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

[removed] Digest				Volume 96 : Issue 287

Table Of Contents: 

	 "I Can Hear It Now"
         a history of radio
	 Mix-Up
	 Le Saint [removed]
	 VIC AND SADE
	 Stations & OTR
	 WWW Page Update
	 Stations & OTR
	 Transmitters, threads and definitions

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

Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 07:27:27 -0400 (EDT)
From: apcohen@[removed] (Albert P. Cohen)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: "I Can Hear It Now"
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

To the best of my memory, there were in fact three record in the Murrow
series, "I Can Hear It Now."  I have volume 1 which I must have purchased
approximately 1956.  It was a Columbia Masterworks ML4095.

Volume 1 covers the period 1933 to 1945 although it goes back to what must
have been a recreation of the original broadcast from KDKA.  It was not
identified as a recreation. (TO THE BEST OF MY MEMORY SINCE I HAVE NOT
LISTENED TO THE RECORD IN A VERY LONG TIME.)

Volume 1 has 10 bands.  

Band 1 includes Will Rogers, FDR, Huey Long, the Duke of Windsor.
Band 2 includes Mayor LaGuardia, Alf Landon, FDR, John L. Lewis, the Hindenburg.
Band 3 includes William L. Shirer, Chamberlain, Hitler, Louis vs. Schmeling,
Lou Gehrig.
Band 4 includes Elmer Davis, Charles Lindberg, Alfred Smith, Hugh Johnson,
the Nazi blitzkrieg, FDR,Mussolini.
Band 5 inclludes Paul Reynaud, Compiegne, Chamberlain, Churchill, Princess
Elizabeth and Margaret Rose.
Band 6 includes Joe Martin, Wendell Wilkie, FDR, Churchill, FDR, Pearl Harbor
Band 7 includes US Declaration of War, D-Day, including Eisenhower,
deGaulle, and King Haakon.
Band 8 includes, D-Day, Stalin, FDR, Dewey, FDR.
Band 9 includes death of FDR, Arthur Godfrey, Truman, Sam Rayburn, Truman,
Stettinius.
Band 10 includes Chkaplain William Downey, Truman, Japanese surrender,
McArthur, Murrow.

If necessary and given a mailing address I can copy the jacket to give more
detail of the specific events and speakers.

I remember as perhaps a 10th grader wanting to take this into school to play
it during a class.  The history teacher was a supporter of Joseph R.
McCarthy and was mad as hell at Murrow and would not touch the record with a
ten foot pole.

Hope this helps.  

Al Cohen

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

Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 08:59:56 -0700
From: [removed]@[removed] (Donald Dortmund)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: a history of radio
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Description: cc:Mail note part

  I have been collecting episodes of the 30 part 'audio-course'
  called "PLEASE STAND BY A HISTORY OF RADIO", produced by the Southern 
  California Consortium and the Pacific Pioneer Broadcasters. 
  However I am missing several episodes.
  Would anyone know if there are any episodes available to swap?

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

Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 10:45:51 -0400
From: IDickerson@[removed]
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Mix-Up
Message-ID: <960818104550_387990945@[removed]>

I recently sent the following to Bill Pfeiffer, who suggested it might do
more good sent to the list. I've stupidly deleted today's digest already, but
I see I'm not [removed]

There seems to have been some mix-up since you changed service providers and
sorted out your delivery problems.

I used to subscribe to a nice little list, full of lots of friendly folk
dedicated to discussing >all aspect of otr shows; the characters, the stories
and the occasional digression.

Now I seem to have leapt onto a list devoted to obscure American radio
history; call >signs,terminology and characters from stations firmly fixed in
the USA (I live in Paris, >France) , instead of that happy, entertaining list
I was on before.

I appreciate that all digests go through phrases and threads but there seems
to have >been such an abrupt switch in subject matter that I remain firmly
convinced, with my >tongue in my cheek, that some mischievous cyber-switch
has taken place.

If such a mix-up has occurred, and maybe whilst your checking this out I
should >remind myself of the dictionary definition of humour, could you put
me back on the >right list--or alternately repost the subscriber details
which used to sit at the bottom of >the old list so that I may unsubscribe.

