Old Time Radio Shows

 Radio listeners got to know a pretty important geography of important addresses over the years. There was 79 Wistful Vista , Dodge City , The Big Town , The B-Bar-B Ranch, the Melody Ranch , 6121 Sunset Blvd (CBS Columbia Square in Los Angeles), 30 Rockefeller Center (NBC Radio City, New York ), Maybeland (home of the Cinnamon Bear ), and the little town of Summerfield (where Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve serves as water commissioner). Few addresses were as exclusive or was well listened to as Allen’s Alley . Fred Allen was one of many vaudeville veterans to make the transition to from life on the road to life in front of the microphone. Allen was also one of the first to realize that even though the vaudevillians were getting the majority of the laughs in the early years of commercial radio, radio was not and never would be vaudeville! He could not understand why some of his fellow radio comics would perform while wearing funny hats or costumes, the audience at home couldn...

Orson Welles was a man who lived his life taking big bites. He also resembled the kid who is allowed to eat his dessert first- the rest of the meal tends to be a letdown. The big bites Welles took allowed him accomplishments by artists much further in their careers than Welles. His early successes often gained more notoriety than acceptance by his supposed peers. Welles was born in Kenosha, WI, in 1915. Both of Welles' parents were intelligent and worldly persons. Richard Welles made a respectable fortune by inventing a carbide lamp for bicycles, but lost it to drink. Beatrice was a concert pianist, and supported her son by playing after the couple split. She took her son to Chicago where she played accompaniment to lectures. Beatrice passed away soon after Orson's ninth birthday. The precocious young man was entrusted to a series of guardians who provided him with an eclectic but somewhat advanced education. Always an exceptionally bright lad,  Orson  won a scholarship ...

Old time radio featured many spy-themed shows , which were popular during the Cold War era . These shows often depicted heroic spies and agents who worked to protect their countries from enemy spies and espionage, adding to the cultural fascination with the world of espionage and intrigue during this time. Spy shows were popular in the 1950s for several reasons. Firstly, the Cold War was in full swing , and the fear of Soviet espionage and infiltration was widespread. As a result, there was a heightened interest in stories and characters that dealt with the world of espionage and intrigue. Spy shows offered a way for listeners to vicariously experience the world of espionage and feel a sense of excitement and danger. Additionally, radio was one of the primary sources of entertainment during this time, and spy shows offered a way for audiences to escape the anxieties of everyday life and engage with exciting stories and characters. Many of these shows also featured strong, heroic prot...

Valentine's Day is Benjamin Kubelsky's birthday. “There will be a slight pause while you say 'Who cares?'” Old Time Radio fans will recognize the quote as the second sentence uttered on the radio by Kubelsky's alter-ego, Jack Benny . The path from becoming Benjamin Kubelsky to Jack Benny is pretty typical for a vaudevillian on the radio. That is if there is anything typical about a 42 year career at the top of radio and TV. Little Ben Kubelsky was born to a Polish immigrant saloon owner in Chicago and grew up in Waukegan, Ill. Little Ben was given a violin at the age of six, and his parents had high hopes that he would become a concert violinist. Ben loved the violin, but the little boy lacked the discipline to practice seriously. He was able to use the violin to gain pocket money, playing with local dance bands by the time he was 14. A poor student, Ben was attracted to Vaudeville. In 1911, Minnie Marx invited Ben to join her son's act, but his parent would...

  John Brinkley was an American physician who practiced medicine in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He is often referred to as a " medical quack " because of his unorthodox medical practices and his claims to have found a cure for impotence, which Brinkley achieved by transplanting goat testicles into men . Brinkley established a large medical practice in Kansas, and his reputation as a "miracle doctor" grew as more and more people sought treatment from him. However, despite his claims of success, there is little scientific evidence to support the effectiveness of his treatments, and many of his patients experienced serious health problems as a result of his surgeries. Many of these patients were attracted to Brinkley's bold claims of success and his reputation as a "miracle doctor." However, many of them experienced serious health problems and complications as a result of his procedures, and some of them even died as a result of his treatments...

Many listeners may have accumulated or inherited large collections of Old Radio Shows on cassette with episodes of  Suspense , Fibber McGee & Molly , Tarzan , Richard Diamond , Archie Andrews & and more .  Old time radio on cassette became popular and replaced 8-tracks in the mid-1980s.  The cassettes may have been enjoyed by previous generations or just enjoyed decades ago who loved collecting & listening to everything old time radio . Sadly, cassette tapes, open reel-to-reel tapes, 8-track tapes, DAT, and VHS can "go bad" (degrade) because they are magnetic tape mediums.  Old Time Radio cassettes were slowly replaced by audio CDs , MP3 CD  in the 1990's and 2000's.  Today  streamable/downloaded old time radio shows  are the the most popular choice. Unsure what to do with your collection of cassette tapes?  You could donate them to Goodwill or non-profit thrift store, but many listeners have found great satisfaction in donating ...

The creaking rocking chair is all that can be heard in the room. Pa is reading his paper while ma finishes up the dinner dishes and the kids play with wooden cars on the living room floor. No i-pods, no computers, no cable television, no network television. No radio. The year is 1918. The lights are electric and there's a car in the driveway. But inside, all is silent, and the entertainments are either self-made or drawn into the mind off a printed page. But all of this is about to change due to technological advances of the last several years. To Send Messages Over the Air Just before the dawn of the 20th century, the German scientist developed two important ideas: that the nature of light can be boiled down to electromagnetics and that electromagnetic waves behave the same way as light. The goal was to be able to transmit electromagnetic waves in a way that was useful--could they transmit comprehensible sound, including the human voice? In 1901, Guglielmo Marconi was able t...