Renfro Valley Gatherin'
Encyclopedia
Renfro Valley Gatherin' (also formerly known as Renfro Valley Sunday Morning Gathering ) is a United States
radio program based in Renfro Valley, Kentucky
. The Gatherin' is the third oldest continually broadcast radio program in America, and (since the 2007 cancellation of the WWVA Jamboree
) the second-longest such program featuring country music
; only the Grand Ole Opry
(1925) and Music and the Spoken Word
(1929) have been continually broadcast longer. (The CBS World News Roundup
, which debuted in 1938, predates the Gatherin' but has not continually aired.)
(sung by a choir, which includes audience members during live performances, accompanied by a reed organ
), followed by an advertisement for upcoming events at the Renfro Valley Entertainment Center; this is followed by a listing of listeners' birthdays and anniversaries (limited to those 75 years or older or married 50 years or longer). The remainder of the program is themed, with the host reading short stories and monologues between folk, gospel
and old-time country music
performed by the show's house band. Most songs are vocal; an instrumental will sometimes close out the show. Other than the ad for the entertainment center, there are no commercials, nor is there any space for local stations to insert their own advertisements.
Prior to 2011, the show was produced as a live stage performance. The current incarnation of the program is recorded entirely in a studio up to two months ahead of its air date and features pre-recorded songs; the most recent update of the Renfro Valley Web site (as of August 2011) has removed all mentions of the Gatherin', either as a live event or as a radio series.
, who founded the Renfro Valley Barn Dance
and what would become the Renfro Valley Entertainment Center around it in 1939. The Gatherin was first broadcast via the CBS Radio Network
in September 1943. The Gatherin' was, and is, a thematic program. The original concept of the show was to recreate the atmosphere of the pioneer "getherin's" which were held in Renfro Valley "in the days of long ago." At the start, CBS wanted a Sunday morning companion program to the popular Saturday night Renfro Valley Barn Dance
which would not be strictly a religious program, but would fit the Sunday morning format of the time. The "Gatherin'" was John Lair's answer to this. During this time, both shows were headquartered at WHAS
in Louisville, Kentucky
.
John Lair was the first permanent emcee of the "Gatherin'," and there have so far only been three others; Grant Turner, Jim Gaskin, and Wayne Combs. Gaskin died on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at the age of 70 following a long illness. Since that time, the Gatherin' has been emceed by Wayne Combs, who is also an entertainer on the Barn Dance and other Renfro Valley shows, and a DJ at WRVK.
After CBS Radio dropped the show at the end of the old-time radio
era in 1957, a pre-recorded version of the Gatherin program went into syndication. Meanwhile, a stage version of the show was, until approximately 2011, presented in the Old Barn Theater on Sunday mornings at 8:30. The syndicated broadcast of the Gatherin is still heard on scores of stations across the United States and Canada, as well as on satellite radio and Internet broadcasts. Following the departure of CBS, and former originating station WHAS of Louisville, from Renfro Valley in 1957, John Lair partnered with Tom Hargis to found WRVK
in Renfro Valley, in part to serve as the Gatherin's and the Barn Dance's new flagship station, but mainly to serve the local listening audience in Rockcastle County, Kentucky. The station first went on the air as a 500 watt daytime only AM station in April, 1957, utilizing the former WHAS/CBS studio in what was then the Pioneer Museum Building in Renfro Valley.
Road. (Cochran Smith's group of partners had leased the entire entertainment center from Lair in 1966, then exercised their option to buy it in 1968. When they sold the facility back to Lair and his new partners, they kept ownership of WRVK, and moved it out of the Valley.). WRVK is now a 1,200 watt station owned by Saylor Broadcasting, Inc. of Mt. Vernon, Kentucky.
