A big band remote (aka dance band remote ) was a remote broadcast, popular on radio during the 1930s and 1940s, involving a coast-to-coast live transmission of a big band.
As early as 1923, listeners could tune in The Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra. The Oriole Orchestra (Dan Russo and Ted Fio Rito) was performing at Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel when they did their first radio remote broadcast on March 29 , 1924 , and two years later, they opened the famous Aragon Ballroom in July 1926, doing radio remotes nationally from both the Aragon and the Trianon ballrooms. In 1929, after Rudy Vallée's Orchestra vacated Manhattan's Heigh-Ho Club to do a movie in Hollywood, Will Osborne's dance band found fame with a nationwide audience due to radio remotes from the Heigh-Ho. By 1930, Ben Bernie was heard in weekly remotes from Manhattan's Roosevelt Hotel. On November 24, 1937, Glenn Miller did a remote on NBC from Boston's Raymor Ballroom on Huntington Avenue (one block from Symphony Hall).
Broadcasts were usually transmitted by the major radio networks directly from hotels, ballrooms, restaurants and clubs. During World War II, the remote locations expanded to include military bases and defense plants. Band remotes mostly originated in major cities, including Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Chicago. The Chicago broadcasts featured bands headed by Count Basie, Frankie Carle, Duke Ellington, Jan Garber, Jerry Gray, Woody Herman, Earl Hines, Eddy Howard (from the Aragon Ballroom), Dick Jurgens, Kay Kyser (from the Blackhawk Restaurant), Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra (from the Blackhawk), Ted Weems, Shep Fields (from the Palmer House) and Griff Williams.
The usual procedure involved the network sending a two-man team, announcer and engineer, with remote radio equipment to a designated location. The announcer would open with music behind an introduction:
Artie Shaw's many remote broadcasts included the Rose Room of Boston's Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Blue Room of New York's Hotel Lincoln was the location of his only regular radio series as headliner. Sponsored by Old Gold cigarettes, Shaw broadcast on CBS from November 20 , 1938 until November 14 , 1939 . Before he launched Sun Records, Sam Phillips ran regular big band remotes with the Chuck Foster orchestra and others from the Peabody Hotel Skyway Ballroom in Memphis, Tennessee. The tradition continued into the 1950s with jazz club remotes on NBC's Monitor by Al Hibbler and others.
Bands heard on 1930s-40s radio remotes
- Desi Arnaz
- Gus Arnheim
- Charlie Barnet (from the Brown Hotel in Denver)
- Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra (from the Blackhawk Restaurant),
- Count Basie (from Kansas City's Reno Club, the Famous Door in New York and California's Palomar Ballroom)
- Bunny Berigan
- Cab Calloway (from the Savoy Ballroom)
- Bob Chester
- Larry Clinton
- Francis Craig (from the Belle Meade Country Club in Nashville)
- Bob Crosby
- Tommy Dorsey (from the Glen Island Casino)
- Roy Eldridge
- Duke Ellington (from the London Palladium in the UK)
- Skinnay Ennis (from the Statler Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles)
- Shep Fields (from the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles and the Palmer House in Chicago)
- Jan Garber (from the Blue Room of the Hotel Roosevelt in New Orleans)
- Benny Goodman (from the Hotel New Yorker)
- Glen Gray
- Phil Harris (from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu)
- Harry James (from the Hollywood Palladium)
- Stan Kenton
- Andy Kirk
- Gene Krupa (from The Roof of the Hotel Astor in Manhattan)
- Kay Kyser (from the Blackhawk Restaurant)
- Freddy Martin (from the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles)
- Ray McKinley
- Glenn Miller (from the Cafe Rouge of New York's Pennsylvania Hotel and Boston's Raymor Ballroom)
- Ozzie Nelson (from New York's Lexington Hotel)
- Will Osborne (from the Heigh-Ho Club in New York)
- Tony Pastor (from the Century Room of the Hotel Adolphus in Dallas)
- Jan Savitt
- Barney Rapp with vocalist Doris Day (from Rapp's own club, The Sign of the Drum, in Cincinnati, Ohio)
- Bobby Sherwood (from Camp Atterbury, Indiana),
- Jack Teagarden
- Orrin Tucker (from Elitch's Gardens in Denver)
- Chick Webb.
