WWVA Jamboree
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| Radio show from Wheeling, West Virginia | |
| publication | 1933 - today |
| production | WWVA |
| Contributors | |
| Moderation | Felix Adams (1933) |
The WWVA Jamboree is an American country program broadcast on the WWVA radio station in Wheeling , West Virginia . The WWVA Jamboree began in 1933 and is still on the air today. The program consists of performances by various country musicians and sketches.
history
Beginnings
At the end of 1932, program director George W. Smith made the proposal to host a Saturday night live show, as had already been shown successfully on WSM or WLS. The WWVA Jamboree went on air for the first time on the evening of January 7, 1933. The first broadcast was held in the WWVA studio with five artists: Fred Craddocks's Happy Five , Ginger, Snap & Sparky , the Tweedy Brothers and presenter and harmonica player Felix Adams. However, in the first few months there were no fixed broadcast times planned for the Jamborees, at first there were only a few issues that were broadcast in loose order. In March 1933, the show was brought to a fixed airtime, Saturday evenings.
Ascent
A month later, the WWVA Jamboree moved to the Capitol Theater due to the large number of visitors, which could accommodate up to 3200 spectators. But even the Capitol Theater was no longer sufficient a year later, so the company moved to the even larger Wheeling Market Auditorium. The entrance fee of 25 US cents was extremely cheap even then. By comparison, the Skillet Lickers took a dollar for adults on their tours ten years earlier. Early members of the show included Cowboy Loye, comedian Elmer Crowe, the Wheeling Weird Travelers and a young hillbilly musician named Marshall Jones, who later made a career as Grandpa Jones . In addition to commercial old-time music, the WWVA Jamboree also featured other musical genres, such as the Croatian Junior Tamburitza Orchestra , the Royal Serenaders and Earl Summers, Jr. and his Big Band.
A flood in 1936 interrupted the Jamborees' success for a short time, as the auditorium was needed to house the homeless. Six months after the flood, the show went back on the air and attracted 5,000 viewers for the opening show. In 1937 Doc Williams joined the show with his band, the Border Riders. Williams would become one of the most popular artists on the jamboree. At the same time Ramblin 'Tommy Scott and Slim Bryant had also joined the show.
Deposition and new beginning
A year after the USA entered World War II , the WWVA Jamboree was shut down on government orders for austerity measures. Most of the male members had previously been drafted into the army and were fighting overseas. The WWVA Jamboree was therefore postponed for three years and seemed to have been withdrawn forever. On July 13, 1946, another opening show was held at the Virginia Theater, this time with the young musician Hawkshaw Hawkins , among others . With the CBS system, the Jamboree was heard in almost all of America. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, country stars such as Wilma Lee & Stooney Cooper , Dusty Owens and Skeeter Davis were on the show and kept the show going. Unlike most shows of the 1950s, the WWVA Jamboree did not go under, but continued to be broadcast live with constant audience ratings. In 1965, under the direction of Lee Sutton, the show moved to the 3,000-seat Wheeling Island Exhibition Hall.
With regular members such as Mac Wiseman and Elton Britt , the line has now also been able to attract stars such as Johnny Cash , Merle Haggard , Conway Twitty and Buck Owens for performances. In 1969 the show moved again to the Capitol Theater, where it is still held today. Even if WWVA changed its program to a news broadcaster in the 1980s, the WWVA Jamboree was held, which continues to this day and is therefore the longest-running country show in the world after the WSM Grand Ole Opry . However, the WWVA Jamboree is now called Jamboree USA or The Wheeling Jamboree and the Capitol Theater has been renamed the Capitol Music Hall. Since January 3, 2009, the shows have returned to the Victoria Theater, where they had been held for some time in the 1930s.
Guests and members
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