WRVK dropped the Gatherin' from its schedule in late August 2011. The Renfro Valley Entertainment Center currently lists WCYO
/Irvine, Kentucky
as its official radio station, but that station also does not carry the Gatherin'. The show remains in production and in syndication, albeit without a flagship.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
radio program based in Renfro Valley, Kentucky
Renfro Valley, Kentucky
Renfro Valley is a neighborhood located just off Interstate 75 in Mount Vernon, a city in Rockcastle County, Kentucky, United States. The community of Renfro Valley includes the Since being founded by local area native John Lair and others in 1939, Renfro Valley Entertainment Center has hosted...
. The Gatherin' is the third oldest continually broadcast radio program in America, and (since the 2007 cancellation of the WWVA Jamboree
WWVA Jamboree
WWVA Jamboree, renamed Jamboree U.S.A. in the 1960s, and the Wheeling Jamboree in 2009, is a pioneering American radio show that featured country music from 1933–2008, and again since January 2009...
) the second-longest such program featuring country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
; only the Grand Ole Opry
Grand Ole Opry
The Grand Ole Opry is a weekly country music stage concert in Nashville, Tennessee, that has presented the biggest stars of that genre since 1925. It is also among the longest-running broadcasts in history since its beginnings as a one-hour radio "barn dance" on WSM-AM...
(1925) and Music and the Spoken Word
Music and the Spoken Word
Music and the Spoken Word is a weekly 30-minute radio and television program of inspiring messages and music produced by Bonneville Communications with music performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir .The radio program is distributed by the CBS Radio Network and its broadcast center is KSL...
(1929) have been continually broadcast longer. (The CBS World News Roundup
CBS World News Roundup
The CBS World News Roundup is a radio newscast that airs weekday mornings and evenings on the CBS Radio Network.It first went on-air on March 13, 1938 at 8 p.m...
, which debuted in 1938, predates the Gatherin' but has not continually aired.)
Format
The Gatherin' program lasts a half-hour. The program begins with an opening hymnHymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
(sung by a choir, which includes audience members during live performances, accompanied by a reed organ
Reed organ
A reed organ, also called a parlor organ, pump organ, cabinet organ, cottage organ, is an organ that generates its sounds using free metal reeds...
), followed by an advertisement for upcoming events at the Renfro Valley Entertainment Center; this is followed by a listing of listeners' birthdays and anniversaries (limited to those 75 years or older or married 50 years or longer). The remainder of the program is themed, with the host reading short stories and monologues between folk, gospel
Southern Gospel
Southern Gospel music—at one time also known as "quartet music"—is music whose lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music...
and old-time country music
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
performed by the show's house band. Most songs are vocal; an instrumental will sometimes close out the show. Other than the ad for the entertainment center, there are no commercials, nor is there any space for local stations to insert their own advertisements.
Prior to 2011, the show was produced as a live stage performance. The current incarnation of the program is recorded entirely in a studio up to two months ahead of its air date and features pre-recorded songs; the most recent update of the Renfro Valley Web site (as of August 2011) has removed all mentions of the Gatherin', either as a live event or as a radio series.
History
The Gatherin' program was founded by John Lair, former producer of the National Barn DanceNational Barn Dance
National Barn Dance, broadcast by WLS-AM in Chicago, Illinois starting in 1924, was one of the first American country music radio programs and a direct precursor of the Grand Ole Opry...
, who founded the Renfro Valley Barn Dance
Renfro Valley Barn Dance
Renfro Valley Barn Dance was an American country music stage and radio show originally carried by WLW-AM in Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday nights. It debuted on October 9, 1937 from the Cincinnati Music Hall and moved to the Memorial Auditorium in Dayton, Ohio. It was hosted by John Lair, Red Foley,...
and what would become the Renfro Valley Entertainment Center around it in 1939. The Gatherin was first broadcast via the CBS Radio Network
CBS Radio Network
The CBS Radio Network provides news, sports and other programming to more than 1,000 radio stations throughout the United States. The network is owned by CBS Corporation, and operated by CBS Radio ....
