Country and Western Music with Dorothy Horstman

"Hello, Country fans...," was Dorothy A. Horstman's (1930-1999) welcome to listeners to Country and Western Music on WNYC in the 1970s. At the time, the weekly half-hour slot was the only outlet for the genre in the New York metropolitan area. Admitting the show was a significant departure from the station's regular classical fare, A.M. Program Manager Richard Pyatt told Billboard it was the station's aim to "to introduce a new musical sound to those listeners who have never experienced this art form."[1] 

Horstman's first program (May 23, 1972) sampled selections from the 50-year history of the country, ranging from Vernon Dalhart to Charley Pride. For the next five years, her broadcasts demonstrated a lively, yet scholarly, approach by tracing the history and influence of the genre and drawing on primary research from her rich collection of oral history interviews. Typically, the programs were devoted to individual artists, composers, or themes, and included her own keen commentary and insight. Among them, for example, a two-part roundup of 'Grand Ole Opry' performers from its beginnings in 1925, a profile of Jimmie Rodgers, tracing his influence to the modern-day, and interviews with legendary performers like Loretta Lynn, Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, Hank Snow, and Roy Acuff.

Prior to her WNYC broadcasts, Horstman had been a songwriter and country music journalist writing for Country Song Roundup and Country Music, as well as being an associate editor of Country Music Star Life. Born in Georgia and raised in Louisiana, she attended the University of Texas at Austin in the 1950s and was trained as a registered nurse. In 1959 Horstman married and would later make her home in New York City. Her interest in songwriting gave way to a more methodical approach to research in country and western music in general. Beginning in 1954 until her passing in 1999, she conducted hundreds of ground-breaking interviews with the leading artists and performers of the genre and was meticulous in her research on country and western music ballads and their origins.[2] 

Dorothy Horstman's pioneering research resulted in the publication of the definitive Sing Your Heart Out, Country Boy in 1975. The work is a collection of lyrics to more than 360 country songs, along with comments by the artist or composer explaining how each song was written. Prior to her death in September 1999, she completed her work on the encyclopedic America's Best Loved Country Songs. The book covers more than 3,200 classic country music songs from the genre's earliest roots to the end of 1989. It was posthumously published.

Note: I'm afraid the above audio is just the intro and outro to Dorothy Horstman's first program. The amount of copyrighted music precludes us from posting the entire program.

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[1] "NYC's Municipal Station Adds Country Segment," Billboard, June 10, 1972. pg. 60.

[2] Smithsonian Institution, Guide to the Dorothy Horstman Oral History Field and Radio Show Recordings.