------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2007 : Issue 162
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
how I came to love OTR [ Dan Braddock <danbraddock66@[removed] ]
How I got into OTR [ Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed]; ]
This week in radio history 3-9 June [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
Interested in radio [ David Ballarotto <[removed]@ ]
Re: How I got started [ Cnorth6311@[removed] ]
Thomas C. Regan [ "Robert Birchard" <bbirchard@earthl ]
HOW I GOT STARTED WITH OTR [ PURKASZ@[removed] ]
Getting into OTR [ "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@hotm ]
Re: How I started Collecting OTR [ Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed]; ]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2007 00:01:09 -0400
From: Dan Braddock <danbraddock66@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: how I came to love OTR
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6-01-07
My love for radio started at the age of 12 for me and I am now 41. When I
was ten or so years old I was going through a phase of being afraid of the
dark and as a way to help put my fears to rest, I just to have this old ball
shaped radio with a set of the flimsey white ear plug that would allow you
private listing. I am from MI and used to tune into WJR radio 760 out of
Detroit andd the program Night Flight 76 became my favorite show and I found
that the old sounds of the big band and swing eras and soft voices like
Sinatra, Como and King- Cole helped me to overcome my fear of the dark and
put me gently to sleep at night. I also first heard the Bickersons, the Lone
Ranger, Fibber Mcgee and Molly and Jimmy Durante on this program. I listened
for several years every night I could until I was about 16 and the show went
off the air, But I had already had a love for big bands and old time radio by
that time and so began my love of otr/ There weere some times when I put
these cassettes away that I had gathered in my youth. there were about 150
of them. Just two years ago I rekindlled my love of old radio shows and took
that decrepit old box of tapes out after 20 years or so and some of the tapes
still play. I have now over 60,000 or so and have replaced all the shows on
cassette with mp3. I will be a fan for the rest of my life. Does anyone
remember Night Flight 76 on WJR in Detroit with Jay Roberts?
David B.
It's here! Your new message!
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Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2007 02:55:09 -0400
From: Rick Keating <pkeating89@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: How I got into OTR
I got into OTR back in the summer of 1978 when I,
coming up on 12-years-old, came across a cassette tape
of the _Green Hornet_ episode "The Boathouse Mystery"
at the Notre Dame campus bookstore. The episode was
dated 1938, the year my Dad was born, and I thought
it'd be interesting to listen to something from that
year (I would later learn that date was incorrect, and
the episode was actually broadcast in 1945).
I don't recall if I knew at the time that _The Green
Hornet_ was made in Detroit, but if I did, that
would've been another factor in my decision to buy it.
This tape was produced by Radio Reruns, and in time, I
found other Radio Reruns selections. Just a handful to
begin with.
Around 1980 on 81, my uncle informed me that a Candian
station was airing old radio shows on Sunday nights. I
started listening and taping them. It was a two hour
block, as I recall. 8 to 10 [removed], if memory serves.
I continued to buy cassettes in stores when I'd find
them, but my collection mushroomed in the mid 90s when
I discovered Radio Spirits. I've bought a lot of stuff
from them over the years.
Yes, I had received catalogs from other mail order
concerns in the 1980s, but hadn't ordered from them.
Whether it was from a lack of money, a hesitation to
order something sight unseen, or a combination of
both, I don't recall. When I finally did order from a
catalog, my initial order was probably a small one,
just to be safe.
Since discovering the Cincinnati OTR con in 1999, I've
also made purchases from dealers at the convention.
Today, according to my database, I own 2,459 shows,
including duplicates. I'd have to do a bit of math to
determine how many that would be without the
duplicates included, but at least 2,400 sounds
reasonable. I try to avoid duplicates as much as
possible.
I also like television, and don't get why some people
disdain the medium as a whole. Sure, there's a lot of
crap on TV (like most of the reality shows, as well as
Jerry Springer and his ilk), but A) not everything on
radio was pure gold, either; and B), as Theodore
Sturgeon put it, "95 percent of _everything_ is crud."
But to each his own.
Would I have bought that _Green Hornet_ tape if it had
been correctly dated 1945? Who knows?
Well, the Shadow, I suppose, but he won't return my
phone calls.
Rick
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2007 10:34:09 -0400
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otrd <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: This week in radio history 3-9 June
From Those Were The Days --
6/3
1946 - Mutual debuted The Casebook of Gregory Hood, the summer
replacement for Sherlock Holmes. The mystery series became a regular
weekly program in the fall of 1946.
