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

      Please Read Information Boilerplate at the End of This Digest
                          Last Updated 10-28-96

[removed] Digest				Volume 96 : Issue 503

Table Of Contents: 

	 otr memories (long)
	 Did Radio have more variety than television?
	 Variety in radio
	 variety
	 Benny Questions
	 Radio Variety
	 Re: Variety
	 A Christmas Carol with Olivier
	 Re: MIKE TODD and BARRY GRAY

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

Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 01:10:05 -0800
From: Mark Reesor <heronimous@[removed]>
To: otr <[removed]@[removed]>
Subject: otr memories (long)
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Saw a column recently in a Canadian press magazine (Press Review) by Larry MacDonald, recalling otr and the 
lengths his mom would go to avoid paying radio licence fees. Here's some of his memories which particularly 
intrigued me.

"When I look back to the 1930s, two things stand out with a clarity that is somewhat hard to believe after 60 
years. One was the depression: gloom and hopelessness. The other was the Golden Age of Radio, a bright ray that 
things would eventually get better. Radio. Jack Benny and his violin and "Love in Bloom." Fred Allen and the 
time an eagle got loose in the studio and "bombed" the audience with a seemingly endless supply of droppings. 
Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy, Bob Hope and Amos and Andy and, after school, the Ralston Sharpshooters and 
Jack Armstrong, the All-American [removed] 
"My mother regularly cried her eyes out over Lux Radio Theatre, which featured Hollywood stars. Nothing was 
dubbed in then, everything was live. Make a mistake, you made a mistake. But for the comedians, it worked the 
other way. When they flubbed, the audience roared and we at home laughed with them. Radios either looked like 
small church windows or massive mahogany floor models with half-a-dozen [removed]
"Sunday programming was so widespread that ministers had to change the hours of evening services. Bob Hope took 
precedence over Sunday's sermon, "Is There Hope?" There was -- but he was in Hollywood. During the Depression, 
the (Canadian) Department of Transport looked after radio licences. Hard to believe now, but then you had to 
pay $[removed] a year to turn the dial on. My mother was dead against paying the fee. Her view was birds used the 
air freely -- so should we. She didn't think that the government (Prime Minister [removed] Bennett at the time) 
should collect, that those "clowns in Ottawa," as she succinctly put it, were living high enough off the hog. 
They didn't need her $[removed]
"So she started what I later called the "cat and mouse" game. As a result, my mother spent a good part of her 
day and evening peering out from behind the lace curtains, looking for what became known as "the Radio Man." My 
brother and I became lookouts when mother was busy with washing, ironing, cooking and the multitude of other 
housewifely duties that befell women of that period. When the car, with its slowly revolving antennae -- like 
some gigantic insect -- hove into view, there was a signal from Mother. Radio off. Silence. Watch. The van 
continued slowly down out street. Missed us! My brother and I held hands over mouths shaking with laughter. Not 
too loudly though. That damn car might turn around and come back. Somehow, when I think back, it all seemed 
something out of Hitler's Germany of that same period. Hard to believe that sort of thing was going on in a 
democracy. 
"My mother, smiling, said, "Well, we beat them again." My brother and I looked at each other with grins, 
confederates in crime. This was more fun than Tom Mix at the Saturday afternoon movie. Some time just before 
the Second World War, the radio licence fee ended. I think my mother was sorry to see it and the radio car go. 
She loved every moment of trying to beat the government. My brother and I were also sorry. It had been great 
fun pretending you were The Shadow, Douglas Fairbanks, Tom Mix and Jack [removed]" 

Larry MacDonald worked as a reporter/editor for CBC TV news for 28-years until his retirement in 1982 and has 
recently completed a book, "Good Evening," on the early days of CBC TV, according to Press Review. 
Incidentally, I'm not breaking any copyright laws, since it's one of the few magazines that allows reproduction 
of its material, as long as it's properly credited.

Mark Reesor

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

Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 01:22:03 -0500 (EST)
From: "'A. Joseph Ross'" <lawyer@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Did Radio have more variety than television?
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

> Date: Wed, 25 Dec 1996 23:43:48 -0700
> From: joseph <joseph@[removed]>
> To: [removed]@[removed]
> Subject: Radio Variety
> Message-Id: <l03010d00aee7ce693e87@[[removed]]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> 
> Here's one to ponder. Did radio have more variety than television? Or is it
> just looking back at it from now makes it seem so.
> 
> I think radio had far more variety than tv. And I am not sure why.

Well, I think one reason is that there were, almost immediately, more
radio stations on the air than there were television stations in a
comparable period of time.

It was a lot easier and less expensive to get a radio station on the air
and produce some kind of programs for it.  As we see on "Remember WENN," a
small station could produce dramatic programs with a small cast and a good
sound effects man.  It takes a lot more than that to produce a television
program, it costs a lot more to build and equip a television station, and
for a long time TV was effectively limited to the twelve VHF channels.  So
until sometime in the mid-1960s, there were many areas of the country
where one or more of the three commercial networks didn't have a full-time
affiliate.  New York had seven VHF TV stations early on, but many other
parts of the country had only one or two stations for many years.

Diversity of voices on television was a major goal of the FCC during the
Kennedy Administration (When FCC Chairman Newton Minow called television a
"Vast Wasteland."), and it was done by mandating that all TVs made after
some date in 1964 had to be equipped with UHF tuners.  Once enough of
those TVs had been sold, there was enough audience to attract capital to
building new UHF stations, and television was able to expand.  But not
until the cable era has it been possible for television to offer, in most
localities, as many choices as radio.

==============================================================================
  A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                                          617/367-0468
  15 Court Square                                       lawyer@[removed]
  Boston, MA 02108-2573                        [removed]~lawyer/
==============================================================================

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

Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 01:49:41 -0500 (EST)
From: "'A. Joseph Ross'" <lawyer@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Variety in radio
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

> Date: Fri, 27 Dec 1996 22:34:47 GMT
> From: lgenco@[removed] (Lou Genco)
> To: otr@[removed]
> Subject: RE: Radio Variety
> Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
> 
> You can get an idea about today's TV variety by perusing your favorite
> TV programming schedule.  First, count the channels (particularly if
> you have cable or satellite); then remember that there were far fewer
> "hearable" radio stations in The Golden Age.  

I suppose it depends on what time-frame you're talking about.  A lot of
new stations started in the late 1940s, just after the war, but before
television got going.  By 1943 there were four national radio networks.
Sooner if you count NBC red and blue as two networks before the split.
(When did Mutual start?)

By about 1925, for example, Boston had at least four radio stations, maybe
more (I'm going from memory here, without checking station histories.).
Still more were in operation by 1935.  On the other hand, after two TV
stations came on the air in June 1948, there was a short-lived UHF station
in 1953 (which no one could watch because they didn't have TVs with UHF
tuners), an "educational" station in 1954 or 55, and a third commercial
VHF station in November 1957.  So we had three commercial and one
educational (later PBS) television station until the mid 1960s, when the
UHF stations finally got going.

That was the situation in Boston.  The Albany, NY area didn't get a second
commercial station until 1953 and a third the following year, both on UHF.
There were similar stories in many television markets in the 1950s and
60s.  Radio stations got going in larger numbers and faster in the 1920s,
for various reasons.

==============================================================================
  A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                                          617/367-0468
  15 Court Square                                       lawyer@[removed]
  Boston, MA 02108-2573                        [removed]~lawyer/
==============================================================================

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

Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 00:47:53 -0600
From: Joe Salerno <jsalerno@[removed]>
To: "'OTR LIST'" <[removed]@[removed]>
Subject: variety
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>

Speaking of sports on radio, I remember my father listening to a radio 
broadcast of a game, sometimes through an earphone, while he watched it on 
TV with the TV sound turned down. His reasoning is that the commentators on 
radio reported in greater detail, assuming that the listener couldn't see 
anything at all.

Joe Salerno

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

Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 00:55:36 -0600 (CST)
From: Bruce Toews <mmq990@[removed]>
To: otr@[removed]
Subject: Benny Questions
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII

Hi. I am using my Freenet account for the OTR list until the anomoly with 
the date field of my regular ISP can be corrected. I hope that this 
clears up the screen problems that people were forced to put up while I 
was using my previous ISP.

I have two Jack Benny questions. I don't know how I could use the OTR 
search engine on this one. I'm trying to track down two shows for which I 
heard brief excerpts on radio programs. In the first, Jack pulls Phil 
Harris aside and, line by line, critiques "That's What I Like About the 
South".

In the second show for which I'm looking, Jack is fixing his record 
player. Just before he and Rochester start on this, Rochester is singing 
a duet with Polly, the parrot:

Rochester: Got to do the dishes, always much against my wishes ...
Polly: You're a slow-poke,
Rochester: Got to do the shopping, Mr. Benny keeps me hopping ...
Polly: You're a slow-poke

And so on. If anyone could tell me from which episodes these excerpts 
come, I'd be most grateful. Thanks.

