Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #98
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 3/3/2003 11:04 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2003 : Issue 98
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      old radios                            [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
      Today in radio history 3/2            [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      Then and Now                          [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
      OTR Film Documentaries                [ agb@[removed] ]
      L'affaire Shirer                      [ chris chandler <chrischandler84@yah ]
      Pamela Mason                          [ "Lois Culver" <lois@[removed]; ]
      Horizons West                         [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
      Reveille with Beverly                 [ Donna Halper <dlh@[removed]; ]
      Re: The Lone Ranger's Real Name       [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]
      Frank Nelson                          [ "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@hotmail. ]
      Radio Talk Show Hosts                 [ George Aust <austhaus1@[removed] ]
      gays on radio                         [ "david rogers" <david_rogers@hotmai ]

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

    Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 20:03:47 -0500
    From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  old radios

    Old AM radios are something of an art form to restore properly.  I tried it
    a bit, but realized early on that I didn't have the patience or
    craftsmanship to do a good job.  My customers wouldn't have paid for it,
    anyway.

    Some of the small, inexpensive old sets had some surprising features.

    My favorite was the "line cord resistor."  In an AC-operated set, the tube
    filament voltages ideally add up to equal about 110 volts so that the string
    of heaters could be placed directly across the power line.  But a good many
    of them didn't, and the extra voltage had to be made up somewhere.  To avoid
    having to use either an expensive filament transformer or an unwieldy,
    super-hot resistance, the insulated conductors in radio's power cord were
    placed in a sleeve of asbestos or fiberglass cloth.  Atop that was wound a
    coil of resistance wire, which was placed in series with the tube filaments.
      The power cord thus has four terminals inside the set.

    Imagine my delight when I first encountered one of these things: the power
    cord got hot!  It turns out that this is normal, but it's sure a surprise,
    and probably not the safest arrangement.

    A good many el-cheapo radios from The Golden Age Of also featured painted,
    stamped metal cases *and* a power supply that had one end of the power cord
    connected to said case.  If you plugged the power cord in upside down (and
    the plugs were symmetrical) you'd have a metal case connected to the hot
    side of your power line, 120 volts with respect to ground.  Later sets with
    plastic cases had the same sort of power supply, but were harder to kill
    yourself with.

    Another surprise for those investigating one of the big console sets is the
    'dynamic' loudspeaker.  While just about every loudspeaker since the Yalta
    Conference has used permanent magnets, big speakers used an electromagnet
    for the field.  Thus the speaker in a console radio will have a four-pin
    connector.  This speaker field coil is placed in series with the
    high-voltage power supply, where it acts as an inductor to help smooth out
    the ripple in the current from the rectifier tube.  There can thus be 300
    volts on that dusty old pair of wires, so watch when you're exploring in
    there.

    You'll also find the occasional 'electrostatic' speaker in old radios.
    These consisted of two highly-charged foil plates surrounding a flexible
    (rubber?) membrane.  When a high voltage audio signal was applied to them,
    they'd attract each other with a force proportional to the signal voltage
    and thus vibrate.  They worked well on high-frequency signals until they
    invariably failed due to the breakdown of the inner membrane.  Moreover,
    they had to be supplied by a particularly high-voltage "bias" voltage of
    several hundred volts.

    You'll find electrostatic speakers in those beautiful, beloved old Blaupunkt
    or Grunding blonde-wood import radios with all the cities shown on the front
    glass panel.  I've received occasional surprises from these sets: the
    high-voltage terminals are not shielded and are about the first thing you
    encounter when you remove the back.

    This is not to discourage people from investigating and restoring--just a
    bit of a warning that safety is a more popular enterprise now than it was
    back then.

    My own opinion is that old radio shows can be listened to on any sort of
    adequate audio gear, the most trouble-free, the better.  Unfortunately, an
    old, restored radio will tend to sound very much like it did back when it
    was new, though generally the limiting factor in the process is the quality
    of the available program copy.

