Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #14
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 1/11/2003 9:03 PM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2003 : Issue 14
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  OTR Collection : To Catalogue or to   [ Shakehip@[removed] ]
  war of the worlds                     [ "Ed Carr" <edcarr@[removed]; ]
  How many affiliates?                  [ Larry Jordan <midtod@[removed]; ]
  More on Effects                       [ "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@ ]
  Greed versus the Grand Ole Opry       [ Larry Jordan <midtod@[removed]; ]
  Re: BOB MAXWELL                       [ SanctumOTR@[removed] ]
  Re: Sound effects (man?)              [ Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed] ]
  Today in radio history                [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
  Vampire tales                         [ "Scott Eberbach" <seberbach@earthli ]
  Vampire tales                         [ "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@hotm ]
  Opry changes                          [ otrbuff@[removed] ]
  Was crosby the greatest entertainer   [ Jer51473@[removed] ]
  Sound Effects                         [ William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed]; ]
  Glenn Miller on PBS                   [ George Aust <austhaus1@[removed] ]
  love the list keep it up              [ sweetnanajean@[removed] ]
  Is TV a naughty word?                 [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]

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

Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 22:36:00 -0500
From: Shakehip@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  OTR Collection : To Catalogue or to Store
 Away ?
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Hi Folks,

About 20 years ago (1982 to be precise) when I was only 11, there was an OTR
Radio Show here in Philly on WCAU-AM called Radio Classics.  I had a nice
tape deck and used to record them off the radio.

I'm now moving to Japan from Philadelphia, and I'm trying to think whether
its worth the time to catalogue [removed] I only have a limited amount of time.
 The key issue is, would most of this stuff still be in general circulation
(hence not worth the endeavor), or is it possible that some have fallen back
into the vaults - - and that should be shared with OTR enthusiasts ?

(If there are any enthusiasts near the Philly area who would like to help me
sort things out,  please feel free free to contact me privately.)

Ed,
(*lived in the orient 4 years, but never learned strange art to cloud peoples
minds so they can not see him.)

  *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 22:36:12 -0500
From: "Ed Carr" <edcarr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  war of the worlds

hi
sometime back there was talk on the recording of war of the worlds
and about copies made
well, i just listened to 4 different cds and here is my take on it
1st-a direct copy from the orig discs, much hash in the opening and loud
this copy was sworn to me to be from the orig discs, i have no reason not
to believe them
2nd-from a 20/25 year old lp, same hash as 1st
3rd-a cd from radio spirits, same as above
this  lends me to the conclusion that all came from the same recording
discs.
4th-hardly any hash in open, really, overall quality through out not bad
at all,you can tell this was cleaned up, some slight noise is still heard, but
nowhere near like the 1st-3, total time just on this was 4/5 hours
this copy is better than the 1st-3
next to listen to will be the day the earth stood still
ed

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

Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2003 23:00:47 -0500
From: Larry Jordan <midtod@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  How many affiliates?

Can anyone out there tell me how many affiliates ABC radio had around
1957? I'm doing research and urgently need to know! Thanks.

Larry Jordan

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

Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 09:21:56 -0500
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  More on Effects

When I was in what's now called Middle school ("Junior High" way back
then), there was a textbook used as part of an English course that had a
writeup of the way many sound effects were made.  They had the usual
explanations -- pouring dry rice of parchment to simulate rain, miniature
door for opening/closing sounds, etc -- but they had one thing more:
photographs of some of the gadgets used to make the noises.  One gadget
they had was a wooden frame with a matrix of wooden pegs suspended (and
linked) by rubber bands: these were used to simulate the sound of a troop
of soldiers marching.    They claimed that the sounds of ship's ropes
flexing could be simulated by gently drawing a violin bow across an empty
strawberry box.  A good "behind the scenes" look at sound effects.

