Radio's variety and music shows were lavish revues that dazzled audiences with top talent from Hollywood, Broadway, and the jazz world alongside beloved personalities like Bing Crosby and big bands galore.

Popular Series in Variety & Music

1930s
The Fleischmann Yeast Hour (1929-1939)
The Chase and Sanborn Hour (1929-1948)
The Kraft Music Hall (1933-1949)
Major Bowes Amateur Hour (1934-1946)
Your Hit Parade (1935-1953)
The Rudy Vallee Show (1929-1939)

1940s
The Abbott and Costello Show (1940-1949)
Bing Crosby's Kraft Music Hall (1936-1946)
The Fred Allen Show (1932-1949)
The Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Show (1937-1956)
The Kay Kyser Kollege of Musical Knowledge (1938-1949)
The Dinah Shore Show (1939-1955)

1950s
The Big Show (1950-1952)
The Perry Como Show (1943-1955)
Arthur Godfrey Time (1945-1972)
Don McNeill's Breakfast Club (1933-1968)
Grand Ole Opry (1925-present)
American Bandstand (1952-1989, transitioned to TV in 1957)

Welcome to the glitz! The glamour! The sheer, sparkling entertainment bonanza that was the variety and music programming of radio's golden age.

With the flip of a dial, you could be transported into a world of pure razzle-dazzle spectacle hosted by the most legendary showmen and cultural icons of the era. The Chase & Sanborn Hour brought you debonair raconteur Edgar Bergen and his sarcastic wooden sidekick Charlie McCarthy. Texaco Star Theater had you doubled over with its cavalcade of Hollywood A-listers like Mae West and W.C. Fields.

And at the center of it all were the maestros, the real radio royalty whose music radiated straight into the living rooms of millions. Benny Goodman's hot swing. The velvet vocals of Bing Crosby. The All-American orchestral grandeur of Meredith Willson. These were the indelible sounds and personalities that defined entire eras and provided the joyful sonic backdrop to so many lives.

These variety showcases celebrated entertainment as an all-encompassing revue, seamlessly blending comedic skits, big band numbers, and virtuoso novelty acts into one mesmerizing package.

It was pure, uncut talent on parade - the best of the best from Hollywood, Broadway, and the hottest jazz joints. To tune in each week was to experience the ultimate in showbiz magic. And even now, all these decades later, you can still get front row seats to these fabled extravaganzas here on RUSC. So sit back and prepare to be dazzled!

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