------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2002 : Issue 38
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
Technology changes benefits all of u [ gad4@[removed] ]
Lone Ranger Lunch Box / CBS Mystery [ lynn wagar <philcolynn@[removed]; ]
Re: WOR and The Witch's Tale/J&H [ Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; ]
Listening skills [ BH <radioguy@[removed]; ]
Ringin' throughout the country [ "Dave Walter" <fredallenfan@hotmail ]
Radio Spirits follow-up [ "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@neb. ]
Victory Parade Of Spotlight Bands [ Paulurbahn@[removed] ]
Today in radio history [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
Re: Boxing on Radio [ Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed] ]
Fibber and Autos [ "Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@worldnet. ]
Trivia Questions & Answers [ "Donald & Kathleen Dean" <dxk@ezlin ]
Prize fights on radio [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
DEALERS AND MP3 [ "[removed]" <swells@[removed]; ]
Lone Ranger [ "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@earthli ]
------------------------------
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2002 23:09:53 -0500
From: gad4@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Technology changes benefits all of us.
Sorry for the editorializing, but while I love the Internet and how it has
helped bring OTR to a whole new audience, I still find it to be an
instigator of the demise of another element of the hobby.
I totally agree with everything that Jim has said. The shows that are posted
for free downloading have to come from somewhere. Where? The delaers and
long time collectors. I have about 40,000 shows on my website available for
sale. I have around 250,000 shows in my collection. If I am put out of
business because of the MP3 postings there will be a vast amount of shows
that I won't be able to offer. This is true with all of the dealers. Don't
get me wrong - I am not knocking the MP3 format. I know of one person that
encodes all of his MP3's and the sound quality is very good. I have also
heard some of the shows that you can download free and, frankly, I wouldn't
want them in my collection. In my humble opinion, it all boils down to this.
You get what you pay for. If you get crappy shows in free downloads, you
have no right to complain.
Ted Davenport
Radio Memories
This is my first time writing into this excellent digest, of which I have
enjoyed for a while and recommended to many. The quality and intelligence of
the writers, even though I may not agree with them always, I find very
thought provoking and stimulating.
It is interesting that my first letter is on a possibly very controversial
topic. I hope all take my thoughts not geared to them or for the purpose of
debate, but rather to share some light on things. Im hoping this doesnt open
a can of worms or isolate anyone.
First please, keep in mind, not everyone wants mp3s. There are many mediums
that people prefer. Some want cassettes, some want audio cds, and some want
reel to reels,and some want mp3s. Even at this point, there are many old
time radio collectors not that familiar w/ mp3s. Just like in the past, some
will trade from one another, will get shows from trading groups, and some
will buy them. Everyone has their own way. The cassette business isnt going
to disappear, the cd market isnt going to disappear, and the reel market got
small a long time before the arrival of mp3s.
Throughout time, new technology has come out, yet the hobby and the dealers
in the hobby havent disappeared, just the technology used, has changed.
Now, does the internet or mp3 technology hurt the dealer? I really don't
believe so. I believe it can help the dealer just like everyone else. In
fact, while they will still be selling their cassettes and other medium to
those who want that, this will give them one more marketplace to make money.
It is more like the technology of the dvd. With the dvd, the companies can
give the customer more for the money (better picture quality, extras,etc)
Yet the cost of manufacturing a blank cd is much less than the big and
mechanical video cassette. And people who bought the videotapes are now
going out and rebuying from the dealers the dvds.
Ted in this letter mentions that he has a collection of 250,000 radio shows.
That's a great collection, but if the cost was as low as [removed] each it would
cost us $250,000 to buy that many. Most of us couldn't afford to build a
quality collection like that in the old technology. Yet at the same time, I
believe all could benefit from the mp3 cd. If these were converted to mp3 at
a medium rate format of 64/44 mono, apx. 50 would be able to be put on a cd.
