The Standard Hour

The Standard Hour, also known as The Standard Symphony Hour, was a weekly radio broadcast by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Opera first heard in 1926. The series was carried on the NBC Pacific radio network on Sundays at 8:30 p.m. Pacific time.

Also called The Standard Symphony Hour,The Standard Hour was sponsored by Standard Oil of California. The series began in 1926 in San Francisco, when the San Francisco Symphony faced bankruptcy. Standard Oil of California paid the orchestra's debts and in return was given broadcast rights to that year's concert series. A tradition of more than 30 years began with the first broadcast on the NBC Pacific Network, on October 24, 1926.

"Though it was heard only on a partial network," wrote radio historian John Dunning, "The Standard Hour was a major musical series that spanned the entire length of network broadcasting."

A 1943 brochure shows that the programs were carried on KPO in San Francisco, KFI in Los Angeles, KMJ in Fresno, KGW in Portland, Oregon, KOMO in Seattle, Washington, and KHQ in Spokane, Washington. The Sunday-evening series was ultimately heard in Hawaii and Alaska.

The theme music for The Standard Hour, as well as a complementary radio series for children called The Standard School Broadcast, was "This Hour Is Yours". The theme was composed by Julius Haug, a violinist in the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra.

...
Wikipedia