The interesting thing is that it was a new textbook.  I read it in 1949.
Just a little before the twilight of OTR.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 09:23:03 -0500
From: Larry Jordan <midtod@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Greed versus the Grand Ole Opry

Someone commented in today's OTR Digest about the high prices being
charged for admission to the Grand Ole Opry, the fact that a number of
veteran performers have been dismissed in an effort to modernize the
show, and that Opry attendance had declined (surprise, surprise!) Add to
this the fact that in the last several days, WSM (the flagship station
of the Opry, owned by Gaylord) has announced the dismissal of longtime
WSM air personalities. There has been a wholesale housecleaning at the
station, and the axe has even fallen on people like operations manager
Kyle Cantrell, who had respect for the old-time Opry traditions and
attempted to keep the station focused on its great legacy. A year ago,
when word leaked that Gaylord was moving in the direction of changing
WSM-AM to a sports/talk format and abandoning country music, the hue and
cry was heard nationwide. Tens of thousands of listeners, who love the
Opry and listen to the 50,000-watt station at night, signed online
petitions in protest. At a subsequent press conference that was even
covered live by rival stations in Nashville, Gaylord  scrambled to
mollify critics in the face of this PR disaster, and pledged a renewed
commitment to country fans. Now the pendulum appears to be swinging back
in the other direction. It all comes down to the proverbial case of
greed. Can they make enough money being ranked 3rd or 4th in their
market -- and still serving millions of (older) listeners over a
multi-state area? Or is it better to discard all those "undesirable"
listeners and just add another sports/talk station to the Nashville
scene and concentrate on becoming Number One in the metro among the
youthful demographic thought most desirable by *some* advertisers (and
narrow-minded management types)? When was the last time you heard of a
station actually being concerned about "public service"? The Grand Ole
Opry -- which is the longest running radio show in America to my
knowledge -- is obviously imperiled. There are many who think that
Gaylord is the worst thing that has ever happened to country music in
Nashville, and given their track record of destroying TNN, Opryland
theme park, the Opry and now WSM -- that strikes me as a fair
assessment. -- Larry Jordan

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

Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 09:23:17 -0500
From: SanctumOTR@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: BOB MAXWELL

Bob also acted in the final broadcast of YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR.  He was
a really nice guy who acted in a couple of my SPERDVAC recreations, including
the LONE RANGER/WXYZ reunion around three years ago. --Anthony Tollin

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

Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 09:23:39 -0500
From: Herb Harrison <herbop@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Sound effects (man?)

Hal Stone gives us lots of valuable info about how sound effects were
created in OTR. I noticed that he referred to the "sound effects man" many
times. Does he know of any "sound effects women"; and if so, were any as
talented as their male counterparts?

Herb Harrison

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

Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 09:23:46 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Today in radio history

>From Those Were The Days --

1947 - Amazing Mr. Malone (aka Murder and Mr. Malone) starring Frank
Lovejoy, debuted on ABC.

  Joe

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

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

Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 09:24:14 -0500
From: "Scott Eberbach" <seberbach@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Vampire tales
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

One vampire tale that comes to mind and that still raises the hair on the back
of my neck is Quiet Please's "My Son, John."  A bit of a Dracula story with a
twist.  As to "Sunrise To Sunset" this is one of my favorite CBSRMT tales and
I still have an off the air recording I made when this originally aired almost
30 years ago!  I too found the lack of a place and a time a bit disconcerting
so I just assign a place and time that suits me whenever I listen to the
story.

Scott

  *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 09:59:02 -0500
From: "Martin Grams, Jr." <mmargrajr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Vampire tales

Mike Kerezman described a few Vampire stories.  I believe there were lots of
vampire stories told on the radio.  The subject of vampirism was not taboo
since the Lugosi film exposed people to the genre.

I know at least one vampire story was done on LIGHTS OUT in the late
thirties and a recording of that episode (to my knowledge) recently surfaced
a few years ago.  INNER SANCTUM did quite a number of them (at least people
suspecting someone was a vampire) and in one instance, the solution came
down to a mad doctor with a needle and a bicycle pump "playing" the role of
a vampire.

I LOVE A MYSTERY did two such serials, "My beloved is a vampire" and "Temple
of the vampires."  For anyone who has not head the surviving recordings of
"Temple of the Vampires," it comes highly recommended.  I have had the
distinction of reading the entire serial from the original scripts and I can
say that "Temple of the Vampires" is probably the most terrifying and truly
scary pieces of radio written in serial form.  Highly recommended.

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

Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 10:13:17 -0500
From: otrbuff@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Opry changes

I appreciate the comments of the unidentified poster Saturday concerning
the prices of Opry admission and how the rules have changed to furnish
younger talent at the expense of what made the Opry the mother church of
country music.  I have observed those changes myself and been
disheartened with every one.  There have been many more alterations for
the worse, IMHO, than our poster noted.

