Moon River was a long-running late-night American radio program which originated from WLW

WLW

WLW is a clear channel talk radio station located in Cincinnati, Ohio, run by Clear Channel Communications. The station broadcasts locally on 700 kHz AM...

 in Cincinnati, Ohio

Ohio

Ohio is a Midwestern state in the United States. The 34th largest state by area in the U.S.,it is the 7th‑most populous with over 11.5 million residents, containing several major American cities and seven metropolitan areas with populations of 500,000 or more.The state's capital is Columbus...

. A combination of soft, "dreamy" music and romantic poetry set to organ accompaniment, the program aired from 1930 to 1972.

History

Described as "one of the few programs designed to put people to sleep" by onetime announcer Bill Myers, Moon River was created by writer Ed Byron at the behest of WLW station owner Powel Crosley, Jr., who ordered the writer to come up with a poetry show which could accommodate the station's new organ. Retreating to a speakeasy with violinist Virginio Marucci, Byron sketched out some notes, including his original poem that opened the show. At one point, Marucci began playing Fritz Kreisler

Fritz Kreisler

Friedrich "Fritz" Kreisler was an Austrian-born violinist and composer. One of the most famous violin masters of his or any other day, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing. Like many great violinists of his generation, he produced a characteristic sound which was immediately...

's "Caprice Viennois," a piece which Byron's poem brought to mind. Both the poem and the musical piece would open the program for its entire forty-two-year history.

A show with a loyal following over the years, Moon River was canceled by WLW in 1953 in an effort to modernize the schedule, but revived the next summer due to continued listener outcry. In the decade after the program's final broadcast in 1972, a series of Moon River concerts were held in Cincinnati which recreated the program in front of a live audience.

In 1995, WMKV

WMKV

WMKV is a radio station in Reading, Ohio, United States, a suburb of Cincinnati. It is the first FM educational public radio station to be licensed to a retirement community and also streams live via webcast...

 revived it, with Myers as narrator, for a four-year run.

Personnel

Many performers passed through Moon River over the years. The following is only a partial list.

Announcers

• Bob Brown (the first narrator, c. 1930)
• Don Dowd
• Cecil Hale
• Harry Holcomb
• Jay Jostyn
• Jimmy Leonard
• Ken Linn
• Bill Myers
• Peter Grant
• Palmer Ward
• Charles Woods

Vocalists

• Phil Brito
• Barbara Cameron
• Janette Davis
• Doris Day
  Doris Day
  Doris Day is an American actress, singer and, since her retirement from show business, an animal rights activist. With an entertainment career that spanned through almost 50 years, Day started her career as a big band singer in 1939, but only began to be noticed after her first hit recording,...
  
  
• The DeVore Sisters (Marjorie, Billie, and Ruth)
• Rosemary
  Rosemary Clooney
  Rosemary Clooney was an American singer and actress. She came to prominence in the early 1950s with the novelty hit "Come On-a My House" written by William Saroyan and his cousin Ross Bagdasarian , which was followed by other pop numbers such as "Botch-a-Me" Rosemary Clooney (May 23, 1928 –...
  
   and Betty Clooney
• Anita Ellis
• Lucille Norman
  Lucille Norman
  Lucille Norman was an American singer and film actress of the 1940s and 1950s.Norman was born Lucille Pharaby Boileau in Lincoln, Nebraska, and had entered into a career as a singer by the mid-1930s. She performed as a singer for movie soundtracks, and in 1942 she had her first film role, an...
  
  
• Juanita Vastine aka Sweet Georgia Brown
• Ruby Wright
  Ruby Wright
  Ruby Wright was an American singer and songwriter.-Biography:Born in Anderson, Indiana, she began singing with a trio of college girls in Lake Manitou, Indiana....
  
  

Organists

• Charles M. "Pat" Gillick (the first organist, c. 1930)
• Lee Erwin (1933-1944)
• Fats Waller
  Fats Waller
  Fats Waller , born Thomas Wright Waller, was a jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, and comedic entertainer...
  
   (c. 1932-1934)

External links

• 1940s-era Moon River at the Internet Archive
  Internet Archive
  The Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive...
  
  .
• The Moon River Organ
• Article about Moon River revival at KSVY, Sonoma, CA