> When did the WLS Barn Dance cease?
According to the Encyclopedia of Country Music, 1960, which would make its
national influence in the 1960s somewhat doubtful. Though to be fair, the
Encyclopedia adds that many of the National Barn Dance's performers went on
to a new WGN Barn Dance, which lasted until 1971 on the radio, and spent a
couple of years in TV syndication.
The original WLS show had a national Alka-Seltzer segment on NBC radio
between 1933 and 1946, and then went 3 years without a national sponsor,
until it was picked up by ABC and Phillips Petroleum. The Encyclopedia
mentions a number of Barn Dance stars who became nationally known, but all,
or most of them were gone from the Barn Dance by the 1950s, if not earlier -
i.e., Autry, Patsy Montana, Red Foley, George Gobel. Foley, for instance,
left the Barn Dance in 1946 and moved to Nashville to host the Prince Albert
(i.e., national network) portion of the Opry, not coincidentally around the
same time that the Barn Dance lost its national network portion.
Jon Weisberger Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger/
