Old-Time Radio, anyone?

[Can-Can]

I started a thread in the New Members forum re the old cigarette ads I hear on my old-time radio site. I was so surprised to hear back from other otr lovers.
The old radio shows were gone in my childhood, but here in L.A. we had one night a week on radio for a couple hours of them. I heard them on my car radio by accident and loved them. I taped them on cassette and played them to shreds.
Then computers came, and now they're plentiful whenever I want them.
Don't know if most young people today would like them, they're a little corny, and many are badly done, sound isn't so good....Sounds like I hate them, right? I love every scratchy, melodramatic moment.

Please let me know what you like, and how you listen to them-I use them to sleep!

 

[SCTony]

....Sounds like I hate them, right? I love every scratchy, melodramatic moment....

Lol that's a lot of their charm. I've been listening to OTR shows for probably a year or so and I too listen to them to sleep to usually. I started with Sherlock Holmes shows and then Dragnet. Sometimes I try the Sci-Fi/ X-1 shows. Morals and decency were so much more umm.... black and white back then (same as TV ). The one thing that kinda bugs me is the constant use of pipe-organ music, which I think is kind of creepy and non-musical . What do you listen to? Where do you find it? Thanks and cheers.

 

[Can-Can]

SCTony~
I get otrfan.com which has a stream 24/7, and cbsrmt.com which has all the CBS Mystery Theater shows.
I think the morals and manners were better, but in fiction the heroes are superhuman, always nice, always tolerant.
So for me it's what's intended, a total escape.
I think organ music must have been considered classy then. It sounds so theatrical and silly most of the time. Like Simon Legree twirling his mustache.
I love Suspense and Whistler because they're so well done, Six Shooter for Jimmy's acting, X-minus 1 because they do Ray Bradbury a lot, Vic and Sade-so low key it relaxes me, Dragnet mostly for his nerdy sweet partner, Gunsmoke.......(brain freeze, can't think of the ones I love).
Other than the cigarette ads, which ok I sing along to, I love the ads. Such a pretend world of domestic happiness!
I have mp3s with the anthology shows that I like, a new cast and story each time. Lux radio theater. etc.
Fun to hear young actors that you know became big stars.

So happy you responded-Slainte!

 

[bruiser]

I'm old enough to remember the ending of radio plays in the fifties. Some of the radio plays made the transition to TV, but most didn't. I'm partial to sci-fi, horror and suspense type shows. I also like the singing cowboys, like Gene, Roy, and Riders Of The Purple Sage (All Star Western Theater). Tom Mix had a show, which I think is still under copyright protection, but Mix didn't star in it. He didn't have the voice for it. Interestingly, the show continued after Mix died in the car wreck.

Inner Sanctum is good, Raymond, the host, gets some good lines in. I Love A Mystery, generally considered one of the best radio shows ever, is a favorite. One of the episodes, Temple Of The Vampires, has some chapters missing. However, the original script was found in the eighties, and a recreation was recorded. It sounds almost exactly like the original actors. I came across a copy of the recreation and made a copy for a friend of mine who deals in OTR. He is using the copy I gave him in his I Love A Mystery compilation he sells. He said he had wondered for years what happened in the missing episodes. We trade stuff back and forth. Sometimes I have something he doesn't have, and sometimes it's the reverse. I have the complete Jack Benny run, and it is about 900 episodes. It takes a bunch of CDs to hold that much, even in MP3 format. I made my mind up for anything else that's long, and I want to burn them, it'll be on DVD.

 

[Suicidebob]

Beautiful thread- my father passed away last April and he had a few of these shows on reel-reel. I'm still in the process of digging around to grab them. I'm 25, and was brought up around this stuff. So, I guess you can say I'm "young". But hell- I do enjoy it.

 

[Can-Can]

Bruiser~
I used to buy mp3s on Ebay, about 15 years ago. That was the last time until now that I could talk about otr!
Those guys (all guys as far as I knew) were knowledgeable and intense! They loved their otr and loved to talk about it.
Best surprise I got was a rare season of a short-lived series with Hume Cronin and Jessica Tandy. Kind of a sophisticated Father Knows Best.
My mother told me her favorite show as a kid was Mert and Marge (I think), about 2 showgirls. I searched and searched but never even found a mention of it.
Heard some western round-up type show yesterday, and a group sang Ghost Riders in the Sky. Who was that? I love that group and their harmony.
I used to be a caregiver for Dementia and Alzheimer patients, and tried to interest them in my cds, and even though they could remember the shows, they couldn't focus on the sound. Too used to the visual, I guess.
There was a Family Theater, religion-oriented, that mostly was preachy and corny, but had a few great shows.
I like the Phil Harris spin-off better than Jack Benny.
Did you ever listen to the CBS Mystery Theater? It was otr's last gasp in the 70s. It was a big deal to buy the cds, so many shows, and expensive. Then they just turned up for free on their website.

 

[Can-Can]

Bob~Well, I guess I made a blanket statement about an age group-something a liberal Californian ought not to do! I love that you enjoy something that must seem so antiquated at times. If it does to me, and I'm 125, I can only imagine what alien beings those people must be to you.
Do you have a favorite?

