Turn Your Radio On

This song, “Turn Your Radio On” is the composition of Albert Edward Brumley. It was first published in 1939. Brumley was born in 1905 near Spiro, Oklahoma, United States. He passed away in 1977.  Oklahoma then was mainly an agricultural state and he spent his early life farming cotton on his family’s farm.  He learned music at the Hartford Musical Institute of Hartford, Arkansas from 1926 to 1931. It is here where he met his wife, nee Goldie Edith Schell in 1931. They had six children. Brumley wrote over 800 songs, including, I’ll Fly Away, I’ll Meet You In The Morning and He Set Me Free. Below is a quote from the author himself, Albert E Brumley: “I wrote ‘Turn Your Radio On’ in 1937, and it was published in 1938. At this time radio was relatively new to the rural people, especially gospel music programs. I had become alert to the necessity of creating song titles, themes, and plots, and frequently people would call me and say, ‘Turn your radio on, Albert, they’re singing one of your songs on such-and-such a station.’ It finally dawned on me to use their quote, ‘Turn your radio on,’ as a theme for a religious originated song, and this was the beginning of ‘Turn Your Radio On’ as we know it.”   This a Malcom Miller song!