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.
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posted by filthy light thief
on Aug 25, 2009 -
53 comments
Theatre of the New Ear. Two radio plays: one by Charlie Kaufman, the other by the Coen Brothers, recorded live and starring Steve Buscemi, John Goodman, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Meryl Streep.
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posted by jack_mo
on Nov 20, 2008 -
18 comments
Seventy years ago today was the original broadcast of "The War of the Worlds". Listen to it, uninterrupted,
here. The program reportedly caused a mass panic across much of the Northeast.
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posted by backseatpilot
on Oct 30, 2008 -
13 comments
Claybourne was a unique and well produced radio drama set in New Zealand. It was science fiction, a thriller, a soap opera. It aired in 96 five minute episodes, but
died mid-storyline when it's creative team- like so many creative teams- couldn't get it together.
posted by jiiota
on Jul 18, 2007 -
7 comments
How do you do: since 1950,
Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago, Illinois has produced dramatized salvation stories which are now
syndicated around the world. 2,950 weekly one hour stories have been produced so far, and the variety of wayward paths these poor sinners have taken is astonishing, running the gamut from "
Gambling, Lying, Fear", to "
Country Music, Bigamy, Pride" to "
Jewish, Seeking, Piano(
part 2)." Whatever their false beliefs, all these fortunate folks have one thing in common (well, besides being voiced by the
same few people): their hearts and minds and lives have all been
UNSHACKLED! With impressive production values and sound effects created onstage during the live taping, it may be the last true radio drama.
Sadly, PGM does not evangelize open audio formats; Real or WMP only.
posted by contraption
on Jul 12, 2007 -
11 comments
Stand By For Crime! Archive.org presents the astonishing adventures of Chuck Morgan, intrepid radio muckracker and crimefighter, as he battles The Communist Menace, investigates The Wetback Murders, and solves The Marijuana Mystery. Circa 1953; twenty-six half-hour episodes in mp3 format, each approximately 9 MB.
posted by stammer
on Feb 4, 2007 -
8 comments
Could this be the first ever blogging drama? The World of Margaret has been running all week on Radio 4's Woman's Hour. An extremely funny play about a retired couple who take up blogging in their retirement, it is serialized and will be online until the end of the week.
Each day's episode is listed at the right hand side of the page.
posted by PeterMcDermott
on Oct 13, 2005 -
15 comments
War of the Worlds (this is not about Bush) Don't own a television? Want an alternative? Live performance, live orchestra, no net. October 30, 2002 8-9 PM Eastern. Glenn Beck recreates Orson Welles chilling performance that captivated a nation along with full orchestrations and foley effects.
this is a radio broadcast
posted by RunsWithBandageScissors
on Oct 29, 2002 -
6 comments
