Subject: [removed] Digest V2007 #85
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 3/15/2007 11:18 AM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2007 : Issue 85
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  Don McNeil Help Sought                [ "Gary Dixon" <argy@[removed]; ]
  Re: Betty Hutton obit                 [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
  Here there - what's that sound?       [ Wich2@[removed] ]
  MP3's Again                           [ "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed]; ]
  Betty Hutton Obituare                 [ Frank McGurn <[removed]@sbcglobal. ]
  The Cisco Kid                         [ Bob Slate <moxnix1961@[removed]; ]
  Alice Darling                         [ Tom Barnett <[removed]@earthlink. ]
  Radio Fidelity and MP3                [ Ken Greenwald <radio@[removed]; ]
  TOTM Show                             [ ilamfan@[removed] (S Jansen) ]
  3-15 births/deaths                    [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]
  February Deaths                       [ Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed] ]

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

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 12:59:10 -0400
From: "Gary Dixon" <argy@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Don McNeil Help Sought
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

I have a very good friend named Barbara who is trying to obtain copies of all
the songs from the Don McNeil Breakfast Club show.

Unfortunately, I can't help her, but [removed] of you might be able to.

This is her [removed] bstetson@[removed] and you can write to her
directly.

Thanks for whatever information you can provide.

Gary Dixon
aka argytunes

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

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

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 13:33:42 -0400
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Betty Hutton obit

There is an obit in the current online NY Times at

[removed]

Jim Widner

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

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 13:34:35 -0400
From: Wich2@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Here there - what's that sound?

Dear Folks-

...the best-sounding sources for OTR are original  transcription
discs ... but ... it isn't like there's a lot of fidelity to  worry about
losing ...

Last week I found a single speaker for one dollar ...
The sound is more than adequate for old time radio shows

I am neither engineer, nor audiophile snob; and of  course, recording/
broadcast technology has evolved upwards.

I will say, though, that when you hear the digital version of a  properly
played
and transferred original recording (be that disc, or later tape), from  one
of the sterling
dealers (like Ed Carr, FGRA, and in some cases, Radio Spirits), the audio
quality
can be startling.

Literally, jaw-droppingly startling (as in, "except for being mono, I think
that
studio's in the next room!")

As mentioned before, it's the difference between watching an old 16mm
film-chained
print of GONE WITH THE WIND, and watching the from-the-original-negative
digital
restoration.

Best,
-Craig

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

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 15:38:19 -0400
From: "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed];
To: ""old-time radio digest">" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  MP3's Again

The trick isn't just the bitrate Many sources of OTR--our beloved reels and
cassettes have a higher dynamic
range than the material on them.
Many many times I hear OTR shows with tons of hiss and most of it abuv the
range of the OTR show itself.
Using EQ one can get rid of all that high end hiss and be able to have a much
higher quality end product than
the original--either as an MP3 or as a .wav file, or whatever file format you
choose.
Having that hiss on top just makes for a swirlier MP3 in the end.
If you want to produce good MP3's do some work on the source before you
convert them.
Bill

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

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 15:38:31 -0400
From: Frank McGurn <[removed]@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Betty Hutton Obituare

If anyone would like to read Betty's  obituary The Chicago Tribune has a
complete on This AM [Wednesday ]

[removed]  look under Local News > obituaries > obituaries
in the news .

