The Fred Waring Show (radio program)


The Fred Waring Show is an American old-time radio musical variety program. It was broadcast in a variety of time slots from February 8, 1933, until October 4, 1957, and was heard at different times on ABC, CBS, NBC, and the Blue Network. The program was sometimes called Chesterfield Time or Pleasure Time.
Musician Fred Waring starred in the shows, which featured his orchestra and chorus. An article in the trade publication Broadcasting described Waring's programs on radio as featuring "friendly banter with his crew, plus renditions of old-time favorite songs and ballads by the chorus and vocalists."
The program's producers through the years included Tom Bennett. Announcers included Paul Douglas and Bill Bivens.
Waring's programs were usually broadcast from the Shawnee Inn in Shawnee on Delaware, Pennsylvania, a facility that he acquired and renamed, transforming the venue into the center of his musical activities.

Versions

Waring's broadcasts were heard on the schedule shown in the table below.
Beginning DateEnding DateNetworkDaySponsor
February 8, 1933January 31, 1934CBSWednesdayOld Gold cigarettes
February 4, 1934December 29, 1936CBSvarious daysFord Motor Company
January 17, 1936December 25, 1936BlueFridayFord Motor Company
October 8, 1938March 4, 1939NBCSaturdayBromo Quinine
June 19, 1939June 9, 1944NBCweekdaysChesterfield cigarettes
September 7, 1944May 31, 1945BlueThursday--------
June 4, 1945July 8, 1949NBCweekdays American Meat Company,
Florida Citrus Growers
June 18, 1946September 24, 1946NBCTuesdayJohnson's Wax
June 24, 1947September 30, 1947NBCTuesdayJohnson's Wax
June 7, 1948September 29, 1948NBCMondays and Wednesdays Johnson's Wax
October 6,1947September 29, 1949NBCMondays
Thursdays 		General Electric
July 16, 1949July 22, 1950NBCSaturdayMinnesota Canning Company
October 1, 1956March 15, 1957ABCweekdays --------
April 9, 1957October 4, 1957ABCweekdays--------

Source: On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio

Transcriptions for Ford

In 1935, Ford Motor Company used transcriptions from Waring's CBS broadcasts to promote the new 1935 Ford V8 automobile. The World Broadcasting System produced three 15-minute transcriptions for distribution to 300 radio stations vial local Ford dealers.
Those transcriptions were key in establishing a musical artist's legal rights with regard to recordings of performances. In 1939, A United States District court in North Carolina granted Waring an injunction against using a transcription without his authorization. Waring had sued Richard Austin Dunlea, who owned radio station WMFD in Wilmington, North Carolina, after the station broadcast an excerpt from a transcription despite the station's not being designated for use of the transcription. Judge Isaac M. Meekins' ruling said, in part: "Complainant has a property right in his performance. Complainant by mental labor creates something which is the subject of sale... It is his work, his property..."
The ruling in North Carolina followed a similar decision in Pennsylvania, in which a state court said that radio station WDAS had to have Waring's permission to broadcast recordings that he had made.

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