Subject: [removed] Digest V01 #112
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 4/10/2001 9:10 PM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

    ------------------------------

                          The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                             Volume 01 : Issue 112
                       A Part of the [removed]!
                               ISSN: 1533-9289

                               Today's Topics:

     Re: Worked in Radio                  ["Steve Wilson" <stevewilson46@hotma]
     AudioLogic boombox w/MP3             [danhughes@[removed]                 ]
     digital exchanges                    [Joe Salerno <salernoj@[removed];  ]
     Re: Magic Island                     [Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed]]
     Lecherous Eyes                       ["David Phaneuf" <dphaneuf@[removed]]
     Alberta Hunter Show?                 ["Ben Holland" <bgholland@mindspring]
     Cape Cod Radio Mystery Theater       ["Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@neb.]
     'Horatio Hornblower' Correction      [Tom van der Voort <evan@[removed];]
     Thw Whistler/scariest show           ["Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@neb.]
     Peter Appleyard                      [William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed];]
     CANADIAN RADIO: A SOURCE             ["Owens Pomeroy" <opomeroy@[removed]; ]
     New listing                          [Gordon R Payton <thescifiguy@[removed]]

    ------------------------------

    Date: Mon, 9 Apr 2001 21:17:41 -0400
    From: "Steve Wilson" <stevewilson46@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Worked in Radio

    Re: HOW MANY OF YOU OUT THERE -- AND WHO ARE YOU -- ARE     ACTUAL
    VETERANS OF [removed] -- YOU KNOW, WORKED IN THE MEDIUM?  I know Hal Stone,
    and Lois,of course, and Mike Biel, and Owens Pomeroy.  I think Shiffy.  I
    know I missed a bunch of you.  Who else?

    Hi! I am new to this forum and this is my first posting. I want my
    experience to be educational as well as fun. To that goal I would like to
    point out what any good reporter knows, "Always check your sources." Not
    every one posting knows wherefore of what they speak. I know of several
    collectors who have gotten so caught up in this hobby they actually think
    they were on radio or TV or USO tours, etc. This is sad but we as prudent
    people should be on guard and check out sources before accepting what anyone
    claims.

    Now a question, is recording to CD now the accepted method of collecting and
    trading? Is there anything that explains the pros and cons of CD vs cassette
    vs reel-2-reel?

    Steve

    ------------------------------

    Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 00:52:29 -0400
    From: danhughes@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  AudioLogic boombox w/MP3

    Fred Berney mentioned buying an AudioLogic boombox at Circuit City that
    plays MP3s.

    I took one of my OTR CDs to Circuit City and it wouldn't play in the
    machine.  My guess is that the sampling rate of OTR CDs is too low to
    work on this machine.  Fred--can you play OTR CDs on yours?  That is, CDs
    that have over a hundred shows on them?

    ---Dan

    ------------------------------

    Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 00:52:19 -0400
    From: Joe Salerno <salernoj@[removed];
    To: OTR List <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  digital exchanges

    In our last episode, Jean wrote:

>     You didn't understand what Elizabeth said.

>     If I have a pristine analog recording and I take great care in recording it
>     digitally, I will now suffer ZERO degradation by making copies of it and
>     handing it out.  There will be no difference between my copy and your copy
>     of it even if you receive a copy of a copy of a copy of a [removed]

>     Whereas with analog recordings, that is not the case.

    Jean, I believe I understood exactly what Elizabeth said. You may have a
    pristine recording (all otr started in analog) and you transfer it to a
    digital medium it may suffer 0 degradation, but once it is handed out via
    the net in compressed MP3, Real, or .asf files, even assuming no one has
    tried to do any "noise reduction" on it, all bets are off, and most OTR
    trading happens today via the net. The days of mailing bulky open reel tapes
    from collector to collector are mostly gone. Anyone trading open reels any
    more? Even those trading on CD are doing so in compressed formats. Most web
    sites I have seen stream at around 16 kbps, Radio Spirits as an example.
    Whereas the sound quality of RS streams is quite good for such a low data
    rate, there is some audible deterioration.

    I have open reel tapes I acquired from dealers and collectors in the 70s.
    Some are not real low generation, but by comparison to even a single
    "generation" of a streamed program, they win in the A-B test.

    It may also be a case of what kind of degradation you are talking about.
    Analog tends to add noise (hiss) and filter frequency extremes. Digital
    tends to make recordings have a "gritty" kind of distortion to them. Not the
    best word to describe it but the best I can come up with at the moment.

