The Radio Planet · the venues
The Venues
Radio did not only come from studios. It came from ballrooms, hotel roofs and concert halls, down a telephone line, after midnight.
A network engineer would run a line into a room, hang two microphones over the bandstand, and hand the country half an hour of dancing. What survives of that is filed here by address: the room, the bands that played it, and the tunes the announcer called. A broadcast appears under a venue only where the transfer itself names it — no room is guessed at from liner prose.
17
Rooms on the wire
220
Surviving broadcasts
32
Bands on the stand
No. 1 · 1931–1959
Cocoanut Grove, Ambassador Hotel
Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles
Papier-mache palms from a Valentino picture, and the microphone that carried Hollywood's supper hour.
100 surviving broadcasts · 3 bands on the stand
Freddy Martin · Frankie Carle · Harry James
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #1
1931 · 13 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #10
1931 · 13 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #11
1931 · 12 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #12
1931 · 13 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #13
1931 · 13 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #14
1931 · 13 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #15
1931 · 11 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #16
1931 · 12 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #2
1931 · 12 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #3
1931 · 12 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #4
1931 · 13 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #5
1931 · 12 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #6
1931 · 12 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #7
1931 · 12 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #8
1931 · 12 min
Gus Arnheim at Cocoanut Grove 1931 #9
1931 · 12 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #1
1932 · 14 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #10
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #11
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #12
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #13
1932 · 12 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #14
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #15
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #16
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #17
1932 · 12 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #18
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #19
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #2
1932 · 12 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #20
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #21
1932 · 12 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #22
1932 · 14 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #23
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #24
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #25
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #26
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #27
1932 · 12 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #28
1932 · 12 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #29
1932 · 12 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #3
1932 · 12 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #30
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #31
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #4
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #5
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #6
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #7
1932 · 13 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #8
1932 · 12 min
Jimmie Grier at Cocoanut Grove 1932 #9
1932 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #1
1933 · 14 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #10
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #11
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #12
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #13
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #14
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #15
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #16
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #17
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #18
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #19
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #2
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #20
1933 · 14 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #21
1933 · 14 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #22
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #23
1933 · 14 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #24
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #3
1933 · 12 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #4
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #5
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #6
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #7
1933 · 14 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #8
1933 · 13 min
Phil Harris at Cocoanut Grove 1933 #9
1933 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #1
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #10
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #11
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #12
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #13
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #14
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #15
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #16
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #17
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #18
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #19
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #2
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #20
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #21
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #3
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #4
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #5
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #6
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #7
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #8
1934 · 14 min
Vincent Valsanti at Cocoanut Grove 1934 #9
1934 · 14 min
Texaco Town (26) At The Coconut Grove
14 March 1937 · 29 min
Cocoanut Grove
1938 · 13 min
Freddy Martin
Every Day of My Life · 12 August 1944 · 29 min
Frankie Carle
Doodle-Do-Do · 2 September 1951 · 30 min
Remote-EddieBergman From Coconut Grove
22 June 1951 · 28 min
Harry James
Down South Camp Meeting · 6 January 1953 · 23 min
Cocoanut Grove
1958 · 2 min
Cocoanut Grove
1959 · 2 min
No. 2 · 1940–1947
Frank Dailey's Meadowbrook
Cedar Grove, New Jersey
A roadhouse on Pompton Turnpike that network engineers wired for nightly remotes. Glenn Miller, Bob Crosby, Charlie Barnet.
