Old Radio Times the Official Publication of the Old-Time Radio Researchers
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The Old Radio Times The Official Publication of the Old-Time Radio Researchers June 2009 www.otrr.org [email protected] 2185 Subscribers Number 43 Radio’s Dairy Maid 1 Radio’s Dairy Maid Jack French © 2009 Revisiting OTR 4 Promotional So how many network radio shows do you Photos 5 know that were 15 minutes long, had only two Twilight Zone 7 actors, and sold a lot of cheese for over Cure for Insomnia seventeen years? Until this year, I knew of 8 none. But on a recent DVD circulated by the Radio out of the Old Time Radio Researchers (Distro # 39), I Past 9 was treated to what is apparently the sole surviving audio copy of just such a program; History of WMAQ, Pt. 7 11 it’s called Tillamook Kitchen . Wistful Vistas 12 As I listened to it for the first time, I heard its two participants, Benny Walker and the June Tillamook Dairy Maid, Nancy Parker, and I Contributors was intrigued by its unusual format. It consisted of two thirds recipe banter, Jim Beshires internet search that took one minute. The firm, highlighting the products of Tillamook County Bob Burnham with the same name, is very much in business Creamery Association, and a middle third Ryan Ellett with headquarters at 4185 Highway 101 North Jack French which was a dramatic sketch. The whole in Tillamook, OR. Using “Contact Us” I sent Tom Gootee program was bare bones . no music, no an email to them inquiring about the show and Ned Norris announcer, and only a couple of sound effects. got a prompt response from Jennifer Cobos in It was basically two seasoned pros, switching their consumers relations department. She said Edited by Ryan Ellett seamlessly from sparkling kitchen banter to they sponsored a radio series through the 30s serious drama and then back again. Distributed by Jim and 40s with at least two different women Except for its mention that it was a weekly Beshires playing “Dairy Maid” at different times. Saturday show, the show bore no evidence of Cobos agreed to send copies of whatever its date, but after listening to it a few more pertinent items they could find in their times, a few more clues were gleaned. With its archives. In turn I sent them an audio copy of references to a potato salad for Memorial Day the show I had, since none had been retained and telling listeners to send in a “penny by that dairy company. postcard” for a recipe folder, one would In a later email, Cobos said she had assume it aired on a Saturday in May in the determined that Benny Walker (his real name) early 40s. The potato salad included cheese was a spokesperson for Tillamook on radio, in “as a protein substitute for meat” which was magazine ads, and at some company events. common practice during World War II. But The two “Dairy Maids” were Beth Dawson, what was this dairy company, how long did first, and later Nancy Parker. Whether these they sponsor this show, and were they still in were their real names or ones assigned to them existence? by Tillamook has not yet been verified. The last question was answered in an The Old Radio Times * June 2009 * Number 43 1 In the meantime, a fellow radio researcher, Jim transcribed music. There are still some important details Widner, has scoured newspapers on the Internet for for future radio historians to uncover, but obviously the references to the Tillamook radio programs. He found sponsor was very satisfied with the program and kept it on several references dating back to 1936 and the last network radio for almost two decades. mention he found was dated November 1948. All the programs were a quarter hour each, aired in late morning, either Thursday or Saturday, and were broadcast by NBC on the west coast. About a week later, a package for me arrived from Chandra Allen at Tillamook headquarters in Oregon, containing copies of about a dozen documents, photos, and advertisements, most from the 1930s. A Tillamook press release dated June 1, 1931 establishes that their radio program was then airing from 3:15 to 3:30 pm over six west coast CBS affiliates: KOL, Seattle, KOIN, Portland, KFPY, Spokane, KVI, Tacoma, KFRC, San Francisco, and KMJ, Los Angeles. However the press release does not identity the cast nor the exact name of the program. The next document of interest is a Tillamook press release from 1933 which announces that their program entitled “The Tillamook Dairy Maid” would be moving on January 6th from CBS to NBC. It indicated the show would air each Friday at 11:10 am over the following five