The Wheeling Jamboree is the second oldest country music radio broadcast in the United States after the Grand Ole Opry.
[2] Holland Engel and Howard Donahoe were among the first announcers, and in 1927, the station signed William Wallace "Bill" Jones and the Sparkling Four as its first hillbilly act.
[9] Some artists like Warren Caplinger, Hugh Cross, Frankie More and Slim McAuliffe had had recording experiences prior to the WWVA engagement and did fairly well.
[12] Rural comedy was an integral part of the Jamboree with acts such as Crazy Elmer, Shorty Godwin, Dapper Dan Martin, Smokey Pleacher, Lazy Jim Day, and Cy Sneezeweed.
Many of the artists of the show like Doc Williams, Joe Barker, Curley Miller, Monte Blake, and Lloyd Carter got drafted and had to leave.
The war helped new acts on their way to the top such as the 1943 addition of Radio Rangerettes consisting of Millie Wayne and Bonnie Baldwin.
Two years later, in May 1946, program director George W. Smith died but was quickly replaced by Paul Miller and William Rine.
New performers had been added to the show in 1945, including the "Singing Mountaineer" Reed Dunn and the honky-tonk vocalist Hawkshaw Hawkins.
[18] The traditional acts of Red Belcher's Kentucky Ridge Runners and the duo of Lee and Juanita Moore were added in the late 1940s.
The "Yodelin' Ranger" Hank Snow and the Colorado singing cowboy Ken Curtis joined the Jamboree in the late 1940s as two separate acts.
The country music writer and musician George Morgan also worked at the Jamboree for a few months before leaving for Grand Ole Opry.
[20] The majority of the cast at the Jamboree did not make recordings, but those who did include Hawkshaw Hawkins, Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper, Big Slim McAuliffe, Red Belcher, the Lilly Brothers, Gay Schwing, Lee & Juanita Moore, the Ritchie Brothers, Roy Scott, and the Radio Rangerettes.
During the 1950s, recorded music gradually replaced live performances and Hardrock Gunter and Lee Moore became the station's deejays.
[22] In April 1952, bluegrass music made its entry at the Jamboree when the Bailey Brothers and Their Happy Valley Boys were signed.
[24] The bluegrass duo of Jim & Jesse McReynolds and Hylo Brown had a short stint at the Jamboree during the summer months of 1955.
[24] During this period rockabilly became a regular feature at the show with artists like Bob Gallion, Hardrock Gunter and Chuck & Jim Cook.
[26] On November 8, 1965, the new program director, Arlen Sanders, made WWVA a "full-time country radio station"[27] and on January 15, 1966, the Jamboree moved to a new location at Wheeling Island Exhibition Hall.
A new roster of country music stars were tied to the Jamboree during the 1960s and 1970s including Freddy Carr, Jimmie Stephens, Darnell Miller, Junior Norman, Kenny Biggs, Gus Thomas, Slim Lehart, and Bud Cutright.
[32] During the entire decade of the 1970s, former Country Music bandleader Glenn Reeves was the Executive Director and General manager of the show.
Freddy Carr, Jerry Brightman, Gus Thomas, and Jim Sutton were included on his management team which launched the annual summer Country Music Festival, "Jamboree in the Hills" at nearby St. Clairsville, Ohio.
To the last performance on the stage in 2018 it was one of America's major American Country Music festivals, featuring top-name stars on its headliners' list every year.
(The Jamboree in the Hills was later spun off to Live Nation in 2006; WWVA owner iHeartMedia also continued to air the annual event on WOVK.)
Recording Artist / Jamboree USA Performer Freddy Carr was contracted by the Tourist Development Division of the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce to represent the state at numerous special banquets, concerts and sporting events throughout the U.S. and Canada.
The Capitol Music Hall and the Jamboree would also be managed by Clear Channel's concert promotion division, Live Nation.
WWVA dropped the program in the late 2000s (part of a broader restructuring at Clear Channel that saw the spin-off of Live Nation, which continued to own the Jamboree in the Hills until its 2019 shutdown), and for the next several years, Jamboree broadcasts were carried on WKKX, another talk radio station, which also syndicated the show in an effort to make up WKKX's somewhat smaller coverage area.
In April 1939, the Jamboree went on its first package tour which comprised two solo performers and seven bands led by the announcer Bill Thomas.
[12] The First Goodwill Tour of 1939 consisted of Big Slim McAuliffe, Elmer Crowe, Doc Williams' Border Riders, Fincher's Cotton Pickers, Frankie More's Log Cabin Girls, Joe Barker's Radio Cirkus, Hugh & Shug's Radio Pals, Jake Taylor's Railsplitters and the Tommy Nelson Gang.
[12] The Second Goodwill Tour of 1940 consisted of Bill Jones, Big Slim McAuliffe, the Border Riders, Fincher's Cotton Pickers, the Log Cabin Girls, the Radio Cirkus, the Tommy Nelson Gang, Pete Cassell, Mack Jeffers, Curley Miller and Blaine Smith.
[12] The Third Goodwill Tour of 1941 consisted of Bill Jones, Big Slim's Happy Ranch Gang, Lew Childre and His Buckeyes, Chief Redhawk, the Chuck Wagon Doughboys, the Log Cabin Boys, Brown Eyes, Benny Kissinger and Smiley Sutter.
[13] The Fourth Goodwill Tour of 1942 consisted of Bill Jones, Big Slim McAuliffe, the Border Riders, Lew Childre, the Leary Family, Curley Miller, the blind twins Eileen and Maxine, Smiley Sutter and Millie Wayne.