Subject: [removed] Digest V2003 #160
From: "OldRadio Mailing Lists" <[removed]@[removed];
Date: 4/17/2003 10:22 AM

To: <[removed]@[removed];

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

                                The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                                  Volume 2003 : Issue 160
                             A Part of the [removed]!
                                     ISSN: 1533-9289

                                     Today's Topics:

      Huptmann Trial and WNEW               [ "Russ Butler" <oldradio@[removed] ]
      snapshot 3: British WWII radio scrip  [ Howard Blue <khovard@[removed]; ]
      Birth Dates for April 17              [ Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed]; ]
      OTR Pets And Animals                  [ lynn wagar <philcolynn@[removed]; ]
      Today in radio history 4/17           [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
      More "Make Believe Ballroom"          [ "Russ Butler" <oldradio@[removed] ]
      MP3 size and quality issues.          [ gad4@[removed] ]
      MP3 vs cassettes - continued          [ "Richard Sutherland" <rssuth@hotmai ]
      Gay Characters                        [ "Allen Uebele" <auebele@[removed]; ]
      Cincy. Convention                     [ "Shawn A. Wells" <swells@[removed] ]
      San Francisco Radio in WW2            [ "Chuck" <yumacool@[removed]; ]
      Re: Cincy's Wrong Week                [ GEORGE WAGNER <gwagneroldtimeradio@ ]
      Coventions of [removed]                 [ John Francis MacEachern <johnfmac@a ]
      The Lone Ranger                       [ "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@attorneyro ]

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

    Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 14:50:28 -0400
    From: "Russ Butler" <oldradio@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Huptmann Trial and WNEW

    <Dixon Hayes posted information about the WHN radio reporter, Attorney
    Liebowitz recordings of the famous Lindbergh baby kidnapping [removed];>

    Bernice Judis, the GM of a one year-old station, WNEW, decided to do a live
    remote broadcast from the Flemington, NJ courthouse to cover the trial.  An
    announcer and an engineer were set up in the men's room, providing the only
    news coverage from inside the building.  A young, parttime announcer named
    Martin Block was at the studio and in between bulletins, he suggested to
    Miss Judis that he fill the gaps with recorded music played by the leading
    bands.  She agreed, and within a half hour he bought six records from  the
    corner music store and began, on February 3, 1935, what was to become "The
    Make Believe Ballroom."   Block was the first person to personalize the
    records, inspiring Walter Winchell to coin the phrase "disc jockey."

    Just earlier, Martin Block's audition for Miss Judis was reading straight
    commercial copy, then she handed him a pencil to describe and he kept
    talking for 20 minutes. He was hired, parttime, for $25 a week on WNEW which
    was broadcasting originally at 1250 Kc, later to become the legendary
    1130AM. ("Eleven-three-oh")

    Incidentally, because of the increasing popularity of the recorded music
    format by listeners, on October 23, 1939, WNEW was the first NYC station to
    broadcast around the clock with Stan Shaw and  "The Milkman's Matinee," an
    overnight disc jockey show, and again, that program's title was attributed
    to Walter Winchell.  Martin Block started it all with just six records
    during the Huptmann trial.

    Russ Butler  oldradio@[removed]

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

    Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 14:50:43 -0400
    From: Howard Blue <khovard@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  snapshot 3: British WWII radio scripts

    snapshot 3:  --of an eight-year long book research project--British World
    War II radio scripts

    	I am sitting in a BBC radio archive, going through reel after reel of
    microfilm. It's late July of 1995. Earlier in the month I left behind
    those three Soviet wartime radio plays in Moscow.  This is a great treat
    after the disappointment in Moscow.  I'm finding scores and scores of
    scripts: NIGHT SHIFTS --the story of women who work in the great Royal
    Ordnance factories, filling bombs and shells. COOK'S TOURS OF THE LONDON
    SUBWAYS, about a woman who comes to London unaware of how the blackout
    has affected the city at night. The list goes on and on.  Too bad there
    are no tapes.

    	I learn that the papers of a couple of the most important BBC writers
    are in the [removed] I also find out that a well-known American writer, John
    Dickson Carr wrote for BBC radio during the war.

    Coming soon: snapshot 4: The drunken American prof.

