Theater of the mind: Old Time Radio

[albrecht]

Maybe should be moved into "general discussion" since relatively few new ones come out or are found now
But figured I'd start an OTR thread. Several sites, some internet radio, n a few real radio stations play the good old shows. I've always enjoyed them and often a nice break from bad C2C or the political stuff or, worse. Personally, I find them relaxing and also interesting (esp with commercials or when plots reference on going political or social themes and wars.) I wish it was profitable to still produce radio-plays and, frankly, don't know why it shouldn't be considering what's on now.

[jazmunda]

I'm not sure if it was you or someone else who referred me to the station on Sirius that played old timey radio but I did enjoy quite a few of shows that I heard. I was laid up in bed for over a week late last year and it was quite enjoyable and despite the fact that I did not grow up in that era I still felt a sense of nostalgia listening to it. Perhaps in a past life ......

[albrecht]

I'm not sure if it was you or someone else who referred me to the station on Sirius that played old timey radio but I did enjoy quite a few of shows that I heard. I was laid up in bed for over a week late last year and it was quite enjoyable and despite the fact that I did not grow up in that era I still felt a sense of nostalgia listening to it. Perhaps in a past life ......

Not I, but I'm glad you enjoyed them. Though being laid up might not be best advert for them. Actually several good  old shows from Australia exist I think, not to mention others, of course. I think BBC is last to keep it alive. South Afric had some but I think dead now. And Canada had some good modern productions, but not sure If still. In US gone for a while. But lots of old shows still archived and online n some productions\stories very good.

[bateman]

I'm not sure if it was you or someone else who referred me to the station on Sirius that played old timey radio but I did enjoy quite a few of shows that I heard. I was laid up in bed for over a week late last year and it was quite enjoyable and despite the fact that I did not grow up in that era I still felt a sense of nostalgia listening to it. Perhaps in a past life ......

How DID the reassignment surgery turn out?

[jazmunda]

How DID the reassignment surgery turn out?

They botched it and gave me a second penis instead. I'm keeping it.

[Desmond]

Count me in as an OTR fan.  I usually fall asleep to OTR shows of some sort and have lots saved to hard drive for future listening.

Some of my favorites are:

Comedy:  Jack Benny Show
               Phil Harris & Alice Faye show

(my username is from one of my favorite characters... Frankie Remley, the left handed guitar player and Phil's buddy who always gets him into trouble.  Frank Remley was a real person, a member of Benny's band, but his character on Benny's show was played by Elliot Lewis.  Later he migrated to Phil's show and when they were on different networks, Remley later became Elliot... same guy but just using different name.)

Detective:  Broadway is my Beat (incredible descriptive writing and narratives) (directed by Elliot Lewis, who played Remley on Benny and the Harris shows)
                 Richard Diamond, Private Detective
                 Yours truly, Johnny Dollar
                 Sam Spade ( I prefer the episodes with Howard Duff as the lead character)


Misc:  X Minus One
         Suspense
         Lights Out
         Behind the Microphone
         Gunsmoke   (much better than the TV show in my opinion, Matt Dillon will occasionally bend the law in the aid of justice, really well done.  William Conrad as Matt Dillon, great radio actor and voice, he's in a zillion radio shows)

         The Six Shooter -- Jimmy Stewart stars

I also enjoy the nostalgia of the old commercials and commentary on (then) current events.

[Desmond]

Also, for anyone who may be curious or interested, there are tons of free, legally downloadable, and interesting radio shows available at http://www.archive.org for your enjoyment! 

[Tarbaby]

Yup, OTR. I've listened to them for years. Great for loading onto a little Sanza player to take on a long walk. I have many many gigs stored on a hard drive.DL'd for free. Also good for road trips. A large repository of classic Sherlock Holmes episodes (including many with Nigel Bruce and Basil Rathbone who also did the movie series), two different noir detective series with Dick Powell,etc. frankly, there's a lot of dreck there too but you just have to be selective to your own tastes..

