Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #255
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 6/28/2003 5:01 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 255
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Frees signature                       [ benohmart@[removed] ]
  dogs on old-time radio                [ Howard Blue <khovard@[removed]; ]
  Soviet old-time radio THEFT           [ Howard Blue <khovard@[removed]; ]
  tube radios                           [ "Frank Phillips" <frankphi@hotmail. ]
  converting real to mp3                [ "Bh420" <bh420@[removed]; ]
  50 KW and Other Powerhouse AMs        [ Mark J Cuccia <mcuccia@[removed]; ]
  Herb Shriner                          [ danhughes@[removed] ]
  Real to mp3 converters                [ "Phil Watson" <philwats@[removed] ]
  June 29th births                      [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
  WWL - Blue Room                       [ Jerry0944 <jerry0944@[removed]; ]
  Re: Converting Real Aduo to MP3       [ "Rob Muir" <rmuir@[removed]; ]
  Blind detectives                      [ "Marcus Antonsson" <[removed] ]
  Twilight Zone on WGN Radio            [ Marty <martyd@[removed]; ]
  Any AM stations playing OTR today?    [ "Robert M. Bratcher Jr." <bratcher@ ]
  Two For the Money on Radio            [ "Tim Lones" <timl2002@[removed] ]
  american printing house?              [ "Kurt E. Yount" <blsmass@[removed]; ]
  Name-Dropping at the Billy Rose       [ Derek Tague <derek@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 11:56:09 -0400
From: benohmart@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Frees signature

It looks enough like Paul's signature to certainly Possibly be genuine. He
did answer fan
mail now and then, so it's more than likely his work. However, his kind of
signature
looks like it could also be easy to forge. Sorry for the inconclusive answer.
But it's very
possible. And I know. I'm writing the book on Frees.

Ben

Books on old time radio:
[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 11:56:51 -0400
From: Howard Blue <khovard@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  dogs on old-time radio

Just for the record-- a guy named Arthur Miller (yes--THE [removed]) wrote a
radio play during World War II about a dog in the canine corps.

Howard Blue

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 11:56:40 -0400
From: Howard Blue <khovard@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Soviet old-time radio THEFT

	The latest chapter in the saga of my attempts to get copies of some
Soviet World War II era radio plays--

	I just learned that the Moscow archivist who once showed me three
scripts of such plays (but would not let me take them home until we had a
contract) has begun an anthology of Soviet World War II era radio plays.
I won't even begin to protest that she's stolen my idea--since she's over
3000 miles away.

	Anyway, since there's nothing I can do about it, I plan on sending her
my best wishes on the project. Don't be surprised if someday you see my
English translations of at least a couple of them.

Do Svidanja

Howard Blue
[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 12:04:38 -0400
From: "Frank Phillips" <frankphi@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  tube radios
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I think tube radios give better sound, but that may be due to other factors,
such as larger speakers.

As far as sensitivity, please remember there are many more stations on the air
today that before 1950. [removed] my home town am station, wnil-am, niles, mich.,
where  I worked in 1973, went on the air in 1956.

Frank Phillips

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 12:08:24 -0400
From: "Bh420" <bh420@[removed];
To: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  converting real to mp3

hello,

look for a program on the net called streambox ripper 2009

scott

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 12:46:33 -0400
From: Mark J Cuccia <mcuccia@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  50 KW and Other Powerhouse AMs

In Old Time Radio Digest [removed] [removed], Ed Kindred wrote in his post,
"WWL New Orlean":

I don't know if WWL in Gnawlens is a clear channel station but I could
pick it up in Phoenix in the 50's. It wasn't strong but it was
understandable. WCCO, WHO, KMOX and WWL were about as far east as I
could go consistently from Phoenix. It is almost as if Ol' Man River
was a barrier.

