A Brief History of Beautiful Music Radio

Radio instilled in the American public a taste for quality instrumental music. As the 1920s proceeded broadcasting became more than a quaint novelty and theatre, cinema, symphonic, salon, and chamber orchestras took to the airwaves with increasing frequency, providing an alternative to the more popular dance, concert, and jazz bands of that era. Greater advertising revenues made possible by national and regional affiliation of stations made possible the network employment of musicians who could be organized into ensembles of various sizes and functions as needed to accompany singers and vocal groups, furnish incidental, theme, or dance music, and offer concerts and interludes. Afternoon tea and supper-time instrumental programs of soothing light classics and subdued pops proved especially congenial, as did similar fare toward the end of the evening. NBC's Slumber Hour broadcasts, which mixed chamber music with occasional lullaby-style vocals, were heard almost nightly from 1927 to 1932, sometimes originating from both coasts, and many stations continued to offer their own versions of 'slumber music' thereafter.