------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2005 : Issue 75
A Part of the [removed]!
[removed]
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Listening to the [removed] [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
XM Satellite Radio [ "Tim Lones" <tlones@[removed]; ]
XM satellite radio; family listening [ "Andy Ooms" <oomspine@[removed] ]
Wilbur Hatch [ "Tim Lones" <tlones@[removed]; ]
Say Goodnight Gracie Does Lebanon [ Rentingnow@[removed] ]
Re: Wilbur Hatch? [ Jay Sweet <sweetedit@[removed]; ]
Re: Wilbur Hatch [ Dixonhayes@[removed] ]
NBC history [ "[removed]" <asajb2000@ ]
"Are You Listenin'?" [ Udmacon@[removed] ]
XM Satellite [removed] [ Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed] ]
Leiningen versus the Ants [ Art Chimes <achimes@[removed]; ]
Listening in the early '40's [ "Jerry Bechtel" <jerrybechtel@jalc. ]
Re: PBS Documentary "The Great Radio [ Wboenig@[removed] ]
Wilbur Hatch [ Richard Fish <fish@lodestone-media. ]
Tape Baking [ Richard Fish <fish@lodestone-media. ]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 09:24:29 -0500
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Listening to the [removed]
Andrew asks what it was like listening to the radio during the days of "old
time radio."
For us, family of 3 kids and 2 parents, it was Dad sitting his favorite
chair, reading the newspaper, magazine, or book. Mother was usually doing
kitchen duty, then joining us in the living room. Brother and sister were
playing on the floor, as I was. I remember sometimes getting pretty close
to the radio, to listen and to look at the lighted dial. But I didn't stare
at the dial, entranced or any such thing. It was merely a diversion.
We had only one radio so we had to listen to Dad's favorites after 7:00 pm,
but from 4 until 6, I heard my favorite kid programs. But Dad's favorites
were pretty much our favorites, too. And we heard the shows in a block of
time from 7 until bedtime at 10. Not all on the same station. We listened
to all 4 networks. 3 times a week we heard The Lone Ranger right after
supper.
Eventually, Dad bought me a 1927 Radiola for my room, so I could listen to
my concerts without having to make any bargains. My sister was the reader
in the family, so she often went to her room to read.
Sometimes we consulted the newspaper or a radio magazine to find our
favorite shows, but usually we just dialed around until we found what we
wanted. For CBS, we tuned to WNAX; NBC was WDAY, ABC was WNAX or KSDN or
KFGO, and Mutual was on KABR. The only time we gave up listening was when
the static was so bad we couldn't hear the programs.
We heard the same shows you heard: Jack Benny and Fred Allen, Fibber McGee
& Molly, Lux Radio Theater, Suspense, The Fat Man, Burns & Allen, Our Miss
Brooks, Life of Riley, Duffy's Tavern, Theater Guild on the Air, Mr.
President. We listened to I Love a Mystery, too, but not in any continuous
way. We probably never heard an entire program from the first episode to
the last.
When no one else was listening, I tuned in shortwave and longwave. That was
a challenge since the sound faded in and out. We did not have bandspread so
could not really finetune those close-packed stations. But what a thrill to
hear a foreign language, or "This is the overseas service of the BBC from
London", "This is Radio Moscow" or "Deutsche Welle" teaching English to
German-speaking people.
Ted Kneebone / 1528 S. Grant St. / Aberdeen, SD 57401
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 09:26:15 -0500
From: "Tim Lones" <tlones@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: XM Satellite Radio
I have been a generally satisfied customer Of XM Satellite Radio since the
end of January. The self-promotion does get annoying after awhile but the
content is well worth the irritation in My opinion. The Music channels had
regular commercials until sometime last year. My favorites are the 50's and
60's and classic country channels as well as of course the OTR
[removed] is one break in most of the OTR [removed]'s nice to hear OTR
without trying to get a weak station in on regular [removed] is also a
"clean" comedy channel which frequently features Bob And Ray. I had been
wanting to get Sattelite Radio for [removed](Had the competetitor Sirius for
awhile last year but had a hard time keeping a signal in my area.) What
made me take the plunge this year is XM's Coverage of Major League
[removed] will have all the regular season games and some Spring
Training games, as well as a dedicated channel for 24/7 Baseball Talk and
classic games. They did recently raise their monthly rate as of April 2005
but its still a good value. The equipment is not that expensive if one
looks [removed]
Tim Lones
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 09:25:20 -0500
From: "Andy Ooms" <oomspine@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: XM satellite radio; family listening
Some of my answers to some of your questions:
Melanie: I listened to soap operas a lot (I was born in 38) before I was
12, probably starting around age 7 or 8.
