EDGAR
L. BILL
(circa)
1900
To Edgar L. Bill goes the credit for arranging to produce and have a program of “down-home” tunes broadcast from Station WLS in Chicago, Illinois, of which Bill was the director. Having lived on a farm, he knew how people loved the familiar old-time music and the informal spirit of a good old-fashioned barn dance. His first broadcast was a impromptu sustaining program production. An avalanche of telephone calls and letters indicated a definite demand from the public for this type of broadcast, and the “Barn Dance Concept” was born.
During the years that followed Mr. Bill kept on building a bigger and better show until it included a cast of over 100 people, entertainers, picker’s and grinner’s and became one of the most popular radio programs in the country. In 1932 Bill and J.O Maland (then commercial manager of WLS Radio) took the “Barn Dance concept” to WHO 50,000 watt radio station in Des Moines, Iowa and with the encouragement of COL. B.J. Palmer, then president of Central Broadcasting Company, created the “WHO Barn Dance Frolic” which later became the “Iowa Barn Dance Frolic”. J.O. Maland became Vice President of Central Broadcasting Company and Edgar L. Bill, became President of WMPD Radio in Peoria, Illinois. Mr. Bill was certainly a visionary, and his for-sight brought forth the first art form broadcasting promotion concept of old-time traditional country music. Many stations were made to realize, that the most successful plan of broadcasting and having people listen to it, was to give the listening public what they really wanted to hear, rather than try to make people like whatever stations happen to broadcast. I think you would have to agree that Edgar L. Bill was the original producer, promoter, creator of old time traditional country music, an art form which millions of listeners still enjoy today.
Credits and Acknowledgements
For writing, editing, researching, documentation of history:
Harold
L. Luick, Historian, Curator.
CMSI
Museum, Library, Hall Of Fame
Janet
Weaver, Contributing Historian
© 2004 CMSI- Iowa/Midwest Country Music
Heritage Museum, Library, Hall Of Fame, Harold L. Luick, Author/Publisher.
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