Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #164
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 6/4/2007 10:44 AM

To: [removed]@[removed]

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2007 : Issue 164
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                 [removed]
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      6-4 births/deaths                     [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
      How it all [removed]                [ Ken Stockinger <bambino032004-otr@y ]
      How I discovered OTR                  [ ginger g <gingerbaby2000@[removed]; ]
      How did I come to love OTR?           [ "Bob Watson" <crw934@[removed]; ]
      Effective OTR Commercials             [ Brightstar2761@[removed] ]
      Convincing OTR [removed]         [ "Texas Radio Theatre Company" <info ]
      OTR on an MP3 player                  [ "Kirby, Tom" <Kirby@[removed]; ]
      How Got Hook on OTR!                  [ Trinapreston3@[removed] ]
      discovering OTR                       [ <marknichols06@[removed]; ]
      RE: Hooked on OTR                     [ "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed] ]
      RE: First exposure to OTR             [ Tom Barnett <[removed]@earthlink. ]

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

    Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 00:29:33 -0400
    From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  6-4 births/deaths

    June 4th births

    06-04-1881 - Clara Blandick - Hong Kong (on a ship in harbor) - d.
    4-15-1962
    actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"; "Campbell Playhouse"
    06-04-1891 - Erno Rapee - Budapest, Hungary - d. 6-26-1945
    conductor: "Roxy's Gang"; "General Motors Concert"
    06-04-1900 - Dan Golenpaul - NYC - d. 2-13-1974
    producer: "Information, Please"
    06-04-1901 - Carlton E. Morse - Jennings, LA - d. 5-24-1993
    writer, producer, director: "One Man's Family"; "I Love A Mystery"
    06-04-1906 - Richard Whorf - Winthrop, MA - d. 12-14-1966
    actor: "Cavalcade of America"; "Screen Guild Theatre"; "Jack Benny
    Program"
    06-04-1906 - Vinton Haworth (Hayworth) - Washington, [removed] - d. 5-21-1970
    actor: Fred Andrews "Archie Andrews"; Michael Shayne "Michael Shayne"
    06-04-1907 - Rosalind Russell - Waterbury, CT - d. 11-28-1976
    actor: "Four-Star Playhouse"; "Silver Theatre"
    06-04-1917 - Charles Collingwood - Three Rivers, MI - d. 10-3-1985
    newscaster: CBS News UN Correspondent/White House Correspondent
    06-04-1917 - Helen Wood - Clarksville, TN - d. 2-8-1988
    actor: Elaine Dascomb "Those We Love"
    06-04-1918 - Howard Culver - Colorado - d. 8-5-1984
    actor: Steve Adams/Straight Arrow "Straight Arrow"; "Free lance"
    06-04-1919 - Robert Merrill - Brooklyn, NY - d. 10-23-2004
    singer: "An Evening with Romberg"; "Robert Merrill Show"
    06-04-1921 - Don Diamond - Brooklyn NY
    actor: "Confession"; "Gunsmoke"; "Escape"; "NBC University Theatre"
    06-04-1924 - Dennis Weaver - Joplin, MO - d. 2-24-2006
    actor: Look Magazine Commercial "Have Gun, Will Travel"
    06-04-1927 - Phil Rammacher - d. 3-6-2003
    drums: "The Hoagy Carmichael Show"
    06-04-1940 - Lassie (Pal) - North Hollywood, CA - d. xx-xx-1958
    actor: "Lassie Show"