Jack Armstrong and Terry and the Pirates probably started me on radio drama.
I was (and still am) so interested in radio that I would listen to anything.
My mother believed that soaps were trash, which of course made it even
better to sneak a listen when she was out or when I was visiting.
Jim: XM claims that its 100 + music channels are commercial free. They
don't claim that for the others. I have one in a vehicle, and usually
listen to a classical music channel or OTR. The country one with the beer
pouring noise is probably Hank's Place, a channel name based on the Hank
Williams era and a tavern. I am not defending their programming. I never
dreamed that I would pay for radio, and I don't care for all of their
formatting, although I don't know much about most of their channels. But my
daughter works for an ad agency and so I got a special deal. I have noticed
that my wife listens to it a lot, even when she is driving alone, and
previously she didn't mind my listening but was totally disinterested
herself. The poor disadvantaged woman grew up in the Netherlands, so has no
connection with English language OTR, as she arrived here at the age of 13
in 1958 with no English skills. I am disappointed but not surprised that XM
has very few of the original commercials and station breaks on its OTR
channel.
Andrew: my mother strictly controlled my listening as long as she could.
So we listened as a family and selectively. We listened to the Telephone
Hour, the Cities Service Band of America, the Railroad Hour, and the Voice
of Firestone, all on Monday night, all NBC. On Tuesday we listened to
Fibber and Molly, NBC. While listening she knitted, Dad read, and I played
with erector sets on Monday, did nothing but listen however to Fibber (and
repeated the puns at school the next day). On Saturday, I listened to the
Metropolitan Opera on ABC while dusting furniture. On Sunday morning, we
listened and did nothing else at the time to the Back to God Hour on Mutual.
That was it for family listening as well as my listening for most of my
elementary school years.
At 8th grade, I began working in my dad's grocery store unvisited by my
mother, and we listened to the only station that could be heard in the store
without electrical interference. It was a Mutual station, (wonderful call
letters of KORN, Mitchell, SD) and we had it on full time every day.
Network programs were Queen for a Day, the Curt Massey and Martha Tilton
Show, the Bob Crosby and the Bobcats show, Fulton Lewis Jr with the news,
Wild Bill Hickok, Straight Arrow, and Bob and Ray. The rest of the
programming was local, mostly top 40, on Requestfully Yours, and the 1490
Club. Oh yes, Mutual's Game of the Day for baseball every afternoon of the
season.
Regards,
Andy Ooms, Pine, AZ
TRUDY OOMS
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 10:03:17 -0500
From: "Tim Lones" <tlones@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Wilbur Hatch
Wilbur Hatch is best know as Musical Director for "I Love Lucy" He may have
done the same for "My Favorite Husband
Tim Lones
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 10:03:40 -0500
From: Rentingnow@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Say Goodnight Gracie Does Lebanon
I saw the play in NYC and found it really enjoyable. But for those who
don't have an opportunity to see the play, I would suggest the book "Gracie,
A
Love Story" by George Burns. Much of the material from the play is drawn
from
the book.
By the way, some may have read that George made sure that Gracie had a rose
by her "grave" (really a mausoleum) at Forest Lawn. Taint true. Was a
carnation when I was there. Maybe he was being cheated though.
LJM
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 10:04:17 -0500
From: Jay Sweet <sweetedit@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Wilbur Hatch?
Kenneth Clarke asks:
mentioned among the credits was the name Wilbur Hatch as musical director.
For some reason, his name sounded familiar, but I can't understand why.
If memory serves, he worked on I Love Lucy. I believe he also did some other
radio and early TV shows.
Jay Sweet
sweetedit@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 10:04:29 -0500
From: Dixonhayes@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Wilbur Hatch
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In a message dated 3/8/05 8:32:01 AM Central Standard Time,
[removed]@[removed] writes:
For OTR aficionados, Hatch is known as the composer of "The Whistler"
theme,
as well as the musical director for that show and "Broadway is My Beat."
Don't forget his first work with Lucille Ball, radio's "My Favorite Husband."
The music on that show sounds an awful lot like the theme and segue music on
TV's "The Lucy Show" and "Here's Lucy," which as you mentioned, Hatch also
did.
Dixon
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 10:04:45 -0500
From: "[removed]" <asajb2000@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: NBC history
The problem with trying to get ahold of NBC history
(no one chronicled the evolution) is that as mentioned
here CBS seemed to be better managed, more organized
and seemed to be more interested in their radio arm
than NBC. Remember, the last regularly-scheduled
network radio shows to leave the air were all CBS
programs and these finally left the air in 1962. Add
to that the fact that possibly NBC seemed less
interested in remembering its past (there were some
anniversaries that were glossed-over, such as Bob Hope
and Milton Berle, etc.) CBS (even if only as material
for programming) seems to be more cognizant of its
past and the interest of the viewers. When General
Electric took over RCA, the RCA name disappeared and
NBC radio and networks were jettisoned. CBS was taken
over by Westinghouse, whose radio stations were added
to the fold and the Westinghouse name disapeared.