24 surviving broadcasts · 3 bands on the stand
Louis Prima · Bob Crosby · Benny Goodman
Remote-GeneKrupa From Meadowbrook — 31 Jan 1940
31 January 1940 · 30 min
Remote-GeneKrupa From Meadowbrook — 5 Feb 1940
5 February 1940 · 30 min
Louis Prima
Robin Hood · 23 December 1944 · 29 min
Bob Crosby
String of Pearls · 12 May 1946 · 29 min
Benny Goodman
1946 · 14 min
Benny Goodman
1946 · 14 min
Remote-DukeEllington From Meadowbrook
1947 · 14 min
Band Remote - Meadowbrook Ballroom, Cedar Grove, New Jersey (02-11-1940)
undated · 28 min
Band Remote - Meadowbrook Ballroom, Cedar Grove, New Jersey (02-24-1940)
undated · 59 min
Band Remote - Meadowbrook Ballroom, Cedar Grove, New Jersey (03-02-1940)
undated · 1h 1m
Band Remote - Meadowbrook Ballroom, Cedar Grove, New Jersey (03-09-1940)
undated · 59 min
Benny Goodman Live From Meadowbrook Restaurant 1946-01-14
undated · 14 min
Frank Daileys Meadowbrook Orch Rhythm Is Our Business
undated · 2 min
Frank Daileys Meadowbrook Orch Time Will Tell
undated · 3 min
Frank Daileys Meadowbrook Orch v Nancy Flake Ill Never Say Never Again
undated · 2 min
Frank Daileys Meadowbrook Orch You Went Away Too Far
undated · 3 min
Meadowbrook
undated · 4 min
Meadowbrook Dance Orch Cuddle Uddle Up
undated · 3 min
Meadowbrook Dance Orch Me And The Boy Friend
undated · 3 min
Meadowbrook Dance Orch Youre Like A Baby
undated · 3 min
Meadowbrook Mornings
undated · 4 min
MEADOWBROOK POLKA
undated · 2 min
Melody Rose — Meadowbrook Five - Stevens (1 of 2)
undated · 3 min
Melody Rose — Meadowbrook Five - Stevens (2 of 2)
undated · 3 min
No. 3 · 1943–1961
Hollywood Palladium
Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles
Opened 1940 with Tommy Dorsey and a young Frank Sinatra; the west coast's dance floor, and a permanent line feed to the networks.
22 surviving broadcasts · 12 bands on the stand
Charlie Spivak · Lenny Conn · Stan Kenton · Henry Busse · Les Brown · Bob Moore · Bob Crosby · Harry James · Woody Herman · Gene Krupa
Charlie Spivak
Sunday · 1 October 1943 · 29 min
Lenny Conn
Just You, Just Me · 5 June 1944 · 28 min
Stan Kenton
Tico Tico · 28 November 1944 · 29 min
Henry Busse
Hurry Home · 21 September 1944 · 28 min
Les Brown
My Pet Brunette · 4 September 1945 · 28 min
Bob Moore
I Didn't Know About You · 1945 · 15 min
Bob Crosby
Perdido · 1945 · 15 min
Bob Crosby
The Whistler · 12 March 1946 · 30 min
Bob Crosby
Blue Skies · 23 February 1946 · 29 min
Harry James
The Man I Love · 7 June 1948 · 31 min
Woody Herman
Four Brothers · 5 February 1948 · 31 min
Woody Herman
Good Earth · 3 February 1948 · 29 min
Woody Herman
Good Earth · 14 February 1948 · 31 min
Woody Herman
Sidewalks of Cuba · 8 February 1948 · 30 min
Gene Krupa
Disc Jockey Jump · 15 April 1949 · 30 min
Jerry Gray
Manhattan Spiritual · 30 October 1959 · 31 min
Harry James
Doodling · 27 November 1959 · 31 min
Charlie Barnet
Charleston Alley · 4 December 1959 · 28 min
Jerry Gray
Restringing The Pearls · 20 January 1961 · 32 min
AFRS 520 - One Night Stand - Gene Krupa -Hollywood Palladium - 1st Song - Linger Awhile 01-04-45
undated · 29 min
Band Remote - Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA (11-26-1940)
undated · 29 min
Charlie Spivak
Sunday · undated · 29 min
No. 4 · 1937–1940
Waldorf-Astoria
Park Avenue, New York
The Empire Room and the Starlight Roof: society dancing, broadcast.
14 surviving broadcasts
Xavier Cugat and his Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra - Auto-Conga (1937)
1937 · 2 min
Xavier Cugat And His Waldorf-Astoria Orchestra - Night Must Fall (1939)
1939 · 3 min
Deems Taylor, Herbert Bayard Swope of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel
22 October 1940 · 28 min
Deems Taylor, Herbert Bayard Swope of the Waldorf Astoria Hotel
undated · 28 min
Xavier Cugat And His Waldorf Astoria Orch Begin The Beguine
undated · 3 min
Xavier Cugat And His Waldorf Astoria Orch Dusk
undated · 3 min
Xavier Cugat And His Waldorf Astoria Orch Gypsy Air
undated · 3 min
Xavier Cugat And His Waldorf Astoria Orch Love What Are You Doing
undated · 3 min
Xavier Cugat And His Waldorf Astoria Orch Love What Are You Doing
undated · 3 min
Xavier Cugat And His Waldorf Astoria Orch My Shawl
undated · 3 min
Xavier Cugat And His Waldorf Astoria Orch Taboo
undated · 3 min
Xavier Cugat And His Waldorf Astoria Orch Taboo
undated · 3 min
Xavier Cugat And His Waldorf Astoria Orch The Cocoanut Pudding Vendor
undated · 2 min
Xavier Cugat And His Waldorf Astoria Orch The Lady In Red
undated · 3 min
No. 5 · 1940–1952
Cafe Rouge, Hotel Pennsylvania
Seventh Avenue, New York
The Miller band's room, one block from Penn Station. PEnnsylvania 6-5000 was its telephone number.
