So i used to be really into this stuff in high school, the great gildersleeve and suspense and escape and the hall of fantasy and all that? they have this npr station here where every sunday they play a bunch of that stuff from 7 to 11 and that was my big sunday ritual to end the weekend. old-school dramatic radio is awesome because it's that combination of the pleasure of watching t.v. -- the crazy acting, the nutty music, the personalities -- and the pleasure of reading, the pleasure of being able to picture a described scene in your mind, which is something we hardly ever get anymore, cuz the media are so visual.

anyway, the two best resources i found are archive.org, for when you want to find a particular show, or

http://www.vintageradioplace.com/

if you want a good variety so you can browse different stuff. (only avoid "the golden dial", the hosts are insufferable >:( ) anybody else ever go on a trivia quest and get to know any of this stuff? the classic moments are, of course, the war of the worlds broadcast, the who's on first routine (which i just listened to again recently and it's so amazingly detailed and fast-moving that it's still a blast to listen to) but there's a bunch of great old shows. suspense is probably the best, x minus one is also a great show, a twilight zone progenitor. i've also always been a big fan of the great gildersleeve, it's really cheesy sometimes but it's one of the first ever sit-com models (it was also, i think, the first-ever spinoff -- from duffy's tavern). that's one of these things about all these radio shows, they seem surprisingly familiar for being a half-century old, because modern television totally modeled itself after it.

man, i hate it when i can't sleep. ::)

The radio drama "The Shadow" is pretty cool to listen to.

I am a huge fan of OTR.  When I lived in LA, KFWB-98 AM used to air them every night from 9-10pm.  Gunsmoke, Jack Benny, The Third Man, Suspense, Lights Out, Lux Radio Theater, Mercury Theater, Tales of the Texas Rangers, The Lone Ranger, Yours Truely Johnny Dollar, Damon Runyon Theater, Abbott and Costello, and every other one you could think of.  Many evenings I would drive around in circles around LA just listening to the shows.

I would listen to them almost every night, and have recorded a great many of them onto MP3.  I have also gotten others from collectors over the years.  Somewhere I even have a recording where they actually broke in and announced the invasion of South Korea.

I also remember the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, which ran until 1982.  While I was growing up it aired on a local AM station in Idaho on Sunday nights.

johnny dollar's great, i was listening to one of those again the other day. the premise is so clever, they should really make that a movie.

johnny dollar's great, i was listening to one of those again the other day. the premise is so clever, they should really make that a movie.


I know that there was a series of movies made based on this character.  I tried to get a ticket to a showing of them at the Hollywood Egyptian Theater several years ago, but they were sold out.  There were at least 4 or 5 on the bill, but I am not sure if they were short features, or a serial.  I have tried to look up what they may have been, but information is hard to find.

However, there was an attempt to make it into a TV series in 1962 (the year the last radio broadcast was made).  But it never went beyond the making of a pilot.

http://www.thrillingdetective.com/dollar_johnny.html

However, a few years ago a Graphic Novel was made featuring the character.  It is available here.

http://www.moonstonebooks.com/jdollar.asp

I agree that it would make a good movie (or TV show).  Johnny was obviously a great inspiration for a generation of Detectives to follow, including such characters as Jim Rockford and Frank Colombo.

Just out of curiosity, have you found any of Amos and Andy's old shows? I kind of figured they would be deemed "Politically Incorrect" and buried somewhere, much like Song of the South.

Just out of curiosity, have you found any of Amos and Andy's old shows? I kind of figured they would be deemed "Politically Incorrect" and buried somewhere, much like Song of the South.
the site i've been going to (if you google "olde tyme radio" i'm sure it'll turn up right on top, it's antiqueradio.com or something), they do a bunch of amos and andys. i actually listened to one today, it wasn't THAT shocking although they don't date well. there are a lot of figures like that in old radio -- rochester from jack benny, there's a guy like that from duffy's tavern, i forget his name, and probably the worst is the housecleaner from "the great gildersleeve." oi, it's very eye-rolling. but the amos and andy i listened to, it's sorta, okay, yes, you have the broad stereotyping but the stories themselves are pretty balanced, they're just characters in a more-or-less standard sitcom going through their lives.

i haven't looked but i bet archive.org has them all. that's a great source for listening to specific shows, olde tyme radio is more like a bijou, variety kind of thing, yanno?

I can't believe I forgot to mention what is one of the best collections of OTR shows on the planet.  And they are allfree.

http://www.archive.org/details/radioprograms

Archive.Org is a wonderful site that is nothing but Public Domain audio and video files.  It has everything from Night Of The Living Dead and Little SHop Of Horrors to the entire series of The Whistler, Johnny Dollar, and Mercury Theatre.

This is a wonderful collection for somebody that wants to listen to something different on long drives.  I have several CDs full of nothing but OTR that sits in my car.  And when there is nothing else worth listening to on the radio, I will often pop one in.

yeah, archive.org is a great source if you’re looking for specific programs. my personal faves are the great gildersleeve, escape and the hall of fantasy. and they have em all! pretty much.

the olde-tyme radio site i  mentioned above is good for variety stuff.

Just out of curiosity, have you found any of Amos and Andy's old shows? I kind of figured they would be deemed "Politically Incorrect" and buried somewhere, much like Song of the South.


A&A had been much maligned over the years.  And I have never really understood why.

In reality, it was mostly following the "Script Formula" that had been used for decades.  Take 2 people (often friends), and put them in various situations.  One of them needs to be the "Good Guy", and the other has some kind of flaw that gets the two of them in trouble.

In many ways, it was much the same formula that The Jack Benny Show followed.  Kingfish was the local "bigwig", and most of the scripts delt with Andy either trying to get into his good graces, or with Andy trying various "Get RIch Quick" schemes.  Amos was the family man, who would often innocently follow Andy into disaster.

Most of the scripts ended about the same way.  The scheme would fail, and Amos & Andy would try to make everything right, by either apologizing, or by paying people back for the money lost.  Replace Amos with Rochester and Andy with Jack Benny, and the shows were almost the same.

And ironically, the same thing caused problems in 2 different eras.  When it first came out, a lot of radio stations in the South refusd to broadcast it, because it portrayed blacks in a positive light.  Decades later, groups protest it because it "stereotypes blacks".

And a lot of people still claim the speech used is derogatory.  But the show's creators were living in North Carolina when they developed the show, and the dialect used for the characters is accurate, and still used today in rural areas of the Carolinas and Georgia.

When I worked swing shift, I used to tune in to NPR and listen to stuff like Abbott & Costello, War of the Worlds, the Shadow, etc. LOVED It!

It would be totally awesome if radio brought back shows like that today instead of the same old rehashed talk shows!

As I have some talent in that field, word had been out among the lovers to do these types of shows again but response$$$ was not enough money generated from it...

I hope to be part of the resurgence one day, if anyone ever finds the key to make it a profitable venue...1)how many people listen to the radio,as they used to, for 1/2 hour to hear a complete show,2)you will need updated scripts or even if you have a 're-created' version of old shows...competant writers,
3) the right stations to play the product

I very much loved the old NATIONAL LAMPOON RADIO HOUR that made recordings with many of the SNL stars in their early careers..but now it's more like MTV/YOU TUBE blurbs and sight gags...that's a whole other market, but the rage for now.

If you're not familiar there is SPRDVC,(I believe it is called) ,that recreates in performances the old shows

I have a record (yes, vinyl) that has a bunch of the old time shows: Fibber Magee & Molly, Burns & Allen, Amos & Andy, etc. Since my turntable is on the fritz, I can't listen to it.  :\'( :\'(



What evil lurks in the hearts of man? The Shadow knows. (ha ha ha ha)



Cat

Back when I was trucking I listened to both XM and Sirius satellite radio, and they both had excellent channels that played nothing but old-time radio programs. One of my favorite shows was called "The Bickersons," with Don Ameche and Frances Langford as a married couple who were constantly at each others throats and hurling insults at each other. It ran from the late 40's to the early 50's, and while it certainly wasn't vulgar like a lot of today's humor, it was surprisingly rude and crass to the point where it was laugh-out-loud funny.

Edward Arnold..."Mr. President"...always interesting...and you never knew which prez until the very end. ;)

Another great detective show was "Mr. Kean, Tracer of Lost Persons. ???

Ive only heard of, or seen snippets of video featuring these kinds of radio shows. I am wondering if it is at all possible to buy them on CD somehow??? Possibly from eBay??? Especially the Abbot and Costello ones or maybe any Laurell and Hardy shows if they made any??? id also love to get my hands on the original War of the Worlds broadcast from 1938!!!

Please, if anyone knows where I could buy a CD with these shows on them, could you let me know on here or via PM???


Thanks




AN

it's actually way easier than that. go to www.archive.org, i'm sure the war of the worlds broadcast and the who's-on-first routine are there, and thousands of others. i like this web site a lot

http://www.vintageradioplace.com/broadcast/index.html

because they put together broadcasts with a bunch of different shows on em, a good way to learn new stuff. radiolovers.com is cool too,  "2000 plus" is so great! it's hilarious (and not a little disappointing) to hear where they thought we'd all be in the year 2000. where's my jetpack, man? >:(

it's actually way easier than that. go to www.archive.org, i'm sure the war of the worlds broadcast and the who's-on-first routine are there, and thousands of others. i like this web site a lot


Archive.Org has a huge collection of old shows, in many cases having the entire run of shows (covering years if not decades, 52 weeks a year).  When I have a good high-speed connection someday, I intend on downloading several of them.

Two of their collections I want are Johnny Dollar, and the Damon Runyon Theater.  I could listen to those for hours.

This pirate station has all kinds of OLD TIME RADIO SHOWS on!!

AM 1710!!

Website: http://radio.macinmind.com

Audio Stream: http://grace.fast-serv.com:9022 (Paste into player to listen with WMP}

ha! i've been listening to "duffy's tavern" all day at work. it's great, still very funny stuff even 50 years later.

http://www.inthe00s.com/index.php?topic=32808.0

http://www.otrcat.com/z/duffytaverncast.jpg

"GREAT DETECTIVES OF OLD TIME RADIO LIVE to Tour in September"

http://www.broadwayworld.com/australia-melbourne/article/GREAT-DETECTIVES-OF-OLD-TIME-RADIO-LIVE-to-Tour-in-September-20160705

Last April: "Voice Of Lucky Charms Leprechaun, Arthur Anderson, Dies At 93"

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/13/474045476/voice-of-lucky-charms-leprechaun-dies-arthur-anderson-was-93

"Help! I’m stuck in the pre-TV big band era"

http://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/local/community/columns-blogs_/about-the-colony/article94504892.html

"Communities needs storytellers even in the digital age"

http://www.duluthbudgeteer.com/opinion/columnists/4093379-communities-needs-storytellers-even-digital-age

"Mississippi prof, students revive old-time radio"

http://www.clarionledger.com/story/news/2016/07/24/mississippi-prof-students-revive-old-time-radio/87496084/

I got "Moon Over Morocco," a very psychedelic Jack Flanders radio drama from i think 1974, I'm loving it. lots and lots of old obscure arab proverbs. "If your head is underwater, there is no point listening for the gunshot."

Related:

Recommended podcasts for Halloween:

http://www.houstonpress.com/arts/get-ready-for-halloween-with-these-spine-chilling-podcasts-8805022