Living here in New Orleans for most of my life (BTW, WWL-870 is 50,000
Watts, clear channel -- power-wise that is, *NOT* the name of the
owning company! :) ... I will reciprocate that it seems that the Rocky
Mountains were about as far west as I have ever been able to pick up
DX'ing at night, when I used to do a great deal of DX'ing in my High
School and College years of the 1970s/80s. I had picked up KSL Salt Lake
City UT and KOA Denver CO on a few occasions, but I was *never* able to
pick up KGA Spokane WA, KNX Hollywood CA, nor anything else up and down
the Pacific Coast in CA/OR/WA.

Eastward, I did pick up WNBC-660 and WABC-770 New York and WCAU
Philadelphia PA, on some *extremely rare* occasions (I think the weather
and other atmospheric conditions had to be "just right"). It seems that
the Appalachans were my eastern barrier.

I never remember receiving anything from Canada though, from this far
down South.

The stations that I would regularly pick up in addition to the ones
mentioned above included most of the 50-KW and other powerhouse stations
in Chicago IL: WMAQ-670 (NBC), WGN, WBBM-780 (CBS), and (with a lot of
crossover interference from WWL-870 locally) WLS-890 (ABC)...
WJR Detroit MI, and I *think* also WWJ at [removed] WWWE Clevland OH,
WLW Cincinnati OH, KMOX [removed] MO, WOAI San Antoinio TX, WHAS Louisville
KY, WHO Des Moines IA, WSB Atlanta GA, WSM Nashville TN, and so
[removed] mostly things throughout the Mississippi River Valley area.

I would *never* have been able to receive WCBS-880 New York, because it
was "right next door" on the dial to WWL-870 locally. And as I mentioned
it was even only a rare occaion when I could barely tune in to WNBC-660
or WABC-770.

In Fall 1979, our ROTC unit took a field trip to Tucson AZ, and I brought
my AM radio to see what I could DX at night. Of course, I received 50-KW
stations all up and down the Pacific Coast (KNX Los Angeles!, and some
San Francisco based network O&Os), and I remember being able to barely
tune in WWL New Orleans, KMOX [removed], and even WBBM Chicago. But as you
mentioned, I don't think that anything of significance east of the
Mississippi River was able to be pulled in.

In 1980/81, I lived in Spokane WA, and the stations I could DX included
two stations in Alberta (CANADA), one in Calgary, another in Edmonton --
I remember one or both carried the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, but not the
episode that (most) CBS Radio affiliates aired that night -- even the
initial reference to 'CBS' by [removed] Marshall was edited out of their tapes.
But one or both of those Alberta stations even used the CBS Radio hourly
news jingle of the 1968-83 period as their local news jingle (the one that
sounded like a *real* organ), but neither station seemed to carry any
regular news/info programming of the CBS RAD))|((O NETWORK. But I don't
think that either station carried much from the CBC (Canada) though.

Also during the year I lived in Spokane, I did occasionally pull-in KSL
Salt Lake City UT, KOA in Denver CO, KCBS San Francisco CA, and even on a
rare occasion I tuned in to KNX Hollywood. But I *never* seemed to be able
to pull-in WWL, KMOX, nor anything from Chicago.

My years of doing a lot of DX-ing was to tune in mostly network affiliates
in distant cities, to hear the short and long form news/info programming
that wasn't necessarily picked up by the local affiliates in New Orleans.
Some out-of-town stations (usually the Chicago based network O&Os) seemed
to carry just about *everything* the network fed, and would repeat many
of these network programs in the overnight or weekend period. Again, this
was mostly in the 1970s/early 80s timeframe, well after the heydey of OTR,
but some of these distant powerhouse AM stations did run a good deal of
OTR, especially if they were a CBS affiliate carrying CBS Mystery Theater
(and in 1979, the CBS-fed Sears Radio Theater).

Mark J. Cuccia
mcuccia@[removed]
New Orleans LA

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 12:47:27 -0400
From: danhughes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Herb Shriner

A bit of Herb Shriner trivia--he bought Elvis Presley's tour bus in 1968.

