Old Time Radio Revival Round-up

filthy light thief — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:47:59 -0800

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.

Shortwave and AM Radio from the Kitchen

dhammond — Sat, 24 Nov 2007 21:05:07 -0800

The Radio Kitchen is an mp3 blog dedicated to the late night wonder of listening to shortwave and AM radio, now and as it used to was. Brought to you by The Professor from WFMU's defunct AM and Shortwave Radio blog). Previously.

Vintage Radio and Scientific Equipment

mediareport — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 20:35:48 -0800

The Spark Museum John Jenkins' collection of vintage wireless, radio, scientific and electrical equipment, including Crookes and Geissler tubes, Barlow wheels and other early electric motors, loud speakers and many more oddball electrical devices. [via TeamDroid]

Demented

cedar — Sun, 06 Mar 2005 17:52:12 -0800

The Dr. Demento Show : Post all 1,338 Dr. Demento Shows in my collection as high-quality stereo...

Tin Man — Tue, 10 Sep 2002 06:39:28 -0800

A Day in Radio. "On September 21, 1939, WJSV, an AM radio station in Washington, D.C., recorded the entire 19 hours of its broadcast day... Along with the news coverage, the station ran the standard stream of music, soap operas, sports, and other programming." Looks like you can listen to pretty much the entire's day's broadcasts.

sylloge — Tue, 23 Jan 2001 18:37:15 -0800

"A pizza is something, a traditional thing. I am a pizza lover. And I like to eat a real pizza." As It Happens, everybody's (second) favorite CBC show is playing classic bits from 5, 15 and 25 years and letting listeners vote on which ones get rebroadcast. In this 1996 excerpt (.ra), Michael Enright interviews Eugenio Ghezzi about pizza. Gradevole! Quintessential Italian charm; you can't help but love him.

MetaFilter posts tagged with nostalgia and radio

Old Time Radio Revival Round-up

Shortwave and AM Radio from the Kitchen

Vintage Radio and Scientific Equipment

Demented