Note: I did run across an app for the iPad (there might be more) that automatically downloads and hour which includes two randomly chosen programs, not sure how many times per week but it's automatic for free, maybe wants a week, they just show up in your "podcast" directory.

[albrecht]

One good show that was in modern times was "Nightfall" produced by CBC up in Canada. BBC still runs some stuff like Saturday Plays etc. But wish there was more new content though, luckily there is lots of archived old stuff on the net.

[Camazotz Automat]

I wouldn't mind hearing Art do some story reading when he comes back - a weekly or biweekly feature and stylize it a little after OTR.  Horror and sci fi short stories both classic and new.  Lovecraft to Gaiman to Simak.

Excluding Harlan, because that road will only lead to trouble.

Driving in the car, past midnight, during a lightning storm, Art's voice slides out of the speakers as he reads King's I Am the Doorway.

It would absolutely kill.

It would work on The Spec Sheet, too.

Mudking reading Asimov, MV reading Cam.

Lookout, world. You're about to end........

But until then, my personal cup of Teonanacatl is Lights Out.

[Mind Flayer Monk]

Mudking reading Asimov, MV reading Cam.

I would be happy with them giving spirited readings of "Haiku for George Noory".


http://youtu.be/vZjNh_mDmY4

[bateman]

Listening to BBC Ghost Zone now. This is good stuff.

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

I found this a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.  It was done by some college kids. The writing is excellent, and they really did a great job of capturing the flavor of the old radio serials. 

http://kwurradiotheater.wordpress.com/tag/sky-pirates/

[albrecht]

I found this a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.  It was done by some college kids. The writing is excellent, and they really did a great job of capturing the flavor of the old radio serials. 

http://kwurradiotheater.wordpress.com/tag/sky-pirates/

Interesting, I'll check them out. I like this guy's site. You can find most of the shows on archive.org or elsewhere but his is easy cause it gives you a nice mix of genres daily
http://boxcars711.podomatic.com/

[albrecht]

Not OldTime but darn hilarious. National Lampoon takes on Hunter Thompson.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=86MVnqQ1wkk

[Uncle Duke]

Classic radio "theater of the mind"?  Anything by Stan Freeberg or Bob and Ray. 

[Camazotz Automat]

Listening to "The Meteor Man" from Lights Out in 1937, pulled from archive.org.

[yumyumtree]

1590 in Seattle used to have a show on Saturday nights( I think it was Saturdays) called Hollywood 360 that ran a lot of the old radio shows. I haven't listened since I moved to Everett.

I have been listening to old CBS radio mystery theatre episodes on YouTube. I realize that these are not quite from the same era--they were from 1974-82, but are similar in a lot if ways to the earlier shows. I especially like the ones that include the old news and commercials.

[Lt.Uhura]

Several old Sci-Fi series here.  I listen via TuneIn app, but you can also stream from their website.
http://roswellbooks.com/radio/
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[136 or 142]

There are a lot of OTR shows on youtube.

Here in Vancouver, radio station CKNW played OTR for many years, at least since the mid 1970s. The shows were owned by a man named Jack Cullen, who, in addition to owning old OTR shows on reel to reel also had many old time interviews, sporting events and who knows what else.

On the last hour of Cullen's show "The Owl Prowl" from 11PM to Midnight he would play OTR. Then CKNW would play shows from 3 AM to 4 AM.

They later played the shows from midnight to 3 AM.  Then radio station CFUN changed formats and dropped Coast to Coast, so CKNW picked up Coast and played it from 1 AM to 5 Am and cut back the shows to Midnight to 1.

|Then they started playing Coast live and they cut out the OTR entirely, although I believe they can still be accessed at their website.

Jack Cullen is a legend in Vancouver along with Red Robinson.

[b_dubb]

What is OTR?

[Bart Ell]

What is OTR?

In most of Canada: Off The Record (with Michael Landsberg)
Rest of the world: Old Time Radio

[WOTR]

But until then, my personal cup of Teonanacatl is Lights Out.

