Radio Digest (Nov 1930-Apr 1931)

73 "It's coal, coal, coal, in the depths of the earth," sings the Miners' Quartette, popular WGBI entertainers. La Crosse, Wis., where Jack began to pound the piano and sing in earnest. It was in this Badger city that Turner first looked a mike square in the face and sang to it. That was at station WABM, now WKBH. Also at this time they tacked on to Jack the title of "Black Key Turner." This didn't stick, but he's been called all manner of things since. The lure of the bright lights then called, and down to Chicago where gangsters were a bit more scarce than nowadays, journeyed La Crosse's gift to the air. Chicago stations were not slow to recognize what a feature Jack was and in those days he was one of the most popular entertainers at WHT, Wrigley Building, along with Pat Barnes and Al Carney, and also at WQJT, the Rainbow Gardens, and WTAS in the Kimball building. Then came Jack's two very successful years at WTMJ in Milwaukee. But the old wanderlust claimed him again and he struck out for warmer climes, intending to make an extended tour of Southern and Western Stations, eventually ending up in California — where so many things do end up. But Jack never got past his first month at WHAS, Louisville, Ky., his first stop. The management of the station and his new and delighted public saw to that. Jack has been with the station an entire year now. New England Gains New Radio Network WITH the addition of Station WICC, Bridgeport-New Haven, to the Yankee network, this chain now has six members ... the others are WNAC, Boston, WEAN, Providence, WORC, Worcester, WLBZ, Bangor, and WNBH, New Bedford. Station WICC has the distinction of being the only United States broadcaster to claim two cities as its locale. Some of its programs originate in Bridgeport, others in the city which also boasts the Yale campus; and, of course, it also presents Yankee Network and Columbia System features. Ronald Jenkins (right), was born in Bing hamton, but Southern listeners to WBT, Charlotte, like his "Yankee announcin' ". Old Fiddler at KFEQ^ Used Broom for Bow By Ada Lyon Before he was five years old John Holder, the "old fiddler" of KFEQ in St. Joseph, began to play a dollar violin which his father gave him for Christmas. He played for his first dance when he was seven years old, for a dollar and a half. The refreshments were a wash boiler full of wienies and a keg of beer and the dance ended in a fight. He soon learned that dances and fights went together and that the best policy during hostilities was to sit in a corner where he could dodge pop bottles. Once his bow was broken by a beer bottle and then the fight began in earnest, for the dancers all said that they had been cheated. There was no music and they wanted their money back. The next time, many years later, when the same disastrous accident was repeated, Holder was grown up and equal to the emergency. He used a broomstick for a bow and the dance proceeded. For ten years he almost deserted his faithful instrument. He became a railroad man, but he lost more sleep railroading than playing for dances, so he has fiddled over the radio for the past four years. He is now broadcasting daily over KFEQ. John Holder, the Old Fiddler at KFEQ, carries one thousand tunes in his head and has won hundreds of "scrapin' " contests. The Senoritas string trio at KGER (below). Left to right, Elsie Montgomery, Marie Waters, Helene Smith— fair ones all.