Saturday Night Jamboree Explained

Saturday Night Jamboree, also referred to as the NBC Jamboree, was an early American country music series on NBC-TV from December 4, 1948 - July 2, 1949. The name was originally given to an NBC Saturday night radio show in the 1930s, which was broadcast on the WEAF station in New York City.^{[1] [2]}

The TV series aired live from New York City from 8 - 9 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturdays for three weeks in December 1948, with yodeler Elton Britt as host. Beginning in January 1949, the host was Boyd Heath and the program aired from 8 - 8:30 p.m. until April, when it moved to 9:30 - 10 p.m. through July 2. The cast included comedian "Chubby Chuck" Roe; Sophrony Garen, vocals; Ted Grunt, fiddle; Eddie Howard, banjo; John Havens, guitar; "Smilin'" Edwin Smith, accordion and Gabe Drake, bass fiddle.^[3]

The show's competition included Stand By for Crime on ABC, Spin the Picture on DuMont, and sports on CBS.^[4]

Other Saturday Night Jamboree programs

Other programs named Saturday Night Jamboree included the following:

• A program that ran for more than 10 years on WSAZ-TV in Huntington, West Virginia.^[5]
• A program that debuted on WFMY-TV in Greensboro, North Carolina, on April 4, 1953.^[6]
• A radio program on WOPI in the Bristol, Tennessee-Bristol, Virginia market in the 1940s.^[7]
• A radio program on WMAQ in Chicago in the mid-1930s.^[8]

Notes and References

1. https://books.google.com/books?id=h7QVAQAAMAAJ&q=NBC+Jamboree NBC Yearbook
2. Book: Norton, Jack. Cornstars: Rube Music in Swing Time. 16 March 2022 . Lulu.com . 9781458340429.
3. Book: Brooks . Tim . Marsh . Earle F. . The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network and Cable TV Shows, 1946-Present . June 24, 2009 . Random House Publishing Group . 978-0-307-48320-1 . 1195 . April 4, 2023 . en.
4. Book: Hyatt . Wesley . Short-Lived Television Series, 1948-1978: Thirty Years of More Than 1,000 Flops . October 6, 2015 . McFarland . 978-1-4766-0515-9 . 10 . April 4, 2023 . en.
5. Book: Tribe . Ivan M. . Mountaineer Jamboree: Country Music in West Virginia . November 21, 2021 . University Press of Kentucky . 978-0-8131-8737-2 . April 4, 2023 . en.
6. Book: Carlin . Bob . String Bands in the North Carolina Piedmont . December 24, 2014 . McFarland . 978-0-7864-8036-4 . 202 . April 4, 2023 . en.
7. Book: Johnson . David W. . Lonesome Melodies: The Lives and Music of the Stanley Brothers . January 24, 2013 . Univ. Press of Mississippi . 978-1-62674-243-7 . April 4, 2023 . en.
8. Book: Dunning . John . On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio . May 7, 1998 . Oxford University Press . 978-0-19-984045-8 . 249 . April 4, 2023 . en.