    June 4th deaths

    01-12-1902 - Joe E. Lewis - NYC - d. 6-4-1971
    comedian: "Midnight to Dawn in New York and London"
    01-19-1908 - Ish Kabibble (Merwyn Bogue) - Erie, PA - d. 6-4-1994
    comedian: "Kay Kyser's Kollege of Musical Knowledge"
    02-10-1893 - Bill Tilden - Germantown, PA - d. 6-4-1953
    tennis player: "Information Please"
    03-10-1919 - Lorna Thayer - Boston, MA - d. 6-4-2005
    actor: "The Hallmark Hall of Fame"
    03-11-1898 - Dorothy Gish - Massillon, OH - d. 6-4-1968
    actor: Texaco Star Playhouse"; "[removed] Steel Hour"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
    03-17-1902 - Jimmy Grier - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 6-4-1959
    orchestra leader: "Woodbury Soap Show"
    04-02-1919 - Tom Hubbard - d. 6-4-1974
    actor: Sergaent Cadet Stripes "Starr of Space
    04-19-1915 - Betty Winkler - Berwick, PA - d. 6-4-2002
    actor: Joyce Jordan "Joyce Jordan, [removed]"; Rosemary Levy "Abie's Irish
    Rose"
    05-15-1890 - Menasha Skulnik - Warsaw, Poland - d. 6-4-1970
    actor: Mr. Cohen "Abie's Irish Rose"; Uncle David "The Goldbergs"
    05-27-1919 - Ray Montgomery - d. 6-4-1998
    actor: Noel Chandler "Dear John"
    06-12-1916 - Ivan Tors - Budapest, Hungary - d. 6-4-1983
    producer: "Bud's Bandwagon"
    07-15-1905 - Shirley Povich - Bar Harbor ME - d. 6-4-1998
    sports columnist: "World Series Preview"; "Sonny Liston vs. Cassius
    Clay"
    07-16-1911 - Sonny Tufts - Boston, MA - d. 6-4-1970
    actor: "Harold Lloyd's Comedy Theatre"; "Screen Guild Theatre"
    07-25-1907 - Jack Gilford - NYC - d. 6-4-1990
    comedian: "CBS Radio Mystery Theatre"
    07-26-1901 - Serge Koussevitzky - Vyshni Volocheck, Russia - d. 6-4-1978
    symphony conductor: "Boston Symphony Orchestra"
    07-29-1877 - William Beebe - Brooklyn, NY - d. 6-4-1962
    author: "Information Please"
    07-29-1913 - Stephen McNally - NYC - d. 6-4-1994
    actor: "Ford Theatre"; "Screen Director's Playhouse"; "Lux Radio
    Theatre"
    08-16-1895 - Lucien Littlefield - San Antonio, TX - d. 6-4-1960
    actor: "Hollywood On the Air"
    09-09-1882 - Clem McCarthy - East Bloomfield, NY - d. 6-4-1962
    sportscaster: The Kentucky Derby
    10-12-1903 - Josephine Hutchinson - Seattle, WA - d. 6-4-1998
    actor: "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"

    Ron Sayles

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

    Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 00:30:07 -0400
    From: Ken Stockinger <bambino032004-otr@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  How it all [removed]

    Hi Everyone,
       I'm really enjoying this [removed]'s brought back
    a lot of fond memories for me.
       I was born in April of 1963, just after the end of
    what is usually considered The Golden Age of Radio.
    When I was a little boy, I was fascinated by the
    stories my mother and my Uncle John used to tell about
    the days when there was no television, and everyone
    listened to the radio for entertainment. I wished then
    that I could have been able to listen to the shows
    they told me [removed] Shadow, The Lone Ranger,
    The Green Hornet, Superman, and so many more. The
    thought that any of these shows still existed in
    recorded form never occurred to me.
      Fast forward to the Spring/Summer of 1974, when I
    was 11 years old. We rented the first floor of a two
    family house in Bloomfield, NJ. Our landlady lived on
    the second floor. One day, while going out into the
    backyard to play, I passed the garbage cans. Sitting
    on the top of my landlady's garbage(not actually in
    the garbage, but sitting on top of the bag nice and
    clean) was a box of Kellogg's Corn Flakes. The back of
    the box was face up, and my eye immediately caught the
    large drawing of Superman on it. Kellogg's was
    offering a 4 LP set of the Superman radio series!!!!!
    It was issued through Mark 56 Records. I quickly ran
    into the house and begged my mother to buy them for
    me. Being the terrific mom she was, she got them right
    away(she wanted to hear them again too).
      After what seemed an eternity, the records finally
    arrived. I put the first record on and anxiously
    awaited to hear my first radio show. As I listened to
    Superman battle The Wolf and Keno, and save The Silver
    Clipper, I became hooked for life.
      An ad in Parade Magazine led me to Special
    Recordings and an album of The Lone Ranger and The
    Green Hornet(still have a letter signed by Fred
    Flowerday somewhere).
      In 1980 I discovered Radiola/Radio Yesteryear, and
    began my real collecting days.
      And now, 33 years after hearing those first episodes
    of Superman, my love of OTR is still going strong. My
    mother and my Uncle John are no longer with us, but
    I'm warmed by the memories of many happy hours spent
    listening to OTR with them. When I listen now, I can
    still feel them with me.
      These days, I listen with my Dad and my wife. My
    wife, who had never heard any OTR until meeting me,
    now can't sleep at night if I don't put on an MP3 CD
    of OTR.
      And now time for bed and getting ready for the start
    of another week. Think Mr. Paladin and I will ride the
    trail into Dreamland tonight. Sleep tight, my friends.
                                      Ken

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

    Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 00:30:35 -0400
    From: ginger g <gingerbaby2000@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  How I discovered OTR
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    Hi Everybody,
      Reading everyone else stories about how they started listening to OTR took
    me back of how I got into it.
      I moved to NY in the mid 80's and was going to college, I had just got my
    first apartment and definitely couldn't afford a tv, but did have a radio. I
    happened to listen to WABC at 7 which had this guy that played about 2 solid
    hours of OTR. It was so fabulous! I LOVED it!!! It was just soooo great, he
    would have comedy one night, detectives another night, soaps etc.  he would
    go into detail about the history of the series. This show was so good that I
    would refuse all dates between 7-9. I remember listening to Phil Harris &
    Alice Faye and thought about investing in a tape recorder but couldn't really
    afford it.
      Alas the OTR radio show was cancelled and I was truly [removed]
    forward to the 90's I got a computer and rediscovered OTR and I have been in
    OTR heaven since then.

      Ginger

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    Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 01:12:04 -0400
    From: "Bob Watson" <crw934@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  How did I come to love OTR?
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    Very slowly, I guess.  Looking back, I'm surprised that I didn't get hooked
    earlier in my teenage years than I actually did.  I was born in 1961.  My Mom
    had me in her mid 30's and she was the youngest of 7 children.  As an only
    child, I grew up hearing stories of the family listening to the radio and what
    their favorite shows were.  In the early 70's, when the CBS Radio Mystery
    Theatre made it's debut, there was a local media blitz through the CBS TV
    station in Macon, and I tried to get the broadcast.  Not because of any desire
    to hear a radio show, but rather to hear Agnes Moorehead, who I knew as Endora
    on BEWITCHED.  I believe BEWITCHED had been cancelled by that time, but only
    by a couple of years, maybe and I wanted to hear "Endora" again.
    Unfortunately, I was unfamiliar with the dynamics of AM radio.  I tried to get
    the local CBS radio affiliate in Macon, GA, which reduced it's signal at
    night.  I didn't realize that if I had tried, I might could have found another
    CBS affiliate and listened to the program.  Alas, it was a missed opportunity.
    The station's signal refused to travel the 35 miles or so down to Cochran, GA
    that night.  Given my later love of CBSRMT, I often wonder if I would have
    been hooked at the beginning of my teen years, instead of towards the end.
    Also around that time, a local AM station, which one eludes me after all these
    years, started playing THE LONE RANGER, at least on Saturday afternoons.  It
    may have been broadcast on other days, but I was unaware.  Why TLR didn't fire
    me up into an OTR fan, I don't know.  I loved the show.  No, it was a few
    years later, when I was 18, that what only can be described as an act of fate
    showed me a whole new world of entertainment.  My mother had brought her
    portable radio that she had in the kitchen into the living room to try and get
    a weather report.  In those days, we didn't have a radio in the living room.
    Anyway, she thought the radio was on the FM band when it was, in fact, on the
    AM band.  Instead of a local station, she picked up KMOX in St. Louis.  We
    caught the tail end of a Jack Benny broadcast.  Even though we got in towards
    the end, it was still funny and entertaining.  I think the next show they
    announced was BURNS AND ALLEN, though I'm not sure.  It may have been OUR MISS
    BROOKS.  At any rate, my parents and grandmother wanted to watch TV, so I went
    back to my room with the radio, found the station on my portable WORLDSTAR
    multiband radio, and was thoroughly captivated the rest of the night.  It was
    truly when BURNS AND ALLEN came on, that I fell in love with the medium.  I
    was rolling on the floor laughing so hard, my Mother came back to check on me.
    Later that night, I discovered stations in Chicago and New York that were also
    broadcasting OTR.  A few weeks later, I found WBAP-AM.  They did things a
    little bit differently than the stations I was picking up.  Instead of a
    rotating variety of shows that changed every Sunday night, WBAP broadcast the
    same 3 shows every Sunday:  FIBBER MCGEE AND MOLLY, SUSPENSE, and GUNSMOKE.
    These shows were broadcast around Midnight, east coast time, so they were
    usually the last shows I listened too.  I often fell asleep listening to them.
    Although there are quite a few OTR shows that I love, these 3 remain close to
    my heart and will probably always be my favorites.  A few weeks later, I found
    some LP's at Camelot Music in the Macon Mall, and was introduced to INNER
    SANCTUM.  The following January, the SEARS RADIO THEATRE debuted.  I used my
    newfound knowledge of AM dynamics to listen to that and discovered CBSRMT.  I
    will always have fond memories of Tuesday nights.  I usually watched TV at 8
    pm, HAPPY DAYS and LAVERNE AND SHIRLEY.  But at 9 pm, I turned off the TV and
    listened to the comedies on SEARS RADIO THEATER and usually fell asleep
    listening to CBSRMT.  I miss those high school/college years when DX'ing was
    fun and what a thrill it was to discover another radio station in the north or
    midwest that broadcast OTR.  Alas, DX'ing isn't what it used to be.    I never
    have had a lot of room anywhere that I have lived, so I really haven't
    actually accumulated very much in the way of LP's, tapes or CD's.  I don't
    really think of myself as an OTR collector or Hobbyist, but more along the
    lines of an OTR enthusiast.  My experiences have been more to what I could
    find on the airwaves, be it AM or Satellite, than actual purchases or trades
    of OTR.  Only recently, with the advent of the popularity of mp3 CD's have I
    really began to "collect" OTR.  Despite the drawbacks as a storage medium, mp3
    allows me to purchase large quantities of OTR and not take up valuable space
    where I live.  I am currently enjoying listening to the Great Gildersleeve,
    having just started a few days ago on the first season.  I am so grateful that
    so much of the OTR medium has survived the years.  And mourn for the "lost"
    radio that didn't survive, such as the serialized Amos and Andy, that we will
    never be able to experience again.