    Joe Salerno

    ------------------------------

    Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 00:52:21 -0400
    From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Re: Magic Island

    Ian Grieve wonders,

>     Not much seems to be known about the series, there is even uncertainty about
>     the number of episodes, I have 128 and Jerry mentions a 129 and 130, but
>     nobody else seems to know of those episodes at all.  I admit that I have
>     listened to the end of episode 128 and it doesn't seem to end the series and
>     it makes sense that there may have been more episodes planned but not made.

    "Magic Island" was one of the many low-budget syndicated adventure
    serials that flooded the market during the mid-1930s, most likely
    inspired by the success of the original "Chandu the Magician"
    transcriptions earlier in the decade. Such series were usually sold to
    small-market independent stations for local sponsorship, although
    occasionally a regional advertiser would pick up such a series for
    placement on a "chainless chain" of regional stations. This particular
    series was produced by a company called Radio Producers Sales Company,
    headed by one P. C. Crandall -- a company which, like a lot of smalltime
    syndication companies, had vanished without a trace by the end of the
    1930s. Crandall, likewise, appears not to have had a long-term career  --
    I can't find any listing under that name in any of the trade directories
    to which I have access.

    While only 128 episodes appear to be circulating, I think 130 is likely
    the correct number. Syndicated serials were invariably packaged and sold
    in thirteen week cycles, or multiples of thirteen weeks. At five episodes
    a week, two thirteen-week cycles for a six month run would amount to
    exactly 130 episodes.

    Elizabeth

    ------------------------------

    Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 00:52:22 -0400
    From: "David Phaneuf" <dphaneuf@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Lecherous Eyes

    Several readers have commented on the "dressing race" in which the radio
    personality stated he could "see" the kiddies getting dressed.  I must
    confess, that my first thought upon reading that was a mental picture of a
    dirty old man with lecherous eyes peering in on half-dressed little boys and
    girls.   And I wondered momentarily what must have gone through the minds of
    protective parents or perhaps even of the listening children themselves.
    Were they frightened?

    Then it struck me that I was reading back into a bygone age the suspicions
    and tendencies of our present, more lurid and voyeuristic age.  I suspect
    that the problem is not with what was said back then, but with the way we
    think today.  In an age that has seen a tremendous decline in moral values,
    with a trend toward more revealing and sexually oriented entertainment, it
    is not surprising that we would assign a more prurient interpretation to
    what was said.  I doubt, however, that neither protective parents nor
    listening children heard in Happy Hank's statement anything more than simple
    fun designed to personalize the program for children's ears and draw the
    children into the action.  Children have a marvelous capacity to imagine,
    and often the  distinction between the real and the pretend is fuzzy. My
    son, for example, while watching the children's programming "Blues' Clues"
    on TV has pointed at the TV screen and shouted to the show's host, "Steve! A
    clue!  A clue!" as if "Steve" could actually hear him.  Really powerful
    programming has the ability to draw even us adults in -- as for example the
    time the dinosaur ate the guy sitting on the john in "Jurassic Park" and I
    nearly jumped up and spilled my popcorn.  As far as those kiddies were
    concerned Happy Hank _really could_ see them getting dressed, but it was not
    with lecherous interest -- just pure, competitive, pretend fun.

    And another thing, given our bent these days toward _political correctness_
    (which, in my opinion, often goes far beyond what is necessary and justified
    into the realm of the extreme and the ridiculous), it is also not surprising
    that statements once uttered in pure innocence are reinterpreted as lewd or
    offensive.  This is not to say that the lewd or offensive did not exist back
    then, for surely it did.   But it is wrong for us to impose on that age our
    own cultural biases or ways of viewing things.

    Dave Phaneuf

    ------------------------------

    Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 00:52:24 -0400
    From: "Ben Holland" <bgholland@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Alberta Hunter Show?

