A big band remote (a.k.a. dance band remote) was a

remote broadcast In broadcast engineering, a remote broadcast (usually just called a remote or a live remote, or in news parlance, a live shot) is broadcasting done from a location away from a formal television or radio studio and is considered an electronic fiel ...

, common on radio during the 1930s and 1940s, involving a coast-to-coast live transmission of a

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

Overview

Broadcasts were usually transmitted by the major

radio network There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass media, mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio (Duplex (teleco ...

s directly from hotels, ballrooms, restaurants and clubs. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, the remote locations expanded to include military bases and defense plants. Band remotes mostly originated in major cities, including Boston, Los Angeles, New York, Philadelphia, San Francisco and Chicago. The usual procedure involved the network sending a two-man team, announcer and engineer, with remote radio equipment to a designated location. The announcer would open with music behind an introduction:

Broadcast venues

The Chicago broadcasts featured bands headed by

Count Basie William James "Count" Basie (; August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. In 1935, he formed the Count Basie Orchestra, and in 1936 took them to Chicago for a long engagement and the ...

, Frankie Carle,

Duke Ellington Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D ...

, Jan Garber, Jerry Gray, Woody Herman,

Earl Hines Earl Kenneth Hines, also known as Earl "Fatha" Hines (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983), was an American jazz pianist and bandleader. He was one of the most influential figures in the development of jazz piano and, according to one source, " ...

, Eddy Howard (from the Aragon Ballroom), Dick Jurgens, Kay Kyser (from the Blackhawk Restaurant), Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra (from the Blackhawk), Ted Weems, Shep Fields (from the Palmer House - Empire Room) and Griff Williams.

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

's many remote broadcasts included the Rose Room of Boston's Ritz Carlton Hotel. The Blue Room of New York's Hotel Lincoln was the location of his only regular radio series as headliner. Sponsored by Old Gold cigarettes, Shaw broadcast on CBS from November 20, 1938 until November 14, 1939. Before he launched

Sun Records Sun Records is an American independent record label founded by producer Sam Phillips in Memphis, Tennessee on February 1, 1952. Sun was the first label to record Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich, Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, and Jo ...

, Sam Phillips ran regular big band remotes with the Chuck Foster orchestra and others from the Peabody Hotel Skyway Ballroom in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. The tradition continued into the 1950s with Ray Anthony doing band remotes on CBS in 1951-52. In the mid-1950s, NBC broadcast

jazz club A jazz club is a venue where the primary entertainment is the performance of live jazz music, although some jazz clubs primarily focus on the study and/or promotion of jazz-music. Jazz clubs are usually a type of nightclub or bar, which is licens ...

remotes on ''

Monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, Wes ...

'' featuring Howard Rumsey, Al Hibbler and others. As early as 1923, listeners could tune in the Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra. The Oriole Orchestra (Dan Russo and Ted Fio Rito) was performing at Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel when they did their first radio remote broadcast on March 29, 1924, and two years later, they opened the famous Aragon Ballroom in July 1926, doing radio remotes nationally from both the Aragon and the Trianon Ballrooms. In 1929, after

Rudy Vallée Hubert Prior Vallée (July 28, 1901 – July 3, 1986), known professionally as Rudy Vallée, was an American singer, saxophonist, bandleader, actor, and entertainer. He was the first male singer to rise from local radio broadcasts in New York Ci ...

's Orchestra vacated Manhattan's Heigh-Ho Club to do a movie in Hollywood, Will Osborne's dance band found fame with a nationwide audience due to radio remotes from the Heigh-Ho. That same year, Phil Spitalny and his orchestra broadcast on NBC from the Hotel Pennsylvania in New York. Starting in 1929,

Guy Lombardo Gaetano Alberto "Guy" Lombardo (June 19, 1902 – November 5, 1977) was a Canadian and American bandleader, violinist, and hydroplane racing, hydroplane racer whose unique "sweet jazz" style remained popular with audiences for nearly five decade ...

begin a series of annual New Year's Eve remote broadcasts of his "sweet" big-band music from several venues in New York City. Featuring his Royal Canadians Orchestra, Lombardo's performances continued for nearly half a century. From 1929 to 1959, his earliest broadcasts originated live on both the CBS and NBC radio networks from the Roosevelt Grill at the Roosevelt Hotel and were subsequently followed by both live radio and television broadcasts on the CBS network from the Ballroom at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel from 1959 until 1976. Due to the widespread popularity of these broadcasts Lombardo earned the nickname "Mr. New Year's Eve". By 1930,

Ben Bernie Benjamin Anzelevitz, known professionally as Ben Bernie (May 30, 1891 – October 20, 1943),DeLong, Thomas A. (1996). ''Radio Stars: An Illustrated Biographical Dictionary of 953 Performers, 1920 through 1960''. McFarland & Company, Inc. . P ...