This would give one an inventory of apx. 5,000 different cds, an inventory
that would still be hard to exhaust. Even if one used the low bitrate w/
100, they would have an invetory of 2,500 different items. More than that of
most dealers.
It would keep the dealer in business yet allow the collector to be able to
get more. Instead of offering the 40,000 shows that he is today, he would be
able to offer all 250,000 shows. Also from a cost of manufacturing, it
would cost one less in both time and media cost to make a mp3 disk compared
to a mechanical cassette. For that same lower cost, one can also sell it for
[removed] much more than the $[removed] many dealers sell an audio cassette for.
Also, using supply-demand economics, as the cost per show drops, customers
spend more. Yet at the same time on the dealer side, the profit per item is
going up. In short, the mp3 market doesn't have to be the end of a dealer,
and in fact, those customers who bought cassettes etc from him in the past,
just MIGHT re buy the shows from him all over again in the new format. And
the dealers that jump on the bandwagon first, and are the most innovative in
this marketing will reap the most from it.
The threat of "free" downloading off the internet, I believe to be vastly
overrated. First most people do not have a high speed connection to do it.
If they do download say a 1/2 hour show with dialup, you're probably talking
15 to 30 minutes of one's time. To put together a full cd of that material
would take one apx 1,500 minutes of time or 25 hours. When one puts a value
on the time, its not free. Even the few that have a high speed connection
aren't doing better than a dealer. I have a cable connection yet, to dl
enough to fill a disk probably takes about 3 hours of time, plus I spend
about two hours each night, looking at lists of shows, seeing what I
need/don't need, plus the time it takes to set up the contents of a disk and
the time of burning it. This is in no way getting into the monetary costs
(such as the cost of the High Speed connection, newsgroup subscription
services, stream beam fees, etc.) Even if one is making "Burger King" wages,
one can that there are real costs to do it yourself. But what it does is
creates a great advertisement for the otr hobby and exposing people to it
who may never have seen it before. Just as the pre recorded tape market
flurished when people could still record off the air, I believe even more so
a smart dealer can make even more using the mp3 technology to their advantage.
In the old days there used to always be dealers and trading collectors and
trading groups such as sperdvac "giving" stuff away, and they survived very
well together. Dealers and mp3 trading groups can still do the same. The
technology isnt changing the players in the game, its changing the scale
that we're doing it on. Instead of playing with a cassette with two
episodes, we're playing with a cd w/ 50-100 episodes. The collecting
community has encoded apx. 40,000 shows so [removed] Some may be [removed] some may
be [removed] But I encourage the dealers to utilize these to get started and
at the same time, give back and encode more so that all may enjoy them.
I belong to some otr trading groups. In those groups, I have unfortunately
seen people that don't understand dealers. When I see this happen, I share,
in the politest way I can, how much the dealers benefit the OTR group. How
much they have encoded. How many of the originals that we have encoded were
purchased from them. How we should break down barriers between collectors
and dealers and join a-new. The reason for this barrier and misconception is
unfortunately sad. From what I can tell, their misconception did not come
from the fellow collectors who are also dealers. I believe, their conception
of dealers came from the belief that a certain unmentioned dealer(s) had
wanted to close down their webpages honoring a show or actor that they
liked, , which might have had a sample episode or two to download using
lawsuits. (Hardly enough to hurt anyone.) This, I know is not representative
of what many dealers in our hobby [removed] true hobbyists that care. I think
we all have to work together to show the other one that neither is an enemy
and that we are collecting together working and working for the good of the
hobby and should support each other instead of fearing the other.
There will always be a few on both sides jealous of the other- collectors
jealous that shows they gave are sold, and dealers jealous that collectors
are getting something for nothing. But for most, I believe we'll all be able
to work together and to benefit more from the new technology just as the
hobby has survived in the past.
Hopefully, now, this new techology will give us greater offerings where
we'll all be able to enjoy everything.
