contained BMI, SESAC and public domain music and a second that was filled with nothing but ASCAP compositions. Both libraries were filled with the work of top flight artists. (5)
Next came the Standard Radio Program Service, founded in 1934 by Jerry King, business manager of KFWB/Los Angeles. By 1941 it boasted nearly 300 stations subscribing its library of 1,000 “tax free” selections with 100 new titles shipped every month. (6) Standard also became a leader in the production of recorded sound effects which were offered as part of its library.
RCA also entered the transcription library business in 1934 with the NBC Syndicated Recorded Program Service - shortly changing that mouthful to the RCA Thesaurus - a name that few could remember or spell. (7) A year later the Muzak organization entered the transcribed library field with the Associated Program Service (8) and C.P. MacGregor added music to his transcribed program service a short time later. (9)
By 1938 an estimated 25 companies of various sizes were supplying transcribed programming to radio stations and billing a combined $4.0 Million annually. That number doubled when World War II came.
World Program Service had over 300 subscribers to its library service in 1943 when it was sold to Decca Records for an undisclosed price. Not limited to songs, World offered musical production aids to its subscribers. Combined, they amounted to over 3,800 selections in 1944 with an additional 50 new cuts added every month.
A 1945 industry report credited World with 338 subscribers, Standard Radio Program Service with 400, Lang-Worth and RCA-Thesaurus with 250 each and Associated Program Service with 150. The number of subscribers had doubled in the five World War II years.
.
The Capitol Transcription Service - a division of Capitol Records - was the latecomer to ET industry in 1946, advertising a basic library of 2,000 selections with an additional 70 new ones every month. With its roster of popular artists, Capitol soon attracted 300 subscribers. (10) But as one record company was getting into the business, another was preparing to leave it.
After five years of ownership, Decca boasted it had doubled the number of World’s subscribers and sold the service with its basic library of 4,600 tracks to program syndicator Fredrick W. Ziv for $1.5 Million in 1948. (See Fred Ziv - King of Syndication on this site.)
The 1950’s weren’t kind to the transcription firms. The ET’s were no longer the only high quality vinyl recordings available to the thousands of disc jockeys across America - and when 45 and 33 1/3 r.p.m. technologies were introduced in early 1949, stations were flooded with free copies of the latest releases from every record company. These were the same record companies that once stamped their discs’ labels, “Not For Broadcast,” and in 1938-39 attempted to charge stations $100 to $300 a month for their use!
It was becoming painfully clear that radio stations no longer needed to pay an industry average minimum of $175 per month for transcribed music when record companies would cheerfully provide all the music they could use for nothing. Capitol saw the trend coming and dropped its ET service after seven years, proposing to sell its 700 unit inventory to its subscribers which were dropping fast from a peak of 300 stations.
Yet, under Ziv’s ownership and marketing, World’s number of subscribers grew to 1,000 in 1953. What was the Cincinnati syndication giant’s secret?
Under the headline Broadcasting Revolution Hits Gasping Transcription Firms, trade paper Billboard quoted World's Vice President Robert Freidheim, in October, 1952, “…the old concept of a library service as a music service is a dead pigeon.” Lang-Worth’s Cy Langlois added that his firm began changing from a music supplier to a program service in 1947 because, “We had to create programming which was not possible on a phonograph record.”
Ziv ostensibly bought World for its huge music library, but the hidden value was its attractive inventory of programs - series and holiday specials - many featuring highly saleable stars like Bing Crosby, Burl Ives, Gordon Jenkins, Judy Canova, Loretta Young, Maureen O’Sullivan, Orson Welles, Raymond Massey, Robert Montgomery, Thomas Mitchell, Walter Huston and Xavier Cugat. That kind of programming dovetailed with Ziv’s successful radio program syndication business model and kept it in profits while launching its equally successful television syndication activities.
Ziv wasn’t alone in focusing on programs but the company’s marketing strength kept it rolling while the other transcription companies began to fall by the wayside. Thus, World Program Services, the first of the major transcription services at the beginning of Network Radio’s Golden Age, was the last one still flourishing at the end of the era.
As services collapsed and stations evolved, many libraries were relegated to dumpsters - a tragic end to some truly wonderful gems of music. Luckily, a few survive in the care of collectors. (Note: Examples are posted below the footnotes.)
(1) This process is not to be confused with the “Microgroove” technology introduced by Columbia Records in 1949.
(2) At their peak, transcription companies paid $2.0 Million annually in talent fees.
