Carolina Barn Dance
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| Radio show from Spruce Pine, North Carolina | |
| publication | 1949-1955 |
| production | WBRM |
| Contributors | |
| Moderation | OD Calhoun |
The Carolina Barn Dance was an American country show broadcast by WBRM of Spruce Pine , North Carolina .
history
Beginnings
In the late 1940s, businessman OD Calhoun acquired the Carolina Theater in Spruce Pine, which was built in 1937. Calhoun, who had a keen business sense for entertainment, began holding talent competitions in the auditorium. In these competitions he chose the bands and musicians who would later perform in his Carolina Barn Dance. In 1949, on a Friday evening, the first edition of the show was held. The Barn Dance was broadcast live on the Marion, North Carolina radio station WBRM.
successes
That same year, an employee of the Liberty Broadcasting Company (LBC) of Dallas , Texas saw one of the Carolina Barn Dances and was impressed. He offered Calhoun to include the show in the program. From 1949 to 1954, the show was broadcast in 49 countries over 512 stations. Calhoun appeared as a presenter on the show himself. His sentence could be heard at the beginning of each broadcast:
As the show grew in popularity, the management was also able to hire major country music stars such as Bill Monroe , Patsy Cline , Kitty Wells , Sonny James and the Stanley Brothers for guest appearances. Almost every known country musician made appearances on the show between 1949 and 1954. After the LBC stopped feeding the Carolina Barn Dance into their network, the show lost a lot of its popularity. In addition, the triumphant advance of television began. In 1955 the Carolina Barn Dance was therefore discontinued. The auditorium was used until the 1990s.
Today the Carolina Theater is being restored to use again. The Carolina Theater Preservation Association (CTPA) was founded for this purpose.
Guests and members
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