Sincerely,
George Downes
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 00:33:24 -0500
From: lynn wagar <philcolynn@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Lone Ranger Lunch Box / CBS Mystery Theater
Hello Every One
With regards to the Cheerios/Lone Ranger Lunch Box.
If
you couldn't get a Cheerios Lunch Box or would like a
full size "Fake" box, Check your local Cracker Barrel
Resturant. I found a great one there for $ [removed]!!
CBS Mystery Theater- I was wondering if there are
any "Experts" out there? I have been recently
re-enjoying my CBS Mystery Theater shows and was
wondering
if any one knows anything about one of the hosts named
Tammy Grimes. I enjoy her as the host as much as [removed]
Marshall. Dose any one know any thing about her?
I was wondering the following:
Was she a fill in host or was she a regular for so
many
years.
Was she an OTR actress and did she do any other radio
or tv shows?
How old do you think she was durning her hosting of
the
show and do you know if she is still alive?
I am courious as to what her ethnic background maybe?
She was the most unusual dialect!
Thanks for any information you have to share in
advance.
Lynn
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 00:43:39 -0500
From: Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: WOR and The Witch's Tale/J&H
From: "Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@[removed];
THE WITCH'S TALE originated live from the studios of WOR throughout
its entire eight-year run. <snip> Now, of course, THE WITCH'S TALE
was indeed distributed in transcription form, but this was done by
Cole independent of WOR. He released two disc series in 1934--one
early in the year through All-Star Broadcasting (which was
associated with Jones & Hare, the Happiness Boys), and another in
the fall for Group Broadcasters which was sponsored on stations
in the Deep South by Kruschen Salts. Mike Ogden
This is good specific information to know, because the information I
have seen was ambiguous as to whether the discs had been aired on WOR,
whether the episodes during the period of syndication were recorded off
of WOR, or if there were additional recording sessions while the series
continued live on WOR. The All-Star series was recorded by [removed] Byers
Recording Laboratories, and the laminated discs often show up in
horribly warped shape. The matrix numbers have a JGB prefix hand-etched
in a fancy scroll handwriting. Your info seems to lead to the
conclusion that the syndicated episodes were performed at the Byers
studios.
The announcement of the series in Broadcasting in early 1934 mention
that there were 13 episodes in the All-Star syndicated series, but just
today I was emailing with a digest member who just got one of the discs
for episode 94(!!) of the All-Star series, The Were-Wolf. Is that a
typo? Do you know who recorded the discs for the later Group
Broadcasters series?
The mention of Jones and Hare brings up a question I've had for 30
years. At the same time as All-Star syndicated The Witch's Tale, they
were announced as syndicating a series of 39 episodes of "Billy Jones
and Ernie Hare Are Here" but the only syndicated programs of theirs from
this era that show up are the Taystee Loafers programs, and these were
recorded on high quality Columbia Royal Blue transcriptions with no
mention of All-Star Broadasting on the labels. I own the discs of nine
of the Taystee programs but have never been able to ascertain if the
All-Star series is an undiscovered different series. Anybody know of a
Byers or All-Star disc of J&H?
Since I have one of the discs here, here is the info that is on the
Taystee program disc labels:
TAYSTEE BREAD PROGRAM
(Billy Jones & Ernie Hare)
Purity Bakeries Corp. Chicago,
Produced by
Louis A. Witten
Radio Director
HANFF-HETZGER, INC
--
Chicago Office
520 North Michigan Ave.
Michael Biel mbiel@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 09:08:30 -0500
From: BH <radioguy@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Listening skills
Timothy Clough <timothy@[removed]; comments:
If I'm not engaged in any other activity, whether with my eyes open or
closed, my mind wanders off in other directions, and hence I can't
concentrate on the OTR. If I'm engaged in another activity, usually that
activity requires too much of my attention, and again, I can't concentrate
on the OTR. Does anybody else have this same problem? Does anybody have
any possible solutions?
