Old Time Radio Shows

Those of us who grew up in the Rock and Roll era don't really appreciate what a labor intensive endeavor the Big Band sound was. In both cases, the music found its audience over the radio, but the delivery was completely different. Rock and Roll has similar roots with Big Band, both coming to us through the "whitening" process of African American Jazz and Blues. Rock was usually the product of a four or five person band who would cut a record and then a disc jockey would play it on a local radio station. Big Band music was performed live over the networks.  Although the Big Bands made "more expensive" music, it was the sound of the OTR era, especially the War years. Rather than the four to five piece combos that formed Rock Bands, a typical Big Band Orchestra would have 17 or more individual players. However, the publicity usually went to the band leader whose name was on the outfit. To a certain extent, the players of the individual instruments were interchan...

Journalism is the reporting of history as it is occurring, so News Broadcasts are historical artifacts. The Second World War , which lasted from 1939 to 1945, was the defining element of the Twentieth Century. The War involved all of the major military powers around the globe, and most of the minor ones. The significant events and trends of the last half of the Twentieth Century can all be traced directly back to the War, just as the major events of the first half of the century can be seen as leading up to it. World War Two was a truly global conflict. Even though the battles occurred almost exclusively outside of the Americas, Radio brought the War into the American home in almost “real time”. Awaiting news of battles has been a part of war for as long as nations have gone into conflict with one another. The citizens of Athens waited while Pheidippides ran across the plains of Marathon. The diplomatic efforts which would have brought the War of 1812 to an end were stymied because ...