While they do not make many new radio shows, there is Nightvale.  It is not really a radio show like the OTR shows- but it does tie into the Art Bell world.  I heard an interview with the creators where they credited Bell and his topics for inspiring the show and downloaded it the next night.)  Overall, it is worth listening to.

I love lights out.  Suspense is hit and miss... Some of the times when they hit it was absolutely thrilling.  For comedy I do not know if there is anything better than "Our Miss Brooks."  I will confess that I have most of them on the computer and still listen to unwind occasionally.  After well over half a century they are still good for a laugh.  For westerns I think Gunsmoke would have been about the most interesting and progressive.  Listening to it now it is one of the few with portrayals of Natives and other groups that did not necessarily cast them in a certain light.  Some of the other westerns were OK, but very few were worth listening to.

My local station plays OTR from 11-1 when they ruin a good thing and air the sultan of suck.

[paladin1991]

Also, for anyone who may be curious or interested, there are tons of free, legally downloadable, and interesting radio shows available at http://www.archive.org for your enjoyment!

Thanks Rem.

[136 or 142]

While they do not make many new radio shows, there is Nightvale.  It is not really a radio show like the OTR shows- but it does tie into the Art Bell world.  I heard an interview with the creators where they credited Bell and his topics for inspiring the show and downloaded it the next night.)  Overall, it is worth listening to.

I love lights out.  Suspense is hit and miss... Some of the times when they hit it was absolutely thrilling.  For comedy I do not know if there is anything better than "Our Miss Brooks."  I will confess that I have most of them on the computer and still listen to unwind occasionally.  After well over half a century they are still good for a laugh.  For westerns I think Gunsmoke would have been about the most interesting and progressive.  Listening to it now it is one of the few with portrayals of Natives and other groups that did not necessarily cast them in a certain light.  Some of the other westerns were OK, but very few were worth listening to.

My local station plays OTR from 11-1 when they ruin a good thing and air the sultan of suck.

For drama, there's also the west coast program 'The Whistler' as well as 'Mysterious Traveller'
For comedy 'Duffy's Tavern' is rather risque for the 1940s.

"Have Gun Will Travel" (hello Paladin) is also rather progressive.

[Desmond]

Thanks Rem.

You're welcome!  Hope you find something you enjoy and that triggers your imagination... please share your favorites sometime.

[Tarbaby]

For the last two weeks I've been binge listening to "what's my line" from 1950 to, last night,  1956 March. Suddenly yesterday, one of the regular panelist died. Fred Allen. Heart attack. Not on the air but since last weeks episode. The show was moderated by John Daly. Permanent panelists included Bennett surf,  Arlene Francis, Dorothy Kilgallen (A newspaper columnist who apparently died mysteriously in 1965). But I'm only up to March, 1956. I haven't investigated but I believe I read something about accusations that she was connected to the Kennedy assassination somehow and that's why she was killed.

I've been trying to figure out why I find the show so fascinating and compelling. I realized it's because it gives such insight into the way people think and reason, the flaws they make with hasty or  unwarranted assumptions, and conclusions and the way they accuse the moderator of trapping or misleading them when all he was doing was answering their   yes/no questions.

Other celebs who showed up from time to time include Steve Allen, Victor Borge, Hal Bloch, etc. watching these on YouTube.

[Desmond]

I haven't investigated but I believe I read something about accusations that she was connected to the Kennedy assassination somehow and that's why she was killed.

Yes, DK was one of the mysterious deaths of those involved in, or looking into, the murder of JFK.


For your consideration:


http://www.maebrussell.com/Disappearing%20Witnesses/Disappearing%20Witnesses.html


http://www.midtod.com/new/articles/7_14_07_Dorothy.html

[Tarbaby]

Wow, Remley! Thanks! And love your handle.

[Desmond]

Thank you.
If you are a Phil Harris / Elliot Lewis (Frankie Remley) fan, like myself, some treasures here:  http://otrperk.com/philharris.cgi