Big Broadcast a Big Success!

Big Broadcast Takes Mount Holyoke Back to the Swingin’ 1940s

On Sunday, March 10, the audience in Chapin tuned into WJAZ and traveled back in time to a 40s style radio broadcast. It was the eighth annual Big Broadcast, and in two acts the Mount Holyoke Jazz Ensembles entertained the audience with classic big band swing songs, a 1940s news update, a detective show called “Along Came Francine,” and even a cameo appearance from President Pasquerella, all dolled-up in 40s  fashion.

Opening the broadcast, special host Fred Kelley (Brian Lapis, local weather man for NBC affiliate WWLP) walked on stage in a snazzy white tux and asked the audience to “kindly applaud warmly” when the applause sign flashes. The show was interrupted by commercials from Carter’s Little Liver Pills and Phillip Morris cigarettes, among many other throw-back products.

Each jazzer put on the ritz, sporting swanky 40’s garb and a stage name to match. From Phyllis Axton’s “I’ve Heard That Song Before” to The Driscoll Sisters’ sweet rendition of “Shoo Shoo Baby,” audience members tapped their feet from start to finish.

—By Olivia Lammel ’14

Listen to a Sample of the Show

Channel 22 News Coverage of “The Big Broadcast”

Mount Holyoke’s Big Broadcast a success

March 13, 2013

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