Radio in Nebraska in the 20s and 30s

Orson Welles "War of the Worlds Broadcast." (Courtesy photo)

In the 1930s there was no television in Nebraska (it did not make an appearance in the Midwest until the late 1940s, after the end of World War II). There was no Internet, with its myriad of entertainment options. What we had was the library, our movie theaters, and a few (just a few) AM radio stations. Radio was by far the most popular entertainment media. It was free, and it was good. Today, it is difficult to imagine the impact that radio played in our lives in the 1930s.

Radio came upon the world scene in 1912 and played a big factor in the communications of the armies in World War I, but never was used for entertainment until the 1920s. When commercial radio first appeared it was accepted as something of a miracle -- people could talk, or sing to us, over a good many miles. School boys sent away for kits, with which they could put together a crystal radio for themselves, and pick up stations maybe 25 miles away. Adults listened on battery powered tube radios, and listened with ear phones. In our family we had a rather eccentric cousin who listened so much that he developed calluses on his ears. He kept a log of each station he had reached, where he had found it on the dial, and the program that he had picked up. He carried that notebook with him at all times, and produced it on the least provocation to brag about the cities he had picked up on his radio.

Originally station call letter beginning with K and W were used indiscriminately in the US, but after 1923 it was decided that stations West of the Mississippi River would use the letter K, and stations East of the Mississippi would use W. Today we have choose from a large number of stations, but in the 1930s and 40s, in Northeast Nebraska, we listened almost exclusively to three pioneer stations (which were allowed to keep their original call letters) WOW, Omaha, WJAG, Norfolk, and WNAX, at Yankton, SD, all of which are still going strong..

The 3rd Floor of the Gurney Seed Co. was WNAX first home. (Courtesy photo)

At Plainview we got excellent reception from Yankton's WNAX (North American Radio EXperiment) AM 570. WNAX had gotten its start in 1922, and was soon taken over by the Gurney Seed and Nursery Company. The story goes that Mr. D.B. Gurney heard about the big gains that his competitor, Field's Nursery of Shenendoah, Iowa, was making using a radio station to promote his Nursery. Gurney decided he could do the same, so he bought WNAX, for $2,000, and moved it to the third floor of his seed store. He was a good business man and had a folksy manner on the air. The result was a real boom in the seed and nursery business over a wide area of South Dakota, Nebraska, and Iowa. He parlayed the seed business into one of the area's first superstores, promoting groceries, dry goods, jewelry, and medicine, as well as seed and nursery stock. The store even housed hair dressers and barbers, who offered on air fashion tips and beauty secrets. He was honest, and good products and good service ensured his success -- in contrast to many hucksters and charlatans who preyed on a gullible public in that age.

One Gurney innovation that made the station popular was the WNAX Studio Band, which performed live from 5:30 a.m. to 7 a.m., every morning, and appeared at area celebrations. Lawrence Welk got his start at WNAX. It was said that Mr. Gurney paid Welk little or nothing (or the others who followed him) -- the radio exposure ensured dance engagements for the band. Welk and his band played at local dance venues in the Plainview area for the 10 years that he remained at the station. A dear lady at Plainview, whose father owned a huge barn and used the second floor of the barnfor dances most Saturday nights, proudly recalled, shortly before she died, that Lawence Welk taught her to polka at a Saturday night dance at their barn.

Even into the 1950s WNAX had a station Country Band, which brought early morning Cowboy songs and cornball jokes to their listeners. At the bakery in Plainview, that band ensured that the bakery radio was always tuned to 570 at 5:30 a.m.

Music Man Lawrence Welk got his first big break at WNAX. (Courtesy photo)

In addition to the WNAX early morning musicians, the station had other radio personalities, who became celebrities. "The Neighbor Lady" offered daily household tips and folksy homespun philosophy -- she was a regular on WNAX for 64 years! George B. German, originally a cowboy singer at WNAX, later turned to reporting for the station. He roamed the WNAX coverage area talking with farmers, business men and local characters. His celebrity was such that he was invited to be the speaker at high school commencements.

WJAG Norfolk -- originally 1110 AM, until they sold that spot on the radio dial to KFAB, Lincoln, so that KFAB could go to 50,000 watts and move its operation to Omaha. WJAG originally (in 1924) billed itself as "The Voice of the Norfolk Daily News." Its first radio personality was Karl Stefan, an editor at the News, who offered market reports, weather, and ag related updates to his listeners. He served in this capacity until 1935, when he was first elected as US Congressman from Nebraska's Third District, a position he served for many years.

WJAG initially had a studio band and featured local choral groups and barbershop quartets. These were popular, but what I remember especially was a local DJ who played songs that were very popular with teen agers. He delighted his listeners with quips and funny stories between songs. His popularity was such that one of the late 30s Senior classes at Plainview voted to take their Senior Skip day to Norfolk, so that they could watch this fellow spin his records live from the studio on the mezzanine at the Norfolk Hotel. The studio obliged the class by setting up folding chairs outside the glass enclosed studio. (Seniors were more easily entertained in the 1930s than they are today.)

Nurseryman D. B. Gurney, founder of Radio WNAX. (Courtesy photo)

Local radio personalities garnered quite a following in the 30s and 40s. WOW Omaha (AM 590) had a noontime radio program, which broadcast from downtown Omaha, at 16h and Farnam. This was an interview program, where the host asked opinions on news topics of the day from passersby on that busy corner. The radio man was a gregarious type, and was always introduced with, "Take it Away, Foster May!" He had other news related programs, but his Man on the Street program launched his career, making him a popular figure throughout WOW land. At the height of his popularity he made a bid for a US Senate seat. He ran an energetic campaign, but lost that race. The buzz afterwards said that he would have won, but for the fact that he ran on the wrong ticket.

During the Foster May era at WOW, my dad was attending a convention in Omaha and happened to be chosen to be on Foster May's Man on the Street program. The two bantered a bit on some current topic of the day. That's all there was to it, but Foster May's celebrity was such that the editor of the Plainview News had an item in the paper the next week describing how a local man (my dad) had been chosen to give his opinion on an important issue of the day on WOW's Foster May Man on the Street program. Big Deal!

In the 1930s we took our radio seriously. Nowhere is this more clearly illustrated than the 1938 broadcast of Orson Welle's Mercury Theater Halloween program, entitled "War of the Worlds." In that program, Welles presented H.G. Wells' story about the invasion of New York City by Martians, as a series of "News Bulletins" about the invasion. The program was done without the interruption of commercial messages, and was done with great realism. People panicked, and police departments all across the Eastern Seaboard were swamped with calls worrying about "The Invasion." Welles received a good bit of criticism for fooling the American public, but there is no doubt that it was a key part of making him a superstar.