Meredith Willson was born in Mason City, Iowa, in 1902. He studied piano and flute at the Damrosch Institute of Musical Art, and by age 19 had become a solo flutist with the New York Philharmonic. He relocated to San Francisco in the mid 1920's, and quickly gained notoriety as the Music Director for KFRC, before becoming NBC's West Coast Music Director in 1932. He was also busy writing original compositions and early motion picture scores.