OT Old Time Radio

Any other you gents into collecting Old Time Radio Programs. I am big time, spent a few years off and on gathering and organizing them. I organize them into I Tunes and have them all on my I Pod and all backed up on 2 computers plus an external hard drive. Its taken a ton of time to find, download, file tag, organize them and I dont want to loose all that.

So far I have around 6,900 Old Time Radio Shows and will likely quit around 10,000. I will NEVER live long enough to listen to all of them but when I get real old and feeble its something I can do for recreation sittin there in my wheel chair maybe... WE listen to them a lot in the RV while on the road and at nights in RV parks.

One of the best sources is when the Old Time Radio Researchers Group certifes an entire series set. They certify every show, original date of broadcast, title and have files of the lists with pictures and biographies of the cast and show history etc. One of my favotites Lux Radio Theatre had around 500 episodes. I think the one program I have the most episodes of and its NOT the entire certified set is Amos n Andy, there were THOUSANDS of those produced.

Now this is reallyyyyyyyyyy gettin serious, Im getting an AM transmitter so I can set them to play out of the computer and turn on my big old Zenith 11 Tube Console Radio (huge 15 inch speaker) and sit in the living room and hear them like they did on that radio in the thirtoes n forties when they were new. I already have an FM transmitter on my computer output and when I go to bed at night I turn on the bedside radio with ear buds or a pillow speaker and listen to internet streams of old radio like The Whistler but I hardly ever hear the end I fall to sleep lol

take care yall

As we speak Im downloading OTRR certifed sets of Lights Out, The Weird Circle, The Strange Dr Weird, The Halls of Ivy, Matinee Theatre etc

John T

John, I'll betcha when you reach 10,000 your passion will keep you hunting for more, though 10,000 is a BUNCH of shows.

My 33 year-old son has been listening to old time radio shows on satellite radio in the truck for some time now. And these are shows that are old to you and I. He doesn't listen constantly by any means but it is on his list for entertainment. Lately he's been listening to the history of WW2 on his I phone through his headset. What'll they think of next? Good luck with your continuing search. Jim

"Who knows what evil lurks within the hearts of men?" I kinda miss those old shows, but I don't have the means to download them or at present even the means to obtain the necessary equipment. I do have a cassette tape with the intros to about two dozen or more of those old shows. Grand Central Station, The Shadow, etc. Years ago I picked up an LP record with the first two episodes of The Lone Ranger. A few years I found the same on a cassette. Gotta go, On King, on you big husky!

I remember as a kid (mid eighties) there was a station on AM radio in Kansas City that played old radio programs. I thought it was the neatest thing. Now you've got me interested!!

I've been buying old radio from

http://www.otrcat.com/all-shows-c-100.html?osCsid=e7mhfgf3f54qk36jpjb8s1vjq2

One of many places, I guess. This places sells but many other places have archives with free downloads. Mercury Mystery Theater is one of my favorites.

When I first started buying, it was 1 hour of radio per CD. Then the shows got offered with 50 hours per CD in MPG format - for the same price. MPG is an amazing compression tool for old radio. I can't hear the difference.

You can listen to Old time radio on the Internet; WRVO.FM from Oswego, NY. Nights from 9:00 to Midnight. It is an NPR affiliate, but they carry their programming as well. They also give dates of original airing and other details.

Heres just a couple of the hundreds of sites to whet your appetite, I listen to Radio Antiock 1710 or MPIR (Mystery Play Internet radio) about every night

MPIR

http://cjkell.squarespace.com/

Radio Antioch

http://radio.macinmind.com/

John T
Radio Antioch 1710

Orson Wells and his Mercury Theatre is also one of my personal favorites PLUS among the best shows ever produced. I have the Mercury Summer Theatre series and the regular Mercury Theatre. Some of his regular stars were Agness Moorehad, Tim Holt and Joseph Cotton. I think I may have the complete OTRR Certifed sets, Id have to go look, there werent actually that many produced like some other sets I have such as The Great Gildersleeve and Family Theatre and LUX and The Life of Riley which are in the hundreds. . Its tough for places to sell CD's nowadays (I downloaded all 7,000 of mine) since OTRR and Archive give away free zipped MP3 downloads, some complete sets are several hundred MB so it takes some serious download time lol

Always fun chattin

John T

Funny you mention that radio station. It's the one that got my wife and I started with buying old radio recordings.

