WJJL Jamboree
This is kind of a mystery radio show for us. Most of the time
when you find a song folio book of the old radio shows, you'll see
many pictures along with some writeups about the stars and the
show itself. But, in this case, all we have is the folio and the
pictures with names of the artists.
Mysterious as it maybe, one of our guests was kind enough to shed
some light on this show. WJJL was and is a radio station in the
Niagara Falls, New York area.
The folks we see in the photos here were mainly local artists and
groups that played in the area at the varioius venues such as the
bars, schools, etc. On Sunday afternoons, they would hold the WJJL
Jamboree, then a 1,000 watt radio station.
We have found in an internet posting of news from decades ago that
Ramblin' Lou hosted the WJJL Jamboree at Spencer's Barn on
Route 39 near Springville, New York in early 1952.
The Ramblin' Lou we see in one of the photos from this song book
is none other than Ramblin' Lou Shriver who had a morning disc
jockey show over WJJL from 6:00am to 9:00am for many years and also
promoted country music shows. Ramblin' Lou now owns radio station
WXRL (1300 on the AM dial) out of Lancaster, New York and was inducted
into the Country Music Disc Jockey Hall of Fame in 1985.
Now the interesting thing is that inside the covers, the pictures
are all of Jenny Lou Carson, the infamous songwriter and performer
on the WLS National Barn Dance. But even with all her pictures,
there's no mention of the WJJL Jamboree.
We've been able to identify some of the artists that appeared to be
a part of this show:
- Ada, the Lone Cowgirl
- Ramblin' Lou
- Dude Rangers
- Komedy Kowboys
- Smoky River Boys
- Donna Lee Spencer
- Jenny Lou Carson
As for the song book itself, well, it appears it was a promotional
deal whereby the artists / show could use their photos on the covers
and then sell the songbooks as sort of souvenirs. But that didn't
necessarily mean they had any connection to the songs in that folio.
Which may explain why we see so much of Jenny Lou Carson in this folio
but not on the covers.
Credits & Sources
- Deluxe Edition WJJL Jamboree Song Book, M. M. Cole Publishing Co., Chicago, IL Circa 1943
- And a tip of the hat and thanks to one of our site's guests who was a part of the show and
was gracious enough to give us some details.