Herb died April 23, 1970, at the age of 51.  I seem to remember an auto
accident but I may be thinking of someone else?

By the way, Fred Allen did the pilot of Two For the Money--the show was
written for him--but he became ill and Shriner took his place.

Here's more about Herb:

[removed]

And from another web site:  Humorist Herb Shriner was known as the
"Hoosier Hot Shot." He become popular on radio in the late 1940s for his
backwoods stories about rural country life in Indiana (the land of the
Hoosiers). His easygoing jokes and philosophizing was likened to the
legendary Will Rogers. He starred on the comedy variety series THE HERB
SHRINER SHOW/CBS/ABC/1949-52 & 56 and hosted the quiz audience
participation series TWO FOR THE MONEY/NBC/CBS/1952-57. When Herb first
started in show business he played a harmonica in a vaudeville house.
When his lips got tired, he'd start to tell stories to the audience.
Eventually, his stories became the main focus of his act. Herb Shriner's
son, Wil Shriner Jr., a successful humorist in his own rite, had his own
syndicated talk show THE WIL SHRINER SHOW from 1987-88. TRIVIA NOTE: The
"Hoosier Hot Shots" was the name of a country western music combo
originated by Rudy Trietsch that debuted on radio in Fort Wayne, Indiana
and later became regulars on the radio program THE NATIONAL BARN DANCE in
1935. Their trademark oponing was "Are you ready, Hezzi?"

---Dan

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 13:44:27 -0400
From: "Phil Watson" <philwats@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Real to mp3 converters

There have been a couple of requests about software to convert Real Audio
files to mp3 format. You can get a program called [removed] that converts
RealAudio files to  WAV, available at [removed].

If you have a WAV editing program you can check the volume, leading and
trailing blank time etc and edit them to your preferences.

Then to convert the WAV file to mp3 try
[removed].

Both downloads are free. I've not used re2wav but RazorLame is excellent, I
use it all the time.

Regards from England
Phil

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 13:44:38 -0400
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  June 29th births

June 29th births

06-29-1893 - Alma Kitchell - Superior, WI - d. 11-13-1996
singer, commentator: "Melody Hour"; "Brief Case/Streamline Journal"
06-29-1901 - Ed Gardner - Astoria, NY - d. 8-17-1963
comedian: Archie "Duffy"s Tavern"
06-29-1901 - Nelson Eddy - Providence, RI - d. 3-6-1967
singer: "Voice of Firestone"; "Vicks Open House"; "Chase & Sanborn Hour"
06-29-1907 - Joan Davis - St. Paul, MN - d. 5-22-1961
comedienne: "Sealtest Village Store"; "Joan Davis Show"
06-29-1911 - Bernard Herrmann - NYC - d. 12-24-1975
conductor, composer: "Columbia Workshop"; "Mercury Theatre on the Air"
06-29-1915 - Ruth Warrick - St. Joseph, MO
actress: "Joyce Jordan, [removed]"; "Myrt and Marge"

June 29th deaths

02-08-1920 - Lana Turner - Wallace, ID - d. 6-29-1995
actress: "Abbott and Costello"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
03-10-1918 - Pamela Mason - Westgate-on-Sea, Kent, England - d. 6-29-1996
actress: "The James Mason and Pamela Mason Show"
05-23-1928 - Rosemary Clooney - Maysville, KY - d. 6-29-2002
singer: "Rosemary Clooney Show"; "On the Sunny Side"
08-29-1882 - Richard Legrand - Mount Tabor section near Portland, OR - d.
6-29-1963
actor: Richard Q. Peavy "Great Gildersleeve"; Ole "Fibber McGee and Molly"

Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Hometown of [removed] Kaltenborn and Spencer Tracy

