Midwestern Hayride

click for high def version

I remember this being a big deal when I was a kid. Broadcasting was more regional then, and some great TV and radio originated from WLW in Cincinnati.  Midwestern Hayride was first broadcast before 1937 and was carried live on the radio each Saturday evening through the early 1970s.

It began as a radio show called BOONE COUNTY JAMBOREE (reportedly inspired by a similar show in Shreveport, LA)

The show moved to television in 1948.

 

At the show's peak there was a one-year waiting list for tickets to be in the audience (100 people was the limit for each weekly show).

In 1951, Midwestern Hayride was picked up by NBC-TV as a summer replacement for Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows. NBC aired it each of the following summers through 1956, except 1953. ABC-TV then carried it during the summers of 1957–59. For much of its television run MH was hosted by Dean Richards, lead vocalist of The Lucky Pennies, a local singing group. Richards also introduced a "Polka Time" segment (geared to Cincinnati's German heritage and its local breweries) aired near the program's close until 1969, when he was replaced by Henson Cargill riding on the success of his hit song "Skip a Rope".

Other hosts over the years were Paul Dixon, Willie Thall and Bob Shreve, all Cincinnati mainstays , all part of the Boomer Experience.

 some of the performers over the years:

Dolly Parton
Red Foley
Shug Fisher
Porter Wagoner
Herb & Kay Adams
Vic Bellamy
Bobby Bobo
Skeeter Bonn
Phyllis Brown
Brown's Ferry Four
Slim Bryant
Jerry Byrd
The Country Briarhoppers
Cowboy Copas
Hugh Cross
Lazy Jim Day
The Delmore Brothers
The DeZurik Sisters
Little Jimmy Dickens
Smokey Duvall
Too Slim Bobby Simpson
Clay Eager
Louie Ennis
Sonny Fleming
Betty Foley
Whitey Ford
Geer Sisters
Charlie Gore and the Rangers
Otto Gray
Rudy Hanson
Ted "Gas House" Hensley
Billy Holmes
Salty Holmes
Homer and Jethro
The Hometowners
Louie Innis
Rome Johnson
Tommy Jackson
Grandpa Jones
Lee Jones
Judy and Jen
Junior Kentucky Briarhoppers
Harpo Kidwell
Bradley Kincaid
Slim King
John Lair
Freddie Langdon
Dixie Lee
Ernie Lee
Freddie Langdon
Bonnie Lou
Pa and Ma McCormack
Clayton McMichen
Joe Maphis
Sleepy Marlin
The Mid-Westerners
Carl Moore
Natchee the Indian Fiddler
Jay Near
Willie Nelson
Mattie O'Neil
Jimmy Osborne
Hank Penny
Judy Perkins
Prairie Ramblers
Kenny Price
The Kentucky Boys
Riley Puckett
Rangers Quartet
Brownie Reynolds
Dean Richards
Jerry Richards
Tex Ritter
Kenny Roberts
Jack Rogers
Mimi Roman
Buddy Ross
Helen and Billy Scott
Coleen Sharp
Billy Strickland
Swannee River Boys
Garry "2 Tall" Grammell
Willie Thall
The Lucky Pennies
The Three Ks
The Trailhands
Merle Travis
Red Turner
Zeke Turner
Tommy Watson
Tex Walls
Penny West
Joy Whitaker
Willis Brothers
Dom Rockin Horse Mason
Jim Wood
Helen Diller
Chuck Wright
John "Gut Bucket" Halcomb
Zeke and Bill
Jeannie Hogan