west coast NBC stations: KFI, Los Angeles, KHQ, Spokane, KGW, Portland, KOMO, Seattle/Tacoma, and KGO, San Francisco. The release also stated that the show would feature Benny Walker, Anne Holden, and the Magazine Methodist Orchestra. Two similar magazine advertisements from 1937, prepared by the advertising firm of Botsford, Constantine & Gardner, contain recipes using Tillamook Cheese and the call letters of the five NBC stations airing the show. A photo of Beth Dawson is at the top of one of them while Benny Walker is on the other. There is also an undated advertisement from the 1940s showing a woman putting a tasty dish into the oven; it has a listing for the seven NBC Pacific coast stations airing the program “Benny Walker and the Tillamook Dairy Maid” at 10 am on Saturdays. So what can we conclude about this program of which we have only one surviving copy? We know the show began as early as 1931 and was still on the air in 1948 so it had logged at least seventeen years. There were probably three different women who played the Dairy Maid: they used the names of Anne Holden, Beth Dawson, and Nancy Parker, but we don’t necessarily know their real names. We can be confident that Benny Walker was on the program from as early as 1933 until it went off the air in the late 40s. Obviously the program format changed somewhat over the years; it had a full orchestra in 1933 and by the 40s did not even have Host Benny Walker The Old Radio Times * June 2009 * Number 43 2 The Old Radio Times * June 2009 * Number 43 3 Re-Introduction and Revisiting OTR: and the newest crop of on-line vendors were not around when thousands of cassettes and reel to reel tapes were An OTR columnist from the past takes a peek sent by mail. The cycle continues. into the trends and shares some insight into the Meantime, enough people discovered that MP3 copies future of OTR are really good “cheap” entertainment. At least Bob Burnham that’s what someone wrote on the internet who discovered shows who had no idea of the extent of There is a temptation to ramble about the old-time OTR’s development. radio hobby – “the way it was” 10 or 20 or 30 years ago. Yet I have customers who write to me who simply I have been around since the 1970s writing about and WON’T make the shift from cassette. It’s the nature of promoting old-time radio programming. Like a few humans resisting change, even though a CD player that others, I literally grew up with fellow collectors with old- also plays MP3 discs is probably a $50 investment or a time radio as a central point of my life (along with all dedicated MP3 player costs a mere $20. A “good” technical stuff from the past and present). cassette deck 20 years ago could easily drain $200-300 You can see all my ramblings, tech tips, and what not from your wallet. So why NOT make the switch? On preserved in the archived issues of Collectors’ Corner, the other hand, why can’t I still support cassettes? Radio Currents, and (eventually) The Golden Years of Practicality and sound business management come into Radio & TV and Listening Guide Newsletter. I also play here. wrote a column in almost every issue of NARA News in The reality is I DID do both cassette and CD (and its’ latter days while it still existed. If you go back MP3) for a while, but given the choice, people bought further, I was a “regular” in the Buffalo club’s Illustrated the CD version. The demand is overwhelmingly for the Press and even a couple times in SPERDVAC’s digital format. It is simply not economical to continue Radiogram. Both club publications are still open for supporting cassette. The same thing happened when business I’m very happy to note. cassette demand caused reel-to-reel tapes to be phased We all go through various phases and I was lucky out. DVD video has made VHS tapes obsolete, and the enough to ride the tide when OTR was enjoying its peak. same thing is now happening with “Blue Ray” discs I was one of the people involved in old-time radios’print replacing standard DVD. After that, removable media media “back in the day.” will start to disappear altogether. In fact it has already The Old Time Radio Researchers organization is started happening with full-length movies being available happily preserving our work. At the time, we took the old to be legally downloaded, and more freebie OTR radio show collecting newsletter concept to that of a download sites that I would care to admit. magazine. One particular OTR vendor we all knew and loved Writing and publishing for OTR led to many other “hung in there” with cassettes until the very end.