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 13:44:50 -0400
From: Jerry0944 <jerry0944@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  WWL - Blue Room
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Having been a lurker for ages, this is my first submission!
WWL was (and is?) a clear channel station at 50kw power.  In the late '40s
and at least part of the '50s WWL broadcast music nightly "from the Blue Room
at the Roosevelt Hotel in New Orleans".  I recall that the music was live and
from a variety of bands and orchestras.
I have no confirmation of these details except my own memories.  Perhaps
someone else can share more details.  I wonder who announced the program -
and if a single, regular announcer or did it vary?  When did the Blue Room
broadcasts first and last air?
Jerry Maddux

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 14:58:53 -0400
From: "Rob Muir" <rmuir@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Re: Converting Real Aduo to MP3

I have been using a program called Streambox Ripper for quite a while now.
Excellent results. The program, however, has been illegal since RealMedia
found out about it. A quick Google search revealed a number of sources for
the legal version (no RealAudio conversion possible), and some articles on
the older hard to find (but not impossible) ripper. According to a number of
the sites I visited, there is no "official" RealAudio to mp3 converter on
the market.

Rob
[removed]

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 14:59:13 -0400
From: "Marcus Antonsson" <[removed]@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Blind detectives

Hi Gang!
The show Mark Kinsler refers to is probably "sounds of darknes" a south
African show about an FBI man who's gone blind and switched to private
detective work. quite an interesting show, but not very realistic if you ask
me. Are there other shows like this perhaps?

Regards:

Marc Antonsson (who's blind himself)

How you look means nothing!
Who you are means everything!

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 15:11:38 -0400
From: Marty <martyd@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Twilight Zone on WGN Radio

Starting on July 5th at Midnight (Saturday Night), WGN radio, 720kHz AM,
will be airing The Twilight Zone radio dramas.  Further details and an
episode guide are available at the WGN Radio website
([removed]).  Just click the link below:

[removed]

WGN is a 50,000 watt "clear" channel radio station heard in many many
states at night.  They broadcast in AM Stereo, too, for those who might
have an AM-stereo (C-Quam) capable receiver/tuner.

Just passing on this information for those who might be interested!

Marty
Schererville, IN

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 18:37:03 -0400
From: "Robert M. Bratcher Jr." <bratcher@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Any AM stations playing OTR today?

I am NOT looking for When Radio Was as my local 50KW KTRH plays that.
Rather I'm looking for stations playing whole shows from the OTR days
preferably at night. Does anybody know of any? Frequency & power would be
great if you can provide it.

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 18:37:20 -0400
From: "Tim Lones" <timl2002@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Two For the Money on Radio

A few years back, Game Show Network ran Two for the Money in what was then
Black and White Saturday/Sunday night, And there was reference to Two for
the Money also being on Radio (i think simulcast)
The Best part of the show was Herb interacting with the contestants very
similar to Groucho on You bet Your Life.  He was an extemely funny comic in
my opinion.  His son Wil (one l) became known as an actor-comedian in his
own right who had his own talk show for a while.

Tim Lones

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 18:38:17 -0400
From: "Kurt E. Yount" <blsmass@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  american printing house?

In OTR digest it says

Library of Congress loans phonographs?
It is possible that the Library of Congress loaned out phonographs, but I'm
wondering if our poster might have been thinking of the American Printing
House for the Blind, in Cincinnati.  They were in the talking-book
business through the 1980's, and probably still are.

  I thihnk that was the
Clovernook Printing House for the 
Blind, since the American Printing House for the Blind is in Louisville
KY around WHAS where Milton Metz and I guess a number of readers of
talking books for the blind used to work.  I'm not picking, just passing
information along.  Kurt 

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

Date: Sat, 28 Jun 2003 18:39:39 -0400
From: Derek Tague <derek@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Name-Dropping at the Billy Rose

It's me again, Gang!