in September 1943. The Gatherin' was, and is, a thematic program. The original concept of the show was to recreate the atmosphere of the pioneer "getherin's" which were held in Renfro Valley "in the days of long ago." At the start, CBS wanted a Sunday morning companion program to the popular Saturday night Renfro Valley Barn Dance
Renfro Valley Barn Dance
Renfro Valley Barn Dance was an American country music stage and radio show originally carried by WLW-AM in Cincinnati, Ohio on Saturday nights. It debuted on October 9, 1937 from the Cincinnati Music Hall and moved to the Memorial Auditorium in Dayton, Ohio. It was hosted by John Lair, Red Foley,...
which would not be strictly a religious program, but would fit the Sunday morning format of the time. The "Gatherin'" was John Lair's answer to this. During this time, both shows were headquartered at WHAS
WHAS (AM)
WHAS, known by the on air branding as "84 WHAS", is an AM radio station broadcasting in Louisville, Kentucky. It is a 50,000 Watt clear channel radio station assigned to frequency 840 kHz. With clear channel status, its nighttime signal can be heard in most of the continental U.S...
in Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...
.
John Lair was the first permanent emcee of the "Gatherin'," and there have so far only been three others; Grant Turner, Jim Gaskin, and Wayne Combs. Gaskin died on Saturday, May 3, 2008 at the age of 70 following a long illness. Since that time, the Gatherin' has been emceed by Wayne Combs, who is also an entertainer on the Barn Dance and other Renfro Valley shows, and a DJ at WRVK.
After CBS Radio dropped the show at the end of the old-time radio
Old-time radio
Old-Time Radio and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the primary home entertainment medium in the 1950s...
era in 1957, a pre-recorded version of the Gatherin program went into syndication. Meanwhile, a stage version of the show was, until approximately 2011, presented in the Old Barn Theater on Sunday mornings at 8:30. The syndicated broadcast of the Gatherin is still heard on scores of stations across the United States and Canada, as well as on satellite radio and Internet broadcasts. Following the departure of CBS, and former originating station WHAS of Louisville, from Renfro Valley in 1957, John Lair partnered with Tom Hargis to found WRVK
WRVK
WRVK is a radio station broadcasting a full service format centered around Classic Country. Licensed to Mount Vernon, Kentucky, USA, it serves the South Central Kentucky area.-History:...
in Renfro Valley, in part to serve as the Gatherin's and the Barn Dance's new flagship station, but mainly to serve the local listening audience in Rockcastle County, Kentucky. The station first went on the air as a 500 watt daytime only AM station in April, 1957, utilizing the former WHAS/CBS studio in what was then the Pioneer Museum Building in Renfro Valley.
Renfro Valley Entertainment Center
Renfro Valley Entertainment Center, the home of the Gatherin' and Barn Dance, has been under separate ownership from WRVK since 1978. At that time the radio station's then-owners, Cochran-Smith Broadcasting of Nashville, chose to move the studios, offices, and transmitter approximately one mile north of the entertainment center, to their present location on Red FoleyRed Foley
Clyde Julian Foley , better known as Red Foley, was an American singer, musician, and radio and TV personality who made a major contribution to the growth of country music after World War II....
Road. (Cochran Smith's group of partners had leased the entire entertainment center from Lair in 1966, then exercised their option to buy it in 1968. When they sold the facility back to Lair and his new partners, they kept ownership of WRVK, and moved it out of the Valley.). WRVK is now a 1,200 watt station owned by Saylor Broadcasting, Inc. of Mt. Vernon, Kentucky.
WRVK dropped the Gatherin' from its schedule in late August 2011. The Renfro Valley Entertainment Center currently lists WCYO
WCYO
WCYO is a radio station broadcasting a Country music format. Licensed to Irvine, Kentucky, USA, the station serves Richmond, Kentucky and surrounding communities, including Lexington. The station is currently owned by Wallingford Communications....
/Irvine, Kentucky
Irvine, Kentucky
Irvine is a city in and county seat of Estill County, Kentucky, United States. Its population was 2,843 at the 2000 census. It is located on the Kentucky River at the junction of Kentucky Route 52 and Kentucky Route 89....
as its official radio station, but that station also does not carry the Gatherin'. The show remains in production and in syndication, albeit without a flagship.