 

[Suicidebob]

Bob~Well, I guess I made a blanket statement about an age group-something a liberal Californian ought not to do! I love that you enjoy something that must seem so antiquated at times. If it does to me, and I'm 125, I can only imagine what alien beings those people must be to you.
Do you have a favorite?

"let George do it" I have some on a CD-R here that I play and vape too. I know it seems weird- a 25 year old listening to this. But remember, I'm the type of guy who enjoys sitting at a coffee shop with a crossword puzzle on Sundays. I grew up too fast.

 

[Can-Can]

I think you've hit on something, Bob. The Old Soul concept. Why some people are attracted to things from the past. It's not an attraction, it's a memory (Cue spooky music......).
OTR seems like that to me. I've always loved the idea of a Time Machine. And the 30s and 40s would be one of my top picks.
I've heard references to Let George Do It in many shows, as a joke, but never heard it until just a few months ago. George Valentine. Good show.

 

[moonlessnight]

Check out zootradio there are a TON of shows and you can download them to your hearts content. They have one of the best collections I have ever seen.

 

[moonlessnight]

I'm 34 but I must have an old soul. I do find a certain romance from that era. Things definitely were much simpler back then. I've always enjoyed listening to otr. Sure some of its corny but that's part of its charm. But its always compelling.

I think you've hit on something, Bob. The Old Soul concept. Why some people are attracted to things from the past. It's not an attraction, it's a memory (Cue spooky music......).
OTR seems like that to me. I've always loved the idea of a Time Machine. And the 30s and 40s would be one of my top picks.
I've heard references to Let George Do It in many shows, as a joke, but never heard it until just a few months ago. George Valentine. Good show.

 

[Can-Can]

Moonlessnight~
Wow, they sure do have a ton of programs. Only thing they don't have a stream so it won't be good for putting me to sleep. They have a few I haven't heard in years. Thanks, it goes on my favorite bar.
They have Bob and Ray, omg I loved that show. And The Couple next door!
Thanks!
So what are your faves?

 

[moonlessnight]

Far too many.

I love dective shows like dragnet, this is you FBI, Casey crime photographer, and others I can't think of at the moment. I love serials like Superman and the green hornet (not sure if the shadow falls under that category or not) I like mysteries like suspense, the whistler, the creaking door and others.

I like scfi like x minus one and a good western like have gun will travel and gunsmoke. And of course anything with bob hope or jack Benny. Then again fiber McGee and Molly and the bickersons is great too.

Don't make me pick just one.

As for playing them all night there is no limit to how many you can download. Just make a playlist and hit play. That way you are in control of what you want to hear and when you want to hear it.

 

[Can-Can]

Moonlessnight~

I like many of your favorites, and would also have a hard time picking number one.

The thing I like about the random stream is listening to shows I never would have chosen and finding I develop a fondness for the characters. Sometimes. Like the Cisco Kid. One of those shows seeming to be aimed at children, but not bad. Other times I really dislike a show and kind of tune it out and fall asleep.

Do you like the music most of the comedy shows always integrated? I pride myself for liking almost every kind of music there is, at least some of it, from rock to classical, bluegrass to barbershop, opera to big band. Every genre has something for me. The music on the otr shows is mostly the frantically cheerful type, would love it they'd play some good stuff from that era.

Have Gun Will Travel-forgot about that one. That one transated well into tv. Richard Boone. Both of them good shows.
Funny to hear Gunsmoke, knowing now how the characters looked. I love both the radio and tv versions, although the whole Matt and Kitty storyline got very weird as 20 years went by!

Listening to Fibber and Molly right now.

 

[bassnut]

The Jack Benny radio show.

Also X Minus 1.
I believe I've collected most, if not all, of them

 

[bruiser]

Can-Can, the group you heard singing was most likely the Riders Of The Purple Sage. They had their own show, All Star Western Theater, and sang a few tunes during the show. On the other hand, it could have been the Sons Of The Pioneers who appeared on a lot of shows. It seems as if the Pioneers also had a show, as they were probably the most popular and famous of the cowboy singing groups.

If you search youtube for Riders Of The Purple Sage, you'll probably have luck if you search for Foy Willing, as he was the leader of the group. "Texas Blues" was their biggest hit. They also took the place of the Sons Of The Pioneers in the later Roy Rogers movies. The Pioneers had become to famous and their price was to high.

 

[Can-Can]

Bassnut~
Very cool picture.
I love all sci-fi, I suppose it's the ultimate escape. The Here and Now-gone!
Jack Benny's only fault for me is the repetition. But they were all very endearing. I love the unscripted gaffs where everyone laughs for real. My friend's mother rode with him after a golf tournament from Palm Springs to L.A. and said he was so nice and normal.

 

[Can-Can]

Bruiser~
Now I don't know which group I liked since both of those sound familiar.
Roy Rogers! Saw a home movie of him riding shirtless on a motorcycle on his ranch. Oh my......! He sure kept that hunky side of him hidden from the fans. I loved him and Dale. Still know all the words to Happy Trails.

 

[bruiser]

Just for you Can-Can:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcYsO890YJY

 

[bruiser]

Darn, the link I was going to post won't work. Oh well, I'll try later.