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| The WCPO-TV studio, where the Mid-Day Merry-Go Round was broadcasted from. At far left you can see Big Jim Stacy talking with an WCPO employee. |
Every person who deals with early country music crossed paths with the Mid-Day Merry Go-Round on WNOX out of Knoxville, Tennessee. Stars like Bill Carlisle, Don Gibson, Roy Acuff, Mother Maybelle & the Carter Sisters, Chet Atkins, and many more. But Cincinnati's Mid-Day Merry-Go Round is a much more less known country music show that never gained as much fame as its Tennessee counterpart.
WCPO-TV signed on the air on July 26,1949, in Cincinnati, Ohio. The first show that was broadcasted was the country & western outfit "Mid-Day Merry-Go Round", hosted by "Big" Jim Stacy. Stacey remembers his first show as follows:
The logo appeared on the screen for my show - 'Midday Merry-Go-Round'. You heard the Ramblers playing in the background, then the announcer's voiceover. Dick Woods was his name. He went into his intro... 'And now, here's BIG JIM STACY!' Then you saw me in my cowboy hat. 'Howdy, friends and neighbors, and welcome to the very first Midday Merry-Go-Round...
The group Stacy mentions were the Bluegrass Ramblers, the house band for the show that provided also music for the next show, "Meet the Ladies". The Mid-Day Merry-Go Round was on the air every day from noon to 1 p.m. During one hour, Stacy presented country music artists from Cincinnati and the region, such as Al Runyon, the Davis Sisters and Delbert Barker. Runyon (1918-1998) was also a member of WCPO's Corn Husker Jamboree and recorded for Carl Burckhardt's budget labels such as Gateway, Big 4 Hits, and others - just as Delbert Barker did. He performed on the Mid-Day Merry-Go Round from 1951-1953 and was discovered by Burckhardt on one of the shows. From 1951 to 1956, Barker recorded for Burckhardt.
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| Davis Sisters |
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| Delbert Barker |
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| Al Runyon |
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| Big Jim Stacy |
It appears that the Mid-Day Merry-Go Round was on the air during the 1950s and the early 1960s, where it ceased broadcasting at some point. Host Jim Stacy died in 2001.
Sources
- Jim Friedman: "Cincinnati Television", Arcada Publishing
- Hillbilly-Music.com
- Special thanks to Delbert Barker
