Unpaid Radio Station Endorsement #3
December 31st, 2010 | 
Author: 
Ever wanted to follow the evolution of swing bands prior to the big band era? Do yourself a favor and give this station a listen. Most of the selections are from the era leading up to the polished big band sound, and every now and then you get a chance to hear some of the big stars in their infancy.
On the early side, you get pure 1920′s ragtime, and on the late side you get Bing and a little Sinatra. The time in between is fascinating – a very young Judy Garland is doing “Swing Mr. Charlie” right now. Right before that was a Milky Way commercial from what sounds like the late 30′s. The playlist is really long.
Caution: Rant: In the ragtime bands and through the mid 30′s, there were baritones (euphoniums) in many of the bands, with feature solos. At some point they got dumped. Shameful…. Shameful….
For most of my work week, I switch off between this station on Live365 and a Django Reinhardt station on Pandora.
UPDATE: Check out the Cladrite Radio Blog at www.CladriteRadio.Com.
Enjoy!
Posted in Other Stuff
Thanks for the kind words, Jim. You described our station pretty darned well. We do play some of the great big band stuff of the forties, as well, and a little bit of early ’50s stuff, but our focus is on the 1920s and ’30s. And as you alluded to, we do have a lengthy playlist of more than 26 hours that we update regularly, so as to keep our listeners’ toes a-tapping.
We also have a blog that explores all aspects of the popular culture of the first half of the 19th century that we encourage your readers to check out.
Here’s wishing you and yours (and your readers, too, of course) all the best in the new year.