290211 - Portland Symphony Orchestra

Of all the Empire Builders episodes to air, this particular one stands out for the unique reason that it not only was broadcast from a remote location (Portland, Oregon), but it showcased a local symphony orchestra and not some signal event of the Great Northern Railway. The only other times the Empire Builders show was not broadcast from the NBC studios (either in New York or in Chicago) was the June 10, 1929, broadcast inaugurating the GN’s new “Empire Builder” passenger train, and of course the initial broadcast of January 12, 1929, dedicating the new Cascade Tunnel.

The Portland (Oregon) Symphony Orchestra, 1929-30 season. Author's collection

 

Throughout the course of this radio series, the Great Northern Railway deliberated tried to showcase cities or other locales along the route served by their trains. Many of the broadcasts were developed as historical sketches, often with completely fictionalized stories, but at other times reliant on at least some elements of historic fact. Even in the Portland Symphony Orchestra broadcast, the program opened with the Old Timer discussing the settlement of the city of Portland, and the way it got its name.

From the continuity (script) of the February 11, 1929, episode of Empire Builders:

Old Timer: “Back in 1845, jest one year after the first building had been set up in what is now the city of Portland, Oregon, a name was a pretty important thing. Two New England Yankees, Lovejoy and Pettygrove, had jest laid off 16 blocks of the townsite, an’ they had to call it somethin. Lovejoy, he was a Massachusetts man, an’ he held out for callin’ the new town Boston, but Pettygrove, he come from up Maine way, an’ he said they’d call the town Portland or nothin. Well, weren’t nothin’ to do but to flip a coin, an’ see who won, an’ that’s what they did. Pettygrove called heads, an’ heads it was! That’s how the city of Portland got its name!”

When the New York studio announcer and the Old Timer concluded their opening commentary, the attention of the show was handed off to an announcer standing by in Portland. The conductor of the Portland Symphony Orchestra, Willem Van Hoogstraten (1884-1965), was introduced to announce the musical selections to be performed. Here are the first two musical pieces performed on the air that evening (click on them for versions available on YouTube):

·        Fourth movement (or the allegro) from Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony 

·        The Overture to Rosamunde, by Shubert

 

These performances entailed about twenty minutes of the thirty-minute broadcast. Most of the remainder of the time was allotted to Frank Branch Riley (1875-1975). Riley was a highly-educated man, with degrees in Economics from Stanford University and Law from Harvard University. He made a name for himself across much of the United States (particularly in the East and the Midwest) as a goodwill ambassador for Portland and the entire state of Oregon. He was a very popular speaker on the lecture circuits. In this broadcast of the Empire Builders, two minutes of air time were allotted to Riley to extoll the virtues of the state of Oregon.

George L. Baker (1868-1941), Mayor of Portland, also took to the microphone for a one-minute proclamation of Portland’s attractions, and invited the listeners to come see his fair city for themselves.

 

Willem Van Hoogstraten, conductor of the Portland Symphony Orchestra.
Author's collection

 

At this point in the broadcast, Willem Van Hoogstraten once more took to the podium to conduct the Portland Symphony Orchestra, this time to perform the March of the Sardar from Caucasian Sketches by Ippolitov Iwanow.

The closing comments from the NBC announcer included these statements:

Announcer:
           “Beyond Oregon and Washington lies California, Hawaii, Alaska, and the Orient, sending forth their call to eastern Americans gripped by the wanderlust. Some day you will follow this trail and discover this new empire. When you go, the Oriental Limited, crack train of the Great Northern Railway, will take you in comfort from Chicago to this land of enchantment, or bring you speedily back through historic Northwest Adventure land.

Would you like to know more about the Pacific Northwest? Write to the Passenger Department, Great Northern Railway, St. Paul, or the station to which you are listening, and you will receive an interesting booklet called The Scenic Northwest.”

 

In an effort to gauge the level of interest in their radio series, the Great Northern Railway tried a number of approaches. Measuring systems such as today’s Nielsen ratings of television viewership (which are increasingly adapting themselves to digital signal delivery and the trending of social media data) have some of their earliest roots in efforts to scientifically judge the size of radio listening audiences. In 1930, the Association of National Advertisers enlisted the services of Archibald Crossley (1896-1985), who was considered a pioneer of American opinion polls, along with the likes of Elmo Roper (1900-1971) and Dr. George Gallup (1901-1984). Crossley’s rating system involved calling homes by telephone and asking people what they had listened to the night before. During the Empire Builders broadcast of February 11, 1929, the GN hired people to call listeners in the Portland area to ask what they were listening to. A substantial number reported they were enjoying the Empire Builders presentation of the Portland Symphony Orchestra (at least until, we would presume, interrupted by the phone call).