Now, to all those who suggest that redirection begins at home--and who can
screw up their cliches as well as I can--I shall post [removed]

Best wishes,

Ian Dickerson,
Honorary Secretary, The Saint Club (and Charteris biographer)


[Digest Administrator's Note:  As I said to Ian, the digest has gone
through a tumultuous transition in our move, and the threads and flow
have been interrupted.  It is up to all of us to be 'proactive' in
re-directing the digest back to its original focus of Old Time Radio
"Programs", more than the study of the technical history of radio
broadcasting itself.  Please feel encouraged to start some good
threads, rather than wait for someone else to do so.  Thanks.  Bill]



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

Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 10:46:36 -0400
From: IDickerson@[removed]
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Le Saint [removed]
Message-ID: <960818104634_387991244@[removed]>

Yes, I know there's absolutely no reason for the French other than the fact
that I'm in Paris, France and I may have been out in the sun too [removed]

Anyway, in a desperate attempt to steer the discussion back to the characters
and shows and away from these pesky call-signs (which I'm still convinced are
simply a sly way to insult each other), some Saintly queries and [removed]

Does anybody have any idea how I can find out what shows were airing in
competition to THE SAINT?

Anybody know what happened to Neil Reagan? (Ronnie's brother and director of
a few Saint radio shows)

Can anybody suggest a publisher who might be interested in putting out some
Saint radio scripts? I seem to remember someone on the digest mentioning some
scripts from an SF show (I think) were [removed] the forthcoming
$60million dollar Saint publicity machine that is Paramount's production, now
would appear to be the time to [removed]

Anyway, just to show it's not all take and no give, diving into my script
collection--and that was a mistake because a hundred and ninety something
Saint scripts have just toppled over--I came up with the following, from
"Dossier on a Damsel in Distress", Vincent Price's 109th outing as Templar. 

LOUIE:	You're a little spoiled Mr. Templar --You figure every time you get in
a cab the driver will scintillate with brilliant [removed] I will have
you know I’m no raconteur. I’m just a plain everyday hackie.

SIMON:	Don’t underestimate youself, Louie. I’ve heard you.

LOUIE:	A very lugubrious hackie on top of that. The lugubriousest hackie you
ever seen. And how ya gonna scintillate when you’re lugubrious.

SIMON:	What makes you so lugubrious?

LOUIE:	Because I can’t [removed] where shall we go?

SIMON: 	I told you, wherever you want.

LOUIE:	I don’t want to go anywhere. That’s why I’m here.

SIMON: 	I see.

LOUIE:	So why don’t we just sit here and wait for her?

SIMON: 	For whom?

LOUIE:	The damsel in distress.

SIMON: 	What damsel in distress?

LOUIE:	You should know. Every week at this time a lovely young thing throws
herself in your arms and begs you to help her.

SIMON:	Not every week.

LOUIE:	So you skipped one last [removed]’s counting?...(SIGHS) Why don’t
lovely young things ever throw themselves in my arms?

SIMON:	Because you don’t scintillate.

LOUIE:	If they did, I would.

SIMON:	Well, it looks as if my luck has changed this week, anyway. Not only
does my hackie refuse to scintillate, but I—

SOUND	(CAR DOOR OPENS)

MARGIE:	Please, mister, help me!

SOUND 	(CAR DOOR CLOSES)

SIMON:	Well, [removed]’re thirty seconds late.

MARGIE:	What?

SIMON:	We almost left without you.

MARGIE:	I don’t understand.

SIMON:	You should listen to the radio.

MARGIE:	There’s no time to joke. He may be following.

SIMON:	Who?

MARGIE:	That man.

SIMON:	What man?

MARGIE:	I don’t know, but can’t we get away from here?

SIMON:	[removed]

Now how can anyone not be interested in publishing such delightful
texts?!!!!!

Ian Dickerson,
Honorary Secretary, The Saint Club (and Charteris biographer)

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

Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 12:19:20 -0400
From: Bigkids@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: VIC AND SADE
Message-ID: <960818121918_459303353@[removed]>

Being old enough to remember much OTR from my own childhood, I've been
re-exploring those wonderful programs along with my wife. being considerably
younger than I am, Pat remembers fewer of the shows -- but still, she recalls
some of them.

