WRST at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh is presenting a special musical program for the holiday season featuring selections from 1960s promotional albums.

Since a large number of these were produced for Goodyear and Firestone tire dealers, the program has been titled Whitewall Christmas.

The program is the brainchild of UWO Professor Andrew Smock, chair of the Radio TV Film Department. His family had a couple of the albums and while researching the history of these promotions, he stumbled on a handful more at a thrift store. He had the idea to excerpt the recordings to host a one-hour special as part of WRST’s holiday music offerings.

Smock said there’s not a lot of primary research on these releases, but it’s known that the first was issued in 1961 as a promotion for Goodyear and featured recordings by well-known musical artists. Typically, the albums sold for $1 and were limited to one per person, but there is evidence that some tire dealers would offer them for free if a customer came in for other auto service.

Smock said the first Goodyear release sold out rapidly and was far more popular than the company anticipated. The next year, Firestone began issuing its own records. Both firms continued to offer new releases for many years thereafter. Other companies soon copied the promotion, including Grants Department Stores, J. C. Penney, A&P, B. F. Goodrich, Red Owl, Dodge, Singer Sewing Machines, Acme Markets, Maxwell House Coffee, Hallmark, Zenith, Beneficial Financial Systems, True Value Hardware and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Smock said Whitewall Christmas will sample several records from his collection and he plans to produce future radio programs from these releases.

Listeners will have two chances to hear Whitewall Christmas over WRST at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Dec, 15, and at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Dec, 16. Oshkosh listeners can hear it on 90.3 on the FM dial and it’s available worldwide at www.wrst.org.