The online archives of the DSO for the Ford Sunday Evening Hour goes from 2/16/1934 to 3/8/1947. A couple are listed for 1923, but I’m not sure if those are correct.

http://www.dso.org/performanceTitle.aspx?page_id=648

The list of conductors includes:  Victor Kolar, Fritz Reiner, Mischa Levitsky, Alexander Smallens, Charles Hackett, Richard Bonelli, Sir Ernest MacMillan, Emma Otero, Franco Ghione, Elwyn Carter, Andre Kostelanetz, Sir John Barbirolli, Sir Thomas Beecham, Wilfrid Pelletier, Jose Iturbi, George Szell, Sir Eugene Ormandy, Reginald Stewart, Artur, Rodzinaksi, Eugene Goossens, Victor Kolar, Harold Koch, Dmitri Mitropoulos, Karl Krueger, William Steinberg, Leonard Bernstein, Efrem Kurtz, and C. Valter Poole.

The first few years were all Kolar, (DSO principal conductor) then Reiner and Ormandy began appearing. Kolar, Reiner, Ormandy, Iturbi, Pelletier and Beecham did numerous performances, and many of these in later years were held at the Music Hall, another fine, small venue in downtown Detroit, still in operation. Several of the listings unfortunately do not include the performance venue.

-- Leo Gillis

 
 On Tue, Mar 18, 2014 at 7:38 PM, Don Tait ([log in to unmask])
 <
 [log in to unmask]>
 wrote:
 
 > I have tapes or private CD-Rs of some of those
 broadcasts. From  circa
 > 1941/2. Each 30 minutes. All I have are conducted by
 Fritz Reiner, who
 > presumably took the train up from Pittsburgh for the
 gig. I got the
 > recordings
 > from  fellow Reiner collectors and have no idea
 who might  have conducted
 > other
 > programs. As one might expect, the selections are short
 and  the musical
 > gruel is pretty thin. The "theme music" for each
 program is the  French
 > horn
 > "bedtime" music from Hansel und Gretel.
 >
 >   I do not remember whether the
 announcer(s) said  from where the
 > broadcasts originated. Sorry.
 >
 >   Don Tait
 >
 >
 > In a message dated 3/18/2014 3:38:10 P.M. Central
 Daylight Time,
 > [log in to unmask]
 writes:
 >
 > Starting  in 1934 and continuing for a number of
 years thereafter, the
 > Detroit  Symphony appeared on a radio program, the
 Ford Symphony Hour.
 >  Some
 > of  the most distinguished conductors of that time
 regularly guested on
 > this
 > show, which also featured big name soloists. 
 Preserved  broadcasts show
 > that the orchestra was an excellent one during this
 period,  and the
 > acoustics audible on these recordings sound OK, with a
 touch of  nice hall
 > ambiance.  A number of these broadcasts are sought
 after by  collectors.  I
 > don't know where these shows were recorded, but I 
 assume they predate the
 > Ford Auditorium referred to  previously.
 >
 > Best,
 > John Haley