Saturday, December 25, 2010

Lawrence Welk and Friends: A Selection of Christmas Songs through the Years (1955-1981)






The Sound of Christmas (1970)


It is certainly a curious thing that I have fallen into the area of Classic Television moderation. I grew up long after most of these shows first aired to be sure, but I also grew up in a part of the world in which I only had access to two television stations (cry me a river). More than that, the isolated area in which I lived could only receive one radio station clearly; the often-unlistenable AM pablum of CKQR. 

Well, it was really only during the daytime that we could hear just the one station. At night when the AM frequencies were boosted, we received literally thousands of radio stations, as they funneled their way into our forested valley and echoed off the mountains all night long. Some far-off stations would appear with amazing clarity for only a minute before they would disappear forever... along with their promise of a world wider and grander than anything I had ever known before. 

CKQR had no disc jockey on Christmas Day. Nor did it air any commercials. What it had instead was generic sounding Christmas lounge music. This LP, The Sound of Christmas by The Living Strings was exactly the kind of thing you would hear on CKQR all day long. I especially recall the pops and crackles of the worn LPs they'd broadcast, naturally the same albums year after year after year. Here we have forty-three minutes of crackly Christmas muzak that doesn't really fill me with great Christmas memories so much as just a general, ethereal, nostalgia for something very vague. Regardless, such vague nostalgia has shaped me into something very concrete as a grown-up and for that I am quite happy. I will be even happier when time machine technology is perfected.

A Merry Christmas to all of my mostly-anonymous readers/viewers from your mostly anonymous writer/YouTube embedder.



BONUS:

WABC - Christmas Day (1975)


Listen to what lonely people in New York City were listening to on Christmas morning in 1975 here.

Bob Eubanks Wishes You a Merry Christmas (1974)

WGR-AM Radio - Christmas Day - (1973)



What were drunken loners in Buffalo listening to on Christmas morning in 1973? Find out from WGR-AM here.

Hollywood Santa Parade (1960)


Took place the week after Thanksgiving, but it is the Christmas parade. Confusing.

I've Got a Secret - Christmas Segment (1957)

The Davey and Goliath Christmas Special (1965)

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964)

Tennessee Tuxedo - Christmas Segment (1964)

Friday, December 24, 2010

WCAU Aircheck (December 25, 1978)

The Ed Sullivan Show with Christmas guest Herb Alpert and The Tijuana Brass (1969)

Santa Claus (1959)


One of the most remarkable Christmas films ever made. I saw this for the first time on television years ago, it wasn't dubbed or subtitled, but I was fascinated by it from beginning to end.

Santa Claus Conquers the Martians (1964)

The Night Before Christmas with the voices of Hal Smith and Olan Soule (1968)

The Lawrence Welk Show - Christmas Episode - Long Clip (1980)

Happy Days - Christmas Episode (1974)

Beat the Clock - Christmas Episode (1954)

Watch another Beat the Clock Christmas episode here.

To Tell the Truth - Christmas Episode (December 24, 1957)

The CBS Mystery Theater (1980)


CBS Network radio had a throwback to the grand old days of OTR when they allowed E.G. Marshall to host The CBS Mystery Theater. Here is a Christmas episode from the year of my birth, complete with early eighties radio commercials. Listen here.

Card Sharks - Christmas Episode (December 24, 1986)

WJKW Hour Long Christmas Broadcast (1977)

Nothing says Christmas like a) Lawrence Welk's constipation and b) The search for murderers - and I must say that 9:20-10:30 is just the awkward best.

CFUN-AM Radio Aircheck (December 24, 1976)


What were folks driving around in their Datsuns listening to on the radio in Vancouver on Christmas Eve 1976? Find out here.  (if you are too impatient to click - the answer is they were listening to some obnoxious jerk).

Little House on the Prarie - Christmas Episode (1974)

Are You Being Served - Christmas Episode (1974)

Monitor - Christmas Episode (1961)


Monitor ran for twenty years on NBC Radio during the point in which the medium of radio was considered dead as far as non-recorded music programming was concerned. You may recall that this program was mentioned in my interview with Gary Owens. Monitor was the brainchild of NBC head Pat Weaver (brother of Doodles; uncle of Sigourney) who also invented The Tonight Show and The Today Show. Listen here.

The Perry Como Show (December 24, 1952)




Thursday, December 23, 2010

The Gary Owens Christmas Outtake (1975)


You may recall that I spoke to Gary Owens about this fun Christmas outtake from a series of radio PSA's he was recording for KMPC. Read one of the best things that hit the site this year - an interview wth Gary Owens. Listen to the outtake here.

The Flintstones - Christmas Episode (1964)

Super Password - Christmas Episode (1984)

Password Plus - Christmas Episode (1979)

Match Game - Christmas Episode (1977)

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson - Christmas Commercial (1969)

WGH Radio (December 24, 1968)

That Girl - Christmas Episode - with special guest stars John Fiedler and Linus from A Charlie Brown Christmas (1966)

Duffy's Tavern - Christmas Episode (1948)


Here is an X-Mas themed episode of Ed Gardner's Damon Runyon-esque OTR classic Duffy's Tavern. Listen to it here

The Jimmy Durante and Garry Moore Show - Christmas Episode (1944)



Listen to this unique episode here.

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Wide World of Sports - Bowling Christmas PSA Outtakes (1974)


It's not often that the greatest thing of all time has its "embedding disabled by request." But this is one of those instances, and I don't think this site will be offering a better X-Mas clip this year than this one. GO WATCH HERE.












okay, it's not real, but it's still pretty funny. To make up for it, something real that I can't embed that features a similar character. A Jackie Gleason Christmas Special from 1977.

The Fred Waring Show - Christmas Episode - Clips (1950-52)

The Mary Hartline Show - Christmas Episode (1950)

Monday, December 20, 2010

CHUM 1050 AM Radio Christmas Aircheck (December 23, 1970)


What would have you heard had you switched on the radio to 1050 AM in Toronto a couple days before Christmas in 1970? Find out here.

The Perry Como Show - Christmas Episode (1969)

The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson - Christmas Episode - Clip (1969)