Frank McGurn

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

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:05:08 -0400
From: Bob Slate <moxnix1961@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  The Cisco Kid
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Of all the actors on OTR, these two fine actors, are very very neglected. I'm
speaking of Jack Mathis and Harry Lang. The only person who has photos and a
little information on them is, Conrad [removed] anybody know any additional
information on their OTR careers, not counting their movie and television
appearances?I know there are a few other OTR sites that have a photo of them
dressed up as "Cisco" and "Pancho." "Radio Spirits"has one like that on one
of their CD'[removed] wonder if their widows or any of their relatives could be
contacted or children, friends, fellw radio associates etc;?Also their
announcer from 1946 to the early 50's, whom I can't think of for the moment.
I can't find much information on the OTR sites about him, let alone any
photos. Mostly movie [removed] hope someone out there will decide to
write a book on them one of these [removed], nothing on Paul Sutton who
played "Sergeant Preston Of The Yukon"except in Charles Osgood, Jr.'s book,
"WYXZie
 Wonderland."He, like Brace Beemer had a deep very pleasant baritone
[removed], but not least is, Brooke Temple, one of the last great OTR "Red
Ryder's."

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

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

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 16:18:34 -0400
From: Tom Barnett <[removed]@[removed];
To: OTR <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Alice Darling

Is the actress that played Alice Darling on Fibber McGee and Molly still alive?

I remember not too long ago that she was.

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

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 17:43:54 -0400
From: Ken Greenwald <radio@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Radio Fidelity and MP3

Michael Shoshani writes, and I quote:

We go through this subject every so often. Network radio had an upper
limit of 8 kHz until the early 1940s, and 5 kHz thereafter. And
that was
on "A" lines; small market stations having, say, "C" lines, sometimes
had cutoffs of 3 kHz.

Obviously the best-sounding sources for OTR are original transcription
discs and reference linechecks made in the same building as the
originating studios, before the signal was hit with EQ and filtration,
but [removed] isn't like there's a lot of fidelity to worry about
losing with mp3 compression. Audio artifacts, yes, but not fidelity.

Michael is correct on everything he said, but he may be unaware of
one other factor governing the sound that was laid down
on the original 16" ETs. The networks used the phone company lines to
transmit radio shows from coast to coast. When a major
show was sent from New York to Los Angeles (or visa versa), the phone
lines that were used were rated as AAA lines. This
was the highest fidelity line a network could purchase from the phone
company. The phone company would send the signal
via these AAA lines across the country and, every 100 miles, there
would be an amplifier that boosted the signal so that, by
the time it arrived at the opposite end, the signal would retain its
full fidelity. Radio Recorders, in Hollywood, was often hired by
CBS and NBC to capture shows on 16" ETs. One such show was Fletcher
Markel's STUDIO ONE. I had the pleasure of dubbing
20 of those shows directly from disc. The fidelity on the ETs was
phenomenal, considering the discs were cut directly from the
AAA line of a show that was being broadcast live from New York, some
3,000 miles away!
So, even though the best fidelity can be obtained from original discs
that are cut live while the broadcast is actually happening
in a nearby studio, bare in mind that it was standard practice for
the Networks to use the best phone lines on transcontinental
broadcasts --- and that meant REAL high fidelity. All that, even
though the networks knew very well the average radio couldn't
reproduce more than 5,000 cycles of sound. That is why, for me, it is
a pleasure to be able to dub radio shows from original Network
master ETs. The full fidelity (from 100 cycles to 15,000 cycles) is
all there and you really can hear the difference!

Last, but not least. The phone companies had lines in the following
order, with AAA being the top fidelity available:
AAA, AA, A then BBB, BB, B, then CCC, and so on. AAA being the most
expensive and so on down the line.

Hope this clarifies and gives everyone a bit more info on the
difference between the different lines (and mp3).
Ken Greenwald

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

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:08:06 -0400
From: ilamfan@[removed] (S Jansen)
To: [removed]@[removed] (OTR Bulletin Board)
Subject:  TOTM Show

Hullo!

