Doc Wildeson Leads the Band at Radio Station WLW

Keith "Doc" Wildeson, WLW orchestra leader, began leading his Wildcats one year after joining the station. That was in 1932.

Wildeson was born and grew up in Pitcairn, Pennsylvania, where he attended high school. It was while in high school that he began playing in an orchestra -- an avocation which developed into a full-time profession. As a young man, not yet out of high school, he entered radio by the back door. He traveled to Pittsburgh each week, playing trumpet with a group of high school musicians on KOKA. They were paid for the half-hour show -- one of the first commercial broadcasts in history.

After leaving high school, Wildeson played with such aggregations as Ted Lewis, Jan Garber and Henry Theis. He came to WLW with Theis in 1932, where he played with the late "Fats" Waller and was featured on the trumpet when The Red Skelton Show originated at WLW. His Wildcats furnished the musical background recently for Ernie Lee recordings by Victor.

Wildeson and his band are heard on Sunnyside Review, Morning Matinee and The Ernie Lee Show. Wildeson's Wildcats, a small group of musicians specializing in sweet and swing music, had gained attention in the WLW area through frequent night club and theater engagements.

For recreation, Wildeson chooses bowling, golfing, hunting and fishing. Travel is pretty well out as a hobby because the musician has toured every major city in the United States since entering professional music at the age of 17.

Wildeson's ambition is to be a top-flight conductor, a goal he is not too far from realizing. With this in mind, he has resumed music studies at Cincinnati's College of Music.

Success seems to run in the family. Wildeson's teen-aged daughter Kay recently won the junior tennis title for girls in Cincinnati. Not only is she an accomplished tennis player, but young Kay is following closely in the footsteps of her father. She spends several hours each day practicing on a newly purchased piano while papa Doc watches and teaches.

The popular musician, a very handsome fellow to say the least, left high school early. It was in Pitcairn that he met the woman he was to some day marry -- Theadora Cutshall.

When Wildeson first came to WLW he listed one of his greatest pleasures in radio as, "a relaxed show with kidding continuity." He has that show now, five days weekly, with Ernie Lee, ballad singer, starring in the vocal role.

From Radio Mirror, February 1948

Old Time Radio · Doc Wildeson · Fats Waller · Red Skelton · Music · WLW · Cincinnati · KOKA · Pittsburgh ·

2025/07/10 · Link

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