WREK - Fred Runde interview

SWINGIN. WITH THE MAN

A Visit with The DeSoto Hour's Fred Runde

The DeSoto Hour is WREK's weekly radio show dedicated to the swingin' sounds of the Big Band Era. Hosted by Fred Runde for nearly two decades, it is Atlanta's longest continuously airing show. Fred sat down with WREK alumnus Chris Campbell for a talk about the show, Fred's fascinating professional career, and his involvement in what may have been the world's first offshore radio station. [Ed.: interview was conducted in 1998]

NEW YORK, NEW YORK

WREK: The DeSoto Hour has been on for almost 20 years now, right?

Fred: It.s close to that, it.s either 19 or 20. I.m not sure, really. I think we started in .79.

WREK: Were you raised in Atlanta?

Fred: Oh, no.I was born in Brooklyn and raised in Yonkers, New York, and went into the service from Yonkers, used to work in New York. Yonkers is kind of a bedroom community. The last four years of my working career, I was with an ad agency that handled all the motion-picture studio advertising for MGM, and a whole bunch of other studios. We also handled Radio City Music Hall and all the Loew.s theatres.

WREK: What would you say was your first introduction to the Big Band sound?

Fred: The Glen Island Casino in New York. Glen Island is on the Sound [Long Island Sound]. We used to go through Maramoneck to get to it, and it.s an island by virtue of the little creek that separates it from the mainland. Glenn Miller used to hold forth there, and a couple of us used to go there every now and again.

WREK: So he was the house band there for a while?

Fred: I think he was the house band because he was there all the time. Glen Island has an amusement park next to it, it.s part of the facility, and he was in the casino. So that was my first exposure to Big Band.

WREK: Would you say that Glenn Miller was your favorite back then?

Fred: Yeah, I think he was, actually, but it was probably because I heard more of him and got more used to his style of playing. They used to just broadcast all of these late-night band things from casinos all over the country, and as a matter of fact, the radio station I worked for would change locations every half hour to pick up a band from somewhere else. So the whole damn evening was just one live band after another.

WREK: You.d just go from venue to venue to venue, picking up different feeds?

Fred: Yeah. Well, the network did it, and we were on the network, and we just took what they had.

A DREAM JOB

WREK: And then you went into the service?

Fred: I went into World War II just a few months after Pearl Harbor. I was over in the CBI.China-Burma-India.flew over the hump, went on 10-hour missions in B-29s. I was the combat cameraman, and enjoyed every minute of it, loved it.

WREK: You.d take pictures of the Americans winning fights or losing fights? Dogfights?

Fred: We were in the high-altitude bombers [taking recon pictures], in fact we were so high that we were above the flak below us, exploding. We also had what they called Central Fire Control, in which one gunner, if a plane is coming from one direction, he pulls a little extra trigger.and all guns are now under his control. It.s computer-operated, so all he had to do was change two reticules on the image of the bomber in his scope, and the computer would take care of everything, it would accommodate the speed of this and that. So any time a Jap plane got anywhere near, they.d be shot down, so for that reason they stayed away from us. It came that they knew we had one helluva stinger.

Before that I was with a motion-picture unit in Denver in the Air Force, and all of us were transferred to the First Motion Picture Unit in the Hal Roach Studios on Washington Boulevard in Culver City [California]. Our exec officer, which is like a personnel officer, was Ronald Reagan, Captain Ronald Reagan.helluva nice guy. When I first came in, I was a shipment of one.that.s the way they would assemble the unit, they.d pick people in various places and have them shipped. I arrived on a Friday morning; I had this big barracks bag full of all my crap, and he said, .Ever been to L.A.?. and I said, .No,. and he said, .I.ll tell you what.I.m going to make it seem like you didn.t arrive here until Monday morning at 10:30. I.m not going to sign this paper that you arrived here, but throw your barracks bag over in the corner, take out any shaving equipment or change of underwear or whatever it is you want. You got any money?. .Yeah, I.ve got some money.. .Well, check into a hotel and see the town! I.ll see you Monday morning.. So I had the whole weekend to explore, and it was fun. And that.s typical of Reagan.wonderful guy, real nice guy.