Some of the old shows are as good as I remember their being . . . or even
better. I think everybody involved with OTR will agree, for example, that
"Suspense" was the premiere dramatic anthology series. Some of the continuing
character adventure shows hold up remarkably well; others are creaky or plain
dull.

And the kid shows that I dearly loved when I was ten years old just don't
lived up to my recollections at all, alas. But then, I'm not ten years old
any more, and it may be unfair of me to judge them by my present standards.

All of which brings me to "Vic and Sade." I had only the vaguest
recollections of this show, from my childhood. And those few recollections
were to the effect that, "V&S" was pretty uninteresting. Just people talking
to each other, very little ever happened.

And recently Pat and I have been listening to a few V&S's, and realized that
this was an absolutely *brilliant* show. Victor Gook was an incredibly funny,
sardonic commentator on small-town Americana. Sadie Gook was the ultimate
realist -- pracitcal, strong, with her feet planted firmly on the ground. And
young Russell -- well, was he really as dense as he seemed, or was there a
layered awareness there, too, that he used in dealing with his parents?

What an amazing show!

People nowadays who praise "Seinfeld" on TV -- and I am one of them, I think
it's a marvelous program -- ought to check out "Vic and Sade," the *original*
show that was "about nothing."

Now, having said all this, we come to the question:

Since the OTR Digest seems to have subscribers who are knowledgeable about
every conceivable phase of OTR, can anyone tell me anything about "V&S"? Who
created this show? When did it run? Which network carried it? Where did it
originate? And -- are any of those marvelously talented people (the writer,
producers, or actors) still alive?

Has anyone ever done a book on V&S? Are published scripts available?

Does anyone out there share my enthusiasm for this show?

Share, please!

Dick Lupoff

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

Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 16:45:59 -0500
From: Lou Genco <lgenco@[removed]>
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: WWW Page Update
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Just received a note from InterNIC that my application to move [removed]
from a computer located on the East Coast to one located in Texas has been
approved.  The changeover should take place Monday AM, but -your- internet
providers may take a little while to update their records.  The URL remains
the same, "[removed]".  You will be able to determine if you
are at the new site by looking at the bottom of the welcome page.  If you
see "TEXAS SITE", you are viewing the latest and greatest.  

Some recent additions to my pages (accessible only at the new site) include:

     *    Bill Cosby's "Chicken Heart" routine for OTR Digest subscribers
who read the discussion, but didn't hear the skit.

     *    New links to OTR personality pages.  Some OTR personalities - from
Abbott and Costello to Nipper the RCA dog have set up their own pages.  The
newest links include those to Al Jolson and Chickenman.

     *    The sub-page "OTR Goes to the Movies" (in which are listed
presentations on the Silver Screen that had their origin in OTR) has even
more entries.

     *    A new sponsor - Adventures in Cassettes - adds their name to a
list of places that provide OTR materials that you might want.

If you don't see "TEXAS SITE" at the bottom of the welcome page, or can't
find the abovementioned pages, your browser is still pointing to the OLD
site.  Your ISP's records should automatically update within a short time,
so you will find the NEW site without any effort on your part.  All this is
computerized, so remember, nothing can go wrong 
... nothing can go wrong 
... nothing can go wrong 
... nothing can go wrong 
...

[TRANSMISSION INTERRUPTED]

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

Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 17:06:07 -0500 (CDT)
From: wdp (AIRWAVES MEDIA)
To: otr@[removed] (Old Time Radio)
Subject: Stations & OTR
Message-Id: <m0usFyx-000Y2nC@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Length:       3972

  JRayb71827@[removed] wrote:
} 
} I agree with Bruce Rudesill that on the Digest we are all now and then
} inclined to take a subject and flog it to death.  However, I disagree when he
} says OTR is about shows and performers and not about stations.  

May I jump in here?

This clear-channel thing is one of those 'fringe areas' (no pun
intended) in the OTR discussion that holds a *lot* of interest for a
*few* (relatively speaking) readers.  Those who do not share the love
of radio's regulatory and license history will find their virtual eyes
glazing over very rapidly.