6/4
1944 - Leonidas Witherall was first broadcast on the Mutual Broadcasting
System. Witherall was a detective who looked just like William Shakespeare.
6/6
1938 - Stella Dallas was presented for the first time on the NBC Red
network. The serial was "the true to life story of mother love and
sacrifice." Stella Dallas continued to do this and so much more until 1955.
1944 - CBS radio saluted America's war doctors with The Doctor Fights,
presented for the first time this day.
6/7
1945 - The NBC program The Adventures of Topper was heard for the first
time.
1955 - NBC presented The Lux Radio Theatre for the final time. The
program had aired for 21 years.
6/8
1942 - The comic soap opera Clara, Lu 'n Em was revived on CBS (the
original show began in 1931 on NBC). Clara, Lu and Em were together
again for just a short while before vanishing into radio oblivion.
1947 - Lassie debuted on ABC. It was a 15-minute show about an
extraordinary collie. Animal imitator, Earl Keen provided the whines and
other dog noises. The announcer was Charles Lyon; Marvin Miller and
Betty Arnold played Lassie's owners. The sponsor was Red Heart dog food.
Joe
--
Visit my homepage: [removed]~[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2007 10:36:12 -0400
From: David Ballarotto <[removed]@[removed];
To: Old Time Radio List <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Interested in radio
I'm Jack Benny's age this [removed] and hope to stay there next year, too. My
interest in radio began about 32 years ago. Jeno's Pizza used to sell a
pizza kit, with dough mix, sauce, etc. On the back of the box, there was an
ad for Old Time Radio shows on cassette, with shows like "The Cisco Kid" and
"The Lone Ranger," whose TV versions were running in reruns on a local
station. I was really intrigued about this concept of TV shows having been on
the radio, and finally to shut me up and answer my question, my mother
ordered me an episode of each. I remember really getting into those
cassettes when they came, and the way the words were slightly different on
the opening of the radio version of "The Lone Ranger." I listened to those
shows so many times that their opening is permanently burned into my brain,
"This old time radio program was originally aired live, long before the
advent of high fidelity. As a result you may detect an occasional surface
noise or volume drop
due to transmission problems so common to old radio. We hope however that
any variants in audio quality will not take away from your pleasure in
listening to this, one of the all time favorite shows." But like a lot of
childhood interests, this was a phase that wore out after a while. Plus, in
those days, records and cassettes were expensive for a grade school kid.
A few years later, for some reason, I was really bothered when Edgar Bergen
died. I'm not sure to this day, either, because it's not as if I'd spent
years listening to him, but my birthday was a few weeks after his death, and
I got a Charlie McCarthy doll and Bergen's record teaching ventriloquism
which also contained clips from his radio show. I got another LP a few months
later. Also, that same year, our teacher showed us a classroom film, the CBS
TV broadcast "Of Black America: Lost, Stolen or Strayed," with Bill Cosby
narrating and one of the clips had Gosden and Correll performing as "Amos 'n'
Andy." Again, my curiosity kicked in and I kept badgering my parents and
other people with questions about that show. Certainly the Cosby film took
an editorial position on "Amos 'n' Andy," that wasn't favorable, and I
wondered how something like that could last as long as it did.
Jump to 1982 when the same company that was offering OTR on the back of my
Jeno's Pizza box in 1975 was selling those same cassettes in stores. I
bought an "Amos 'n' Andy" show and was won over. Those cassettes were pretty
affordable, $[removed] and soon between those and "The Golden Age of Radio
Theater" in syndication and WCAU-AM's Radio Classics, much of my teenage
years were spent discovering and studying what made shows like "Fibber McGee
and Molly" and Jack Benny so good. When I went off to college in
Pittsburgh, my stereo couldn't pick up WCAU at 1210 because WTAE 1250 would
bleed through, so it was difficult to listen regularly. The irony that OTR
is getting a boost from the 21st Century's Internet is quite amazing. But
thanks to many things including this list and the knowledgeable people on it,
my interest has been able to grow. Getting off list e-mails from Laura Leff,
Karen Lerner or Jim Cox is like getting an email from the President! And
thanks to Charlie
and his diligent work in keeping this thing going so we can all share our
thoughts and love of OTR so others can discover it as well.
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2007 11:57:27 -0400
From: Cnorth6311@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: How I got started
For some years, I was on the road, and got tired of listening to DJ's play
the same old music over, and over again. To give you an idea of the time span
I
am talking about, my car had an 8 track tape player as an audio option,
although i did later on purchase one of those conversion gadgets that
permitted
me to play cassette tapes. Any way, while I was overnight in a city one day,
I
wandered into a Walgreens Drug Store just to kill time before the movie
started. I found a display of 8 track OTR shows. Cheap. Like a buck apiece. I
bought ten dollars worth of a variety of shows, and have been hooked ever
since.
