Search
 
  Site Index
  TV Resources
  TV Character Bios
  What's New?
  Our Theme Song
  Archives
  About Us
  Abbreviations
  Acknowledgements
  Contact Us
  On-line Store
 

 
Home > Index > Broadcast Firsts > Music (Songs)
       
  Broadcast Firsts  
     
 

Music (Songs) - The song Orange Colored Sky written by orchestra leader Milton DeLugg was the first song to become a major record hit because of its television exposure. Delugg played it many times on NBC's BROADWAY OPEN HOUSE in the early 1950s. Another example of TVs ability to make a top selling record came on April 10, 1957 on THE ADVENTURES OF OZZIE AND HARRIET episode "Ricky the Drummer." Seventeen-year-old Ricky Nelson had been pestering his father, Ozzie to let him sing on the show and to make a record. He wanted to impress a girl he'd been dating who had laughed at him when he suggested he could record a song. Approving his son's idea, Ricky performed the Fats Domino Hit I'm Walkin' and it immediately went to the top of the charts. In one week his version had sold one million copies. On the 1/2/58 episode he sang Traveling Man. On a January 1962 episode of THE DONNA REED SHOW/ABC/1958-66, Paul Peterson, who played Jeff, the teenage son of the Stone Family sang a novelty song She Can't Find Her Keys as part of a dream sequence in which he was a recording star. The national exposure via television made it a major hit. In the 1970s John Sebastian and Rhythm Heritage were the only two musical stars to ever reach a No. 1 spot on Billboard top 60 with TV themes songs. The theme song for the police drama SWAT/ABC/1975-76 performed by Rhythm Heritage climbed to No. 1 in 1975 and the theme song for education comedy WELCOME, BACK KOTTER/ABC/1975-79 performed by John Sebastian hit No. 1 in 1976. 

 
     
 
Back to Top

 

Home  |  Site Map  |  Search  |  Contact Us  |  Privacy Policy  |  Archive




Copyright © TV Acres. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited.
All photos are the property of their respective companies
.