    I'm rambling.

    Thanks for listening,

    Bob

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

    Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 01:12:43 -0400
    From: Brightstar2761@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Effective OTR Commercials

    Bob Davis Asks

>     Now, here's a question for the group. What OTR
>     commercials still seem convincing today?

    For me the one's that still seem to work are the Jello
    Commercials.  I love listening to Jack Benny, and when I listen to
    the shows from the Jello era, I have to keep myself from rushing out
    to buy any of the "Six Delicious Flavors" (Although I did yield to
    temptation and got some Jello Chocolate Pudding).  The other that
    seem to work are the Autolite commercials from Suspense.

    Michael

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

    Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 07:47:36 -0400
    From: "Texas Radio Theatre Company" <info@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Convincing OTR [removed]

    Bob says -

>     Have you heard an OTR commercial and then wanted to try that
>     product today?

    [removed] "Good health to all from Rexall"

    That and "Autolite"...

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

    Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 09:35:11 -0400
    From: "Kirby, Tom" <Kirby@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  OTR on an MP3 player

    I just ordered an Insignia 4gig MP3 player from Best Buy. Does
    anyone out there have any experience with how much OTR programming
    I can put on one of these? I think it comes with CD ripping software,
    and I have a lot of CDs.

    Any tips so I can load things properly the first time around would be
    appreciated.

    I also have some OTR MP3's recorded at 32k, and I hope they'll transfer
    OK.

    -- Tom

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

    Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 09:35:39 -0400
    From: Trinapreston3@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  How Got Hook on OTR!
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    I would like to share how I got interested in OTR.  One Sunday afternoon at
    age 25 in 1995 I saw an ad in the Sunday funnies while I was reading.  The ad
    was for Radio Yesteryear.  I'll never forget that ad, "Do you remember? "The
    Shadow"! "The Whistler!", "Suspense!" "Lone Ranger!" and "Superman!"  Like a
    kid
    I took the ad to bed with me. I showed it to my mother, she recalled all
    those shows, Quoting "Someone your age is interested in old radio shows!".
    That
    week after wondering if I would enjoy those shows advertised, I sent for four
    old time radio shows.  They were Lone Ranger, Hermits Cave, Lux Radio Theater,
    and Lights out.  It took a month for Radio Yesteryear to send them, I listened
    to them at bed time I was hooked.  I don't know how many times I listened to
    those four tapes in that month, but I enjoyed what I heard.  I was glad to see
    Radio Yesteryear had sent me a catalog to buy more radio shows.  As of today
    I have plenty of radio programs and when I got the Internet in 2000 my radio
    collection really grew.  I found radio collector's and sellers like McCoy
    Recording, Vintage Radio/Tom Martin, Jerry Haendiges, Radio Spirits, and
    Vintage
    Broadcasts to help grow my collection.  It's been a great experience for me to
    know so many people love OTR and The Old Time Radio Digest help to continue to
    know and find out more about Old Time Radio.  It's helpful to know of readers
    who lived through that period of radio and know exacting what days and times
    some of the shows were on the air.  Most OTR programs had great writers, sound
    effects, and actors. The actor persuaded the listener to draw himself into his
    role and character, the outcome is yours to imaging and mind stimulating.
    OTR keeps your mind active.  I enjoy it.  I only wish there were more
    merchandising of your favorite OTR shows. I would love to have a plastic
    figurine of
    Great Gildersleeve, or his silly laugh on old Philco radio.  Currently, I am
    indexing, logging, and theme my OTR collection.

                            Trina,

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    Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 10:01:52 -0400
    From: <marknichols06@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  discovering OTR

    Thought I would add my story.  Born in 1966.  In highschool I discovered an
    AM radio station that broadcast an OTR show at night.(NC station)   I
    remember them playing a lot of Red Skelton.  I also remember hearing
    "Donovan's Brain", and "Thing on the Fourble Board".    The show was replaced
    and that was the end of OTR for me for several years.  Then I discovered some
    Radio Spirits cassettes at Cracker Barrell .  I bought a couple of "Abbott
    and Costello" tapes.  The quality was just [removed],  one show had bad sound
    quality.  But it renewed my interest in OTR, and I was always a fan of Abbott
    and Costello.  I got a catalog from Radio Spirits and later discovered other
    sources on the internet.  I have been enjoying OTR ever since, about eight
    years now.  I don't consider myself a collector of OTR.  I don't have the
    thousands of shows some have.  But I would describe myself as a listener of
    OTR.  I have about 1200 shows , and  focus on what I will enjoy listening to.

    mark

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

    Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 10:06:49 -0400
    From: "Andrew Godfrey" <niteowl049@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  RE: Hooked on OTR

      I can still remember the radio being on in the kitchen back in the 50's
    with shows like Amos and Andy and Bob Hope being broadcast. I also remember
    my mom listening to soap operas like Just Plain Bill, Pepper Young's Family
    and Stella Dallas.
      It wasn't till about four years ago that I found out you could buy shows
    on MP3 CD's and since then have collected over 17,000 shows and it is great
    being able to download the shows into the computer then download them into a
    MP3 player to play in whatever order I want to. I have shows like Boston
    Blackie, Jack Benny, You Bet Your Life, Gunsmoke, Nightbeat in the MP3
    player then can listen to them at any time.
       Enjoy reading the OTR Daily Digest to read the comments of other OTR fans
    and sometimes actors like Conrad Binyon who were actually on OTR shows.

       Andrew Godfrey

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

    Date: Mon, 4 Jun 2007 11:30:41 -0400
    From: Tom Barnett <[removed]@[removed];
    To: OTR <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  RE: First exposure to OTR

    That's easy. . . 1983! I was a 13 year old who, one hot summer night, was
    bored with television and was flipping around the radio dial. I did like to
    listen to NewsTalk radio (don't ask why) and our local Detroit-area station
    was WXYZ AM 1270.

    At 11PM they would play the "WXYZ Radio Theater - Classic Radio from the
    past!" The promo for a Jack Benny show caught my interest so I listened. The
    voice I heard sounded exactly like voices I heard on Warner Bros cartoons of
    which I was only too familiar. This was strange it sounded like television
    except on the radio.

    So I listened and recorded the show I heard "The Jack Benny Show (Feb 1953) A
    Steak Ride into the Desert" and was immediately hooked. I began recording
    shows every night and located direct mail vendors to feed my growing
    appetite.

    24 Years later at age 37 I am still a fan and will be a life-long fan.
    Nothing can compare to this unique, intimate form of entertainment. This led
    to:

    - Meeting Dennis Day in 1986
    - Accumulating a unique historical knowledge of WWII and its culture
    - A love of Big Band Swing Music
    - An exercising of my imagination that my TV-bound contemporaries never
    developed.
    - An Online OTR community of some really terrific folks.
    - Meeting stellar performers like Eddie Carrol.
    - A common reference point between me and my Grandparent's generation
    - An exposure to some of the best characters I have ever encountered in ANY
    broadcast medium: Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Fibber McGee, Amos and Andy, The
    Shadow, The Whistler, and too many more to list.

    In short, one of the best experiences of my life.

    Tom Barnett

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #164
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