Curt Massey; Musician and Broadcaster

Curt Massey, whose versatility as a songwriter, instrumentalist and announcer brought him sustained careers in radio and television, has died in Rancho Mirage.

The Emmy award winner and composer of the popular theme from the 1960s TV series “Petticoat Junction” was 81 and died Sunday of the complications of age, his family said.

He was born Dott Curtis Massey in Midland, Tex., to a musical family, and was featured on broadcasts with his brother and sister as the instrumental group The Westerners. Massey studied piano, cornet, trumpet and violin, and by the age of 12 was playing with local dance bands. He moved to Kansas City and was a staff announcer on radio station KMBC when he was only 20 while also fronting a dance band.

He went to Chicago in the early 1930s and broadcast there before moving to New York City, where he appeared on the “Maxwell House Showboat,” and then had his own program, “The Curt Massey Show,” in 1939.

He also sang on “The Andrews Sisters” national show and in a 15-minute nationwide CBS program with Martha Tilton.

In 1956, he took over Tennessee Ernie Ford’s radio show on KNX in Los Angeles and moved into local television, receiving an Emmy in 1961.

He began a lengthy affiliation with Paul Henning in 1963 (they met at the Kansas City station) and worked with Henning, the producer of “The Beverly Hillbillies,” “Green Acres” and “Petticoat Junction” for many years.

On Tuesday, Henning recalled those early days, when Massey would compose and play music at his Beverly Hills home, in a bedroom converted into a recording studio.

“He would record one instrument over another until he had produced a full orchestral accompaniment,” Henning said, adding that many of those recordings were heard on TV.

“Curt was one of the most versatile and talented musicians I have ever known,” Henning said.

In 1987, Massey was honored by the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters with their Diamond Circle Award for career achievement.

Massey is survived by his wife, Edythe; two sons, Stephen and David, and two grandsons.