(3) WORLD PROGRAM SERVICES Orchestras & Instrumentalists: Larry Adler, Desi Arnaz, Ray Bloch, Johnny Bond, Nat Brandwynne, Les Brown, Carmen Cavallaro, Page Cavanaugh Trio, Bob Chester, Eddie Condon, Jesse Crawford, Bob Crosby, Xavier Cugat, Dorothy Donegan, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Roy Eldridge, Duke Ellington, Vincent Gomez, Benny Goodman, Bob Grant, Glen Gray’s Casa Loma Orchestra, Buddy Hackett, Gus Haenschen, Lionel Hampton, Milt Hearth, Woody Herman, Eddie Heywood, Tiny Hill, Richard Himber, Harry Horlick, The Hoosier Hot Shots, Eddy Howard, Harry James, Gordon Jenkins, Isham Jones, Jonah Jones, Louis Jordan, Johnny Long, Jimmy Lunceford, Frank Luther, Frankie Masters, Hal McIntyre, Lani McIntyre, Noro Morales, Russ Morgan, Red Norvo, Les Paul Trio, Erno Rapee, David Rose, Ethel Smith, Charlie Spivak, Claude Thornhill, The Three Suns, John S cott Trotter, Jerry Wald, Lawrence Welk and Victor Young. Vocalists: The Andrews Sisters, Mildred Bailey, Kenny Baker, The Delta Rhythm Boys, Joan Edwards, Bob Eberle, Red Foley, Helen Forrest, Bob Hannon, Dick Haymes, Kitty Kallen, Dorothy Kirsten, Evelyn Knight, Peggy Lee, Monica Lewis, Evelyn MacGregor, The Mills Brothers, Patsy Montana, Frank Munn, Helen O’Connell, Frank Parker, Jan Peerce, Lanny Ross, The Song Spinners, The Sportsmen, Thomas L. Thomas, Mel Torme, Ernest Tubb, Jimmy Wakely and Earl Wrightson,
(4) During the 1930's and 40's transcription companies paid music publishers a $15 royalty per song per year.
(5) LANG-WORTH FEATURE PROGRAMS Orchestras & Instrumentalists: The Air Lane Trio, Ray Anthony, Howard Barlow, Charlie Barnet, Blue Barron, Count Basie, Neal Bondshu, Randy Brooks, Henry Busse, Frankie Carle, Russ Case, Larry Clinton, Del Courtney, Alan Dale, Tommy Dorsey, Sonny Dunham, Les Elgart, Ziggy Elman, Shep Fields, Chuck Foster, Jan Garber, Lenny Herman, Woody Herman, Dean Hudson, Sammy Kaye, John Kirby, Gene Krupa, Henry Jerome, Jimmie Lunceford, Clyde McCoy, Vaughn Monroe, Art Mooney, Russ Morgan, Red Nichols, Tony Pastor, Boyd Raeburn, Erno Rapee, Bobby Sherwood, Claude Thornhill, Al Trace, Tommy Tucker and Fred Waring. Vocalists: The Ames Brothers, Toni Arden, Eugenie Baird, Elton Britt, Bob Carroll, Rosemary Clooney, Antia Ellis, The Four Knights, Tito Guizar, Connie Haines, Juanita Hall, Lena Horne, The Mills Brothers, The Modernaires, Buddy Moreno, Rose Murphy, Patti Page, Leon Payne, Fats Waller, Fran Warren and Foy Willing’s Riders of The Purple Sage.
(6) STANDARD RADIO PROGRAM SERVICE Orchestras & Instrumentalists: Buzz Adlam, Sonny Burke, Henry Busse, Bob Crosby, Leo Diamond, Jimmy Dorsey, Tommy Dorsey, Duke Ellington, Skinnay Ennis, Morton Gould, Jerry Gray, Will Hudson, Dick Jurgens, Freddy Martin, Matty Melneck, Leighton Noble, Red Norvo, Les Paul Trio, Boyd Raeburn, Joe Reichman, David Rose, Leith Stevens, Art Tatum, Jack Teagarden and Earl Towner. Vocalists: Doris Day, The DeCastro Sisters, Frankie Laine, Curt Massey, The Starlighters, Kay Starr, Jeri Sullivan, Martha Tilton.
(7) RCA TRESAURUS Orchestras & Instrumentalists: Tex Beneke (Glenn Miller), Les Brown, Benny Goodman Johnny Guarnieri, Sammy Kaye, Wayne King, Richard Liebert, Vincent Lopez, Freddy Martin, The Novatime Trio, Alan Roth, Artie Shaw, Phil Spitalny, Claude Thornhill, The Three Suns, The Art Van Damme Quintet, George Wright. Vocalists: Slim Bryant, Louise Carlyle, Gloria DeHaven, Eddie Fisher, The Jumpin’ Jacks, Carson Robison and Fran Warren.
(8) ASSOCIATED PROGRAM SERVICE Orchestras & Instrumentalists: Alfredo Antonini,, Ray Bloch,, Ted Dale, Ralph Flanagan, Ernie Fiorita, Lud Gluskin, Al Goodman, Harry Horlick, Eddy Howard, Dick Jurgens, Art Kassell, Andre Kostelanetz, Elliot Lawrence, Frankie Masters, George Olson, Glenn Osser, George Paxton, Freddie Rich, Denny Vaughan and Alfred Wallenstein. Vocalists: Kay Armen, Mindy Carson, The Cherioteers, Rosemary Clooney, Vic Damone, The Deep River Boys, Evelyn Knight, Guy Mitchell, The Satisfiers and Martha Wright..
