Episodes

Join Jeff Bressler for this week's MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM as he pays tribute to RCA Victor's budget label, Bluebird records.

This week a very special 86th Anniversary Edition of the Make Believe Ballroom. Join Jeff Bressler as he takes us back to present the history of the show which began its broadcast odyssey on February 3, 1935.

This week the program features records that highlight some of the great crooners, vocalists, and vocal groups of the 1930s and 1940s.

A couple of Kings, music novelty, and many artists you might never have heard. The best of Big Band, Jazz, and Swing on this week's edition of the MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM.

Many of our most beloved remakes of songs came originally from the music of the 1930s and 1940s. This edition of the Make Believe Ballroom plays original first-time recordings of some of our favorite music.

Listen to a special edition of the MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM where Jeff Bressler plays only Grammy Hall of Fame inducted records from the 1930s and 1940s. The Grammy Hall Of Fame was established by the Recording Academy's National Trustees in 1973. The...

On this week’s MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM – A Philadelphia Cowboy, the Canadian Bing Crosby, Swinging Polka, In the Mood pre Glenn Miller, some 1800’s tunes that went Big Band, a salute to FDR plus more music and great stories from the big band era.

On this weeks MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM – A song that is child’s play, Oscar, Oscar, Oscar, two brothers from Akron, plus Alice Faye, Dorothy Lamour, Herbie Kay, Billie Holliday and much more of your big band era favorites.

A salute to the Holiday Season and the impact the music of the 1930s and 1940s has had in creating the beloved Christmas canon.

On this edition of the MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM – A special birthday song, a records heartache, first time ever recording, from the top to the bottom, a song Fred Astaire refused to sing, a mystery singer, plus many more records and stories of the...

On this week’s MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM: Rhumba, a bandleader's mark as a composer, battle of the jazz violinists, from goat to Goodman hero, a grave song, the unheralded Robert Johnson and much more music, trivia, and historic stories.

On this weeks edition of the MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM – a visit from the past, some clues to a famous female vocalist, one bandleader's loss is another’s big gain, some British nobility, some recorded rarities, and a whole lot more music and stories of...

On this edition of the MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM a great Helen O’Connell quote, jazz, swing and hillbilly all rolled into one, Tiny, Shorty and Big, the history behind the Make Believe Ballroom, and along the way Ella and Louie, Vaughn Monroe and much...

On this week’s show – Name a big band era hit that became a famous celebrity’s theme song, Dolly Dawn and Her Dawn Patrol, well-known bandleaders who didn’t play an instrument, the “fastest girl drummer in the world,” a West Indian big band leader and...

On this weeks MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM Jeff Bressler features two regal names, a great depression musical sales item, Frank Sinatra has the kids screaming and swaying, Glenn Miller’s first female singer, a popular bandleader who has to wait 12 years...

A wonderful MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM this week on public and community radio stations across the US and UK as we look at a marvelous big band era French jazz and swing quintet, a singer who liked being off the radar, a Broadway flop that still produced a...

On this weeks edition of the MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM heard on public and community radio stations around the country: a Benny Goodman Band members universal achievement, the musical history of a famous telephone number, a mid-big band show – no show,...

On this weeks MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM over Public Broadcasting and Community Radio stations across the county we feature Gene Krupa, Anita O’Day and Ray Eldridge along with a little boogie with Will Bradley, Freddie Slack and Ray McKinley, a Nat King...

On this weeks MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM Louis Armstrong and his small band the Hot Five, Larry Clinton and his Orchestra, in addition to Cab Calloway we can’t forget his famous sibling, the Chairman of the Board with a novelty tune, Dick Jurgens and Eddy...

A wonderful MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM this week as we visit Harry James and his lucky number, Les Brown and His Band of Renown seven decades of music, a Tommy Dorsey “larceny”, the Hit of the Week record label, little remembered Ray Perry, great sideman...

On this weeks edition of the Make Believe Ballroom - The story of a song title, a look at big band era fate, the salaries of black band musicians, the great trumpet sideman Johnny Best, the history of Soundies along with the wonderful music of the...

On this weeks MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM, some wonderful small group swing, a hot Charlie Barnet tale, “V-Discs, the great arranger Vic Shoen plus more music with Phil Harris, Ella Fitzgerald, The Andrews Sisters, and a whole lot more!

On this edition of the MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM, we look at Big Band era stars whose careers extended into the 50s and beyond, interviews and music of Tex Beneke and Margret Whiting and a historic recording by "Illinois" Jacquet plus a whole lot more...

Join us in the MAKE BELIEVE BALLROOM. On this week’s showJess Stacy’s Monumental Solo.The Andrews Sisters 13 Weeks with Glenn Miller.Red Norvo, the only xylophonist to lead a big band!Reminiscences and music with Harry James, Benny Goodman and Bea...