Vox Pop Radio Program

Background

November 7th, 1932, on the Eve of the 1932 Presidential Election, two account executives, Harry Grier and Jerry Belcher, working for Radio Station KTRH, Houston, wandered out onto the street outside their studios in the Rice Hotel and began to interview passers-by. Their first sponsor was Landers, King, and Smith. An almost instant hit, they continued their 'Vox Populi' interviews for the next two and a half years, sponsored by Dallas's Metzger Dairies, until the program was picked up briefly by the Southwest Broadcasting System. Beginning with the wider, regionally produced version of Sidewalk Interviews--in January 1935--the compelling notion of an entire program of man-in-the-street interviews caught on to the point of earning it a national audience within it's first two years.

So novel was the idea that, within just five years, Vox Pop was rapidly becoming one of the most parodied, copied new formats in local radio--and to a growing degree, in national radio. Indeed, for the likes of Bob and Ray, Steve Allen, Jack Paar, and Arthur Godfrey, the 'candid' man-in-the-street interview--either genuine or in parody--became a regular go-to source of gags. Bob and Ray elevated the man-in-the-street interview parody to an art form that has never been equalled, even though emulated even today, by Late Night Television Talk Show hosts the world over.

But parodies and spin-offs aside, the genuine Vox Pop interviews--especially those during the World War II years of the program--remain riveting time-capsule snapshots of the views of both stateside and war-bound American citizens during a period of massive domestic and international upheaval.

If this format seems familiar in several ways, it may be instructive to remember Television's The Today Show. Dave Garroway was very impressed with the Vox Pop formula. The transition to Television was, again, revolutionary for the Television Remote paradigm, but proved equally popular and effective for decades to come. The Today Show's frequent visits outside the confines of Rockerfeller Center remain highly popular to this day. Call it voyeurism, narcissism or schadenfreude, but whatever the attraction, the American Public seems to love holding a mirror to itself. In that respect this format remains timeless.

Vox Pop, short for the Latin phrase, Vox Populi, means, literally, The Voice of The People--in retrospect quite an apt title for this long-running, truly historic series.

Series Derivatives:

The most helpful provenances were newspaper listings.

OTRisms:

All above cited provenances are in error in one form or another. The most helpful provenances were the logs of the RadioGOLDINdex and the Vox Pop articles from the University of Maryland's Library of American Broadcasting site.

1. Contrary to the 'DS' citations for this program in the Jay Hickerson Guide--and virtually all other sources but that of the Library of American Broadcasting, the series didn't begin in 1935. It began in 1932, at Houston Station KTRH.

2. The episode dated 42-07-27 was broadcast from Keesler Field, near Biloxi, Mississippi, not Keisler Field.

3. The episode dated 44-06-26 was broadcast from Farragut, Idaho, not Frarragut, Idaho.

As more verifiable provenances surface, we'll continue to update the following series log, as appropriate. Updated 08-12-08.

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[Date, title, and episode column annotations in red refer to either details we have yet to fully provenance or other unverifiable information as of this writing. Red highlights in the text of the 'Notes' columns refer to information upon which we relied in citing dates, date or time changes, or titles.]

Vox Pop Series Log