Wally Butterworth

Hebert Wallace “Wally” Butterworth(1901- February 24, 1974) was an American radio announcer and host of variety and quiz shows.

Butterworth was born in Philadelphia in 1901. From an early age he wanted to be a singer. He took singing lessons and after graduating from Swarthmore High School as president of his class, went on two successful singing tours in Canada and the eastern United States. [ [http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv60544 Guide to the Wally Butterworth Papers 1930-1973 ] ]

Butterworth auditioned for the role as an announcer for NBC radio in New York City in the early 1930’s. He got the job and was stationed in Chicago, Illinois. He covered the Chicago Civic Opera, the symphony, football games and livestock parades. After a stent in the Navy he was hired as the announcer of Vox Pop, but in 1936 co-host Jerry Belcher left the program, and Butterworth took over as host. In 1939 the show moved from NBC radio to CBS radio. [ [http://www.lib.umd.edu/LAB/COLLECTIONS/voxpophistory.html Vox Pop History ] ]

His work on Vox Pop lead Butterworth to host and create other quiz programs, some of these were of his own design. This continued from the late 1930’s until the early 1960’s. Butterworth lost a lawsuit against General Electric over a contract for a television quiz show he felt was directly modeled after one of his radio programs.

The lawsuit between Butterworth and GE lead him to become politically active. He also broadcasted a radio program in Atlanta on which he opposed the NAACP convention and attacked blacks, non-Christians, and Catholics. The show was cancelled after two weeks and the resulting lawsuit he filed against the radio station ended unsuccessfully. [ [http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv60544 Guide to the Wally Butterworth Papers 1930-1973 ] ] Around 1961 the Georgia offshoot of the Ku Klux Klan, the National Knights of the Ku Klux Klan used recordings narrated Butterworth to spread its pitch. [ [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,870944,00.html Next Step: Button-Down Robes - TIME ] ] Butterworth also organized the Defensive Legion of Registered Americans in 1962.

Butterworth died in Pennsylvania on February 24, 1974.

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