(9) Hollywood producer C.P. MacGregor entered the transcription field with a limited roster of artists, but the company’s main thrust was a string of successful programs including The Shadow, Hopalong Cassidy and The Skippy Hollywood Theater.
(10) CAPITOL TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE Orchestras & Instrumentalists: Buddy Cole, Hal Derwin, Frank DeVol, Duke Ellington, Jan Garber, Skitch Henderson, Pee Wee Hunt, Stan Kenton, Gene Krupa, Eddie LeMar, Enric Madriguera, Alvino Rey, Tex Ritter, Merle Travis and Paul Weston. Vocalists: June Christy, Nat King Cole, The Dinning Sisters, Carolyn Grey, Peggy Lee, The King Sisters and Jo Stafford.
Copyright © 2015 Jim Ramsburg, Estero FL Email: tojimramsburg@gmail.com
The selections posted below are all from the Standard transcription library housed at the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting in Minneapolis. (See www.museumofbroadcasting.org) Our thanks to Steve Raymer and Dan Henry for providing these cuts which demonstrate the quality of transcriptions which compared favorably to commercial recordings of the day.
1/ Contrasts - The Jimmy Dorsey Orchestra’s theme song with Dorsey featured on tenor sax.
2/ Sweet Georgia Brown - The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra featuring Charlie Shavers on trumpet and Sam Donahue on tenor sax.
3/ I Wish I Didn’t Love You So - CBS star Curt Massey is accompanied by Buzz Adlam’s orchestra. Adlam was best known as musical conductor for the long running U.S. Treasury Department’s transcribed series, Guest Star.
4/ My Silent Love - The Billy May orchestra and a duplicate of its Capitol Records disc.
5/ Where Or When - David Rose and his studio orchestra.
6/ Blue Skies - Columbia Records star Doris Day with a 1:43 brief programming standard.
7/ I Can’t Give You Anything But Love - Another short, 1:44, programmer from Doris Day.
8/ On The Sunny Side of The Street - The Freddy Martin orchestra with vocal by Artie Wayne
9/ Old Fashioned Love - Mercury Records star Frankie Laine with the Carl Fischer orchestra.
10/ Basin Street Blues - Jack Teagarden’s vocal, trombone and orchestra.
11/ There’s A Small Hotel - Jeri Sullivan with Mel Torme’s Mel-Tones & The Johnny White Quintet.
12/ Pennsylvania 6-5000 - The Jerry Gray orchestra.
13/ The Lonesomest Gal In Town - A 2:08 programmer with Capitol Records vocalist Kay Starr and Buzz Adlam’s studio orchestra.
14/ Them There Eyes - The second of three short programmers by Kay Starr two minutes.
15/ You’ve Gotta See Your Momma Every Night - At 1:55 the third programmer by Kay Starr and Buzz Adlam.
16/ I’ll Never Smile Again - The Leith Stevens orchestra lush instrumental treatment of a standard.
17/ The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise - Jazz violinist Matty Malneck’s Dixieland group.
18/ Exactly Like You - The Red Norvo Trio in a quickly paced 2:02 programmer.
19/ Sunday - The Red Norvo Trio’s 1:36 treatment of the standard
20/ I Want To Be Happy - JoAnn Greer, longtime Les Brown band vocalist and movie “ghost singer” for Rita Hayworth and Kim Novak, sings with Sonny Burke’s studio orchestra.
| standard__jimmy_dorsey_contrasts.m4a |
| standard_tommy_dorsey_sweet_georgia_brown.m4a |
| standard____curt_massey___i_wish_i_didnt_love_you_so.m4a |
| standard____billy_may______my_silent_love.m4a |
| standard___david_rose__where_or_when.m4a |
| standard___doris_day__blue_skies.m4a |
| standard___doris_day________i_cant_give_you_anything_but_love.m4a |
| standard__freddy_martin_sunny_side_of_the_street.m4a |
| standard__frankie_laine__old_fashioned_love.m4a |
| standard___jack_teagarden__basin_st_blues.m4a |
| standard____jeri_sulllivan___theres_a_small_hotel.m4a |
| standard__jerry_gray__pennsylvania_6500.m4a |
| standard____kay_starr___the_lonesomest_gal_in_town.m4a |
| standard____kay_starr___them_there_eyes.m4a |
| standard____kay_starr___youve_got_to_see_mama.m4a |
| standard___leith_stevens_ill_never_smile_again.m4a |
| standard_matty_melneck_the_world_is_waiting_for_the_sunrise.m4a |
| standard___red_norvo_exactly_like_you.m4a |
| standard___red_norvo__sunday.m4a |
| standard___sonny_burke___i_want_to_be_happy.m4a |