On many trips coming back to New York from Canada, we'd be passing through that part of NY between 9-10 PM and get that old-time radio show on NPR. It was usually recordings of "My Favorite Husband" from the later 40s. I didn't find out until much later that the wife in that radio show was Lucille Ball (before she became famous with " I Love Lucy." She was really good on radio. Husband was Richard Denning. 137 episodes.

John , That is about the best idea I have heard in a long time! One of the down side things about old radio is that new programming comes out of them! You have invented a great time machine!!LOL!

I listen to AOL radio a lot as I'm on the computer.
Has many old programs and any style music(Genres)you want.
Old time comedy programs too. Can' say if it would work for your purposes though.

Yeah, I really like Agnes Moorehead now. My first exposure to her was on TV where she did nothing for me. Totally different though on radio. She was somebody's mother on a TV show, but can't recall which. Maybe Samantha's mother in Bewitched? Now - Samantha (Elizabeth Montgomery)I really had a thing for. But TVs basically a visual mind-numbing thing. Radio makes you think, imagine, and get into that world you cannot see with your eyes.

John, I kinda am thinking of getting into old school radio, but I'm thinking HAM. When I was young I wanted to get into ham radio, but, now that it is something that I could do, it is a lost technology. The internet has made ham radios almost a thing of the past, as we can email folks on the otherside of the world, even audio or visual. I had a guy at work that was still into HAM, but, he is the only one in years that still does this. I had a girlfriend many years ago that was into radio, and no she didn't speak Russian. I did some with her, but, that was the extent of my experience. You got old amature radio gear, and do you still need a license?

Ham is still alive n kickin, right wingers, survivalist and the likes. I was never a REAL Ham, but I did have a 2 meter no code tech license and I'm still a good SWL Short wave Listener on my Hammarlund HQ 110 and Hallicrafters SX 110. It was just more romantic to sit in the ham shack on a cold snowy evening with the tubes glowing and tweaking the antenna tuners, I still have my 1967 ARRL Handbook the BIBLE of Ham radio.

Nowadays the expensive ICOM receivers do all the work digitally automatically just turn it on punch in the frequency and it does what it took 30 minutes and tweaking 50 knobs used to, no fun anyone can do it now

See my post reply below for a couple fun web sites with all the old radio you want

Ol Nostalgic John T

Yep, thats indeed Aggie Moorehead, one of the finest character actresses ever. If you listen to much of Orson Wells Mercury series shes there and also on a lot of the Whistler or Escape or Suspense programs. Yep sittin in the dark on a cold snowy evening beside the old Zenith fading in and out where the imagination could run free is something no modern tv and audio system can duplicate. Youre as much an old fashion kinda guy as myself, if I ever get up your way Im inviting myself for a visit or similar if youre ever in southern Indiana

John T

SO COOL, MY FAVORITE HUSBAND I have the entire set of that show, but Ive only listend to a few, not the entire hundred and some. It was sort of like the show The Bickersons

John T

I also enjoy The Aldrich Family,,,,,,,,"HENRYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY, coming mother"

A few years back, and I mean only a few years, I worked with a guy who had a HAM radio in his truck. It wasn't a CB. It was a radio that he could talk with people in the otherside of the planet or something. I figure since I'm a kicking right wing survivalist and the likes, I might do well with it, though I did look up that there is still a license to prevent real free speech. Just another way for the government to monitor our every word (I am kidding).

I have no old radio programs but I do have a complete early/mid 20s AtWater Kent receiver as well as a late 20s/early 30s two-tube open chassis Crosley set.