11 surviving broadcasts · 5 bands on the stand
Sonny Dunham · Glen Gray · Woody Herman · Stan Kenton · Ray Anthony
NBC Glenn Miller Live from the Cafe Rouge
5 February 1940 · 31 min
On the Air - Glenn Miller at the Cafe Rouge 23111940
1940 · 24 min
Sonny Dunham
Begin The Beguine · 14 April 1944 · 29 min
Glen Gray
The Lion & The Mouse · 21 May 1944 · 29 min
Woody Herman
Straighten Up & Fly Right · 22 August 1944 · 28 min
Woody Herman
Katusha · 23 July 1945 · 31 min
Woody Herman
Good, Good, Good · 23 August 1945 · 29 min
Stan Kenton
I Know That You Know · 27 September 1945 · 30 min
Ray Anthony
Who's Sorry Now? · 11 January 1952 · 30 min
Ray Anthony
Deep Night · 18 January 1952 · 30 min
CAFE ROUGE
undated · 2 min
No. 6 · 1936–1943
Carnegie Hall
57th Street, New York
Serious music's address, borrowed by radio for wartime galas and by Benny Goodman for the night jazz walked in the front door.
9 surviving broadcasts
Dedication Of The Fifty Kilowatt Transmitter At WOR, NY, NY (broadcast from Carnegie Hall) (03-04-1935)
1936 · 2h 40m
The Burns and Allen Show (22) Playing Carnegie Hall Part 1
2 March 1943 · 27 min
The Burns and Allen Show (23) Playing Carnegie Hall Part 2
9 March 1943 · 27 min
Conciencia (En Vivo Desde El Carnegie Hall Version)
undated · 6 min
38
undated · 2 min
Perdóname (En Vivo Desde El Carnegie Hall Version)
undated · 7 min
Sin Voluntad (En Vivo Desde El Carnegie Hall Version)
undated · 5 min
Vivir Sin Ella (En Vivo Desde El Carnegie Hall Version)
undated · 8 min
Welcome To Carnegie Hall
undated · 1 min
No. 7 · 1930–1945
Trianon Ballroom
South Cottage Grove, Chicago
A gilded barn on the south side, sending sweet bands out over the Mutual lines.
8 surviving broadcasts · 3 bands on the stand
#FILL027 Jan Savitt · Jan Savitt · Jack Teagarden
MBS Kay Kyser Live from the Trianon Ballroom, Chicago
1930 · 29 min
Kay Kyser Live from the Trianon Ballroom, Chicago
1934 · 29 min
Remote-KayKyser TrianonBallroom Chgo MBS
6 February 1937 · 29 min
Remote-TedWeems TrianonBallroom Chgo MBS
10 February 1937 · 14 min
#FILL027 Jan Savitt
On The Alamo · 23 July 1944 · 29 min
Jan Savitt
On The Sunny Side of Street · 27 July 1944 · 29 min
Jack Teagarden
Shine · 1945 · 15 min
39 Trianon (Felolvasta: Kerekes Andrea)
undated · 33 min
No. 8 · 1940–1950
Hotel Astor Roof
Times Square, New York
Open-air dancing above Broadway, eleven storeys up, all summer.
7 surviving broadcasts · 2 bands on the stand
Gene Krupa · Harry James
Band Remote - Hotel Astor Roof Garden, NYC (06-08-1940) (partial, first half only)
1940 · 16 min
Band Remote - Hotel Astor Roof Garden, NYC (06-19-1941)
1940 · 24 min
Gene Krupa
1945 · 3 min
Gene Krupa
1945 · 3 min
MBS WOR BBC V-J Day Gene Krupa from the Hotel Astor
15 August 1945 · 14 min
Remote-GeneKrupa Hotel Astor
15 August 1945 · 14 min
Harry James
Sweet Jennie Lou · 10 June 1950 · 28 min
No. 9 · 1933–1946
Hotel Commodore
42nd Street, New York
A Grand Central hotel with a bandstand and a hard-wired studio line.