    I haven't tried them, but the reviews I've heard of several of the "phono
    oscillators" used to play audio through the rf stages of restored radios
    have not been good.  Production of a clean, well-modulated AM radio signal
    is not a trivial problem: you can get sound through your old radio, but it
    won't be so great.  None of the contemporary phono [removed], those
    from the 1930's-50's that were advertised back then--did a particularly good
    job.  They were mostly meant for kids to fool with.

    [removed]+phono was and maybe is the most popular forum for the
    discussion of old radios.  Some specialties, like Zenith Trans-Oceanic
    portables and the more elaborately-designed bakelite-cased table radios
    constitute subspecialties of their own.

    Mark Kinsler
    512 E Mulberry St. Lancaster, Ohio USA 43130  740-687-6368
    [removed]~kinsler

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

    Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 20:03:54 -0500
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Today in radio history 3/2

>     >From Those Were The Days --

    1945 - Mystery fans remember this day when they gathered around the
    radio set to listen to the Mutual Broadcasting System as Superman
    encountered Batman and Robin for the first time.

    1952 - Whispering Streets debuted on ABC, remaining on the air until
    1960.

      Joe

    --
    Visit my home page:
    [removed]~[removed]

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

    Date: Sun, 2 Mar 2003 20:16:40 -0500
    From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Then and Now

    Nichole Baxter notes, about entertainment standards,

>     Has anybody realized today that we close our eyes to, what 80 years
>     ago, people in radio land would have vetoed out of the Viewing (or
>     listening) public? <snip> And [removed] when there's a movie out that shows a
>     little more than what we like we just close our eyes too?Whats wrong with
>     going back too the 1930's era?When the Lone Ranger was just that! The
>     Lone Ranger!

    Not so very long ago, I tuned into the middle of some sort of TV awards
    show, and when it came to the sitcom section, whoever introduced the
    category said, roughly, "We all  know what everybody wants: getting it.
    All the comedies are built on sex.  Trying for it.  Getting it.  And
    losing it."  Memory tells me it was an NBC guy.  Now that's one corporate
    view on contemporary humor.  Nothing on the level of today's average
    sitcom humor could have been aired in the 1930s, 1940s, or 1950s.

    Now times change, it is true.  In addition to the virtues of the OTR era,
    there were restrictions.  The old joke used to be that you couldn't hear
    "damn" and "Hell" over broadcast radio unless you tuned into a church
    service.  With that level of constraint, some classes of drama would be
    less "realistic."

    If there were network Old-Style Radio (OSR) programs today, the language
    would be far less constrained, and based on what's common both on radio
    talk shows and network television, much more intense.  In its heyday, Lux
    Radio Theater could never have broadcast a radio version of The Silence
    of the Lambs or Seven.  (For that matter, in those days, neither could
    have been screened in movie theaters.)

    What might be an interesting exercise would be to consider how some of
    the better OTR shows might change if they had the freedom of 2000s
    broadcasting.

    Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

    Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 12:51:32 -0500
    From: agb@[removed]
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  OTR Film Documentaries

    If anyone is interested in film documentaries about old time radio, may I
    bring your attention to those at the online Prelinger Archives:

    [removed]

>     >From that home page you can browse and search to your heart's content. All

    films are in the public domain.

    On the Air (1937)  9:53
    Back of the Mike (1938)  9:15
    Behind Your Radio Dial: The Story of NBC (1947)  24:04
    Independent Radio Station (WMCA) (1951)  18:02

    Another film of interest to OTR fans is a fascinating documentary about the
    manufacture of 78 RPM records:

    Command Performance (1942)  18:58

    Since the files are large, it would certainly help to have access to a
    broadband internet connection. They are available to download in DIVX,
    MPEG2, and VCD formats as well as streaming video. The VCD format is the
    smallest of the three and can be saved and viewed as a Quicktime movie.

    Aside from radio, there are hundreds of other films of the 30's, 40's and
    50's that were often used as training films in schools and industry, and, as
    such, they reflect the events and culture of the times of old time radio.
    Available in the archives are such classic "institutional" films of the era
    as "Duck and Cover" and "Are You Popular?".

    Readers familiar with the narrators of the period will be able to identify a
    number of them in these films.

