Broadway Records was the name of an American record label in the 1920s and 1930s. Broadway's records were first manufactured in the early 1920s by the Bridgeport Die and Machine Company of

Bridgeport, Connecticut Bridgeport is the List of municipalities in Connecticut, most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut and the List of cities in New England by population, fifth-most populous city in New England, with a population of 148,654 in 2020. Loc ...

. Most of the early issues were from masters recorded by

Paramount Records Paramount Records was an American record label known for its recordings of jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey, Tommy Johnson (guitarist), Tommy Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson. Early years Paramoun ...

. Starting in 1924, masters from the Emerson and

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appeared on Broadway. When Bridgeport Die and Machine went

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in 1925, the Broadway label was acquired by the New York Recording Laboratories (NYRL), which, despite what the name suggests, was located in

Port Washington, Wisconsin Port Washington is a city in Ozaukee County, Wisconsin, United States, and its county seat. Located on Lake Michigan's western shore east of Interstate 43, the community is a suburb in the Milwaukee metropolitan area north of Milwaukee. The c ...

. NYRL was owned by the Wisconsin Chair Company, also the parent of Paramount Records. Broadway's discs were sold at

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a mail-order business and later a department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001; its common nickname was "Monkey Wards". ...

, though it is not known if Ward's handled the label exclusively. (Examples bearing a Chicago drugstore imprint are known.) The majority of these 1925–1930 records were Plaza masters. Starting in 1930,

Crown Records Crown Records was a budget record label founded as a subsidiary of Modern Records in 1957. It has been the name of several different record labels, listed below. Discography Mono Stereo Other Crown Records * United Kingdom ** Crown Records w ...

masters were used in addition to NYRL's own L-

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series of sides recorded in Grafton, Wisconsin. NYRL went out of business in 1932 and the Broadway label was picked up by ARC for a short-lived series. When Decca started up in late 1934/early 1935, among the early (unsuccessful) labels they produced was

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and Broadway. The few Broadway/Decca records were an L-1200 series and masters came from Champion (

Gennett Records Gennett Records () was an American record company and label in Richmond, Indiana, United States, which flourished in the 1920s and produced the Gennett, Starr, Champion, Superior, and Van Speaking labels. The company also produced some Supertone, ...

) The series did not last beyond 1935. This involvement with ARC and then Decca most probably related to the fulfillment of an existing Ward's contract. The Bridgeport-era Broadway discs were well-pressed and recorded, but starting with the NYRL (Paramount) era, the pressing quality and audio fidelity was well below average for the time. The ARC Broadway quality was the same as Melotone,

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, or Oriole, and the Decca Broadway quality was the same as Decca.

References

* ''The American Record Label Book'' by Brian Rust (Arlington House Publishers, 1978) {{Authority control History of Bridgeport, Connecticut Record labels established in 1921 Record labels disestablished in 1931 American jazz record labels

See also

References