As soon as he could save money to travel, he went to New York. In the autumn of 1928, he auditioned for the Victor Talking Machine Company, shortly before purchase by David Sarnoff's Radio Corporation of America (RCA). According to Nathaniel Shilkret,Shilkret, Nathaniel, ed. Niel Shell and Barbara Shilkret, Nathaniel Shilkret: Sixty Years in the Music Business, Scarecrow Press, Lanham, Maryland, 2005. . director of Light Music for Victor at the time, Autry asked to speak to Shilkret after finding that he had been turned down. Shilkret explained to Autry that he was turned down not because of his voice, but because Victor had just made contracts with two similar singers. Autry left with a letter of introduction from Shilkret and the advice to sing on radio to gain experience and to come back in a year or two. In 1928, Autry was singing on Tulsa radio station KVOO (now KOTV) as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy". The Victor archivesVictor Recording Book, p. 7247. (This is a page from Victor's daily log of recordings.) show an October 9, 1929, entry stating that the vocal duet of Jimmie Long and Gene Autry with two Hawaiian guitars, directed by L. L. Watson, recorded "My Dreaming of You" (Matrix 56761) and "My Alabama Home" (Matrix 56762).
as soon as he could save money to travel he went to new york in the autumn of 1928 he auditioned for the victor talking machine company shortly before purchase by david sarnoff's radio corporation of america (rca) according to nathaniel shilkretshilkret nathaniel ed niel shell and barbara shilkret nathaniel shilkret sixty years in the music business scarecrow press lanham maryland 2005  director of light music for victor at the time autry asked to speak to shilkret after finding that he had been turned down shilkret explained to autry that he was turned down not because of his voice but because victor had just made contracts with two similar singers autry left with a letter of introduction from shilkret and the advice to sing on radio to gain experience and to come back in a year or two in 1928 autry was singing on tulsa radio station kvoo (now kotv) as "oklahoma's yodeling cowboy" the victor archivesvictor recording book p 7247 (this is a page from victor's daily log of recordings) show an october 9 1929 entry stating that the vocal duet of jimmie long and gene autry with two hawaiian guitars directed by l l watson recorded "my dreaming of you" (matrix 56761) and "my alabama home" (matrix 56762)