randy blake - Inducted 1976

Randy Blake was born Harold Winston in Chicago, IL, in 1906. He sang in vaudeville and trained for opera, but because he got married during the early years of the Great Depression, there wasn't much call for opera singers. He joined "The Suppertime Frolics" of WJJD (Chicago) in 1935 as a singer but quickly became their commercial announcer. By the early 1940s, "Randy Blake's Suppertime Frolic" was heard in more than half of the 48 states. At this time he was invited to move to California in order to train younger disc jockeys for CBS radio. World War II brought radio to the troops around the world through The American Forces Radio Service. Following the war, Blake was given a medal by the U. S. government for his help in bringing music to the soldiers overseas.

Randy Blake had a smooth, resonant voice and never used a country or regional accent, delivering a more sophisticated presentation to what was then called "hillbilly" music. Blake was always proud to be associated with this true "music of the people" throughout his career. He stayed with WJJD in Chicago until the station gave in to the "pop" craze of the late 1950s and went to an all music and news format. At that time, Blake created the Stewart Sales Company, a surplus record company, and moved into recording television commercials. When the Country DJ Hall of Fame was created, Randy Blake was inducted in its second year, 1976, also, unfortunately, the year of his death.