Bruce
toews@[removed]
[removed]~toews

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

Date: Sat, 28 Dec 96 01:10:29 -0500
From: Gene Bauman <genepen@[removed]>
To: "OTR (Post)" <otr@[removed]>
Subject: Radio Variety
Message-Id: <07083031500183@[removed]>

-- [ From: Gene Bauman * [removed] #[removed] ] --

Lou hit the nail on the head when he said
>> The typical radio
listener would get about as many AM broadcast-band radio stations as
today's typical non-cable, non-satellite TV viewer gets channels.  If
that listener were out in the boonies, he/she would probably be
limited to the powerhouse "clear channel" stations at night.<<

Today, I was listening to some OTR CDs and it dawned on me what was missing:
the whistles, the coming and going of the signal, and the static that we,
living 90 miles from the nearest radio stations in New Orleans, just had to
philosophically accept. WWL was the only station that we could depend upon
hearing clearly at any time. Similar thing with our first TV and 5-element
Yagi with snow, airplanes, and car ignitions. 

I almost miss it, but not enough to go back <g>.

Gene
Gene
--
                    Keep a good thought  -  Lash Larue

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

Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 07:46:37 -0500
From: Michael Carraher <michaelcarraher@[removed]>
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Variety
Message-ID: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit

Joseph M wrote:  
>Here's one to ponder. Did radio have more variety than television? Or is it
> just looking back at it from now makes it seem so.
> 
> I think radio had far more variety than tv. And I am not sure why. 
  
Joseph, what do you mean by "variety?"  I think we need to define terms
here.  If you mean variety programs, of course.  The last variety
program on network television was the Carol Burnett Show (excepting a
few abortive attempts to revive the format). 
  
Do you mean program choices?  Not a fair comparison.  During the OTR era
there were four major networks and -- in some cities -- a handful of
independent stations.  I'm a DSS subscriber, I get 175 channels.  With
cable, at least 30 to 75 channels are available.  This raises another
question:  With 175 channels (not counting Pay Per View movies), why is
it harder to find something I want to watch than it was when I had three
TV channels (or four radio networks)? (Could this be the question you're
really asking?) 
  
Another difference:  OTR programming was under control of the
advertisers -- not the networks.  Advertisers bought a time slot and
produced a program to fill it.  The network did not have complete
control over schedules.  In addition, broadcasters operated on the
theory of providing a little something for everybody.  Mainstream
stations would carry
sitcoms, opera, country music, Shakespeare and The Shadow.  Now networks
control the schedule -- they buy programs from studios and sell time to
advertisers for spot announcements in programs.  Programs are selected
and scheduled to maintain audience flow.  That means there is less
diversity in any network's program schedule as each seeks to attract and
keep a specific target audience ([removed], Must See TV).  But while
diversity is less on any one channel than during the OTR era, 30 to 175
channels -- with the help of a remote -- makes more diversity
available.   
  
A similar discussion occured recently in [removed]  Public
stations in larger cities with more than one public radio station are
moving away from each station offering a Full Service or Diverse format
(NPR news morning and afternoon, classical music during the day, jazz
late a night, etc.) to respective public stations airing full time
News-Talk, full time classical, full time jazz, full time alternative
rock.  Many NPR listeners liked the diverse format on any one station
and threaten to stop contributing.  Public radio stations report
audiences and pledges have increased with more specific formats.   
  
People used to praise the diversity of the Ed Sullivan show.  To tell
the truth, during the hour there only three or four acts I really wanted
to see (not the same three or four acts my parents really wanted to
see).  On the one hand, sometimes I came to appreciate one of the "other
acts."  Now, I have a remote control and don't have to sit through
"acts" (or programs) I don't care to.  Maybe the same comparison applies
to OTR and TV, as a whole.

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

Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 09:47:13 -0500
From: ArtsMilitaria@[removed] (Arthur Funk)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: A Christmas Carol with Olivier
Message-Id: <[removed]@[removed]>
Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=US-ASCII
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7BIT

Someone posted a reminiscence of this. I came
across a tape of it last night.  I must have taped if from a nostalgia
series carried by a Miami
station about 10-15 years ago.  It runs about
thirty minutes and is, alas, interrupted by real-time commercials and
the ending is cut so
there is no cast list.  If anyone would like a copy, send a blank and an
SASE  to me at
832 Walker Dr., Tampa, FL 33613.
Art Funk

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

Date: Sat, 28 Dec 1996 11:32:01 -0500
From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: MIKE TODD and BARRY GRAY
Message-ID: <961228113201_1390513556@[removed]>

Dick Lupoff asks if I recall which play Mike Todd payed the station for
commercial time for Barry Gray to continue panning his play.  Unfortunately
not, since I just recall hearing Gray tell the story over the air about a
dozen years ago.  I think the talk show host wrote an autobiography caled, I
think, "Night People" or "My Night People."  Maybe he included more
information there. -- ANTHONY TOLLIN  



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End of [removed] Digest V96 Issue #503
*******************************************