was heard in weekly remotes from Manhattan's Roosevelt Hotel. On November 24, 1937,

Glenn Miller Alton Glen "Glenn" Miller (March 1, 1904 – December 15, 1944) was an American big band conductor, arranger, composer, trombonist, and recording artist before and during World War II, when he was an officer in the United States Army Air Forces ...

did a remote on NBC from

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

's Raymor Ballroom on Huntington Avenue (one block from Symphony Hall). On the west coast, '' Shep Fields and his Rippling Rhythm'' Orchestra could be heard in 1938 while broadcasting from the Los Angeles Biltmore Hotel after filming ''

The Big Broadcast of 1938 ''The Big Broadcast of 1938'' is a Paramount Pictures musical film, musical comedy film starring W. C. Fields and featuring Bob Hope. Directed by Mitchell Leisen, the film is the last in a series of ''Big Broadcast'' movies that were variety sh ...

'' in Hollywood. By 1945, Fields' live performances at the famed Copacabana nightclub in New York City were also broadcast on the WOR Radio Network.

Glen Island Casino

The Glen Island casino was billed as "the mecca for music moderns" and fans from coast to coast knew that it was "just off Shore Road in

New Rochelle, New York New Rochelle ( ; in ) is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Westchester County, New York, Westchester County, New York (state), New York, United States. It is a suburb of New York City, located approximately from Midtow ...

". Glen Island represented glamor and prestige, where only the best and most popular bands were featured. The casino was also considered the springboard to success for many big bands of 1930s, including those of

Ozzie Nelson Oswald George Nelson (March 20, 1906 – June 3, 1975) was an American actor, filmmaker, musician, and bandleader. He originated and starred in ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'', a radio and television series with his wife Harriet Nelson, ...

, Charlie Barnet, Claude Thornhill, Les Brown and the Dorsey Brothers. In March 1939,

and his orchestra gained their big break when they were chosen to play a summer season at Glen Island. Both NBC and Mutual broadcast Miller and his orchestra from the casino, an unusual dual-network remote with some 1,800 people present in the Casino ballroom. Glen Gray's Casa Loma Orchestra played at Glen Island along the water's edge almost every night. In addition, Shep Fields introduced a reconfiguration of his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra with the vocalist Toni Arden at the Glen Island Casino in 1947.

Bands heard on 1930s–40s radio remotes

Desi Arnaz Desiderio Alberto Arnaz y de Acha III (March 2, 1917 – December 2, 1986), known as Desi Arnaz, was a Cuban-American actor, musician, producer, and bandleader. He played Ricky Ricardo on the American television sitcom ''I Love Lucy'', in whi ...

* Gus Arnheim * Charlie Barnet (from the Brown Hotel in Denver and Glen Island casino in New Rochelle) * Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra (from the Blackhawk Restaurant), *

(from

Kansas City The Kansas City metropolitan area is a bi-state metropolitan area anchored by Kansas City, Missouri. Its 14 counties straddle the border between the U.S. states of Missouri (9 counties) and Kansas (5 counties). With and a population of more t ...

's Reno Club, the Famous Door in New York and California's Palomar Ballroom) * Bunny Berigan * Les Brown (Café Rouge at Hotel Pennsylvania, New York City) *

Cab Calloway Cabell "Cab" Calloway III (December 25, 1907 – November 18, 1994) was an American jazz singer and bandleader. He was a regular performer at the Cotton Club in Harlem, where he became a popular vocalist of the Swing music, swing era. His niche ...

(from the Savoy Ballroom) *

Bob Chester Bob Chester (March 20, 1908 – October 29, 1966) was an American jazz and pop music bandleader and tenor saxophonist. Chester was born in Detroit, Michigan, United States. His stepfather ran General Motors's Fisher Body Works. He began his care ...

* Larry Clinton (from the Glen Island casinoin New Rochelle) * Francis Craig (from the Belle Meade Country Club in Nashville) *

Bob Crosby George Robert Crosby (August 23, 1913 – March 9, 1993) was an American jazz singer and bandleader, best known for his group the Bob-Cats, which formed around 1935. The Bob-Cats were a New Orleans Dixieland-style jazz octet. He was the younge ...

Tommy Dorsey Thomas Francis Dorsey Jr. (November 19, 1905 – November 26, 1956) was an American jazz trombone, trombonist, composer, conductor and bandleader of the big band era. He was known as the "Sentimental Gentleman of Swing" because of his smooth-to ...

( Glen Island casino in New Rochelle) *

Roy Eldridge David Roy Eldridge (January 30, 1911 – February 26, 1989), nicknamed "Little Jazz", was an American jazz trumpeter. His sophisticated use of harmony, including the use of tritone substitutions, his virtuosic solos exhibiting a departure from ...

