Broadway Records was a United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

-based record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

 of the 1920s and 1930s.

Broadway Records were first manufactured about 1921 by the Bridgeport Die and Machine Company of Bridgeport, Connecticut

Bridgeport, Connecticut

Bridgeport is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Connecticut. Located in Fairfield County, the city had an estimated population of 144,229 at the 2010 United States Census and is the core of the Greater Bridgeport area...

. Most of the early issues were from masters recorded by Paramount Records

Paramount Records

Paramount Records was an American record label, best known for its recordings of African-American jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson.-Early years:...

. Starting in 1924, masters from the Emerson

Emerson Records

Emerson Records was a record label active in the United States between 1916 to 1928. Emerson Records produced between the 1910s and early 1920s offered generally above average audio fidelity for the era, pressed in high quality shellac. The fidelity of the later issues compares less...

 and Banner

Banner Records

Banner Records was a United States based record label of the 20th century.Banner Records was launched in January 1922 by the Plaza Music Company of New York City. Banner was an extremely popular label in the 1920s, concentrating on popular music of the day. To this day, Banners are often found all...

 appeared on Broadway.

When Bridgeport Die and Machine went bankrupt

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

 in 1925, the Broadway label was acquired by "The New York Recording Laboratories" (NYRL), which (despite what the name might suggest) were located in Port Washington, Wisconsin

Port Washington, Wisconsin

Port Washington is the county seat of Ozaukee County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The city is about 25 miles north of Milwaukee and 110 miles north of Chicago. In the 2000 census Port Washington had a population of 10,467...

. The New York Recording Laboratories were owned by the Wisconsin Chair Company, also the parent of Paramount Records

Paramount Records

Paramount Records was an American record label, best known for its recordings of African-American jazz and blues in the 1920s and early 1930s, including such artists as Ma Rainey and Blind Lemon Jefferson.-Early years:...

. Broadway Records must've been popular, since copies are often found, especially in the midwest. The vast majority of these 1925-1930 records were Plaza masters. Starting in 1930, Crown Records

Crown Records

-Modern Records subsidiary:One Crown Records was a Budget Albums record label founded as a subsidiary of Modern Records.-Singles:* 19??: "Musso's Boogie" b/w "Sing Sing Sing" * 19??: "???" b/w "???" * 19??: "???" b/w "???"...

 masters were used, as well as NYRL's own L- maxtrix series of sides recorded in Grafton, WI. NYRL went out of business in 1932 and the Broadway label was picked up by ARC

American Record Corporation

ARC, the American Record Company, also referred to as American Record Corporation, or as ARC Records, was a United States based record company...

 for a short-lived series of Broadway's (in the 4000 series) in 1933. Amazingly, when Decca started up in late 1934/early 1935, among the early (unsuccessful) labels they produced was Champion

Champion Records

The name Champion Records has been used by at least four record labels.An early Champion label was produced by Gennett Records as an inexpensive label that featured country or "hillbilly" artists, as well as popular bands, hot jazz and blues...

 and Broadway. The few Broadway/Decca records were an L-1200 series and masters came from Champion (Gennett)! The series certainly didn't last beyond 1935.

So, the dime store Broadway label - always a cheap label - went from company to company during its 10-15 year life. It is probable that there were some specific (unknown at this time) stores that carried Broadway straight through the period and that that was the reason why it was reintroduced in 1933 and then again in 1935.

The Bridgeport era Broadway's were excellently pressed and recorded, but starting with the NYRL (Paramount) era, the pressing quality and audio fidelity was somewhat below average for the era. The ARC Broadway quality were the same as Melotone, Perfect or Oriole and the Decca Broadway quality was the same as Decca.

In 1947 a new Label was named Broadway Records and was not related to the former Company.
Vincent Puccio Sr. founded the new label in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

 Ca. His brother Gasper played a key role in the early years and went on to found Houston Records in 1958.

The Broadway label was maroon in color with silver script, sometimes "Value" appeared under the cursive "Broadway".
"Value Hit Parade Tunes" was another label owned by Vince.

Both labels were found on millions of 78s, 45s, and LPs

LP album

The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...

.
By 1989, with the emergence of the Compact Disc

Compact Disc

The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...

Broadway Records was out of business.
Later, both Music Catalogs were sold to 108th Street Records.