    My wife is reading Alberta Hunter's biography by Frank Taylor, and the
    book mentions her NBC radio show. We've been fans of Alberta's music for
    several years, but this is the first I've heard of her radio show. Does
    anyone on the list have any information about the program?
    Thanks,

    Ben Holland

    ------------------------------

    Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 09:58:47 -0400
    From: "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@[removed];
    To: "old time radio" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Cape Cod Radio Mystery Theater

    Hello all,
    I have always felt that most newer radio drama cannot hold a candle to the
    good old days of radio drama, but I feel there is one exception.  I have a
    couple of cassettes of a show called, Cape Cod Mystery Theater.  These are
    really well done shows with great sound effects, but the acting isn't half
    bad either.  Can someone give me a history of this show and let me know if
    copies are available anywhere?
    Thanks in advance.
    RyanO

    ------------------------------

    Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 09:58:49 -0400
    From: Tom van der Voort <evan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  'Horatio Hornblower' Correction

          Yesterday I posted a query on a 'Horatio Hornblower' series created
    in England.
          I mistakenly attributed the series to Sidney Torch.  My mistake.
    Torch (what a  great name for anyone associated with swashbucklers)
    composed and conducted the music.  The producer/director was Harry Alan
    Towers, who was responsible for 'The Scarlet Pimpernel' as well.
    Tom van der Voort

    ------------------------------

    Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 10:26:30 -0400
    From: "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@[removed];
    To: "old time radio" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Thw Whistler/scariest show

    Hello all,
    The Whistler has always been one of my favorite programs.  I do think it is
    much better than the Mysterious Traveler, in terms of music, acting and
    plots.  Still, someone made the point that the Mysterious Traveler sometimes
    dabbles in areas where the Whistler didn't go.  The Whistler is a murder
    show, but it deals more with human conflict, both internal and external.  In
    some ways, I think the Whistler is more intricate than a show like, Suspense
    in this way.
    Speaking of Suspense, I think the scariest show I have ever heard is, "The
    House in Cypress Canyon," but a close second is a program from a rare series
    called, The Hall of Fantasy.  They did a show called, "the Crawling Thing,"
    about a group of scientists that create a giant spider.  The sound effect
    used as the spider crawls across the floor still chills my blood to this
    day.
    RyanO

    ------------------------------

    Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 12:22:07 -0400
    From: William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Peter Appleyard

    There was a posting a few days ago from Peter Appleyard. In case you
    didn't know, Peter is a very fine musician and conductor. Our paths
    crossed many moons ago,circa 1980. He was with a name band that I was
    broadcasting via CBS from the Rainbow Grille, high atop the RCA building.
    It could have been Goodman or Lombardo.  After the "gig" I had a phone
    call from Peter saying that he was leaving to return to Canada and he was
    leaving an LP he had just recorded with the desk clerk at his hotel for
    me to pick up on my way home. He was conducting a large studio orchestra.
    What a great recording! I still have it (on tape). I was greatly
    impressed with the record. Also, Peter was a person who I was proud to
    have known.

    Bill Murtough

    ------------------------------

    Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 16:51:33 -0400
    From: "Owens Pomeroy" <opomeroy@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  CANADIAN RADIO: A SOURCE

    Ken, here is some more info for the NL.  I have plenty, can you use it?

    Owens

       There is an excellent book on the History of Canadian Radio from the
    early Twenties (preceding USA Radio), up to the late 1970's, called "From
    Coast To Coast" ; A Personal History of Radio In Canada, written by noted
    Canadian Radio personality, Sandy Stewart, & published by CBC
    Enterprises/Les Enterprises Radio-Canada, in 1985.  There are stories about
    the early pioneering programs and performers who migrated to the USA ; Lorne
    Greene, Leslie Neilson, William Shaftner, James Doolin (Scotty of Star
    Trek), and Wayne and Schuster a very funny comedy team on radio, that made
    the American debut on the Ed Sullivan TV Show.

      It also relates how the Canadian Broadcasters would have special programs
    in the 1920's to lure American listeners, such as Foster Hewitt's "Saturday
    Night Hockey Games."  The first chapter, called
    "How God Created The CBC (with a little help from his friends) is worth the
    price of the book. One good thing about Canadian Radio, is they are still
    producing radio drama, comedy, variety, quiz, and documentary shows seven
    days a week, 365 days a year.  I strongly advise anyone with a powerful
    radio receiver with short-wave bands or if you are a ham radio operator, to
    tune in to Canadian Radio if you want to really relive OUR HEYDAY.  This
    book is a must for any OTR Library.

    Owens Pomeroy

    ------------------------------

    Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 18:04:03 -0400
    From: Gordon R Payton <thescifiguy@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  New listing

    After 200hrs of typing, the first revision of my listing of science
    fiction and supernatural radio shows in over two years is now complete.

    Anyone may contact me to have it sent to them as a series of 4 very large
    email attachments in Word [removed] format. It is not yet available on my
    website.

    thescifiguy@[removed]

    Gordon R. Payton
    "The Scifi Guy"

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V01 Issue #112
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