The Winslow mail., 1926-01-01
CLASSICAL MUSIC
IS PREFERRED TO
THE JAZZ VARIETY

revealed by widely heralded' poll
which was conducted by KOA, Den
yer broadcasting station of the
General Electric chain. Voting was
heavily stimulated by a spectacular
musical competition between jazz
and the classical school, staged as
a program novelty by the Rocky
Mountain broadcasting station.
Leading artists and representative
compositions of both factions were
featured.
Broadcast listeners, representing
all walks of life and sitting virtual
ly as an international musical jury,
voted three to two that jazz is fall
ing behind in popular favor and
therefore will never replace the
works of conventional composers.
AS judges of this studio clash,
listeners were invited to vote jazz,
classical or for a combination of
both types of music On the face
of virtually complete returns from
listeners, the classical camp won
three of every five votes cast in the
1oCS Will JCILL vi I1lC IOIol fOtSo
cast, more than SO per cent favored
the classical school, the remainder
being split between proponents of
jazz and those who lean to a COM
ination of both racy tempos and
)nventional numbers.
Upsetting the predictions of sea-
soned depesters, all but five west
80 IN hn O1o ccin a
column. Arizona, Wyoming and
S, 9Th Dakota gave an overwhelm-
ing choice to rapid-fire syncOpation.
South Dakota, it was noted, gave
its majority to classical. A fur
ther check of ballots received, in
dicates that Arizona and Idaho are
on the fence with tied vote be-
tween the opposing musical camps.
Voting in Colorado was close
Canadian voting, generally, was
light Listeners, however, gave
their majority to conventional mus
ic.
The unique contest was arranged
to test the relative popularity of the
opposing musical schools and was
believed to be one of the first ma
tional polls ever undertaken by a
leading broadcasting institution
No estimate of the total vote will
be available until all returns are in.
although several thousand already
have been received. Likewise, staff
members declared, it would be fu-
tile to attempt fixing the size of
the audience for this special pro-
gram.
Women, according to KOA's rec
ords, cast approximately half the
total ballot, whereas, less than ten
months ago, barely one-ffth of all
mail addressed to the Rocky Noun
tain broadcasting station was writ
ten by women, is was said.
An unprecedented flow of COM
munications from broadcast listen
e7ss who participated in OA's poll,
Issclosed that the jaZz-classical
struggle was heard in restaurants,
school houses, hospitals, barber
shops, hotel lobbies, widely scatter
ed mining camps and even in jails.
Fourteen inmates of the Jeffer-
son county Jail at Golden, Colorado,
listened-in, according to a letter
from their spokesman. Of this num-
Der, eight voted classical, four jazz
and two, old time favorites. From
Denver restaurant, twenty-five
votes alone-all for jazz, were re-
ceived. This lead was clipped
down somewhat, by returns from
a barber shop at Cheyenne, Wyo.,
and house party at Lawrence,
Kansas, it was explained.
Eight of eleven patrons and en-
ssaoyees at the Wyoming barber
shop swung in line for the classical
camp, while unanimous vote was
given this faction by those in at
tendance at the house party.
One hundred patients, equipped
with earphones in an army hospi-
tai near Denver, also were num-
bered among the judges. Of this
number, however, only 25 per cent
supported musical classics.
Jazz is primitive and lacks har-
mony, Kansas music dealer al
leges, while a Colorado dry farmer
prescribes this variety of song and
dance as the key to good health
''It keeps me young" he declared
In casting her vote for the clas-
sical faction, Denver matron as
serted she preferred hearing a sin
gle solo rom Handel's Messiah"
than whole program by any crack
jazz orchestra in America.
"JaZz is soul food" to a Memphis.
Tenn, listener who enclosed a g
cent stamp with the request that it
be used in the purchase of a Colo
RADIO souvenir Six New York and
Pennsylvania listeners concur in
the theory that 'jazz is jungle
music" while jazz enthusiast of
Arkansas feels that classical mus
ic is like a dead language" Speak
ing of jazz and classical music a
Georgia listener suggested that mo
matter how we'll printed and bound,
Nick Carter story never becomes
Longfellow poem," while a North
Carolina fan votes classical music,
because sit sticks and bears rep
etition."
To an Ell Paso, Texas, listener,
jazz is permissible on holidays,
but as regular diet, it lacks nour-
ishment." A highway engineer of
New Mexico describes this music
of LN;;i \