When Viacom took over CBS after Westinghouse, all the
stations, Westinghouse/Group W and CBS were all
intact. In fact, under the Infinity umbrella, CBS
added Westwood One and I believe Mutual as well as the
traffic networks and they might also own NBC networks
as well. Can you imagine? NBC was forced to give up
one network in the
1940's; AT & T could not own a radio station in the
1920's and CBS owns the Mutual and NBC networks (I
think that's what became of them). Talk about
journalistic integrity - how is this possible?
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 10:05:20 -0500
From: Udmacon@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: "Are You Listenin'?"
Wasn't that the trademark of Tony Wons?!
Re: Satellite radio; it'll hurt over-the-air commercial radio in the short
run, but, all will even out.
Remember how television initially "sealed the doom" for radio and movie
theatres? Well, it did for awhile, and finally they all learned to coexist
successfully.
I think only vaudeville was actually "killed" by an emerging entertainment
form (radio and sound movies).
BILL KNOWLTON: "Bluegrass Ramble," WCNY-FM ([removed]) Syracuse, WUNY ([removed])
Utica; WJNY ([removed]) Watertown NY. On the web: [removed]. Sundays: 9 pm to
midnight EST (since 1973)
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 10:08:20 -0500
From: Charlie Summers <charlie@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: XM Satellite [removed]
Folks;
Ok, since everyone _else_ is promoting their own favorite areas of XM
Satellite Radio's universe (yeah, it's a little off-topic, but hey, I'm a
subscriber, too), allow me to suggest XMPR on Channel 133. My Roady2 (an
amazing radio with the worst-designed remote control in the history of
electonics) is generally tuned to XMPR (XM Public Radio), from 8:00am eastern
and "The Bob Edwards Show" (XMPR is the _only_ place to hear this respected
interviewer and host, since NPR fired the guy for no good reason; as I type
this, Bob is talking with CBS' Bob Schieffer who takes over the CBS Evening
News this Thursday) through what has to be the best afternoon newsmagazine on
the public airwaves, "Here and Now" at noon eastern.
Also available for those of us who are news junkies is the BBC World
Service (Channel 131) in crystal-clear sound (I remember the days of
listening to BBC World on shortwave between the religious transmitters), with
some of the best international coverage around. There is also C-SPAN Radio
(Channel 132), which is terrestrially-broadcast only in Washington, [removed], and
like its television sibling runs complete news events without commentary.
Also available, although I rarely listen, are the cable news networks'
audio feeds. I prefer listening to radio, not TV audio.
I do _not_ listen to MediaBay's OTR channel, because I don't particularly
appreciate hacked-up programs; I've been collecting long enough that their
terrible editing just doesn't cut it. I do sometimes listen to Sonic Theatre
(Channel 163), which plays contemporary audio theater, although their horrid
"Comedy-O-Rama" kept me away from the channel for weeks. And my six-year-old
daughter LOVES XM Kids (Channel 116), especially "Absolutely Mindy," the
after-school program from 3pm-8pm eastern with the oddest bunch of characters
and music around (one long-running bit had to do with Mindy fighting against
crualty to potatoes when they are mashed). Katie gets SO embarassed when I
loudly (and slightly off-key) sing, "I Love Chocolate Milk." (Well, I [removed])
And, of course, 70's on 7 (Channel 7), since that's the decade where I
came-of-age; from channels 4 to 9, there's programming for every decade in
the late 1900's on the channel number of the decade. I get depressed
sometimes when the 70's channel plays for _hours_ without hitting a song to
which I do not know the lyrics. (Unlike most people here, I don't listen to
"country" channels, so I don't know anything about pouring beers or other
such nonsense. I _love_ the city and the wonderful people of Nashville, TN,
the most polite city I've ever visited; cannot stand the music, though.
That's why XM plays both classical and punk; something for every taste.)
XM Satellite Radio's price _is_ going up from $10 to $13 a month; I don't
much mind the increase, but I _am_ a little ticked off about the apparent
[removed] I'll complain about that on the Nostalgic Rumblings blog, though,
since that's REALLY off-topic - [removed]
Charlie
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 10:50:10 -0500
From: Art Chimes <achimes@[removed];
To: otr <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Leiningen versus the Ants
Christopher Werner wrote (2005:75) about a MacGyver TV episode that
"borrowed" from the plot of "Leiningen versus the Ants."