>     >From the Prelinger home page:

    "The Prelinger Archives is a collection of over 45,000 "ephemeral"
    (advertising, educational, industrial, and amateur) films produced between
    1927 and 1987. It is located in New York City and San Francisco. Since its
    beginning in 1983, its goal has been to collect, preserve, and facilitate
    access to films of historic significance that haven't been collected
    elsewhere.

    Included are films produced by and for many hundreds of important US
    corporations, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, community and
    interest groups, and educational institutions. The collection currently
    contains over 10% of the total production of the ephemeral films produced in
    this period, and it may be the most complete and varied collection in
    existence of films from these poorly preserved genres."

    Alan Bartenhagen

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

    Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 12:52:25 -0500
    From: chris chandler <chrischandler84@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  L'affaire Shirer

    Jim Widner mounts a stirring defense of Bill [removed]

>     One has to look beyond delivery  at
>     [removed]'s writing was quite superb
>     and is "infused" much more with a sense of history
>     than much of what I hear from the other reporters.

    Yeah, I still think he's boring.  haha

    Jim is correct in everything he says, and I understand
    clearly what Shirer was TRYING to do from Berlin.
    Indeed it wasn't easy under the Nazis' watchful eyes.
    One of my personal favorite Shirer bits, during that
    summer of 1940 as the world waited for the 'imminent'
    invasion of Britain, was to say "You know, people you
    talk to here on the streets just don't think
    anything's gonna happen [removed]"  He's clearly, and
    very cleverly, telegraphing he knows nothing is
    imminent.  And talking specifically about the 1940
    morning broadcasts, certainly Shirer's anaylsis of the
    Berlin papers made a point about how skewed most
    German's perceptions must have been.  Still, I don't
    call that 'reporting'.  And while he may have been
    speaking, as Jim suggests, with an eye toward history,
    it's difficult for me to envision that most people had
    much ear for penetrating analysis or historical
    perspective as they rushed to get ready for work at a
    quarter-of-eight in the morning.

    But then, I never listen to NPR, either.  :P

    Which is intended to say that maybe it's simply a
    matter of personal preference.  There's no question
    each network--including Mutual--developed its own very
    distinct reportorial style as the war progressed.
    CBS's was more hoity-toity, less showy, much calmer
    and I'd say purposely BBC-ish.  NBC's presentation was
    splashier and somewhat more jingoisitic, its reporters
    a bit more grizzled--or at least they were presented
    that way, its anchors a good bit edgier (even a bit
    neurotic, if you count Hollenbeck and St. John!).  And
    Mutual's news product was sometimes almost jarringly
    informal--chatty, what we now call 'conversational',
    alot like the time-filling anchor banter you now see
    on cable TV news.

    ((As an aside, if you think about it:  it's all
    changed now, of course, but how amazing is it that CBS
    and NBC managed to keep these respective, distinct
    news 'identities' right up into the mid-1980s)).

    Jim talked about 'CBS bashing' on the Digest.  I sense
    he might JUST be referring to me.  :P  I don't think
    it's bashing to point out that Shirer, to use the
    current example, was actually part of a much larger
    and broader picture--one in which the other 'parts'
    haven't been given full credit, for many years now,
    and for several reasons including but NOT limited to
    the CBS publicity machine Jim mentions.   I dare say
    what alot of people today know about Fred Bate, they
    learned from reading a biography--of Ed Murrow!
    That's such a shame, yet Bate's is actually one of the
    better-documented NBC careers.  The CBS legend--and
    historic record of quality--is sufficiently sound to
    withstand a few reminders that 'Murrow's Boys' weren't
    always first, or best.

    Shirer may have been the best writer in the world, but
    it's true he regularly managed to get his butt stomped
    on big stories.  CBS may have had more of a 'big
    picture' historical view early on, but half of 'radio
    news' is the 'radio' part--and, to its advantage, NBC
    often seemed to understand THAT a little better.  Both
    approaches were valid; radio listeners--and
    history--were lucky that both managed to thrive.

    chris

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

    Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 12:53:00 -0500
    From: "Lois Culver" <lois@[removed];
    To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Pamela Mason

    Shortly after Pamela Mason started her TV talk show in Los Angeles,(a show
    which I enjoyed and watched), My husband Howard Culver and I were invited to
    a KFI party at Art Baker's house.  Art was doing a show at KFI at the time.
    His lovely home included a full-sized theater, and after he had entertained
    us with movies, we all scattered to different parts of the house.  I was a
    bit tired and, seeing a familiar face on a lady sitting by the back wall,
    went over to talk to her.  I figured she was someone who worked in the music
    library and didnt know many people, so thought I'd "entertain" her, and keep
    her company.

