When AM radio started in the 1920s, technologies to record and playback music were quite limited. Magnetic tape for recording broadcasting didn’t exist until 1934. In that era of radio, stations had staff orchestras and a studio – music was performed live.
The recordings made during that time were “live to disk” – using an audio input, a phonograph record was created as the sounds were created – the master disk could then be replicated… but there was no easy way to “edit” a phonograph recording and frequency response was fairly limited. Records “wore out” quickly. Until the middle 1930s, “talkie” movies were done using recorded disks – the projectionist had to synchronize the playing of the record to the image projected on the screen.
Live to disk recordings was adequate for creating an archive, but not so useful for creating original radio programming – not to mention that the record companies and the radio companies were competitors in the home (this music / radio fight didn’t start last year – the Victor in “RCA Victor” was a reference to the Victrola which RCA acquired after Radio cut into the sales of recorded music). My father was involved in this business and I grew up with a live to disk recording machine in the living room, along with an assortment of tape recorders.
The end of the Joey Reynolds show is one step closer to the end of live music on radio. When musicians would show up at his studio with a CD/DVD in hand, he would toss it back at them and demand they sing live (or leave). For musicians who have talent, that is raw meat – Wow, you’re going to let me sing live!….(many of the guests were from Broadway where singing live is the norm). For those musicians who are karaoke singers who can only sound decent while wearing headphones hearing the voice track in their ears with automated pitch correction, that demand is terrifying and they would get up and leave.
I’m pretty sure the only reason Joey got away with this was that he was on at 1-5 AM and Mr Buckley back in Connecticut was asleep – along with ASCAP and BMI. Most stations won’t allow hosts to play any recorded music not on an approved play list – let alone play music done live. There is just too much paperwork and legal vulnerability (not to mention possible FCC issues). If the musician claims to have written the song themselves, you need paperwork to document that. If someone else comes along later and says “Hey, they stole my song!” or at least the song sounds similar, that opens the door for lawsuits. Who owns the recording of the performance made in the radio studio?
There are a few holdouts out there – mostly in niche areas like Nashville Country and Bluegrass music. WSM still broadcasts the Grand Old Opry live (I think)…. Garrison Keiller’s Prairie Home Companion on NPR is usually done live. There are a couple radio stations in small markets that do a live music show – like King Buscuit Time on KFFA in Helena, Arkansas.
If you know of radio stations that broadcast live music shows on a regular basis, please add it to the list (especially if the station streams)
I think the show itself is recorded, but the Renfro Valley Gatherin’ (dates to 1943) is live-to-disk. It airs on Sunday mornings in syndication on roughly 120 stations, mostly country but at least one talk (WJR/Detroit, last I checked which was a couple years back).
In public radio, there’s the Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour, also live-to-disk in most markets.
And yes, the Opry is still in production and still airs live on Saturday nights, both on WSM and on Sirius-XM (there’s also a Tuesday and Friday show, too).
There’s a few stations that only recently gave up live music. WWVA/Wheeling used to have the Jamboree on Saturday nights but they canceled it in ’06 or ’07 (that and the station never streamed). WBFO/Buffalo used to have a “Wednesday Night Concert” series among a couple other local music shows, but dumped it when they decided to go all-NPR except for overnights.
There’s occasional live music on WXDX FM Sunday 8p to Midnight.