College songs on broadcast transcriptions
Loyd Bulmur
recall them that were issued by the major
recording companies for exclusive use by radio
stations. (I worked at stations which had these
libraries and the information is subject to my
memory of the 1940's.)
Thesaurus: the main library issued by RCA-Victor.
Artists performing college songs included the
Alan Roth orch., the Robert Hood Bowers Band,
Johnny Desmond Orch., and the All-American Glee Club.
The Bowers band performed mainly the standards;
Roth played "secondary" tunes from major colleges;
Desmond played the fight songs of some of the
lesser-known schools; a lot of the Glee Club
songs were of smaller schools (eg: Sewanee alma mater).
Standard: a second library issued by RCA-Victor.
Artist was listed as "Standard Collegiate Band", no
conductor, on three 16-inch disks issued prior to
1946 (W-121, 122, 123) and a fourth in 1947 (W-124).
Mainly the standards. Many of the fight songs
featured a prominent glockenspiel in the second
chorus. Many of the alma maters featured a background
typani drum roll during the last 32 bars. Some of
the selections were re-issued on a 12-inch LP under
the heading "Royale Varsity Band", Royale LP # 1463.
Another issue of these was credited to "Varsity
Collegiate Band" on 10-inch Varsity LP # 69136.
Lang-Worth: issued by CBS-Columbia. Its 16-inch
library did not feature any college songs, but did have
items by the Lang-Worth Symphonic Band and the
Jack Shaindlin March of Time Orchestra. When it
re-issued its catalogue circa 1948 in micro-groove
format, it included items by the Lang-Worth Collegiate
Band (no conductor credited).
World: issued by Decca. Its 16-inch collections included
disks by Bob Arnold orch, Frank Westerfield Orch,
World Military Band, and World Glee Club. These were
recorded using vertical cut (hill-and-dale) but when
it re-issued its items circa 1948 on micro-groove 10-inch
LP's, it switched to lateral cut. Its re-issues did not
repeat its previous college song material, but a new
lot was performed by the World Collegiate Band
conducted by Henry Silvern. Many of the alma maters
were performed at a tempo of around 132. One of the
songs (University of Toronto "Blue and White") had
16 bars deleted from the chorus.
Associated: another issue by RCA-Victor. One disk
of standards performed by the Associated Military Band.
SESAC: issued two separate 16-inch sides credited
to the Karl King Band, the All-American Band and the
National Symphonic Band. Only three college songs were
played, the remainder being items which college bands
might play during their half-time and/or concert performances.
Any additions, corrections, will be appreciated.
Loyd Bulmur
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