Chuck Cecil (The Swingin' Years)

Chuck Cecil (born 1922) is a veteran Los Angeles radio broadcaster and longtime host of the syndicated program "The Swingin' Years", a "Best of" radio show for "Big Band" music from the 1930's to 1955.

Early Years

Cecil was born and raised on an Oklahoma ranch. A severe drought during the Great Depression forced Chuck's family west, to Los Angeles, California, where they settled in the San Fernando Valley. There, Cecil attended Van Nuys High School alongside Jane Russell and Marilyn Monroe (who went by the name Norma Jeanne Baker at the time). In fact, Cecil was a guest at Monroe's wedding to Jim Doughety in 1942.

That same year, Cecil landed his first radio job at KVEC in San Luis Obispo, California. By December, he had been called to active duty by the Navy. Cecil was accepted for the Navy's V-5 pilot training program, flying for Grumman. When the war ended, Chuck was serving in a replacement squad waiting for his first combat assignment.

After the war, Chuck went back to radio. He found a job at KFLW in Klamath Falls, Oregon. While working as an announcer for "Baldy's Band", a popular orchestra in Southern Oregon, Cecil met his future bride, Edna. She had been working as the band's vocalist. The couple wed in 1947 and have four children and 15 grandchildren.

Cecil was hired by Los Angeles radio station KFI in 1952. He remained there for 21 years until a format change forced him from the air. He spent most of the 1970s and 80's working at KGIL-AM and KPRZ also in Los Angeles.

The Swingin' Years

While working at KFI, Cecil pitched the idea of a Big Band oriented radio show to the station's management. They agreed, and in 1956, "The Swingin' Years" went on the air for the first time.

The concept was simple: perpetuate the memory of the Swing Era music popularized by such acts as Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington. The program focused primarily on Swing, but also included many of the popular ballads that topped the record charts from 1935 to 1955; the era Cecil coined "The Swingin' Years". The music played originally came from KFI's vast record library as well as from Cecil's personal collection of 40,000+ 78 rpm records. As the show progressed, Cecil included audio clips of his interviews with some of the brightest stars of the Big Band era.

"The Swingin' Years" began as a local show in 1956. By 1973, it was being syndicated by American Radio Programs, Incorporated. During its peak, the show aired on hundreds of radio stations across the United States, in Europe and on the Armed Forces Radio Network. During its first three decades the show proved popular with members of the World War II generation. But, by the late 1980s the show's core audience began to pass away, as did the number of stations carrying a Big Band format. It has enjoyed a renaissance of sorts over the past decade among younger people interested in swing music and dancing. Recently, "The Swingin' Years" has aired on a number of listener supported public radio stations across the United States. With the Internet, fans worldwide have sent contributions to keep "The Swinging Years" on public radio, and, by extension, streaming on the Internet.

Chuck Cecil still produces the weekly show from his home in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. 2010 marks the show's 54th anniversary.

The "Swingin' Years" is heard each Saturday and Sunday morning, from 6am to 10am Pacific Time on KJAZZ KKJZ 88.1 FM Long Beach, California and on Saturday nights from 8 pm to midnight (Eastern Time) on WPPB fm, formerly WLIU the Hamptons, Long Island, New York. It streams online at www.jazzandblues.org and wpbb.org.

References

Chuck Cecil on Dancing LA- http://dancingla.homestead.com/CHUCKCECIL.html
Chuck Cecil on Jazz and blues - http://www.jazzandblues.org/programming/hosts/bios/index.aspx?host=Chuck%20Cecil

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Name	Cecil, Chuck
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Date of birth	1922
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