    Later, on the way home, Howard asked what in the world I found so much to
    talk to Pamela Mason about!  PAMELA MASON??????

    Lois Culver
    KWLK Radio (Mutual) Longview, WA 1941-44
    KFI Radio (NBC) Los Angeles CA 1945-47, 50-53
    Widow of Howard Culver, actor

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

    Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 12:54:23 -0500
    From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Horizons West

    Harry Bartell wrote:

>     After the first table
>     run-through, the producer had discovered that while his Merriwether Lewis
>     was handsome as all get-out, he couldn't read his own name.

    Being the curious sort I've wondered who that actor was ever since Harry
    mentioned that story years ago. I believe William Lally had something to do
    with that and he didn't remember either. Does anyone know?

    Harry also wrote:

>     To the best of my knowledge that it is how
>     it became available to the public.

    And we are so grateful to you, Harry. It is such a truly OUTSTANDING series!
    Everyone should hear it!

    Barbara

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

    Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 12:54:56 -0500
    From: Donna Halper <dlh@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Reveille with Beverly

    I wrote about her in my recent book "Invisible Stars:  A Social History of
    Women in American Broadcasting" and included a rare photo of her during
    WW2.  (A number of women were hired back then to broadcast shows to the
    service-men.)  Beverly is still quite alive, as far as I know, and her
    manager, Dean Opperman, told me has has a number of shows of hers
    transcribed.  When I was researching my book, both Beverly (real name Jean
    Ruth, I believe) and Dean were very helpful.  Beverly was on the air at
    KFWB in Los Angeles during the 50s and I think airchecks of that exist, as
    well as some earlier ones.

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

    Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 12:56:48 -0500
    From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: The Lone Ranger's Real Name

    In a message dated 3/2/03 5:05:08 PM, Jim Nixon writes:

>     As far as I know, "John Reid" as the Ranger's full name first
>     appeared in David Rothel's book.  And of course, once something appears in
>     print from someone who knows as much about the program as David, others, most
>     notably John Dunning, pick it up and report it as gospel, and so it
>     proliferates until it becomes accepted, even though it isn't true.

    ***Actually, the first appearances of the "John" Reid name, to the best of my
    knowledge, were in Buxton and Owen's original 1966 hardcover printing of
    RADIO'S GOLDIN AGE/THE BIG BROADCAST, and in a very inaccurate TRIVIA
    paperback of the same vintage.  The TRIVIA paperback had a lot of garbled
    information, like the Guardians of the Universe giving engineer Alan Scott
    his Green Lantern power ring.***

>         That said, there is quite a bit of uncertainty surrounding the name Reid
>     as applied to the Ranger.  Yes, Fran Striker, in the radio series when the
>     Ranger finds his nephew in 1943, reveals that Reid is the masked man's last
>     name.  But Dave Holland, with help from Terry Salomonson, in his book "From
>     Out of the Past", tells us that Ernie Winstanley swore on a stack of bibles
>     that he played the young Dan Reid character during the 1930's, and that Dan
>     was the Ranger's nephew then.

    ***I knew Ernie Winstanley, and he was not above embellishing the truth.
    Also, memories are not always accurate.  Ernie was a part of WXYZ's LONE
    RANGER broadcasts from the beginning, but for many years was primarily a
    sound effects person.  Ernie very likely did play Dan Reid at some period of
    the show's long radio history, but memories recounted during the 1980s
    shouldn't automatically be trusted.  David Rothel added a lot of important
    history to the Masked Man's history, but he did not then have access to the
    early scripts that Fran Striker, Jr. has, or the thousands of original LR
    transcriptions that Terry Salomonson and SPERDVAC have ... which is why it's
    important to rewrite history when new facts are discovered.

