Old-time radio (often abbreviated as "OTR," also known as the Golden Age of Radio) refers to a period of radio programming in the United States lasting from the proliferation of radio broadcasting in the early 1920s until television's replacement of radio as the dominant home entertainment medium in the 1950s, with
some programs continuing
into the early 1960s. The origin of radio dramas in the United States is hard to pin down, but
there is evidence of a remote broadcast of a play in 1914 at
Normal College (now California State University at San José), and the first serial radio drama was
an adaptation of a play by Eugene Walter, entitled "The Wolf," which aired in September 1922. Given the age of the programs and the fact that
home reel-to-reel recording started in the 1950s (followed by Philips "compact cassettes" in 1963), it might be surprising that quite a few of
these old shows have survived. Thanks in part to original radio station-sourced recordings made on
aluminum discs, acetates, and glass recordings and other unnamed sources, many radio dramas and newscasts from decades past are
available online, and more are being digitized and restored to this day.
Though the term "old-time radio" may be focused on the United States, the
history of radio recordings and radio dramas is international.
England's first broadcast radio drama was 'Five Birds in a Cage' (Gertrude Jennings), a 1915 stage play, a social comedy, which was broadcast on November 29, 1923 in London. This play is also considered the
first instance of 'gay' radio, for the the inclusion of a gay character. Canada's first national radio drama, broadcast in 1931, was
Romance of Canada.
Savoy Hill hosts a history of British radio dramas and the British
Radio Drama History Database, where you can sort by actors, players, playwrights, years, stations, and other details. The site also has guides on radio drama writing and production. Looking for more tips on radio production?
Do-It-Yourself Radio Drama is a blog post from the modern drama creators at
Decoder Ring Theater. The post has loads of links for further investigation.
If you're collecting radio dramas, you might find it hard to catalog recordings, as there is no accepted agreement on naming episodes that have no 'official' titles.
The OTR Researchers Group’s Wiki has a section devoted to listing shows by one distinct characteristic:
First lines of dialogue.
If you happen to find an old 16 inch transcription disk,
playback isn't the same as modern vinyl, requiring a custom stylus, and the material is much more fragile than modern media, requiring
special handling and care.
Old-time Radio Actors
Orson Wells' radio career was previously discussed.
Fred Gwynne and E.G. Marshall were remembered in reference to their roles in
CBS Radio Mystery Theater (episodes are available from
Old Time Radio Fans, and
Internet Archive).
Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding were covered before for their 4+ decades of absurdist, satirical, dry, improvisational sketch comedy.
Vic and Sade's radio program was also covered.
Jack Benny's Christmas Show, previously.
Collections of Golden Era Radio
Internet Archive has a whole section devoted to Old Time Radio, and it's still growing. Currently, you can listen to
over 125 episodes of
The New Adventure of Sherlock Holmes (not to be confused with the
other radio dramatizations),
The Adventures of Superman, including his
real-life fight against the KKK, as heard in "
Clan of the Fiery Cross." On the lighter side, there's a growing list of recordings from
The Les Paul Show and
a couple clips from the Grand Ole Opry.
With the ever-growing collection, Internet Archive dwarfs other collections, but some other sites focus on areas overlooked (or maybe just buried) at Archive.org.
Old Time Radio (OTR) - Radio Days: A Radio History (
previously) is an ever-growing collection, including Radio News, Mystery, Private Eyes, Comedy, SciFi, and more.
Old Time Radio Fans (Fans plural) has the usual assortment of programs, plus a selection of
old radio commercials.
Jezner.com - Old Time Radio is a blog focused on OTR, with background and commentary on the episodes posted every few days.
Old Time Radio Fan is limited to
the weekly line-up, where they're online for 7 days, then try your luck with
The Random Hopper.
Modern radio dramas
Decoder Ring Theatre (
previously) is home to two original series (The Red Panda Adventures and Black Jack Justice), as well as the grab-bag of anthology stories that is Showcase.
Darker Projects (warning: auto-starting audio) (
previously) has three original projects, along with Star Trek and Doctor Who interpretations.
ZBS Foundation produces shows for purchase, but their
podcasts are free of charge (
previously).
ZBS Foundation was
discussed previously-er as a set of links to current radio drama. Though all the links died, Archive.org remembers
Seeing Ear Theater and
Virtually American.
Sci-Fi's Seeing Ear Theater is also on CD in 3 volumes. Not included in those volumes:
Neil Gaiman's Snow Glass Apples.
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posted by broken wheelchair at 1:00 PM on August 25 [3 favorites]