The radio play was adapted from Carl Stephenson's short story, which is
available online in several locations, including
[removed]. The story may
now be in the public domain (or not).
Television website TV Tome notes the following on the MacGyver show:
"Not only does the episode borrow its plot from the short story "Leningen
vs. the Ants", but it uses much of the killer ant, plantation, and
flooding footage from the movie The Naked Jungle."
[removed]
Incidentally, "The Naked Jungle," the 1954 film which *does* credit
Stephenson, starred Charlton Heston but also featured Bill Conrad, who
portrayed Leiningen on the radio.
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 11:14:54 -0500
From: "Jerry Bechtel" <jerrybechtel@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Listening in the early '40's
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In response to Andrew Godfrey's [removed] I was born in 1937 in a
typical, small community, rural area. We received four or five radio
stations at that time. My earliest recollections of family listening
were probably around 1942 as I do remember listening to my favorites
Captain Midnight, Tom Mix, Superman and Terry & the Pirates. Those were
5:00 pm to 6:00 pm shows. Later at night I listened to a variety of
shows dictated mostly by my dad. Mom and I would sit, along with dad and
listen to The Shadow, Big Town, Suspense, Inner Sanctum and Amos & Andy.
Oh, there were lots of others also but those seemed to be my dad's
favorites. I'd request and usually was allowed to listen to my evening
favorites The Aldrich Family and The Life of Riley. Sometimes Archie
Andrews.
Mom would knit and dad would read the newspaper. Sometimes we would just
sit and talk. Family time! We never had a regular routine. Listening to
the radio was random depending upon when we each got our chores done for
the day. The radio was a gathering place for the family as each member
had time to go and sit.
Times have changed! Those WERE the good old days!
Jerry Bechtel
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------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 12:07:43 -0500
From: Wboenig@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: PBS Documentary "The Great Radio
Comedians"
Without knowing it exactly, Michael Berger and David Loftus have asked about
the 1972 PBS documentary "The Great Radio Comedians" with Jack Benny, Jim
Jordan, Edgar Bergen, and many of Fred Allen's cast members. The show ran 90
minutes.
David wondered about its availability. I have a copy and can make dubs.
Please e-mail me off list for details if interested.
Wayne Boenig
wboenig@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 12:59:25 -0500
From: Richard Fish <fish@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Wilbur Hatch
Kenneth Clarke may well find Wilber Hatch a familiar name because he was
the musical director for the "I Love Lucy" tv show, and his name was
right up there in the credits at the end.
Hatch did do quite a bit of radio. Among other things, he did music for
a couple of Norman Corwin's shows: "To Tim At Twenty" (August 19, 1940
for the "Forecast" series, with Charles Laughton and Elsa Lanchester),
and "A Walk With Nick" (July 31, 1945, part of the "Columbia Presents
Corwin" series, featuring John Hodiak).
Richard Fish
--
"Post proofs that brotherhood is not so wild a dream as those who profit
by postponing it pretend." -- Norman Corwin, 1945
------------------------------
Date: Tue, 8 Mar 2005 13:38:14 -0500
From: Richard Fish <fish@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Tape Baking
I just noticed there had been a question about tape baking, and I've
done quite a lot of that, so here's my two cents:
Tom Lopez at ZBS gave me the recipe - 8 hours at 130 degrees F. At his
suggestion I bought a countertop-type convection oven, and never cooked
food in it. (While it might be appropriate to have a reel of "Life With
Luigi" come out smelling like [removed])
Several reels can be baked at the same time. Putting a tape-hub or
something between reels as a spacer lets you stack them.
To make sure of the temperature, one of those instant-read meat
thermometers is placed on the rack where the dial is visible through the
door. A simple hardware-store lamp-timer shuts off the oven when time is
up, and I think it's best to let the tapes cool back down to room temp
before removing them.
This seems to give about a 3-week "window" (on average) before the
problem might possibly start to re-appear, even in humid weather. If
it's necessary to wait longer than that, the tapes can be sealed into a
ziploc bag, or even better, shrinkwrapped, if you have a seal-a-meal or
suchlike device handy. But the usual thing is to bake the tapes, then
immediately play them back and transfer to other media.
I've found that once in a while the first baking does not completely
cure the problem; a second baking can be done with no problem at all. In
fact, Tom told me he once forgot and left a batch of tapes baking for
more than 24 hours and no harm was done.
Hope that helps!
Richard Fish
--
"Post proofs that brotherhood is not so wild a dream as those who profit
by postponing it pretend." -- Norman Corwin, 1945
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2005 Issue #75
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