In 1941, aged 16, she was singing and performing on WJBC (AM) in Bloomington, Illinois. At 17, after she graduated from high school, she sent an audition record to KMBC in Kansas City, Missouri, and was signed to a five-year contract to perform on the "Brush Creek Follies" barn dance show as "Sally Carson," and with a group called The Rhythm Rangers. The show was broadcast nationwide on the Columbia Broadcasting Service, and has been described as "one of the biggest music programs in the country" at the time. A newspaper columnist described her opening in Kansas City: