Joy Boys (radio program)
Encyclopedia
Improvisational theatre
Improvisational theatre takes many forms. It is best known as improv or impro, which is often comedic, and sometimes poignant or dramatic. In this popular, often topical art form improvisational actors/improvisers use improvisational acting techniques to perform spontaneously...
radio show in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, between 1955 and 1974 that launched the broadcast careers of the program's co-hosts, Willard Scott
Willard Scott
Willard Herman Scott, Jr. is an American media personality and author best known for his television work on NBC's The Today Show and as the creator of the Ronald McDonald character.-Early years:...
and Ed Walker
Ed Walker
Ed Walker is a Washington, D.C., radio personality. He hosts a weekly four-hour Sunday night program, The Big Broadcast, on WAMU-FM, featuring vintage radio programs from the 1930s to 1950s, such as Gunsmoke, The Jack Benny Show, The Lone Ranger, Fibber McGee and Molly, and Superman...
. The two did various skits and satirized
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
prominent people of the day, such as Scott's character "Arthur Codfish" (mocking Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Godfrey
Arthur Morton Godfrey was an American radio and television broadcaster and entertainer who was sometimes introduced by his nickname, The Old Redhead...
). They both regularly parodied NBC-TV
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
's Huntley-Brinkley Report
Huntley-Brinkley Report
The Huntley-Brinkley Report was the NBC television network's flagship evening news program from October 29, 1956 until July 31, 1970. It was anchored by Chet Huntley in New York City, and David Brinkley in Washington, D.C...
with their own zany "Washer-Dryer Report". Walker told an interviewer years later that the duo imitated some 20 voices in all.
Scott and Walker teamed as co-hosts on WRC-AM, the NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
-owned-and-operated station
Owned-and-operated station
In the broadcasting industry , an owned-and-operated station usually refers to a television station or radio station that is owned by the network with which it is associated...
in Washington, beginning July 11, 1955. Initially, the program was titled Two at One and aired at 1 p.m. The term Joy Boys originated when they adopted a brief song of that title, set to the "Billboard March
The Billboard March
"The Billboard March" is a circus march written in 1901 by John N. Klohr, and dedicated to the Billboard music-industry magazine. Its tune is widely known among Americans, and it has been repeatedly used in mass media, even though its title is little known....
" as their theme music. Later, the Joy Boys became a nightly feature at 7 p.m. on WRC. In a 1999 article recalling the Joy Boys at the height of their popularity in the mid-1960s, the Washington Post said they "dominated Washington, providing entertainment, companionship, and community to a city on the verge of powerful change".
Walker, who has been totally blind
Blindness
Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...
since birth, said that growing up "radio was my comic books, movies, everything". On the Joy Boys program, Scott would sketch a list of characters and a few lead lines setting up the situation that Walker would commit to memory or note on his braille typewriter. Scott and Walker formed a professional and personal bond which continues to this day. Scott said in his book, The Joy of Living, that they are "closer than most brothers".
The Joy Boys moved from WRC to another Washington radio station, WWDC-AM (now WWRC
WWRC
WWRC —branded 1260 WRC—is a news/talk radio station licensed to Washington, D.C. and serving the Washington metro area. It operates with 5,000 watts on an unlimited basis with studios and transmitters both located in the city proper...
), in October 1972, where it was heard until the show's final broadcast on October 26, 1974. The show was sold in syndication that year.
American University
American University
American University is a private, Methodist, liberal arts, and research university in Washington, D.C. The university was chartered by an Act of Congress on December 5, 1892 as "The American University", which was approved by President Benjamin Harrison on February 24, 1893...
has released some of the Joy Boys radio broadcasts of the 1960s on CDs
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 ,...
.