WREK: I know that for a while you worked for Lockheed. I guess that.s what brought you to Atlanta.

Fred: Right. I was with Lockheed for about 13 years. I was in the motion-picture department, writing and directing films. I had a dream job. One particular project was called .Checkmate.. There.s a thing called CASF, Composite Air Strike Force, and they wanted to document how CASF is deployed on a moment.s notice. So I was given orders, and I went to every damn base in the United States, and everywhere I went, they would give me a briefing and also give me a flight in every airplane that they flew from that base. I went on many of the typical missions that they mounted from those various bases. So finally, after touring the whole country, I came back and wrote the script, and then we went out again, this time with the camera crew. Of course this time, every base I had already been there, so it was, Hey, welcome back!. On the trip out, Lockheed gave me extra funds to buy drinks for all the fighter pilots at every base.

WREK: Before or after the flights?!

Fred: [Laughter] Usually it was after, of course. So it opened up a lot of doors. Counting the ones I made during six years at DuPont, I made about 36 films. The films I made with DuPont were over at the Savannah River Plant, where the H-Bomb was made. I had a Q clearance.top, top secret.

I had done some radio work before the war, just a little. Incidentally, Ronald Reagan, I told him that when I came in.

WREK: He was a radio person?

Fred: Yes! He said, .Why don.t you get a hold of Dick Kempel..Charlie Kempel.s older brother�..and why don.t we start a radio program from the First Motion picture Unit? I know any one of the stations would like to take it.. But I got so immersed in making films.it sounded real tempting, I meant to do it, but first thing you know, I got into a combat unit and off I went, to CBI.

OFFSHORE RADIO

WREK: While you were doing all these things, and eventually going into the private sector and working, were you able to keep up with the music, just as a hobby?

Fred: Yes. Well, when we were on our way to India, we didn.t know where we were going, they didn.t tell us until we were almost there. We went the southern route, to stay away from Jap submarines, and we stopped in Australia. Another guy was with me from a band. Our motion picture unit and the band were the only people on the ship except for crew and freight. I suggested that when we get to Perth, which is on the western shore of Australia, that this guy and I go into town and pick up some Big Band jazz music, and we start a radio station of the ship using the public address system. The captain was ecstatic, and he had funds for this kind of thing. We were the first GIs to set foot in Perth.that is, other than Navy. Then, coming back on another ship, the war over, almost everybody that flew didn.t want to fly home. They didn.t want to test their luck, they.d made it that far. The ships were crowded with all these flight guys! I went to the captain again.mind you, I was just a sergeant.and told him what we had done on the way out. He said, .Hey, that.s a good idea.. So they rounded up some Big Band stuff. On the way I had the radio operator bringing me dispatches from the air, so we did news, too. The troops just loved that.

WREK: So music and news were cutting back and forth.

Fred: Yeah, we operated just like a regular radio station. Plus the navigation officer gave me access to all his books. I.d find out what islands we were heading for, and he.d direct me to the books he had. So I.d write little skits. We had quite a few guys involved. Once, when we got started, like Jimmy Durante used to say, .Everybody wants to get into the act!. So we had a lot of fun. They rolled out the red carpet. We had a helluva stack of records. Of course, everything was 78s, shellac. Good for your back.you drop .em, you don.t have to pick .em up.

THE EVOLUTION OF SWING

Fred: People got out of the habit of going to the big casinos. Before WWII, everybody used to go to the nearest big dance hall and dance, and that.s all they played, dance music. This is where these guys [renowned big bands] got their reputation.

WREK: How do you feel about how Swing bands changed over time to focus more and more on a strong vocalist?

Fred: The vocalists. domination of the bands occurred as a result of a big royalty fight between ASCAP and BMI. In order to get around the restrictions, the radio stations just decided they would play no more ASCAP tunes, as they were sick and tired of being gouged by ASCAP, and formed BMI. Then the band leaders said, .Let.s disband all the bands and get the vocalists to form their own bands,. and that.s what really happened. You.d hear the name of the vocalist ..and her band,. and often it was the same bunch of musicians. They were able to beat the fine print. It got to the point where it was kind of a good idea and so it hung around, even when they didn.t have to do it. There is a tune called .Frenesi,. sort of a Spanish tune.it was the first tune to be licensed by BMI. Everybody was so sick of that damned tune, because the radio stations would play it because they could! It was the only one they could play!

