New Britain herald., 1927-02-15

1 KDKA, Pittsburgh. The affair was of the real old time variety with the
 prompter, the old time orchestra and even the old fashioned male l quartet which used to, and still does, i entertain at such functions. It was 1 a bonafide barn dance, too. not one 1 of the alleged novelty affairs staged | by some stations. Of especial note was the work of the announcer who
 styles himself "Stockman Sam" He sounded like an old Down East l Yankee. and he sounded as if he had stepped right out of the second act of The Old Homestead" His homely humor was refreshing and his prompting was work of art. Let some of the members of the present generation try to get away with anything like that. He kept up a steady flow of directions in rhyme, sometimes singing and sometimes just yelling. There was a large at tendance at the dance, too, judging by the sounds issuing forth from our
 loud speaker. The people taking part
 were from Apollo, Pennsylvania, and they brought their own orchestra and male quartet with them. Every so often KDkA stages one of these dances, depending on residents of villages near Pittsburgh to arrange the features. The quartet was excel lent, presenting the numbers in true old time style. "Silver Threads ] Ny Let Me Call You Sweetheart and l Way Down Wonder in The Corn Field' were among the quartets se lections. Before we leave that fea- ture we must pass on to you one of
 the wisecracks made by the an- nouncer. He was forever cracking
 wise and using big words, uttering eXclamations of satisfaction after every one he completed successfully. ! But that's aside from the subject. He was speaking of the younger gen.
 cration and of a conversation he had with a friend in the course of which
 he asked why young men seemed to like girls who pet better than they
 do the others, to which the friend replied in a questioning tone, What others?" That struck us funny, somehow or other. WBRL, Hilton, New Hampshire, station which is exhibiting plenty of
 punch Of late. came through very l loud upon 423 meters. We were sur prised at the clarity and signal strength, since the last time we heard the broadcaster it was tritle distorted. They were staging an old time Adding contest up thar in the
 Granite State town and a gang Of
 the best old timers from all over
 that section of the country were in Triton for the final round. We heard
 a couple of them and left, since
 there was a deal of sameness about
 the program. At times we thought
 we detected a generator hum, but we
 couldn't be sure. We were delighted
 with the way in which the station
 came through, and we also want to
 say a word of praise for the work
 of the announcer. He is not an elab-
 crate talker by any means, but he
 gets to the point and lets the enter
 tainers do the broadcasting which,
 after all is what should be done in I
 most cases.
 J. Harold Lawrence and his or i
 chestra, accompanied by peanut stand whistle, came through strong from WRNA. Richmond. J. Harold, |
 you know, is one of WRNA's most 1
 popular artists, being pianist of 1 no mean ability. His work is all the l more remarkable when it is taken into consideration that he is totally
 blind. But, despite that affliction, he
 knows how to play the piano and
 he also knows how to direct an or chestra, as is evidenced by the work i of his dance band. The orchestra