    Back in 1979 when I cowrote THE SHADOW SCRAPBOOK with the wonderful Walter
    Gibson, I hadn't discovered that Margot Stevenson costarred opposite Orson
    Welles in the 1938 Goodrich shows, or that Frank Readick's opening and
    closing signatures were used on all of Orson Welles' SHADOW broadcasts.  Only
    in the past couple years have radio historians like Elizabeth McLeod, Karl
    Schadow, Michael Ogden (and, ahem, me) discovered and researched the
    pre-Welles Lamont Cranston broadcasts by Carl Kroenke (and an even earlier
    1934 audition over WMCA.

    I remember a reviewer commenting on the reprinting of the Buxton and Owen
    book that this was a very good reference source ... in 1966 ... but that the
    reprint didn't include decades of further research that should have been
    added.  Many of the older radio books (like Jim Harmon's GREAT RADIO HEROES,
    as I recall) assumed the Bryant's Gap origin story was part of the Lone
    Ranger mythology forom the beginning if the radio series, as did articles in
    SCREEN THRILLS ILLUSTRATED and other sources that castigated the movie serial
    scriptwriters for messing with the details of the radio series.  We now know
    that that the ambush origin originated with the 1938 movie serial (perhaps
    with Fran Striker's considerable input) and was later incorporated into the
    radio series.  And also that the "Reid" surname was established for the Lone
    Ranger after the movie serial's Alan King alter ego.

    I think it's very important to recognize the pioneer research done by David
    Rothel and others, but at the same time we need to recognize the handicaps
    they were working with at the time and move forward.  Like Jim Nixon, I find
    it extremely unlikely that Striker would have established the Lone Ranger/Dan
    Reid/Britt Reid connection in the mid-1930s, and then dropped it until
    reviving it in December 1942.

    Hi Yo Silver, Away, ANTHONY TOLLIN***

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

    Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 12:57:18 -0500
    From: "B. J. Watkins" <kinseyfan@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Frank Nelson

    Ryan Osentowski wrote:

>     This got me to wondering if and how gays were portrayed on radio.
>     I'm certain the portrayal wasn't favorable.  The only example I can think of
>     is Frank Nelson's flaming Floor Walker on Jack Benny.

    HUH?!!! Is it just me? In all the years I listened to Frank Nelson's
    floorwalker routine, the thought that he was gay NEVER crossed my mind.

    Barbara

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

    Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 12:57:27 -0500
    From: George Aust <austhaus1@[removed];
    To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Radio Talk Show Hosts

    I would submit Joe Pyne as a possible first radio talk show host.
    Starting in radio in his home town of Chester Pennsylvania at WVCH doing
    jokes he moved to WILM Delaware.  It was there that he began his first
    talk show taking phone calls from listeners, although you couldn't hear
    the callers rather he would just repeat what the caller had said. He was
    controversial right from the beging. In 1954 he had a TV show on WDEL-TV
    in Delaware. In 1957 he moved to California, once on the radio from
    Riverside, then moving to KTLA Los Angeles.
    He sky rocketed to fame by outraging most audiences  and delighting the
    right wing conservatives. His behavior at times was bizzarre once
    brandishing a gun on the air.
    I think it was Pyne who first began using the phrase "it's your nickle"
    on the air to his callers.
    He would insult not only his callers, but also guests that he had on to
    interview. He was verbally and physically abusive.  I suppose it was the
    first "shock TV"
    He had lost a leg in the Korean war and used a wooden leg which he made
    sure that everybody knew about. It was hard to tell how much of him was
    an act and how much was real.  I for one took him very seriously,
    thinking that he was a very dangerous and borderline out of control man.

    I think he moved back east again and continued with his talk shows.
    He died in 1970 of lung cancer at the age of 44.  He was a chain smoker.

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

    Date: Mon, 3 Mar 2003 12:57:49 -0500
    From: "david rogers" <david_rogers@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  gays on radio

    At the end of "Round the Horne" it was revealed that Julian and Sandy were
    actually married, so of course they were not gay.

    Love as always, David Rogers

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #98
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