Sources
- Ansbro, George. I Have a Lady in the Balcony . McFarland, 2000.
References
- ^ Thompson, E.D. More Nashville Nostalgia . Westview Publishing, 2004.
- ^ Orgill, Roxane. Dream Lucky: When FDR Was in the White House, Count Basie Was on the Radio, and Everyone Wore a Hat . Smithsonian Books/Collins, 2008.
- ^ Harrison, Jennifer. Elvis As We Knew Him , iUniverse, 2003
- ^ Monitor
- ^ Music & Big Bands
Listen to
- Big Band/Swing Internet Broadcast schedules
- Live365: Big Band Remote Internet stream
- Big Band Remotes in The Internet Archive's Old-Time Radio Collection
- Cab Calloway music remote from New Zanzibar (NYC) interrupted by VJ Day report (1:50am, August 14, 1945)
- Wisconsin Public Radio: New Year's Eve remotes (December 31, 1945)
- WKHR (Cleveland, Ohio)
- Big Band Remote
External links
- Antique Radios: Big band remotes project
- "The Nineteenth Floor"
Royal Grove Hotel (Honolulu, HI) - reviews, hotel photos, videos ...
Royal Grove Hotel Review (151 Uluniu Ave, Honolulu, HI, USA, (808) 923-7691) - area map, nearby attractions, driving directions and current weather in Honolulu, Hawaii.
Royal Grove Hotel - Honolulu, HI
Category: Hotels [Edit] 151 Uluniu Ave Honolulu, HI 96815 (808) 923-7691
Royal Grove Hotel Review | Honolulu and Oahu | Fodor's Hotel Reviews ...
Read the Fodor's review of Royal Grove Hotel, or post your own.
Royal Grove Hotel, Honolulu Hotels : Reviews of Royal Grove Hotel ...
67. Hotel Class: 151 Uluniu Ave Honolulu, HI 96815 Phone: 808-923-7691. Repeat visitors laud the hospitable staff and attentive service at this family-owned hotel.
Amenities for Royal Grove Hotel, Honolulu - Yahoo! Travel
Repeat visitors laud the hospitable staff and attentive service at this family-owned hotel. The pleasant lobby has a reading corner and card tables set up for guests.
Royal Grove Hotel (Honolulu, HI) - Hotel Reviews - TripAdvisor
Royal Grove Hotel, Honolulu: See 137 traveler reviews, 79 candid photos, and great deals for Royal Grove Hotel, ranked #34 of 102 hotels in Honolulu and rated 4 of 5 at TripAdvisor
Royal Grove Hotel - HotelGuide Profile of Royal Grove Hotel in ...
Rated 3.40 out of 5 by HotelGuide readers. Royal Grove Hotel: This is HotelGuide.Network's Profile of Royal Grove Hotel. You Can Read and Write Reviews About the Property or ...
Royal Grove Hotel, Waikiki, Hawaii - The best hotel value in Honolulu ...
Small, family-owned hotel with a pool and 24 hour desk service: room rates and descriptions, map, pictures, and contact information.
Royal Grove Hotel, Waikiki, Hawaii - The best hotel value in Honolulu ...
Royal Grove Hotel, in the heart of Waikiki, Hawaii! Hawaii hotel honolulu rental hotel in Honolulu Hawaii vacation Waikiki hotel hotel in Waikiki Honolulu hotel vacation to ...
Royal Grove Hotel, Hotel on Oahu, Honolulu, Waikiki
Hotel on Oahu (Honolulu - Waikiki Beach) Royal Grove Hotel. An old standby in this part of town, this is one of the prettiest of Waikiki's small hotels.