The problem with the 8 tracks was, they broke, and when I went back to
replace them, not only were the ones that broke not there, but, there were
no more
of any kind there. Years later, I bought my first computer, and could go
online and find shows to purchase on cassette. This was much better because I
bought a cassette player with a dubbing feature. It would also record while
the
show was being broadcast. There was a station that played three hours of OTR
every Sunday morning, and I taped them all. You can't imagine how many
cassette tapes I had, and even though they are much smaller than the 8
tracks,
they still took up a lot of room. Enter CD's. I started buying CD OTR, and
the
majority of them are MP3. I know I have read that MP3's are either loved, or
hated on this digest. Personally, I love them if done correctly, leaving the
shows exactly as aired originally. ie; with all of the commercials left
intact. I understand that has been a problem, and a lot of shows ended up
getting
the commercials cut so people could get more programs on the disk. I do not
agree with that. It takes too much away from the show, since a lot of
commercials were an integral part of the show itself.
I now have XM radio in my vehicle, and they do have an OTR channel, but
again, it's repeats, plus, commercials that have nothing to do with the shows
themselves, which is irritating. So, when I get into my vehicle, I always
have
an MP3 OTR cd with me.
Charlie
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2007 13:30:14 -0400
From: "Robert Birchard" <bbirchard@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Thomas C. Regan
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Does anyone have any information about Thomas C. Regan--AKA Tom Regan--who
was an announcer for the Long Beach, California station KFOX and other
outlets in the 1940s and 1950s?
I know he was a roller skating champion in the 1910s and later worked as a
bit actor and assistant director in movies and briefly in the late 1920s had
his own studio--little more than a Western Street and an office--called
Thomas C. Regan Productions Studio located at 8405 Reedley in Van Nuys (now
Panorama City). Any information or reminiscences about his radio career
would be appreciated.
Now available from the University Press of Kentucky
"Cecil B. DeMille's Hollywood"
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------------------------------
Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2007 13:56:26 -0400
From: PURKASZ@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: HOW I GOT STARTED WITH OTR
It really started with the enormous emotional effect of that glowing yellow
dial in a dark room that told me stories of wonder and adventure well into
the night when I was in that cradle during those years after WW 2.
The radio it was called and it was mine instead of a babysitter.
Then I forgot all about it until I was 14-16 and listening to DJs playing the
first Rock & Roll records of the 50s.
There were a few radio guys who moved me with almost the same sense of
wonder during those heady days. Guys like John R from WLAC, Nashville
Tennessee,
and The Hound from Buffalo New York.
There was Big G, Glenn Walters beaming down from Toronto and of course, Alan
Freed.
I wanted to become one of those guys and eventually I did.
Worked on the air in many great cities and towns, Natchez, Mississippi,
Mobile Alabama, Fresno California where I met Drake the radio Mogul who was
not
ready for me yet nor I him.
Honolulu called in 1965 and later San Francisco where I broke the hits of
many newcomers like Aretha and Otis Redding in 1966 during the hot Summer of
Love.
New York called and then Hollywood and then the movies and all the time the
old radio shows were never far from my mind.
In 1972 I was driving West on Sunset Blvd when I saw an enormous Squirrel
and a giant Moose.
Rocky & Bullwinkle!!!
It was the Jay Ward building and I stopped if only because I could park my
'68 caddy beside a giant squirrel and live to tell about it.
Inside I saw the usual souvenirs but something on the counter caught my eye.
It said, "The Shadow," on a home made container with many cassettes inside.
Turns out the guy in the back room who was a sound editor for all the Rocky
& Bullwinkle cartoons was an OTR fan and had made these up for friends and
for sale.
Sammy Davis Jr. was just in and had just bought about 100 of them!!!
The guy behind the counter recognized me from some TV show I had done and
that allowed me entrance to the back rooms to meet with a guy name Skip Craig.
We talked of our love for the old radio shows and I sighed that it was too
bad they were history, never to be heard again.
"Not so," he shouted and pointed to many large boxes filled with
reel-to-reel tapes.
"These are from private collectors and why don't ya take a few with ya and
listen at home. You're an actor so you might like them. Suspense, Lux Radio
Theater," on and on he droned as I sat [removed], in a trance.
