| Show Name: | The Fred Waring Show |
| Other Names: | Chesterfield Time Pleasure Time |
| Format: | Musical variety |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Syndicates: | ABC Blue Network CBS NBC |
| Television: | The Fred Waring Show |
| Announcer: | Paul Douglas |
| Producer: | Tom Bennett |
| Sponsor: | American Meat Company Bromo Quinine Chesterfield cigarettes Ford Motor Company General Electric Johnson's Wax Old Gold cigarettes |
The Fred Waring Show is an American old-time radio musical variety program. It was broadcast in a variety of time slots from February 8, 1933, until October 4, 1957, and was heard at different times on ABC, CBS, NBC, and the Blue Network.[1] The program was sometimes called Chesterfield Time or Pleasure Time.[2]
Musician Fred Waring starred in the shows, which featured his orchestra and chorus.[2] An article in the trade publication Broadcasting described Waring's programs on radio (and later on television) as featuring "friendly banter with his crew, plus renditions of old-time favorite songs and ballads by the chorus and vocalists."[3]
The program's producers through the years included Tom Bennett.[4] Announcers included Paul Douglas[5] and Bill Bivens.[6]
Waring's programs were usually broadcast from the Shawnee Inn in Shawnee on Delaware, Pennsylvania, a facility that he acquired and renamed, transforming the venue into the center of his musical activities.[7]
Waring's broadcasts were heard on the schedule shown in the table below.
| Beginning Date | Ending Date | Network | Day | Sponsor | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| February 8, 1933 | January 31, 1934 | CBS | Wednesday | Old Gold cigarettes | |
| February 4, 1934 | December 29, 1936 | CBS | various days | Ford Motor Company | |
| January 17, 1936 | December 25, 1936 | Blue | Friday | Ford Motor Company | |
| October 8, 1938 | March 4, 1939 | NBC | Saturday | Bromo Quinine | |
| June 19, 1939 | June 9, 1944 | NBC | weekdays | Chesterfield cigarettes | |
| September 7, 1944 | May 31, 1945 | Blue | Thursday | -------- | |
| June 4, 1945 | July 8, 1949 | NBC | weekdays (daytime) | American Meat Company,Florida Citrus Growers | |
| June 18, 1946 | September 24, 1946 | NBC | Tuesday | Johnson's Wax | |
| June 24, 1947 | September 30, 1947 | NBC | Tuesday | Johnson's Wax | |
| June 7, 1948 | September 29, 1948 | NBC | Mondays and Wednesdays (daytime) | Johnson's Wax | |
| October 6, 1947 | September 29, 1949 | NBC | Mondays (1947-1948) Thursdays (1948-1949) | General Electric | |
| July 16, 1949 | July 22, 1950 | NBC | Saturday | Minnesota Canning Company | |
| October 1, 1956 | March 15, 1957 | ABC | weekdays (daytime) | -------- | |
| April 9, 1957 | October 4, 1957 | ABC | weekdays | -------- |
In 1935, Ford Motor Company used transcriptions from Waring's CBS broadcasts to promote the new 1935 Ford V8 automobile. The World Broadcasting System produced three 15-minute transcriptions for distribution to 300 radio stations vial local Ford dealers.[8]
Those transcriptions were key in establishing a musical artist's legal rights with regard to recordings of performances. In 1939, A United States District court in North Carolina granted Waring an injunction against using a transcription without his authorization. Waring had sued Richard Austin Dunlea, who owned radio station WMFD in Wilmington, North Carolina, after the station broadcast an excerpt from a transcription despite the station's not being designated for use of the transcription. Judge Isaac M. Meekins' ruling said, in part: "Complainant has a property right in his performance. Complainant by mental labor creates something which is the subject of sale ... It is his work, his property ..."[9]
The ruling in North Carolina followed a similar decision in Pennsylvania, in which a state court said that radio station WDAS had to have Waring's permission to broadcast recordings that he had made.[9]