THE DESOTO HOUR

WREK: Would you say that The DeSoto Hour focuses on a particular kind of Big Band or Swing?

Fred: Yeah, I think Swing would just about hit it. I inherited this show from a guy who was station manager at the time. His name was Fred Hibbard, and I think he lives in Kennesaw. He called me some time back and said, .Hey, I see you.re using the same old theme!. And I think he inherited the show, too. So the show is pretty old. When I started, we were over in the EE Building, in the penthouse. A little, tiny.

WREK: On top of each other! I.ve been up there, it.s real tiny.

Fred: Yeah, we used to joke about the antenna being a straightened-out clothes hanger.

WREK: How did you wind up replacing Fred Hibbard?

Fred: The fella who was the WREK program director at the time, Greg Bauman, he was working for a company I worked for at the time, called Solid State Systems. He came to work for us on a part-time basis, co-op, and he and I got to talking about radio. One day he came to me and he said, .Our station manager wants to take a weekend off.would you be interested in doing the show?. I was a little reluctant, but he twisted my arm. [Laughter]

WREK: So he knew about your.

Fred: Oh, yeah, we talked a helluva lot. I said, .Gee, it.s been so many years since actually being on mic.. Anyway, I did it. And then Fred began to contact me directly. I did about three shows that way. One day, Fred was getting ready to graduate, and he said, .Come on down this weekend and we.ll do the show together, and I.ll introduce you as the new guy.. And I said, .Oh, I don.t know if I can do it every week..!. Here I am!

WREK: Nineteen years later, you.re still stuck! Would you say that the student staff at WREK is the same?

Fred: I think so. Although, it seems to me there were a few more willing hands to fix things when they were broken than there are today. For what reason, I have no idea. Otherwise, I.d say they were about the same. One thing I had a problem with is remembering people.s names, because there.s so much turnover.

WREK: What about the audience?

Fred: I know that people who listen to my show swear by it. You either like it or you don.t. The audiences are about the same.

BIG BAND IN ATLANTA

WREK: Are you aware of places in Atlanta that play Big Band?

Fred: There was a place in Buckhead, run by a guy who was real dedicated, and we brought him down and interviewed. He was closing the place, and the reason he was closing it was the audiences were spending too much time laughing and carrying on and not paying any attention to the music, and hardly any of them were dancing.

There are several great bands around that you can hire. There.s an outfit called the Atlanta 17, and they can imitate all the old big bands. They.re very good, tremendous! If you listen real hard, you can tell they.re not Tommy Dorsey or whoever, but they.re awfully close. They.re all over the hill, not retired, necessarily, but they.re not young. They.re all professional.lawyers, doctors, engineers.and there.s a waiting list of guys to join the group. We had The DeSoto Hour Dance a few years ago, and we were hoping to get some funds to hire these people. They get a lot of business.

WREK: I see that you usually bring in some of your own records for your show.

Fred: Well, today I thought I might be hard pressed, so I brought some things. These are some things my daughter was able to get at yard sales. She does a lot of that.

WREK: I was looking through some of your playlists, and of course there.s a lot of big names.Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Artie Shaw.but also there.s some names that didn.t jump out in my mind as being names I.ve heard of.Robert Mandel, Pete Jolly. I know you play a lot of Harry James.

Fred: There are a lot of guys who have outlasted the era, and they.re still around, still making recordings. They play the same way. As a matter of fact, I.ve been trying to locate a list of who these guys are, so that we can run them down and get some copies of their stuff. Having been on this so long, there.s a danger of repeating too much. I try to make each show unique if I can, and inevitably there.s going to be some repetition, but hopefully not too much.

The DeSoto Hour can be heard every Saturday night at 7:00 pm