The ratings for the Grammys were down by 53%. The Times story began, "Neither intimate looks into stars’ living rooms nor scantily clad pop stars performing provocative hits have been able to stop audiences from tuning out award shows this year. Variety shows ended not because they fell out of favor with Americans, but because of the expense of having an orchestra, dancers, and the like.īy contrast, the Oscars are a relic of the 1940s that is well past its Best Used By date. "The program did not miss a week of air time until weekly production ended in 1982." Welk responded by syndicating his own show, which ultimately was picked up by more than 250 stations around the country - more, even, than had aired his show on ABC. Welk's demographics: Geritol and Sominex. Welk's audience was too old to attract commercial sponsors looking for a more youthful and affluent market. "ABC finally dropped the show in 1971, deciding that Mr. Welk from coast to coast, and for the ensuing 16 years the Welk show missed only one week - in the aftermath of the assassination of John F. In his obituary, The Sun said, "In 1956, ABC-TV broadcast Mr.
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Welk was a hard-working, intelligent man who ran a music and real estate empire with a fourth-grade education.
![youtube lawrence welk youtube lawrence welk](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ZzJ_VQM631k/hqdefault.jpg)
That led to a band, an orchestra, radio, movies, and television where - as the Baltimore Sun noted in his obituary in 1992 - he outlasted Arthur Godfrey Groucho Marx George Burns and Gracie Allen Kukla, Fran and Ollie and Jackie Gleason's Honeymooners. He learned the accordion, worked and paid for his own, and began playing at weddings and the like. He dropped out of school in fourth grade to work the farm. He was the son of German immigrants who became sodbusters in North Dakota. Unlike the Times, Mister Welk's enterprise required no bailout from a Mexican cellphone billionaire. His champagne music may not be to suit the tastes of a newspaper that won Pulitzers for pushing the Russian Collusion Lie, but millions of viewers enjoyed the harmonies and melodies of the songs he showcased on his show.
![youtube lawrence welk youtube lawrence welk](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/HVA0aVF4Spw/hqdefault.jpg)
PBS stations regularly use reruns of his show as a fund-raiser, nearly three decades after his death. He had a 36-year run with his weekly show, which ended only when he retired at 79. Lawrence Welk was one of the most successful men in the history of television.