Just a shameless plug for our upcoming show:

Theatre Of The Mindless will be performing at St Paul's Lutheran Church, 824
N Lewis Ave, Waukegan IL on Saturday, March 24th!  Showtime is 6:30 pm,
Tickets are $10.  Group rates are available (8 or more people, $7 each,
contact the church first).  Refreshments will be served.  Call 1 (847)
662-2535 for info or tickets, you may also pay at the door.  The show will be
mostly comedy, with a few scary ones thrown in.  This fundraising event is
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

Since our previous shows have filled the downstairs room to capacity, we have
been moved upstairs to the BIG room.  The one with all the pews.  Room for
300 people.  Hopefully we can fill many of the 300 seats, so the room doesn't
end up feeling big'n'[removed] you are "in the neighborhood" (halfway
between Chicago and Milwaukee), please stop in.

Our website should be updated any time now, so you should be able to visit
[removed] and get a bit more info, some pictures of us in
action, and whatnot.  If it's not updated yet, please feel free to contact me
offlist for any information you may desire ( ilamfan@[removed] ).

Hope to see you there!

Thanks!

Stephen Jansen

--
Old Time Radio never dies - it just changes formats!

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

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:08:32 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  3-15 births/deaths

March 15th births

03-15-1874 - Harold Ickes - Frankstown, PA - d. 2-3-1952
secretary of interior: "Information Please"
03-15-1877 - Montague Love - Portsmouth, England - d. 5-17-1943
actor: "Screen Guild Theatre"; "Suspense"
03-15-1883 - Ernie Hare - Norfolk, VA - d. 3-9-1939
singer: (The Happiness Boys)
03-15-1887 - Billy Jones - NYC - d. 11-23-1940
singer: (The Happiness Boys)
03-15-1898 - Everett Mitchell - Austin, IL - d. 11-9-1990
annnouncer, host: "National Farm and Home Hour"; "Voice of the Farm"
03-15-1901 - Madeleine Pierce - Philadelphia, PA - d. 10-8-1983
actor: Wiki "Just Plain Bill"; Rudy Cameron "When A Girl Marries"
03-15-1904 - George Brent - Dublin, Ireland - d. 5-26-1979
actor, moderator: "Doctor Fights"; "Leave It to the Girls"; "Lux
Radio Theatre"
03-15-1904 - Pat O'Malley - Burnley, Lancashire, England - d. 3-1-1985
actor: "Cavalcade of America";"Lux Radio Theatre"
03-15-1904 - Verree Teasdale - Spokane, WA - d. 2-17-1987
actor: (Wife of Adolph Menjou) "Edgar Bergen/Charlie McCarthy Show"
03-15-1905 - Margaret Webster - NYC - d. 11-13-1972
stage actor, director: "Information Please"
03-15-1905 - Nat Perrin - New York - d. 5-9-1998
writer: "The Marx Brothers"
03-15-1907 - Jimmy McPartland - Chicago, IL - d. 3-13-1991
jazz artist: "Doctor Jazz"; "Town Hall Concert"
03-15-1909 - John Roeburt - d. 5-22-1972
writer: "Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator"; "Inner Sanctum
Mysteries"
03-15-1910 - Nick Stewart - NYC - d. 12-18-2000
actor: "Hollywood Newsreel of the Air"
03-15-1911 - Abraham A. Albayalde - d. 2-23-1994
newscaster: KTOH Lihue, Hawaii
03-15-1913 - Macdonald Carey - Sioux City, IA - d. 3-21-1994
actor: Jonathan Hillary "Just Plain Bill "; Lee Markham "Woman in White"
03-15-1915 - David Schoenbrun - NYC - d. 5-23-1988
news correspondent: CBS News, Paris; "CBS Radio Workshop"
03-15-1915 - Johnny Frazer - Los Angeles, CA - d. 5-11-1945 Died in WWII
announcer: "Brenthouse"; "The Bob Hope Show"; "The Kool Show"
03-15-1916 - Harry James - Albany, GA - d. 7-5-1983
bandleader: "Spotlight Bands"; "Call for Music"
03-15-1919 - Merv Baldrica - d. 4-25-2006
sportscaster: WMIQ Iron Mountain, Michigan
03-15-1919 - Lawrence Tierney - Brooklyn, NY - d. 2-26-2002
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre"
03-15-1927 - Carl Smith - Maynardville, TN
country singer: "Grand Ole Opry"
03-15-1932 - Ray Aparicio - d. 1-12-2006
disk jockey: KBUC Corona, California

