First Song June Is Bustin Out All Over (afrs #071)

Picture yourself settling into your favorite chair on a warm June evening in 1948, the living room lamp casting a gentle glow as you dial in NBC and the familiar, welcoming voice of Bing Crosby fills your home. Tonight's Kraft Music Hall opens with an irresistible burst of energy as the orchestra launches into Rodgers and Hammerstein's "June Is Bustin Out All Over," that gloriously optimistic anthem freshly minted from Carousel's Broadway triumph. The harmonies swell with unbridled joy—there's something almost defiant in the melody, a post-war exuberance that seems to shake off the last cobwebs of wartime rationing and uncertainty. Crosby's velvet croon guides you through the number with that characteristic ease that made him America's favorite entertainer, while the supporting cast and chorus create a tapestry of vocal richness that only live radio performance could deliver.

This broadcast arrives at a pivotal moment in broadcasting history. The Kraft Music Hall, now in its fifteenth season, represents the golden age of sponsored radio variety—that precious intersection where commercial entertainment and genuine artistry coexisted. By 1948, television lurked on the horizon as an uncertain threat, but radio's dominion remained absolute, and the networks spared no expense in crafting these weekly spectacles. This Armed Forces Radio Service transcription preserves what millions of Americans experienced together, week after week, before television would atomize entertainment into isolated living rooms.

Don your headphones or gather the family around the speaker and let yourself be transported to this vanished world of live orchestras, genuine surprise performances, and an intimacy that only radio could create. The Kraft Music Hall awaits—where every evening promised a little luxury, a little laughter, and always, always magnificent music.