Well, there is one thing in this world I really hate and that is
exercise. Yes I know, it's good for you, everyone should, the Doc
and my wife say I must, so my main time to listen is when I am on
the treadmill. Can't do anything else while on the darn thing so
popping a tape in the cassette player and listening to OTR makes
it almost bearable.
Bill Harris
* I don't need the Shadow to cloud my mind, I can do that all by
myself. *
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 09:08:36 -0500
From: "Dave Walter" <fredallenfan@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Ringin' throughout the country
It seems to me more than several episodes of "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar"
also start with telephone bells.
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 09:08:53 -0500
From: "Ryan Osentowski" <rosentowski@[removed];
To: "old time radio" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Radio Spirits follow-up
Hi all:
Since I brought the thread up on the digest, I had best tell you all that
Radio spirits shipped my order out yesterday. I am grateful for this.
ryanO
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 09:09:02 -0500
From: Paulurbahn@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Victory Parade Of Spotlight Bands
This is a real left field shot but maybe someone on this list can help.
I am looking into the World war 2 history of the Ft Knox area and in a local
newspaper found an article which indicates "The Victory Parade Of Spotlight
Bands" bropadcast their show live from Ft Knox on May 21,1943. The show was
broadcast on 142 stations of the Blue network. The program featured, "Ina Ray
Hutton and her all male orchestra".
Does anyone have a tape of this show?
Any comments on this series is appreciated.
Does anyone have info on any other shows that may have be aired from Ft Knox?
Any assistance appreciated. Specific items can be emailed to me off line.
Paul Urbahns
paulurbahn@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 09:09:09 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Today in radio history
From Those Were The Days --
1936 - The Green Hornet was introduced by its famous theme song, The
Flight of the Bumble Bee. The radio show was first heard on WXYZ radio
in Detroit, MI on this day. The show stayed on the air for 16 years. The
Green Hornet originated from the same radio station where The Lone
Ranger was performed. You may remember that the title character in The
Green Hornet was really named Britt Reid. He was, in fact, supposed to
be the great nephew of John Reid, the Lone Ranger. Both popular series
were created by George Trendle and Fran Striker.
Joe
--
Visit my home page:
[removed]~[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 09:14:12 -0500
From: Elizabeth McLeod <lizmcl@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Boxing on Radio
On 1/30/02 12:09 PM OldRadio Mailing Lists wrote:
And as much as I like
boxing, I don't recall ever having heard a fight on the radio (New or old).
Boxing was still big on radio into the 1970s. When I was a child, I found
Muhammad Ali fascinating from seeing and hearing him on talk shows, and I
can recall listening to a number of his more famous bouts on radio.
But boxing's real heyday on radio was the 1930s -- given how disreputable
the sport seems to have become in our own time, it's hard to imagine just
how universally popular it was during the thirties. Boxing on radio
reached its peak with the rise of Joe Louis -- and in fact, the highest
rated single radio broadcast of the entire decade was the second
Louis-Schmeling bout of 6/22/38 -- which according to the Crossley
service attracted [removed] per cent of the radio audience. Considering that
there were approximately 27,000,000 radio homes at that time, that works
out to a conservative estimate of the total listening audience of more
than 68 million people.
Louis' other major bouts of the late thirties attracted similar
audiences, but Louis-Schmeling II was the topper, no doubt in part due to
the overlaid political significance of a black American taking on an
opponent seen as the symbol of Nazi Germany. Even today this is an
incredible bout to listen to -- Clem McCarthy nearly pops an artery as
Louis utterly destroys the German. The buildup to the broadcast is
actually longer than the fight itself. Recordings of this bout, as well
as a few other Louis fights, are floating around on tape, and might be
had from some of the larger dealers.