March 15th deaths

01-22-1909 - Ann Sothern - Valley City, ND - d. 3-15-2001
actor: Maisie Revere "Maisie"
04-13-1906 - Bud Freeman - Chicago, IL - d. 3-15-1991
tenor sax player: "Camel Caravan"; "Fats Waller Jam School"; "Doctor
Jazz"
08-24-1912 - Durward Kirby - Covingnton, KY - d. 3-15-2000
announcer, emcee: "Club Matinee"; "Honeymoon in New York"
08-27-1916 - Larry Thor - Lundar, Manitoba, Canada - d. 3-15-1976
actor: Danny Clover "Broadway Is My Beat"
08-29-1910 - John Kane - Davenport, IA - d. 3-15-1910
actor: Tom Jones "Five Star Jones"; Scubby "Nick Carter"
09-13-1910 - Van Amburg - d. 3-15-1990
sportscaster: KPIX San Francisco, California
11-11-1898 - Rene Clair - Paris, France - d. 3-15-1981
film director: "This Week Around Paris"; "Lux Radio Theatre"
12-21-1908 - Sylvester L. "Pat" Weaver - Los Angeles, CA - d. 3-15-2002
producer: "Fred Allen Show"
xx-xx-1865 - Clara Lane - Ellsworth, ME - d. 3-15-1952
singer: WBZ Boston, Massachusetts
xx-xx-1890 - H. I. Phillips - d. 3-15-1965
writer, composer: "Information Please"

Ron Sayles

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

Date: Wed, 14 Mar 2007 22:08:51 -0400
From: Ronald Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
To: Olde Tyme Radio Digest Digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  February Deaths

Deaths in February

07-07-1911 - Gian Carlo Menotti - Cadegliano, Italy - d. 2-1-2007
opera composer: "Best of All"
03-04-1934 - Barbara McNair - Racine, WI - d. 2-4-2007
singer/actress: "America Swings"
03-30-1913 - Frankie Laine - Chicago, IL - d. 2-6-2007
singer: "Big Show"; "Philco Radio Time"; "Spotlight Revue"
07-31-1922 - Hank Bauer - East St. Louis, IL - d. 2-9-2007
baseball great: "Tops in Sports"
04-07-1934 - Ian Richardson - Edinburgh, Scotland - d. 2-9-2007
actor: Richard II and Bolingbroke "Richard II"
01-17-1905 - Peggy Gilbert - Sioux City, IA - d. 2-12-2007
saxophonist: "The Early Girls and the Three Chirps"
03-01-1915 - Cy Harrice - Chicago, IL - d. 2-14-2007
announcer: "Big Story"; "Cavalcade of America"
02-04-1915 - Ray Evans - Salamanca, NY - d. 2-15-2007
songwriter: "Hollywood Calling-George Fisher Interviews the Stars"
10-06-1917 - Rosella Qualey - Donnelly, MN - d. 2-18-2007
home economist: KWLM-FM Willmar, Minnesota
04-23-1921 - Janet Blair - Altoona, PA - d. 2-19-2007
actor: "Lux Radio Theatre", "Abbott and Costello"
06-16-1919 - Al Viola - Brooklyn, NY - d. 2-21-2007
guitarist: "Elgin Thanksgiving Day Greeting to America"
06-10-1931 - Hal "Harlan" Stone - Whitestone, Long Island, NY - d.
2-21-2007
actor, author: Jughead Jones "Archie Andrews"; "[removed], Archie!
Re-laxx!
05-19-1906 - Bruce Bennett - Tacoma, WA - d. 2-25-2007
actor: "Proudly We Hail"

Ron Sayles

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2007 Issue #85
********************************************

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]