Old Time Radio Shows

Old time radio had a few distinct purposes. One of those was to allow the listener an opportunity “Walter Mitty” their routine life. Just as Mitty daydreamed his days away, so programs like Escape gave the radio audience a chance to become part of the drama. Take for example the episode “Shipment of Mute” the listener became part of the cruise as the narrator shared about his time in South America and seeking to get back to New York. The voice of Jack Webb as Chris Warner shared the adventure of capturing the BushMaster snake... the deadliest snake in Venezuela. He was planning on removing the specimen he captured to take back to the museum in NYC. Now was this going to be a simple cruise travelling back to the states, or a travel of terror? (I don’t want to give it away.) This type of programming was the trademark for  Escape   s the audience member would crane their ear closer...to hear the screams, gunfire, sound effects creating the storm to start their active ...

Young and old people enjoy Old Time Radio alike. People who grew up during the Radio Age are naturally fans of OTR. It isn't a surprise when kids from the Age of Television discover Radio, and the fact that it is often a superior storytelling medium. When we hear about folks who grew up in the age of the Internet professing their enthusiasm for old radio shows, we choose to just put on a smug and satisfied smile. A lot of young fans find they laugh at themselves for actually liking radio drama, but they are fascinated by how effective the speaking voice can be in conveying a story. As long tie OTR fans know, rarely do we see how effective this is as in the scariest Horror and Thriller radio programs . 5) “The Yellow Wall Paper”  starring Agnes Moorehead on Suspense , 1948.  Orson Welles called Moorehead one of his favorite actresses to work with.  4)“The Walking Dead” from Creeps By Night , 1944.  Rise of Zombie Apocalypse in popular culture for this o...

Programs, such as Don McNeill’s Breakfast Club , would not have lasted very long without their sponsors. breakfast time was a great format for the big name corporations to get their wares out to the listening public. Aunt Jemima slipping out of the bottle onto warm, buttered pancakes. The “snap, crackle and pop” of Rice Krispies. These were samples of the fare being offered to the morning crowd, starting their day off just right with a delicious wake-up meal. Boardrooms all over America were figuring on how to find the perfect fit for their product line to be commercialized. One of the big leaguers in the day was Frosted Flakes. Kelloggs had its name in a few of the popular programs of the time. Many folks today that enjoy the sugar-coated corn flake owe their tastebuds to the old-time radio morning shows. Kelloggs was one of the pioneers of using the morning radio slot to figure in their cereal line. “Tony the Tiger” can still be remembered with his famous, “it’s Great” approach...

In this first part: enjoy this classic radio broadcast from the radio soap opera, Pepper Young's Family Episode #61.  The Pepper Young family are selling their property and Sam has some good news. "I know you're going to be excited about it... they're gonna put up some kind of home or group of cottages for retarded children!" Sams is going to make some good money selling the lumber and was hired to run the home while Edie will invite the children to their home for supper. If you cannot see the audio controls, your browser does not support the audio element

"Transcribed" means the entire show is/was written down as recorded and broadcast. To complicate things, in British English, a transcription would probably be a written record of what was said in the show. In America, During the golden age of radio and in the age of heavy censorship, extensive records were required by the government. In addition they needed to be able to demonstrate to advertisers that their copy was read/delivered as paid. For example Johnny Dollar uses the phrasing--"The transcribed adventures of the insurance investigator with the action-packed expense account."

Al Gordon, in rear with glasses, with Jack Benny, center, and the writers Sam Perrin, left, Hal Goldman and George Balzer. Al Gordon and Hal Goldman joined Jack Benny 's writing team in 1950. Jack Benny was famously dependent upon his writers, and was quick to give them credit for making him look good. Despite Jack's supposed reputation as a cheap skate, his writers were also some of the best paid in Hollywood. It wasn't that Jack couldn't be funny without a script, but he was much more comfortable performing with one. One well reported incident occurred when Jack stopped a rehearsal to call his writers around him. "Look," Jack told the writers, "I want to give Mel Blanc credit. I want a line for the tag of the show that says the part of the violin teacher was played by Mel Blanc." One of the four writers took Jack's script from him and wrote "The part of the violin teacher was played by Mel Blanc." Reading the new writing in the...

The Wilson-Nesbitt Summer Program is an all-time family favorite. One of my favorite episodes is Elizabeth Woodcock . This was a story of a lady in Massachusetts who was buried in the snow for five days but woke up to tell the tale. From John Nesbitt ’s interesting narration, the audience learned that Ms. Woodcock went with her horse on a snowy day, thinking that the ride outdoors would be short and quick. However, before she reached her house, a blizzard overtook her and she became disoriented and was not able to find her way home fast enough. She fell asleep on the snow and eventually was covered with snow as well. During the entire five days before she was discovered, she woke up to several moments of wakefulness.  The storyteller’s captivating manner of relating the events enabled listeners to feel the cold of the snow during Ms. Woodcock’s ordeal and the warmth of relief at the end when Ms. Woodcock turned up alive. John Nesbitt did not stop at narrating the story...