    Howard Blue
    [removed]

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

    Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 15:54:50 -0400
    From: Ron Sayles <bogusotr@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Birth Dates for April 17

    If you were born on April 17th, you share your birthday with:

    04-17-1898 - Howard Claney - Pittsburgh, PA - d. 4-1980
    04-17-1905 - Arthur Lake - Corbin, KY - d. 1-10-1987
    04-17-1918 - Anne Shirley - NYC
    04-17-1918 - William Holden - O’Fallon, IL - d. 11-10-1981
    04-17-1923 - Harry Reasoner - Dakota City, IA - d. 8-6-1991

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

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

    Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 15:55:02 -0400
    From: lynn wagar <philcolynn@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  OTR Pets And Animals

    I'd like to get a discussion going on the digest about
    OTR Pets and Animals.  Any one who'd like to jump in
    and join me, list your favorite OTR Pet or Animal and
    the show they started in.  He we go!!

    My favorite is Yukon King (dog) from Challenge of
    The Yukon-Stg. Preston. Let us not forget is horse
    Rex.

    Enjoy!!!  Lynn Wagar

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

    Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 17:13:10 -0400
    From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
    To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Today in radio history 4/17

       From Those Were The Days --

    1933 - Backed by the On the Trail portion of the magnificent Grand
    Canyon Suite, Johnny Roventini, pillbox hat and all, uttered the words
    "Call for Philip Morris" for the first time on radio. The famous phrase
    was said in perfect B flat pitch and tone to perfectly match the
    accompanying music. This "Call for Philip Morris" phrase became one of
    the most famous in all of advertising.

    1935 - People gathered around to listen for the first time to what would
    become the ultimate horror show on NBC, Lights Out.

       Joe

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

    Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 17:26:01 -0400
    From: "Russ Butler" <oldradio@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  More "Make Believe Ballroom"

    <<Adding to an earlier post about Martin Block>>

    The six records that Martin  Block purchased at The Libery Music Shop around
    the corner from WNEW to play while waiting for the Hauptmann trial reports
    were Clyde McCoy records.  He played them on the radio back-to-back to make
    it sound like a live broadcast from his "make-believe" studio with imaginary
    crystal chandeliers.  He also ad libbed introductions that made him seem
    like he was chatting with McCoy, a Louisana bandleader.  One of the records
    Block played was brand new for McCoy and was to become his band's theme,
    "Sugar Blues."

    The program name "The Make Believe Ballroom" that made Martin Block a huge
    success as a disc jockey was borrowed from Al Jarvis in Los Angeles.  Al was
    a Canadian and an announcer at KFWB (and Block was a junior assistant at the
    Warner Brother's station in Hollywood) who had the idea of playing records
    on the radio in the 1930's.

    Jarvis read the trade newspapers, "Billboard and Variety," and was able to
    give his listeners some information about each record he played.   His six
    hour show on KFWB was a local success called "The World's Largest Make
    Believe Ballroom." Martin Block's similarly titled program made him the
    nation's number one radio personality for a quarter of a century using a
    virtually identical format.

    After the Hauptmann trial ended, the makeshift show was retained on WNEW at
    the request of thousands of listeners
    and advertises lined up to sponsor the program.

    Russ Butler  oldradio@[removed]

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

    Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 17:51:42 -0400
    From: gad4@[removed]
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  MP3 size and quality issues.

    As much as I hate to get involved in another mp3 quality issue, since this
    conversatino is started, I feel Ill add a few lines.

    The 32/22 format is what most mp3s are recorded at. The reason this started
    was two fold. One reason is that many believe the sounds above 11k are
    negligable in otr. The other is that mp3 collecting started primarily
    internet centered. In the early days of downloading when people used dialup,
    people felt this was the "best" compromise between quality and download speed.

    How much sound is above 11 k in a typical otr show, is debatable. To some,
    the sounds above that range are negligable. To others, those highs that
    might appear in some music segments and sound effects, make a big difference.

    My reading indicate that 128/44 stereo (or 64/44 mono) is considered cd
    quality. This gives you a frequency range of 22k. Some because they're
    dissatisfied with the lower quality, have gone even higher. I do not know of
    any evidence that justifies this. My personal ideal is the 64/44 mono (or
    128/44 stereo) for high quality, or 32/22 if the source is low quality. This
    leads to 50 HQ mono (25 stereo) shows per cd or 100 LQ mono (50 stereo)
    shows per cd. It gives you a range of 22k for high quality and 11k for low
    quality.

    It is VERY RARE to see someone go below the 32/22 standard to "cram more on
    a cd". Although I have found out that one EBAY dealer converts everything to
    low quality real audio files to fit it on a fraction of the space.

