Radio Broadcasting in North America for Military bands

By Jack Kopstein

During the 1920’s through the mid 1930’s there was relatively insignificant recorded music by bands across North America .The earliest known series of broadcasting began on June 7th 1922 by the United States Marines band from the Anacostia Naval Air Station. The radio concerts were aired weekly and in 1923   were moved to the band hall at the Marine Barracks. The radio station was WRC of Washington DC and they increased power so that the programs could be heard by most of the East Coast of the US and as far north as Halifax Nova Scotia.

In November 1923 the Royal 22nd band of Quebec City played a concert at the Orpheus Theatre, which was broadcast on the early radio station CKAC. The concert was picked up as far away as California and Texas. The same band inaugurated the Canadian Pacific Radio network (later the Canadian Broadcasting System) from Quebec City in 1931.

Frank Simon a cornet soloist with the Sousa band initiated two programs of band music for WLW and WSAI in Cincinnati. In 1928 The Edwin Franko Goldman band began a series of twice-weekly broadcasts on NBC and these programs reached over 150 million listeners.

Early broadcasting was by nature a simple procedure. All broadcasting was live and the studios often were very small and poorly baffled to reduce outside sounds. The idea of selecting various sections of the band to offer a recording balance was not yet universally accepted. It was not until the introduction of the boom microphone said to have been invented by the eccentric millionaire Charles Bedaux that groups of instruments could be identified. The application of microphones was strictly left to the discretion of the sound engineer who often placed one single directional microphone in front of the band and the lows and highs disappeared into one block of massed sound.

Military bands were recorded as early as 1899   but the intrinsic value of various sections such as brass and woodwind and percussion were never fully realized until the advent of stereo radio and FM (Frequency Modulation 1947).

During the late 1920’s and until the war in Europe and the Pacific war much broadcasting was given over to the big bands of the famous leaders, such as Benny Goodman and Glenn Miller. The emergence of the American Federation of Musicians also placed a restriction on the appearance of military bands across North America. Both in Canada and the USA, professional military bands had to obtain a waiver to appear on radio and it was not always forthcoming.

The war created a relatively new phenomenon, the transcription broadcast. Transcription Broadcast Systems, also known as Green Schneider RKO, was founded in New York City, New York in 1939 by Raymond Green and Henry Schneider. Transcription Broadcast System broadcast several popular radio shows in major American cities including Chicago, Miami, Houston, Los Angeles and New York City. By 1942 the network had been broadcast in seventeen countries.The value to both military bands and big bands was that the live show could be recorded in the USA and re-broadcasted to troops throughout the Europe and the Pacific theatres of war. Most stations had dual record players and while one show was being played on a shellac recording another could be ready for broadcast.

Several military bands were able to participate in the transcriptions because their contribution was part of the war effort. The most important aspect of military band music during the war years and into peacetime was the advent of the V-Disk or Victory Disk. These were unbreakable phonograph records which were distributed by military organizations and enabled broadcasts to the far flung troops of the US Forces. Mnay US military bands appeared on the recordings including the Air Force group known as “The Serenade in Blue” and programs with the Army Air Force band under Glenn Miller called “I Sustain the Wings”. The Armed Forces radio Service (AFRS) created seevral military brodcasts featuring such shows as the Voice of the Army and Your Navy Show.

Woman Service personnel contributed enormously to the war effort and were particularly effective in the Woman’s bands which were formed beginning in 1942 . The Spars band of the US Coast Guard appeared on numerous occasions in concert on  WWDC in Washington. The Victory Disks comprised nearly all of the records in the United States and Canada because of the Musicians strike, which began in July 1942.

By 1949, television had all but reduced radio broadcasting to second place in the consciousness of Americans and performances by military bands were rarely if ever heard, with the exception of special occasions such as national holidays and state functions.