Given the recent troubles on the digest, with large numbers of
subscribers being cut off for a couple weeks, while others were not, I
can see how being dropped into a discussion of frequencies, power,
directional antennas and such might cause some to feel like they were
just transported to a different planet (ala Ian Dickerson).  

} Individual stations had a great many fine programs
} that were never on the net and also were the breeding grounds (or should that
} be training grounds?) for countless thousands of performers who fine-tuned
} their talents in smaller markets, sometimes on the so-called "coffee-pot"
} operations.  

I may be wrong here (there is always a first time for anything <g>)
but I seem to feel that it is the technical discussions that are
causing some to despair and criticize, not the comments about the
smaller market shows and such.  Some of this technical and regulatory
discussions (and even more-so the discussions about modern-day
stations and their facilities) belongs on AIRWAVES RADIO JOURNAL, not
OTR digest.

} I occasionally have used "Station Profiles" for articles in my
} newsletter, "Thrilling Days of Yesteryear," (see details under "Sponsors" on
}  Lou Genco's web site), and have always received  favorable responses.  Those

Perhaps it is the extended absence of this list, which used to come
every day, and the ensuing threads and comradery, which has made some
people more sensitive to the stray subjects.  

} stations were, in their own invaluable way, a highly important and integral
} part of Old Time Radio.  It's a mistake to think of OTR as JUST the network
} programming.  Stations around the country made exceptional contributions to
} the medium that was the nation's number-one form of family entertainment for
} better than a quarter of a century.

I do not believe that anyone is claiming that OTR should just be about
networks.  But I cannot see how WLIB's recent power increase, or
WOWO's power decrease has anything to do with OTR, same for lists of
so-called clear channel stations and their power and antenna specs.

However, to be fair, I also believe that Digest subscribers who do not
resonate with these threads should also lighten up and realize that
the digest is just now starting back up at full speed, after a bumpy
and traumatic move.  It is up to every subscriber who would like to
see OTR return to its former focus to spend time *posting information
that will accomplish this* rather than posting notes about their
dismay over the existing threads.

OTR Digest, like all other similar forums, is *reader-driven*.  You,
the reader, sets the tone and tempo of this publication.  If you do
not resonate with a thread, start a new [removed] or better yet start 2
or 3 new ones.  It is far more productive than complaining about
someone else's attempts at starting threads which you may not enjoy.

I agree that we have probably run the gamut on the history of
clear-channel radio in the USA.  So please, rather than fight over it,
start posting about the stuff we used to post about.  I have spend
almost 2 weeks getting the list back to normal, [removed] now it
is up to you to get it back to normal creatively.

I truly hope this helps.  I am available for *private* discussions on
these matters if you wish.

William Pfeiffer
Administrator: Old Time Radio Digest
wdp@[removed]
Web: [removed]

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

Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 19:44:26 -0500
From: Lou Genco <lgenco@[removed]>
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Transmitters, threads and definitions
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

OTR can be many things to many people.  To some it is memories of long
nights at remote transmitter stations, to others it is the taste of stale
coffee just before the 2:00 AM signoff, but to most of the -listeners-
(rather than -providers-) it is memories of great radio shows and
personalities.  The Internet OTR Digest was formed to provide a discussion
area for folks who have an interest in radio's golden age, and is meant to
appeal to as broad a subset of netizens as possible.  Our Charter set some
bounds on the topics, and we hope to maintain this broad attraction to the
majority of our subscribers.

Sometimes, a topic becomes overly specific or technical, or appeals to a
narrow group of our subscribers.  In these instances, many of our readers
reach for the "BORING" button.  The Clear Channel thread (and its spinoffs)
seems to have reached that point.  The topic is, however, of interest to
several readers.  I invite those readers to migrate the Clear Channel thread
(and any spinoffs) to [removed] (one of the newsgroups in the
AIRWAVES series), where it would have a larger audience among broadcasting
professionals, and folks with an interest in the topic can continue to
follow it.

We all enjoy OTR and our definitions thereof.  In terms of this mailgroup
however, the definition of "OTR" is as it is found in our Charter.

Hmmm.  Now where did I put the key to Fibber's closet (or Pandora's box)?

Lou
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WWW page on "Old Time Radio":                   [removed]
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End of [removed] Digest V96 Issue #287
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