(from the London Palladium in the UK) * Skinnay Ennis (from the Statler Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles) * Shep Fields (from the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles and the Palmer House in Chicago) * Ella Fitzgerald and Her Orchestra (from the Roseland Ballroom, NBC, February 16, 1949) * Jan Garber (from the Blue Room of the Hotel Roosevelt in New Orleans) *

Benny Goodman Benjamin David Goodman (May 30, 1909 – June 13, 1986) was an American clarinetist and bandleader, known as the "King of Swing". His orchestra did well commercially. From 1936 until the mid-1940s, Goodman led one of the most popular swing bi ...

(from the Hotel New Yorker and Glen Island casino in New Rochelle)) *

Glen Gray Glenn Gray Knoblauch (June 7, 1900 – August 23, 1963), known professionally as Glen Gray, was an American jazz saxophonist and leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra.'' The Mississippi Rag'', "Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra," George A. ...

* Phil Harris (from the Royal Hawaiian Hotel in Honolulu) *

Tiny Hill Harry Lawrence "Tiny" Hill (July 19, 1906 – December 13, 1971) was an American band leader of the big band era. During the height of his career, Hill was billed as "America's Biggest Bandleader" because of his weight of over . His signatu ...

(from the Trianon Ballroom, South Gate CA, June 1946) *

Harry James Harry Haag James (March 15, 1916 – July 5, 1983) was an American musician who is best known as a trumpet-playing band leader who led a big band to great commercial success from 1939 to 1946. He broke up his band for a short period in 1947, but ...

(from the Hollywood Palladium) * Sammy Kaye ("Swing & Sway with Sammy Kaye")(from The Roof of the

Hotel Astor Hotel Astor was a hotel on Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York, U.S. Built in 1905 and expanded in 1909–1910 for the Astor family, the hotel occupied a site bounded by Broadway, Shubert Alley, and 4 ...

) *

Stan Kenton Stanley Newcomb Kenton (December 15, 1911 – August 25, 1979) was an American popular music and jazz artist. As a pianist, composer, arranger and band leader, he led an innovative and influential jazz orchestra for almost four decades. Though ...

* Henry King * Andy Kirk * Gene Krupa (from The Roof of the

in Manhattan and Glen Island casino in New Rochelle) * Kay Kyser (from the Blackhawk Restaurant) *

(famous for his New Year big band remotes from

The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel The Waldorf Astoria New York is a luxury hotel and condominium residence in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City, New York. The structure, at 301 Park Avenue between 49th and 50th Street (Manhattan), 50th Streets, is a 47-story ...

) * Freddy Martin (from the Coconut Grove in Los Angeles) * Ray McKinley *

(from the Cafe Rouge of New York's Pennsylvania Hotel, Boston's Raymor Ballroom and Glen Island casino) *Freddy Nagel (from the Empire Room in the Palmer House in Chicago) *

(from New York's Lexington Hotel and Glen Island casino in New Rochelle) * Will Osborne (from the Heigh-Ho Club in New York) * Tony Pastor (from the Century Room of the Hotel Adolphus in Dallas) *

Jan Savitt Jan Savitt (born Jacob Savetnick; September 4, 1907 – October 4, 1948), known as "The Stokowski of Swing", from having played violin in Leopold Stokowski's orchestra, was an American bandleader, musical arranger, and violinist. Early life and ...

* Barney Rapp with vocalist

Doris Day Doris Day (born Doris Mary Kappelhoff; April 3, 1922 – May 13, 2019) was an American actress and singer. She began her career as a big band singer in 1937, achieving commercial success in 1945 with two No. 1 recordings, "Sentimental Journey ...

(from Rapp's own club, The Sign of the Drum, in

Cincinnati, Ohio Cincinnati ( ; colloquially nicknamed Cincy) is a city in Hamilton County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Settled in 1788, the city is located on the northern side of the confluence of the Licking River (Kentucky), Licking and Ohio Ri ...

) * Bobby Sherwood (from Camp Atterbury, Indiana), * Jack Teagarden * Orrin Tucker (from Elitch's Gardens in Denver) * Chick WebbMusic & Big Bands
/ref>

Sources

Ansbro, George. ''I Have a Lady in the Balcony''. McFarland, 2000.

References

Listen to

Big Band/Swing Internet Broadcast schedules

Live365: Big Band Remote Internet stream

*

* ttp://www.wpr.org/search/index.cfm?searchbox=remotes Wisconsin Public Radio: New Year's Eve remotes (December 31, 1945)
WKHR (Cleveland, Ohio)

Big Band
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External links

American music radio programs Musical terminology Culture of New Rochelle, New York Big bands