When Viacom swept TNN under its umbrella a couple of years back we were
promised that the half-hour live portion of the show on TV plus a
preliminary backstage preview half-hour they were getting rid of to
expand to an hour would be so much better.  Audiences have been told that
for decades and hardly believe it any more.  My own skepticism was well
founded--instead of three one-minute commercials per half hour, we are
now feted with several minutes of same during numerous commercial breaks
in the hour (just like talk radio).  Instead of training a camera on a
live radio stage show, everything is tailored to fit the TV audience,
complete with boring interviews backstage that blot out much of what the
radio audience is hearing and the paid audience is seeing.  The "talent"
is most often from that younger set, too--as the poster said, most of the
stars of yesterday are withheld, particularly from the TV hour.  Viacom
has done us no favors and I find it so unbearably dull that I long ago
stopped watching it.

The Opry's current owners, in their wisdom, shut down their cash
cow--Opryland USA--maybe 5 years ago after raking in billions in profits
since it opened in 1972 and drew one of the largest crowds of
entertainment parks in America every year.  They replaced it with a
megamall that has cost them plenty.  It was, without doubt, one of the
poorest business decisions in the modern entertainment era according to
reliable Nashville sources.  I'm told even the owners are still
scratching their heads over that one, although strictly in private.
Somebody was duped, we can be sure.

An old song they used to sing at the Opry asked:  "Who's Gonna Fill Their
Shoes?"  It referred to the legendary greats of country music who made
the business what it was.  The people running the show today don't seem
to get it.  One of these days it may come as no surprise that they've
killed the goose that laid the golden egg.

Jim Cox

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

Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 12:32:45 -0500
From: Jer51473@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Was crosby the greatest entertainer ever?
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

I recently read another article about the comments of several so called
experts  on the subject and most of them concede that he may very well have
been the greatest. But they also concede that opinions vary pretty widely on
the matter and everyone has the right to one. The arguements for crosby, as i
see it, would have to be his dominance or near dominance of several mediums
for long periods of time. He was among the very top radio stars for i would
guess at least 20 years, he was the top box office attraction in the movies
for an unprecedented number of years which i believe included something like
6 years in a row and he also won 2 oscars, for years and years he was the top
recording star in history and argueably still is, and he had his way with
television in that he  could write his own ticket, but preferred to appear on
a very limited basis. Some said he had the best speaking voice ever heard on
the airways and he was unsurpassed when doing commercials  or stand up light
comedy. And finally, he was known worldwide by his first name, Bing, and was
a household name everywhere. He was not necessarily my personal favorite,
although he was among them. There are many, many entertainers that good
arguements could be made promoting them as the best ever, but the most
frequently mentioned names, other than bing, seem to be elvis, sinatra, hope,
and jolson of which good arguements can be made for all. Discussions of the
greatest entertainer usually does not indicate who was or is the most
talented, but is directed objectively toward the publics acceptance and/ or
demand and their public impact. It would be interesting to hear from digest
members opinions as to who was the greatest, again not your favorite or the
most talented, but the overall impact of that star. For instance, i was not a
big elvis fan, but i do recognize his impact. Imo, he was a poor actor, but
the fact is he was huge at the box office with the b grade movies he made.
His recording career speaks for itself as do his public appearances. So,
being objective, one has to consider elvis. There are many names out there,
of course, that i have not mentioned and it would be great to hear their
names as someones choice as #1 in their opinion. O yeah, i guess my choice
would have to be Bing.

  *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 13:12:49 -0500
From: William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Sound Effects

The subject of sound effects has come up, so here are a couple of
incidents. I first joined the engineering staff of old WHN in the fall of
1936. We had a morning "excercise" program  with a man named Harry Glick
who would simulate running around the track in Central Park verbally,
while staff pianist Harry Silver played a related accompanymentt. The
staff announcer was Henry Gladstone (he later became a Mutual news
broadcaster). One morning while on the air Henry slipped into a sound
effects closet out of my eyesight and brought out the gadget to simulate
a lion roar. It was a metal pail with a "drum head" stretched across it
and a broom stick attatched to it and a resin cord connecting  the end of
the stick and the drum head. Henry cued for his mike, commented that they
were passing the lions cage in the Central Park zoo, and produced a lion
roar that was deafening. In that I couldn't see what he was doing, I
wasn't prepared for the enormous blast. The deafening roar knocked the
transmitter off the air. The next morning the program had a new engineer
and announcer.