    One factor that I think is most responsible for low quality mp3s is the
    source. Does the tape recording have a frequency range greater than the 11k?
    Unfortunately, most mp3 collectors and encoders do not have access to high
    quality material and collections to encode. It began as a grass roots
    movement of people taking shows where they could find it. Also, technology
    and procedures have advanced in time also.  Now if someone has material
    directoy off transcription disks or 1st generation cds, they *MIGHT* want to
    try even higher. But you need to have sources *that good* before trying it.

    The other is encoding techniques to make the mp3s  better. Digest Charlie
    suggests resampling to a */22 wave before converting to mp3. I believe his
    reason is to remove some higher harmonics that could cause distortion.
    Others have different techniques. One of the worst ways to ruin a mp3 is to
    do cleanup that removes harmonics or adds distortion. This is not just true
    of mp3s but of ANY tapes that come off of digitally remastered sources.  Its
    very possible that tapes from dealers are "cleaned up " so that while
    there's no noise, the highs are missing or distortion added.

    Cleaning up shows is an art. If youre not a good artist, practice first. Its
    better to have an rough copy than to have one poorly filtered.

    At the FOTR convention in October, I will be hosting a seminar on the topic
    of mp3 encoding. Not that one needs this as a reason for attending FOTR, I
    highly recommend you go regardless:)

    There is also a discussion group about encoding techniques. If you would
    like access to it, please let me know. The discussion is minimal but there
    are plenty of messages and people willing to help you with encoding techniques.

    But to summarize, to get higher quality mp3s out, whats needed are

    1. people with the good quality tape collections to allow their tapes to be
    encoded and
    2. people willing to help convert material and get it into ciculation for
    all to enjoy.

    Once a decent mp3 is made, there is NO LONGER any sound decay.

    Sincerely,
    George

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

    Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 19:39:27 -0400
    From: "Richard Sutherland" <rssuth@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  MP3 vs cassettes - continued

    Personally, and since we've had this exact same comversation not long ago, I
    think the old timers are full of it. The sound quality of an mp3 can be
    tremendously good. It's also a whole lot cheaper to run a PC sound set-up
    than to run a reel-to-reel one. I've found that casette tape copies off
    reel-to-reel sound awful, while mp3 copies sound, generally, pretty damn
    good. The other tremendous advantage of digital recording is that, once you
    have the digital image, you can copy it a million more times without losing
    one iota of quality.

    I believe that old radio programs should be available to all and sundry
    without charge. If those that spend hours and hours extracting the perfect
    recording from tape feel the need to charge for that time, then I believe
    they're not in the hobby for the right reaosns.

    The worst trait, and many,many in our hobby share this, is that they sit on
    recordings and don't share them. This is completely unfathomable to me.

    Richard

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

    Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 21:02:50 -0400
    From: "Allen Uebele" <auebele@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Gay Characters

    Hi everyone,

    I was wondering if anyone had any feedback on a paper I was thinking of
    writing for a class in media.  I am trying to substantiate any portrayal
    of homosexuals in old-time-radio shows.

    So far we have come up with two.  First is the character "Ersel Twing"
    from Bergen and McCarthy.  Second, I found a reference in
    [removed] of Rembrandt Watson "Candy's
    sidekick was single, middle-aged, fashion photographer who loved opera".

    Can anyone think of any other portrayals in OTR of effeminate males or
    masculine females that could fit the stereotype of a homosexual?  Of
    course if there were non-stereotyped characters out there that would be
    great too!

    I would appreciate any feedback you folks have!

    Allen Uebele
    Milwaukee, WI

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

    Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 22:28:18 -0400
    From: "Shawn A. Wells" <swells@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Cincy. Convention
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

    Greetings ! I would like to thank all of the folks who called and e-mailed me
    about my absence from this years Cincy. Convention. I came down with a bad
    case of the flu bug and just didn't have the energy to drive down.
    Actually, my absence may have been a good thing. I would of had to show a few
    friends how the game of pool is really played ! (** for Ted, Bob, Martin, and
    Terry would of been the next victim :-)
    Thanks
    Shawn A. Wells

    [removed] Sorry Charlie, it wasn't the dreaded [removed], maybe next time. :-)

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    Date: Wed, 16 Apr 2003 23:14:39 -0400
    From: "Chuck" <yumacool@[removed];
    To: <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  San Francisco Radio in WW2
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
    X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

       I have been doing some research on the early World War II military campaign
    on the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor Island in the Philippines between
    December, 1941, and early May, 1942.  According to many books, American
    soldiers were able to listen to San Francisco radio stations.  These are my
    questions (sorry if they sound naive, but I gotta ask):

    1)  Would they have had to listen by shortwave radio?  If so, what would have
    been typical brands and would they have had to use some sort of antenna in
    order to listen to a radio station so far away?  Would the reception vary in
    quality?

