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. [more inside]
posted by filthy light thief on Aug 25, 2009 - 53 comments

When people think of Old Time Radio, they usually think of the standards: Amos 'n Andy, Burns and Allen, Dragnet, etc. etc. I won't link to them because they are all over the 'net, and you can find them easily. But you almost certainly don't know about Vic and Sade ... and you should.

Read the good Wikipedia article first, to whet your appetite even more, then go listen! [more inside]
posted by woodblock100 on Jun 25, 2007 - 25 comments

When Fred Gwynne and E.G. Marshall died, I was a little depressed. Most people knew Fred from the Munsters and Mr. Marshall from movies; I knew them from work on the CBSRMT. My dog was named Marshall, in fact. It's strange that most people never knew there was another whole world of radio acting out there."

Like this writer, I also grew up listening to (and loving) The CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATRE. It's long gone, but if you search the web, you can find many devoted websites and even some episodes.
posted by grumblebee on Oct 18, 2001 - 8 comments