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New World Radio ~ Coming Fall 2008

 

History and Overview

 

The Anthology of Recorded Music (ARM), DRAM's parent company, was founded in 1974 with a mandate to produce a 100 LP collection documenting American history through its music. Encompassing the broadest possible spectrum of genres, the discs were curated by a distinguished group of composers, historians, performers and other professionals. The Anthology covered the full range of American concert music, the evolution of jazz, and a diversity of American folk traditions, and was distributed freely under the label New World Records (NWR) to nearly 7,000 libraries worldwide. After thirty years the Anthology remains part of many library collections, serving as critical material in the teaching of American history and culture.

Of the 100 LPs that comprised New World Records' original Recorded Anthology of American Music, 43 titles have never been reissued on compact disc due to copyright restrictions. To this day, the only public access to these vital recordings are the original vinyl albums in libraries and schools. Clearing the content of these albums for use online has been a primary objective of DRAM since its inception, and negotiations to that end continue. However, given the complexity of the permissions process and the cost of licensing the material, it may be some while before this portion of the NWR catalog is available for on-demand streaming. In the meantime, however, we are pleased to announce New World Radio, a new new webcast initiative that will bring the complete series back into to circulation.

In the spirit of New World's original Anthology, New World Radio will be a free educational service designed to promote the use of music in scholarship, instruction and enjoyment without reference to commercial considerations. Programming blocks will combine music from any genre or era in exploration of various historical and topical themes, offering the continuous online broadcast of music from the New World Records LPs and other selections from DRAM. Programming will be curated by specialists in music history, literature, cultural studies & other disciplines, and explore themes specific to the American experience. Contributors will be free to include music from outside sources--including their own private collections--and invited to active participation in what we hope will become a lively editorial forum.

 

Call for Submissions

If you have an idea for a New World Radio theme, or would like to participate in the creation of broadcast material, please contact Tyler Sinclar (tsinclair@dramonline.org) directly. Listed below are a series of proposed program themes, to which we will add as the project develops.

 

 

Program Themes


Each of the 100 LPs in the New World Records Anthology explored a specific genre of American music or period in its history. Programming for the internet radio station will proceed along similar lines, with curators being encouraged to revisit themes from the original Anthology and suggest new ones.

The body of music available for broadcast on this station will encompass not only material from the LP Anthology but also later releases on the New World Records label; recordings from other independent labels participating in DRAM; and any other relevant content selected in exploration of selected themes.

In consultation with our advisors, New World Radio will schedule programming that contextualizes this music in an innovative fashion, offering a listening experience enhanced by explanatory text and other selected supporting material.

Proposed program themes include:

  • Social Class in Music
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  • Immigration and the Transformation of American Society
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  • African Diaspora in America
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  • Religion in the American South
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  • American History in Music from WWI through WWII
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  • United States from Settlement to Civil War
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  • Oral History via Song
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  • American Primitive: Rural Traditions in Song and Speech
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  • Roots of Jazz
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  • Birth of the American Popular Song
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  • Roots of American Musical Theater
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  • Jazz, Ragtime and Blues in Early 20th Century America
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  • Dance and Band Music Before Television
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  • Race Records
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  • Response to Europe: American Composers before World War I
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  • Genesis & Evolution of a True American Style: Charles Ives & “Sons”
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  • America's Musical Avant-Garde

 

Origins & Inspiration - The LPs

 

Our initial year of programming will focus attention on both currently and newly-digitized material from the 100 LP Anthology, with approximately 500 hours of music serving as the backbone of the broadcast. Some albums with material to be included are:

  • Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition: Songs of World Wars I and II
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  • Come Josephine in My Flying Machine: Inventions and Topics in Popular Songs 1910-1929
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  • Sissle & Blake's Shuffle Along
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  • Sousa and Pryor Bands: Original Recordings
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  • When Malindy Sings: Jazz Vocalists 1938-1961
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  • Let's Get Loose: Folk and Popular Blues Styles from the Beginnings to the Early 1940s
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  • Old Mother Hippletoe: Rural and Urban Children's Songs
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  • Maple Leaf Rag: Ragtime in Rural America
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  • Cuttin' the Boogie: Piano Blues and Boogie Woogie (1926-1941)
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  • Steppin' on the Gas: Rags to Jazz (1913-1927)
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  • Jive at Five: The Stylemakers of Jazz (1920s-1940s)
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  • Sweet and Low Blues: Big Bands and Territory Bands of the 20s
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  • Jammin' for the Jackpot: Big Bands and Territory Bands of the 30's
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  • Little Club Jazz: Small Groups in the 30s
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  • Jazz in Revolution: The Big Bands of the 1940s
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  • Bebop
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  • That's My Rabbit, My Dog Caught It: Traditional Southern Instrumental Styles
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  • Going Down the Valley: Vocal and Instrumental Styles in Folk Music from the South
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  • Brighten the Corner Where You Are: Black and White Urban Hymnody
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  • Hills and Home: Thirty Years of Bluegrass
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  • Old-Country Music in a New Land: Folk Music of Immigrants from Europe and the Near East
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  • Country Music: South and West
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  • Country Music in the Modern Era 1940s-1970s
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  • Follies, Scandals, and Other Diversions: From Zigfeld to the Shuberts
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  • Vintage Irving Berlin
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  • Where Have We Met Before?: Forgotten Songs from Broadway, Hollywood, and Tin Pan Alley
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  • Music Goes Round and Around: The Golden Years of Tin Pan Alley (1930-1939)

 

Support

New World Radio is grateful for the support of:

  • The Island Fund
  • The Jebediah Foundation
  • The New York State Council for the Arts
  • The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation