Oklahoma Musicians and
The Broadcast Frontier
Chapter Six:Where are you going, where have you been?
As the land-based frontier
ended, a technological frontier developed to replace it. Like the existence of
free land to the land-based frontier, broadcasting technology provides the foundation
for many of the unique qualities of American culture that exist today. Despite
Turner's and Webb's predictions about America's unique qualities dissipating with
the closing of the land-based frontier, technology has enabled American culture
to remain dynamic and continue expanding.
For the first 30 years after Oklahoma was opened for settlement, entertainment,
like most things on the frontier, was simple. During Oklahoma's early days, entertainment
was by necessity almost exclusively homegrown. If families desired music in their
home, they bought a piano for a family member to play in the parlor. One of the
children might learn the guitar, fiddle, or banjo by watching his or her kinfolk
play at the Saturday night musicals or barn dances. Ultimately, most folks would
grow up, court their spouse, marry, and be buried all to the accompaniment of
live music.
In Oklahoma's early days, entertainment was mostly musical, and music was almost
entirely amateur. A few who were talented and adventurous enough might have managed
to scratch out a living as a minstrel show, medicine show, or bawdy house performer.
Very few saw music as a viable and permanent means of employment. Despite the
lack of job opportunities, for that seems to have been irrelevant, few families
were without at least one skilled musician and few houses were without live music.
City dwellers in early Oklahoma had a few more entertainment choices. Amusement
parks like Oklahoma City's Belle Isle or Delmar Gardens were popular entertainment
centers. Local theaters and arenas featured vaudeville acts, silent movies, "girly
show" performers like the Darby Sisters and Ruby Keeler, and exhibition races
by Barney Oldfeild. Despite the often primitive conditions of early Oklahoma cities,
empressarios such as Hathaway Harper managed to bring nationally prominent stars
like Al Jolson, W.C. Fields, and Boxer John L. Sullivan to local stages.[1]
Technology changed entertainment for all Oklahomans. For Oklahoma and the rest
of the world, the early 1920s signaled the beginning of radio as an entertainment
medium; radio programming was almost entirely live and entirely local. In these
early days of radio, local station owners were more concerned with how far their
signal reached than with how much money they could make. As a result, the 1920s
were a period of remarkable creativity. Radio stations were likely to broadcast
almost anyone willing to stand in front of the microphone. The 1930s--during which
the broadcast industry was organized, professional, and profitable--marked the
beginning of live network broadcasting. Despite the ability of most stations to
carry the network programs live, all Oklahoma stations continued to include a
significant number of original programs featuring local talent. The access to
radio allowed many musicians to expand their audiences into the larger and more
profitable national market.
By the late 1940s, however, television began its ascendancy as the primary broadcasting
medium. Television's early days mirrored the unfettered creativity and adventurous
experimentation of early radio. Out of necessity, each television station invented
its own programs and programming style to suit its particular audience or the
interests of its owner. This period of experimentation was briefer than that of
radio; within ten years, Oklahoma television was dominated by programs originating
from the East and West Coasts. Despite the rapid adaptation of Eastern-style programs,
many local musicians and performers rose to prominence during this period, and
the power of television allowed these performers to develop huge regional audiences.
During the 1950s, network radio died a slow death as its most popular programs
and personalities migrated to television. As the networks began to focus exclusively
on television, disc jockeys became the new kings of radio and the "Top 40"
format developed, largely standardizing radio programing nationally and eventually
squeezing local musicians off the airwaves. Similarly, in the 1960s, television
became the primary source of information and entertainment for all Americans,
and as the big networks gained a firm stranglehold on this vast audience, local
programming became limited almost entirely to news broadcasts.
The standardization of programming on radio and television effectively extinguished
local musicians' access to broadcasting. In the 1970s and 1980s, the broadcast
industry underwent a pattern of consolidation, with station ownership and management
becoming a national and global phenomenon. These mergers sounded the death knell
for local musicians' participation in the broadcast industry.
Musicians in Oklahoma have been profoundly affected by the vicissitudes of the
broadcast industry. In its early stages, the broadcast industry emphasized and
celebrated local culture. Musicians who were lucky enough to land a regular spot
on radio or television often managed to use this experience, and the public exposure
it afforded, to create substantial economic opportunities for themselves. In this
manner, Oklahoma radio stations operated as a farm club for the national radio
networks and recording industry. Performers began their careers and gained notoriety
on local broadcasting stations, and, after they achieved popularity in the local
market, national radio networks and recording companies actively sought them out.
For many Oklahoma performers, such as Gene Autry, Bob Wills, Patty Page, and Wanda
Jackson, programs on local radio and television led to successes in the recording,
film, and television industries. Others, not lucky or talented enough to expand
their audience beyond Oklahoma, used their radio or television shows to promote
successfully other business ventures such as furniture and music stores. Case
histories, several of which have been examined in this thesis, show that access
to radio and television locally played an essential role in performers' long-term
careers in music and other local business ventures.
The invention of various entertainment technologies--the phonograph, the radio,
and the television--changed forever how music is used as entertainment, how musicians
play, and how people experience music. A word such as "change" does
not begin to describe a phenomenon as revolutionary as broadcasting. Broadcasting
not only changed the world, but it also recreated it. The task of understanding
something that pervades almost every aspect of modern life to the degree that
broadcasting does is difficult if not impossible.
Despite this difficulty, one thing is certain: The opportunities for Oklahoma
musicians in radio and television developed in an immature industry. From 1919
until approximately 1960, most radio and television stations in Oklahoma were
locally owned and operated and many Oklahoma station owners took an active interest
in promoting local talent. After the 1970s, the broadcast industry underwent a
process of consolidation and centralization. As the broadcast industry matured,
local musicians were seen by management as a hindrance, rather than a boon, to
maintaining a radio or television station's profitability. In the broadcast industry
of today, there is little need or place for the local musician.
The impulse to create music is far stronger than the artificial boundaries put
in place by the broadcast industry. Because of music's irrepressible nature, Oklahoma
continues to nurture many thriving communities of musicians. Hundreds of Oklahomans
continue to make their living--however meager--by playing music. Of course, the
economic opportunities available to Oklahoma's musicians today bear little resemblance
to those of past generations who had access to radio and television. Despite the
poor prospects, most musicians continue play without regard to "hitting the
big time," and it is this impulse that is truly difficult, if not impossible,
to understand.
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Copyright
(c) Kelly Raines 1995turn to
Notes: Chapter 6
[1] Earl Overholser interview.
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