Dean

I have Sirius radio in my pickup and listen to a channel there dedicated to old radio shows. My two favorites are the radio version of "Gunsmoke" and "Your's Truly, Johnny Dollar". I also like "The Great Gildersleeve" and "The Life of Riley". Mike

I don't collect OTR but I do listen/download at [b:59f92cbe9e]archive.org[/b:59f92cbe9e] click on '[b:59f92cbe9e]audio[/b:59f92cbe9e]' - '[b:59f92cbe9e]radio programs[/b:59f92cbe9e]' - '[b:59f92cbe9e]old time radio[/b:59f92cbe9e]'. There are over 400 episodes of Gunsmoke. An almost complete set of The Great Gildersleev. Havegun Will Travel is good. Archive also has some audiobooks.

www.yesterdayusa.com has a scheduled stream that you can even use with dialup.

You can download free audio books at www.podiobooks.com. They're not OTR but there are some interesting novels there. I put a book on an mp3 player and wife and I listen to them when we travel. Or we listen to a book while working around the house. Scott Sigler has some good sci-fi books.

If you're into zombies try "Were Not Dead" @ zombiepodcast.com. It's really well written and acted. The 3rd season starts Jan 2nd and new episodes come out weekly.

"Sgt. Preston of the Yukon?"

Forty-three years ago a fellow learned that I had a reel to reel tape recorder. He insisted that I come to his home and go through his recorded reels to have some material to listen to. He had worked for the Armed Forces Network and had made recordings of the shows they placed on the air.

There were the regular singers of the era such as Peggy Lee, but the tape that I enjoyed most was "The Legend of Jimmy Blue Eyes".

My local library used to have old time broadcasts recorded and one day when I went in to check one out they were all gone from the shelves. When I asked about their whereabouts I was told they had been discarded due to lack of being checked out as they needed the shelf space.

I never knew libraries threw books and other material away if it wasn't used a certain number of times within a year. Now there is a Friendshop where material is sold or given away instead of just being discarded.

Thanks John!

John there is a radio station in canada that plays 1940-60 country music. I am sure there are others. It was on friday night or something.

I loved the sound of Comanches hooves coming out of the cavern with Straight Arrow riding him.

Do you listen to A Prairie Home Companion on NPR? About as close as you can get to the old time variety shows. They have The Lives of the Cowbows,Guy Noir,Private Eye,things like that. The live comercials are fake,but usually hillarius. Sponsors like The Catsup Advisory Board,National Duct Tape Council,Powdermilk Bisquits. I sit on the porch and listen to it in the summer,sit here in the dark in my recliner and listen in the winter. Saturday evenings at 6 eastern time on most FM NPR stations.

My favorite is Ruth Harrison, Reference Librarian, but Garrison doesnt do that one often or Bob the starving artist. Hes a great story teller but too abundant for my political taste. I refuse to eat ketchup thats not approved by the ketchup advisory board or duct tape that not approved by the duck tape council.

Librivox or Archive may have downloads available

John T

I wanted to be a ham when I was a kid, too. My social studies teacher in 8th grade, Mr. McCabe, K7IKC, lived right across the street from the school, and I used to go to his house in the evening and watch him make contacts all over the world. Pretty exciting stuff.

I still have my 1964 ARRL handbook- complete with the book cover I made for it from a grocery bag.

And I built a Knight-Kit receiver- but never got it to operate correctly. There was an "alignment" procedure to tune the coils, that required test equipment that I didn't have. I took it to Coburn's Appliance- not only did they not do it, they lost the manual that had the procedure! I didn't get around to getting another manual at the time, and the company went bust later.

I probated Mr. Coburn's estate a couple years ago- didn't mention to his daughter that I was still steamed at Murray for losing my book. . .

I just roll on the floor when his mother calls him on the air. That's some funny stuff! We went and saw it live when they were on the road this past summer. Might not listen as religiously if it wasn't for the news from Lake Woebegon.
He has some pretty darned top notch Bluegrass acts on from time to time too. That makes for a big bonus.

Yea,he's as abundant as they get,but you know that going in. He's insulted me personally more than once,but I let it roll off for the entertainment.