     I  wanted to thank my buddy Martin Grams for his addendum to my previous
posting about doing research at the Billy Rose Theatre Collection in NYC. That
was a lot of fun playing host to the Grams family
on a research vacation--during a snowstorm, I might add.
     As for providing a female liberrian, er, librarian with a box of candy,
I've found that a family-size bag of M&M's will do the job just as nicely.
There's no need to spend your reearch money on a Whitman's Sampler, or a
package courtesy of Ms. Farmer or Mr. Stover.  Let's move on from this point
lest we be accused of sexism.
     But funny things do happen there at Mr. Rose's file emporium. I recently
had to ask a couple of over-enthusiastic guys doing research on Ben Selvin to
quiet down. [If somebody publishes a book about Ben Selvin & the author(s)
writes in the introduction about some guy who told him/them to "shut up"  at a
library, it was me].
     As many of you know, my good buddy Gary Yoggy is working on a book for
McFarland tentatively titled "House Calls," which will chronicle the history
of medical themed TV programmes. One time, when the Professor  was in town on
a research jaunt, I took a  coupla days off from Talking Books to assist him
in tag-team [or, in my case, Tague-team] research. Things went just as
smoothly as Martin had rejoindered. Even one extra person to help photocopy &
co-ordinate makes the world o' difference and saves ;otsa time.
     Gary was photocopying articles from several file folders looking for
great quotes from shows such as "Marcus Welby,"  "Ben Casey," "Dr.
Kildare," and three similarly titled shows "Nurses" [from the 1990s with
Swoosie Kurtz], "Nurse" [from the early 1980s starring Miss Michael Learned],
and "The Nurses [from the 1960s starring Zina Bethune]. I helped Gary sort the
photocopies into different piles verbally labeling each respective stack:
"Here's 'Medic,' here's 'Temperature's Rising'...here's 'Nurses'/Swoosie
Kurtz, here's 'Nurse'/Michael Learned,
here's 'The Nurses'/Zina Bethune."
     Over dinner that night, I had reached a point of research fatigue &
blurted out to Gary, "Y'know, Gary, I have said Zina Bethune's name aloud more
in the last 36 hours than I have ever said it my entire life!"
     [Of course, if Michael Learned married  singer Tommy Roe, divorced him
and married singer Joey Dee, & then in succession divorced & married former
South African premier [removed] Botha, comedian Pauly Shore, TV personality Arsenio
Hall, baseball manager Felipe Alou, & finally Teletubby La-La, she's be
Michael Roe-Dee-Botha-Shore-Hall-Alou-La. I wrote that one].
     Back to Billy Rose. It's amazing what one learns while looking through
microfilms of VARIETY  from the mid-1920s while trying to track down the
little coverage this austere "Bible of Sow-Biz" accorded the ether at that
time. As far as I could ascertain, the first time VARIETY devoted an entire
page to radio was in August 1924 & it was deeply entrenched in the paper after
the pages devoted to "Circuses," "Outdoor Amusements," and "Chatauqua."
     However, while traipsing through the "Circus," pages, I was absolutely
dumbfounded to learn that the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan sponsored their own
circuses, and that Variety  unbiasedly tracked their peregrinations through
the South. Geez, what were the circus tents shaped like?
     My favourite front-page "below-the-fold" headline from some issue of
Variety circa 1923-24 was "Minstrel Opposition on B'way." Naturally, my
curiosity was aroused. I mused to myself, "Wow, people were opposed to
blackface 'back in the day'?" Upon further reading, I learned the thrust of
said  article was a report that Al Jolson was in one show on Broadway & that
Eddie Cantor was across the strret in another show. Hence, the "opposittion."
     Which leads me to my final bit of advice regarding research: STAY
FOCUSSED. If you're looking through issues of show-biz trade papers (or any
other publication, for that matter), try not to read about circuses when
you're supposed to be doing research on radio.  If you're supposed to be
chasing down articles about "the Shadow" for Anthony Tollin, and you
serendipitously stumble upon articles about "Vic 'n' Sade,"  make note of the
publication & its date & save "V'n'S" for another time [my advance apologies
to Barbara Schwarz].

Yours in the  microfilm,

Derek Tague

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #255
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