''Moon River'' was a long-running late-night American radio program which originated from

WLW WLW (700 AM) is a commercial news/talk radio station licensed to Cincinnati, Ohio. Owned by iHeartMedia, WLW is a clear-channel station, often identifying itself as The Big One. WLW operates with around the clock. Its daytime signal provides ...

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

. A combination of soft, "dreamy" music and romantic poetry set to organ accompaniment, the program aired from 1930 to 1970.

History

Described as "one of the few programs designed to put people to sleep" by onetime announcer Bill Myers, ''Moon River'' was created by writer

Ed Byron Ed Byron (born Edward Armour Byron, "Society" ''The Kansas City Star''. October 1905 - November 21, 1964) was an American radio and television producer — "a pioneer in radio dramatic production". Biography The oldest of three children born to ...

at the behest of WLW station owner Powel Crosley, Jr., who ordered the writer to come up with a poetry show which could accommodate the station's new organ. Retreating to a speakeasy with violinist Virginio Marucci, Byron sketched out some notes, including his original poem that opened the show. At one point, Marucci began playing

Fritz Kreisler Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler (February 2, 1875 – January 29, 1962) was an Austrian-born American violinist and composer. One of the most noted violin masters of his day, and regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time, he was known ...

's "Caprice Viennois," a piece which Byron's poem brought to mind. Both the poem and the musical piece would open the program for its entire forty-year history. A show with a loyal following over the years, ''Moon River'' was canceled by WLW in 1953 in an effort to modernize the schedule, but revived the next summer due to continued listener outcry. In the decade after the program's final broadcast in 1970, a series of Moon River concerts were held in Cincinnati which recreated the program in front of a live audience. In 1969, the show was cut back to Saturday nights only, due to conflicts with the

Cincinnati Royals The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...

and the fact that Jim LaBarbara's contemporary music show aired from 7 pm to midnight. A Cincinnati Enquirer article from 1970 said that the show had ended shortly thereafter. In 1995,

WMKV WMKV (89.3 FM) is a radio station in Reading, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Cincinnati. It is the first FM educational public radio station to be licensed to a retirement community and also streams live via webcast. Operating from the campus ...

revived it, with Myers as narrator, for a four-year run.

Personnel

Many performers passed through ''Moon River'' over the years. The following is only a partial list.

Announcers

* Arthur R. Ainsworth Cincinnati Enquirer September 18, 1953 - Obituary * Bob Brown (the first narrator, c. 1930) * Don Dowd * Cecil Hale *

Harry Holcombe Harry John Holcombe (November 11, 1906 - September 15, 1987) was an American actor and radio director. He was perhaps best remembered as the grandfather in the Country Time commercials, playing the role for almost a decade. Holcombe also played ...

Jay Jostyn Jay Jostyn (December 13, 1901 – June 25, 1976) was an actor in the era of old-time radio. He is best known for portraying the title role in ''Mr. District Attorney'' on radio.DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical D ...

* Jimmy Leonard * Ken Linn * Bill Myers * Peter Grant * Palmer Ward * Charles Woods * Steve Ziegler

Vocalists

* Phil Brito * Barbara Cameron *

Janette Davis Dorothy Janette Marguerite Davis (1916–2005) was a 20th-century American pop singer, noted particularly for her work for Arthur Godfrey. Biography Davis was born November 2, 1916, in Memphis, Tennessee, the eldest of eight children. Her full na ...

* Allison Lerer *

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress, singer, and activist. She began her career as a big band singer in 1939, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, " Sent ...

* The DeVore Sisters (Marjorie, Billie, and Ruth) *

Rosemary ''Salvia rosmarinus'' (), commonly known as rosemary, is a shrub with fragrant, evergreen, needle-like leaves and white, pink, purple, or blue flowers, native plant, native to the Mediterranean Region, Mediterranean region. Until 2017, it was kn ...

and Betty Clooney * Anita Ellis *

Lucille Norman Lucille Norman (born Lucille Pharaby Boileau, June 15, 1921 – April 1, 1998) was an American mezzo-soprano, radio personality, and stage and film actress active in the 1940s and 1950s. Early life Norman was born Lucille Pharaby Boileau in ...

* Juanita Vastine aka Sweet Georgia Brown * Ruby Wright

Organists

* Charles M. "Pat" Gillick (the first organist, c. 1930){{Citation , last = Sachs , first = Bill , title = Talent Topics , journal = Billboard , volume = 74 , issue = 45 , pages = 64 , date = November 10, 1962 , url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SRgEAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22Moon+River+radio%22&pg=PA64 *

Fats Waller Thomas Wright "Fats" Waller (May 21, 1904 – December 15, 1943) was an American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer. His innovations in the Harlem stride style laid much of the basis for modern jazz pi ...

(c. 1932–1934) * Lee Erwin (1933–1944) * Herschel Luecke (1950's)

References

External links

1940s-era ''Moon River''
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

.
The Moon River Organ

Article about ''Moon River'' revival
at KSVY, Sonoma, CA 1930 radio programme debuts 1970 radio programme endings American classical music radio programs 1930s American radio programs 1940s American radio programs 1950s American radio programs 1960s American radio programs Music of Cincinnati