I might mention in passing that one of the oddest coincidences ever heard
on radio involves the second Louis-Schmeling bout. During the weeks
leading up to the fight, "Amos 'n' Andy" had been featuring a storyline
about boxing, with Andy promoting Flukey Harris in a boxing match against
a menacing figure named Sam Blackwood. Correll and Gosden were huge
boxing fans who often devoted entire episodes to discussions of Louis'
latest bouts, and this storyline was timed so that the Harris-Blackwood
bout would take place on 6/21/38, the night before Louis-Schmeling. The
bout was scripted to last exactly 2 minutes and 4 seconds. The following
evening, Louis dropped Schmeling -- in exactly 2 minutes and 4 seconds.
Believe [removed] not.
Elizabeth
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 09:21:51 -0500
From: "Brian Johnson" <CHYRONOP@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Fibber and Autos
Fibber McGee and automobiles are the reason the series was invented in the
first place! Almost all the action in the very first season in 1935 took
place in the McGee's car because SC Johnson wanted a way to push CAR-NU,
their car wax. The story goes that Marion Jordan thought the concept to be
too limiting and insisted that the characters settle down. So as they passed
through Wistful Vista one day they took a chance on a raffle ticket and won
the deed to the house at 79 Wistful Vista.
The car receded into the background and disappeared entirely during the war
when the McGee's, like Jack Benny, sold the old heap in a scrap drive.
At least that's the way I remember [removed] but maybe that ain't the way you
heared [removed] one feller says to the other feller, "Saaaaaaay, [removed]"
Brj
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 10:58:13 -0500
From: "Donald & Kathleen Dean" <dxk@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Trivia Questions & Answers
Rob wrote in Digest #37:
Does anyone know of a book of OTR trivia questions and answers? Rob
Dezendorf -Florida
I suggest The Nostalgia Quiz Book by Martin A. Gross published by
Arlington House, New Rochell, [removed] originally in 1969. It has 19 pages
devoted to radio & television plus trivia questions and answers on many
other subjects such as movies, personalities, music, comics, sports, etc.
Don Dean N8IOJ
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 10:58:43 -0500
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Prize fights on radio
Bill asked if anyone has any prize fights that were broadcast on radio. I
have one: Clay vs Patterson in 1965. An ABC aircheck that runs about 55
mins. The first two or three rounds are missing but the rest is there.
Chris Shankel and Howard Cosell do the blow-by-blow.
Ted Kneebone
1528 S. Grant St., Aberdeen, SD 57401 / 605-226-3344
OTR: [removed]
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 11:01:28 -0500
From: "[removed]" <swells@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: DEALERS AND MP3
I would be in agreement with Ted, Ian, etc. Mp3 has many of the same
problems as any other format, in that it all depends on what source material
was used in creating the mp3 version.
Ian's right about people who buy off of Ebay. I would guess and say 90% of
them never encoded a thing that they have, and thus keep distributing the
poor material.
I had just reciently finished the Lives Of Harry Lime series, and it turned
out very good. All the source material which included 4 first and second
generation open reels, and a cassette. The quality is very good. I am almost
finished with the Lum & Abner I have been talking about for a while. It has
taken me 9 months of re-recording, fixing, organizing, etc,etc.
I think it's rather funny when people say that they believe all OTR should
be free. Granted that's a great concept, but it's just not practical. I
think that Vintage Basball cards should be free too, so I think I will go
down to the local store and tell them that they should give me that Mickey
Mantle Rookie card they have. Who cares it's valued at over $25,[removed], I
think it should be free and if they don't give it to me, I'll hold my breath
until I turn [removed] :-)
Shawn
------------------------------
Date: Thu, 31 Jan 2002 11:01:38 -0500
From: "joe@[removed]" <sergei01@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Lone Ranger
Another Joe wrote:
The Lone Ranger, was heard for the first time
on this day in 1933. The program ran for 2,956 episodes
Has anyone ever accumulated the entire run of recorded broadcasts? This
would be 1938-1954
Joe Salerno
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2002 Issue #38
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