6 surviving broadcasts · 4 bands on the stand
194x-xx-xx Vaughn Monroe · Vaughn Monroe · Ray McKinley · Hal McIntyre
Freddy Martin Hotel Commodore Orch Hold Me
1933 · 3 min
Freddy Martin Hotel Commodore Orch Lets Call It A Day
1933 · 3 min
194x-xx-xx Vaughn Monroe
Who Told You That Lie? · 1945 · 28 min
Vaughn Monroe
Talking To Myself About You · 6 October 1945 · 29 min
Ray McKinley
The Moon Is Low · 26 April 1946 · 29 min
Hal McIntyre
I Got The Sun In The Morning · 29 May 1946 · 29 min
No. 10 · 1946
Radio City Music Hall
Sixth Avenue, New York
Rockefeller Center's 6,000-seat showplace, opened 1932, built for broadcasting from the start.
4 surviving broadcasts
Dick Liebert at the Radio City Music Hall Organ - Clock Shop
1946 · 2 min
Dick Liebert at the Radio City Music Hall Organ - Thine Alone
1946 · 2 min
22 (Full Show)
undated · 2h 52m
22 (Full Show)
undated · 3h 42m
No. 11 · 1930–1934
Cotton Club
Harlem, New York
Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway broadcast out of it nightly; the audience it admitted was another matter.
3 surviving broadcasts
MBS Duke Ellington Live from the Cotton Club
1930 · 29 min
Duke Ellington Live from the Cotton Club
1934 · 29 min
Duke Ellington 1937-3-18 The Cotton Club NYC
undated · 28 min
No. 12 · 1939–1945
Savoy Ballroom
Lenox Avenue, Harlem
The Home of Happy Feet. Two bandstands, no closing hour, and the Lindy Hop invented on the floor.
3 surviving broadcasts · 2 bands on the stand
Lucky Millinder · Tiny Bradshaw
yt5s com - St Louis Blues - Ella Fitzgerald & Chick Webb at the Savoy Ballroom (128 kbps)
1939 · 4 min
Lucky Millinder
Lady Be Good · 10 July 1945 · 28 min
Tiny Bradshaw
Sweet Georgia Brown · 1945 · 15 min
No. 13 · 1946–1955
Aragon Ballroom
Lawrence Avenue, Chicago
Spanish-courtyard fantasy on the north side, and a staple of the late-night dance remotes.
2 surviving broadcasts · 1 bands on the stand
Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra - Jota Aragonesa Pt1&2 (Glinka)
1946 · 7 min
Eddy Howard
Love Every Moment You Live · 1955 · 30 min
No. 14 · 1945
Casa Manana
Culver City, California
Rebuilt from the old Cotton Club of Culver City; a west coast room with a nightly wire.
2 surviving broadcasts · 2 bands on the stand
? #0694 Jimmie Lunceford · Charlie Barnet
? #0694 Jimmie Lunceford
Little John · 8 September 1945 · 29 min
Charlie Barnet
Poor Little Rich Girl · 10 March 1945 · 29 min
No. 15 · 1945–1947
Glen Island Casino
New Rochelle, New York
The room that made Glenn Miller in the summer of 1939, on the water, wired for the network.
2 surviving broadcasts · 2 bands on the stand
Shorty Sherock · Claude Thornhill
Shorty Sherock
Four Bones · 3 July 1945 · 29 min
Claude Thornhill
Where or When? · 23 June 1947 · 30 min
No. 16 · 1946
Hollywood Bowl
Highland Avenue, Los Angeles
An amphitheatre in a canyon, carrying concerts and wartime rallies to the country.
2 surviving broadcasts
JBGS 1946-10-12 Hollywood Bowl Community Chest Appeal
12 October 1946 · 2h 23m
AFRS 078 - Hollywood Bowl Series - MGM Night - Lionel Barrymore - Mario Lanza 07-24-48
undated · 58 min
No. 17 · 1938
Palomar Ballroom
Vermont Avenue, Los Angeles
Where Benny Goodman's 1935 tour turned into the swing era, three weeks before it burned.
1 surviving broadcast
Remote-GeneKrupa From Palomar
28 November 1938 · 7 min
A note on the rooms
The dance-band remotes carried by the Armed Forces Radio Service name the band and the room in the transfer title, which is why the ballrooms are the deepest shelves here. The concert halls are thinner: nobody was recording most of what came out of them, and what did get cut to disc was often thrown away. Rooms with a single surviving broadcast are kept anyway — one is what is left.