I bought two tape machines hours later and took a few boxes home with me to
make copies with his permission.
There they were. Reels and reels marked SUSPENSE, INNER SANCTUM, [removed]
was almost too much but I was very happy to discover that they still worked
as
entertainment and better yet they worked without having to sit and stare at
something so I was free to paint the house, do the dishes, wander around the
house, listening to stories from my [removed] in another era.
My fifteen year old son used to bring his friends from school to hear them
and that's when I knew that it wasn't merely nostalgia, that this was true
magic resurrected and back for us all to enjoy. Those who remember and those
who
never heard them first time around.
That was my beginning folks.
I see no end in sight.
I cherish my collection but it currently sits in a huge vault in Burbank
California due to its enormous size and the fact that I am 3000 miles away.
The whole thing really would delight H. G. Wells if he were still around
because if you think of it those of us who love this ability to travel back
in
time are really using Well's TIME [removed] we not.
Bon voyage one and all and thanks to OTR Digest for being here and thanks to
the real 'Space Ship,' our computers, for allowing us to access these shows
once again.
Onward and backward and forward all at the same time.
Michael C. Gwynne
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2007 17:55:08 -0400
From: "George Tirebiter" <tirebiter2@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Getting into OTR
I really became interested in OTR in about 1970 when I was 12/13 years old.
It just occured to me when I began reading this thread that if I had been
born 10 years later I might never have gotten interested. In 1970 I watched
as much TV as an average kid, I suppose, but cable was not available in our
area and there were of course no VCRs. Each of the 3 networks had an
affiliate in our area (there was a public TV station, too, NET was changing
to PBS at about that time, but as I recall that consisted of talking heads
and heavy drama for adults and the likes of Mr. Rogers and Sesame Street for
little kids and nothing for a 13 year old). At about this time I acquired
two wonderful possessions: an AM/FM/SW/police band radio and a small
cassette tape recorder. Soon I discovered small amounts of OTR radio
comedy and drama while DXing the AM band and there was also a little NTR on
the BBC World Service and some other SW sources. Best of all, there was a
Saturday morning OTR program on a local FM station that played 2 30-minute
OTR programs. I could make a decent sounding recording of this with my
little recorder and play it anytime I wanted (in fact, I usually didn't
listen to it as it was being broadcast, I just recorded it). This stuff was
as good as most of what was on TV and I could listen to it whenever I
wanted. Since you had to watch TV while it was on this sense of control as
to when you could listen was fantastic to me. If there was nothing I liked
on the 3 networks I could listen to a Jack Benny or Suspense. Soon a large
part of my limited spending money was going for bargain basement blank
cassettes (do they still make "Concertape" I wonder?) My interest in OTR
(and NTR) has ebbed and flowed over ensuing 37 years, but never totally went
away.
Now, if I had been born 10 years later when I was 13 we would have had cable
TV and probably a VCR. There would have been a lot more television to
choose from and I would have been able to watch things as a time of my
choosing. I wonder if I would have ever caught the radio bug?
------------------------------
Date: Sat, 2 Jun 2007 22:00:09 -0400
From: Fred Berney <fsberney@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: How I started Collecting OTR
Listening to radio as a child was a major part of my life. The
earliest memory I have of radio was when I was about 4 years old.
This would have been in 1943. A friend of mine was telling me about a
new radio show called Superman.
If my parents wanted to punish me, they would take away my radio
listening privileges. In 1952, when I was 13, I was given a tape
recorder for my birthday. That is when I started collecting radio
shows. I would record my favorite programs off the air. At first I
just placed the microphone right next to the radio's speaker, but
then a technician told me how to attach alligator clips to the
speaker of a radio and record directly into the line input of my tape recorder.
My first recorder was a Pentron Model 9T3C. I still have it and it still works.
It was not until the 70's that I found out that others were
collecting radio programs. I saw a small ad in AUDIO magazine for
someone selling OTR shows. So I took out an ad in the next issue. I
started receiving letters from other collectors. One said he had a
small collection of 1000 shows and would I like to trade. I had a
collection of 150 shows. So I figured if 1000 was a small collection,
my 150 shows was nothing.
At one point I was trading programs with about 12 people from all
over the country, plus Mexico and Canada. I still have all the
letters and catalogs from those collectors.
I could go on and on, but we are going on a small trip this coming
week and I need to find some shows in my collection that I can load
into my GPS to listen while on the road.
Fred
Check us out for old time radio & TV shows & Movie Serials
[removed]
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #162
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