    2)  Would they have been able to listen to a regular commercial AM radio
    station?  Would they have only been able to listen to broadcasts at night?

    3)  If they listened to shortwave radio, what kind of programming would they
    have heard?  Just news and music?  How about dramatic programming?

    4)  What were the stations they could have listened to from San Francisco?

    5)  Could anyone with a radio set listen (as long as they had electricity or
    batteries) or could listening only take place in select locations?

       Thanks for your help on this.  I know some knowledgable person on this list
    must know the [removed]

    Chuck

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

    Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 12:12:47 -0400
    From: GEORGE WAGNER <gwagneroldtimeradio@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  Re: Cincy's Wrong Week

         Dennis Crow just pointed out in an off-list
    e-mail that at least some regular attendees were
    afraid to fly to Cincinnati (or anywhere else)
    due to the military situation in Iraq and the
    possible threat of a retaliatory terrorist action
    over here.

         Since the Convention is merely a short
    automobile ride for me (in Cincy OTR Club
    Treasurer Ric Opp's car), I hadn't really given
    much consideration to this concern, but upon
    reflection it's obvious that Dennis' observation
    has some validity.

         Sincerely,

         George Wagner
         GWAGNEROLDTIMERADIO@[removed]

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

    Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 12:13:24 -0400
    From: John Francis MacEachern <johnfmac@[removed];
    To: OTR Digest <[removed]@[removed];
    Subject:  Coventions of [removed]

    Hi All,

    Reading the posts about the recent convention got me
    'athinkin.  This year is the 30th anniversary of the only
    convention I ever attended.  It was probably one of the
    first ever, since by our standards OTR was only 11 years
    past its era.  It was held in Meriden Conn. in 1973, hosted
    by a group called The Society of American Vintage Radio
    Enthusiasts.

    I was 14, new to the hobby, and attending was all I could
    think of.  I was already working, so I had saved up enough
    money for the hotel room and the train ticket.  To my total
    disappointment, my parents said I was too young to travel by
    myself.  I was heartbroken.  After some reflection and
    knowing how hard I had worked for it, they said I could go,
    they would take me.  They even relented and let me rent my
    own hotel room, next to theirs of course, but still, my
    first time.

    It was everything I expected and more, I had a fantastic
    time.  I was the youngest person there by many years, which
    caused a lot of unwanted attention directed toward me,
    however, It gave me unique access to all the important
    people there, who all gave me considerable time to ask my
    immature questions;  they told me some great stories too.
    The local TV station covering the event even interviewed me,
    I made the 6:00 news!

    The MC for the Saturday night big event was Will Jordan, the
    impersonator.  The special guests were Peter Donald from the
    Fred Allen Show, Jack Pearl, Baron Munchausen and Raymond
    Edward Johnson from Inner Sanctum.  All were wonderful and
    very funny too.  My favorite memory from that event was the
    performance by Mr. Johnson.  He asked for the lights to be
    turned off, then in the dark, he read a monologue, in
    character, written by Arch Obler entitled "Steel" about an
    eastern European steelworker during WWII.  I was just so
    impressed.

    I tape recorded everything that evening, on my first little
    Radio Shack cassette recorder.  I still have the tape and
    listen to it occasionally, it brings back wonderful
    memories.

    I'm wondering if any others on the list were there?

    How about starting a thread concerning memorable conventions
    of the past?

    John Mac

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

    Date: Thu, 17 Apr 2003 12:13:46 -0400
    From: "A. Joseph Ross" <lawyer@[removed];
    To: [removed]@[removed]
    Subject:  The Lone Ranger

>     ***Brace was probably away making a personal appearance as the Ranger
>     at a rodeo or state fair.

    What did they do if Brace went on vacation?  Or didn't anyone go on vacation
    in those days?

    --
    A. Joseph Ross, [removed]                           [removed]
     15 Court Square, Suite 210                 lawyer@[removed]
    Boston, MA 02108-2503           	         [removed]

    --------------------------------
    End of [removed] Digest V2003 Issue #160
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