Just before WW-II  I was a very young studio technical supervisor for
WOV. The station had previuosly been an old time Italian language station
and been purchased by the Arde Bulova interests and modernized into a
showplace. For the time being the early part of the day (untill
mid-afternoon) they continued to broadcast Italian language programs,
soap operas, news, and so forth. One program was "The Chipaduzas", a
husband and wife talk show. They insisted on doing their own sound
effects and had a prop phone on their table. One day a lady friend of
theirs was sitting at the table with them. As part of the dialogue, Mrs.
Chipaduza received a phone call, talking into the prop telephone. At the
end of the call she didn't know what to do with the dummy phone so handed
it to the lady guest, who thought that it was a call intended fof her and
began screaming "hello" into the mouthpiece. They had a tough time
shutting her up. I don't know what the radio audience thought ot the
performance.

When I first was informed that I would be assigned to the Phillip Morris
Playhouse, I was told that old timer Jackj Amerhein would be my sound
effects man, I was concerned as I knew that he had a sharp  tongue.
However, we "bonded" and we had a very close association. In fact when I
was told that I would be taking the show to Europe for five weeks and was
asked whether I wanted Jack or another engineer to accompany me, I was
quick to reply that I wanted Jack as I couldn't get along without him. We
both had motion picture cameras and had great plans.  Then came the sad
news. The plan was scrapped. We had an excellent sound effects staff at
CBS-NY. Not only were they great at their trade, but I was proud to have
known and worked with them all.

BILL MURTOUGH

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

Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 16:34:16 -0500
From: George Aust <austhaus1@[removed];
To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Glenn Miller on PBS

John Mayer  asked if  anyone had seen the PBS special "Glenn Miller's
Last Flight".
I watched it and was very happy with it.  They did indeed endorse the
theory of  British bombs being jettisoned as the cause of Miller's plane
going into the English Channel, but they also covered the other
theories, as ridiculous as they are, about what might have happened.
I thought that they did their research for the show and even used actual
recordings of Miller's Army Air Force Band with only a couple of
recreations used. I bought the tape of the show ( why don't they offer
it on DVD?) but haven't watched it a second time yet.
On the other hand there was another show on the subject by A&E (or was
it the History Channel?) about a year ago that was just terrible. They
had almost everything wrong.

George Aust

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

Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 17:38:45 -0500
From: sweetnanajean@[removed]
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  love the list keep it up
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

i am an old time radio fan from way back im only 56 years old but feel like a
kid  when i read the artiales thank you  i worked in local radio when iwas in
high school wish i had stayed the alabama flash

  *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

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

Date: Sat, 11 Jan 2003 18:56:05 -0500
From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Is TV a naughty word?

There has been some debate in past postings as to whether television is a
naughty word or not. Our esteemed web master doesn't seem to think so, as do
several others.

Although television is more than four letters long, it definitely is a
naughty word.

Why do I think so? Watch television for an hour tonight and see what passes
for entertainment today. Television replaced something that was good with
something that is sporadically good, but is bad the vast majority of the time.

I would be a dreamer if I said that all radio was good. "Amos 'n' Andy" is a
for instance, but "Amos 'n' Andy" not withstanding, the worst radio is better
than the best television.

I assume some of the responsibility for radio's demise. Like I said once
before, the glare of the tube blinded me and except for Jack Benny, I stopped
listening and started watching.

To my credit, once I saw the filth that television produced, I stopped
watching.

Thanks to the miracle of recordings, radio as I knew and loved it will never
die. True, there are no new programs being turned out, but if you are
listening to something that you last heard more than fifty years ago, it's new.

Another advantage to recordings; what program was opposite "The Jack Benny
Show," who knows? I always listened to Jack and his gang. Today, not only can
I listen to "The Jack Benny Show," I can also listen to the shows that played
opposite. Not a bad deal.

In that context, maybe, just maybe the word television is just a tad naughty,
for if television were not so bad I wouldn't listen to Olde Tyme Radio, I
would be watching television.

--
Ron Sayles
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Make your day, listen to an Olde Tyme Radio Program

[ADMINISTRIVIA: A discussion of whether television is "good" or "evil" is not
on-topic for this list; please respond to the poster privately. I will only
note that, for the purposes of this list, there is NO reason to avoid the use
of the word "television."  --cfs3]

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #14
********************************************

Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
  including republication in any form.

If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
   [removed]

For Help: [removed]@[removed]

To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]

To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
  or see [removed]

For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
  in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]

To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]

To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]