(no subject)

[scottobear]

I have perhaps 20-25 homemade burned CD's of old time radio... (Jack Benny, The Shadow, Dragnet, Sgt. Preston of the Yukon, etc). I figure about 11ish hours apiece. I can't believe I've listened to all of them , and am now restarting from the beginning of the stack. I'd estimate I listen to about 2-4 hours a day, after folks go home... My Office-mate isn't big on 1930s-1950s variety stuff. I can honestly say, that there's a pile of quality entertainment on those CD's. I'm not sure why my tastes run to nostalgia from before I was born.. it seems a little more honest, and not quite so... oh, I'm not sure. I'd just much rather listen to an episode of Suspense than Watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer, even though they share a lot of elements. Weird Science, Horror, Fantasy... but without some of the more 'modern TV' trappings. Maybe because it's sound only.. you can fill in your own special effects, character appearances, and I think they deliver a more solid story base sometimes. Also, you can have a show about only one or two people (Like the Shadow, and Margo Lane) and not know what/who the bad guy is in a mystery, or who might get killed. I think the hitchhikers guide is better as a radio show, than a tv miniseries, too (although both were quite fun). Added Bonus, you can listen in the dark, in bed, eyes closed.

Odds are good that the vast majority of folks today rarely listen to anything aside from music or talk stations on the radio anymore... and I think that's sort of a shame. Drama, comedy and so on. Radio plays are a thing of the past... admittedly some of them should stay there, but there's a lot of potential for good stuff, even as webcasts. http://prairiehome.org/ does webcasts of the one exception I know. Prairie Home companion is nice... music, comedy, drama, and homespun stuff, to the tune of our current age. I actually tune in once a week to hear the fresh stuff. It's good. (The website's better, because you can pick and choose the stuff you want to listen to during the show... So I can Jump right to News from lake Woebegon and Guy Noir.) Plus they have show archives that go waaaaaay back to the mid 90's if you can't get enough of it. (I've listened to them all, a little at a time... usually a classic episode after listening to a particularly good regular show.)

Not sure what point I'm making, other than "DRAMA RADIO GOOD! MONGO LIKE!"

Comments

[i.livejournal.com]

there is an am station here that does rebroadcasts of old radio dramas at certain times. when i have a long day on the road i catch them on the truck radio.

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[scottobear.livejournal.com]

Nifty! Voice broadcasts cope well with AM. :)

Anything you particularly enjoy?

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[i.livejournal.com]

i like 'em all, no matter how cheesy, but i particularly like the detective ones.

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[scottobear.livejournal.com]

likewise. old school dragnet and the shadow are up there in my faves.

[i.livejournal.com]

have you heard of alien voices (http://www.zackcompany.com/authors/alienvoices.htm)? i've heard the invisible man and spock vs q. top notch sci-fi audio!

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[scottobear.livejournal.com]

no! I'll take a peek soon! thanks!

Another good one...

[missv.livejournal.com]

...have you ever heard of "Riders in the Sky"?? They used to have a show on public radio, "The Riders Radio Theatre," that was a good-natured parody of the old-timey western style variety shows. Josh and I had the pleasure of catching them live last year. What a hoot! They sing old cowboy tunes (in three-part harmony), do rope tricks, tell really bad jokes, and they even yodel! Definitely worth looking into if you've never heard them before...

Re: Another good one...

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

yep! they did woody's music for toy story 2! a lot of good, hokey fun. :)

I'd love to see them on stage!

I forgot about Toy Story 2!

[missv.livejournal.com]

Doh! I asure you, they're more than just shills for Disney!

But anyway, I totally forgot to mention that the Ideas Network of Wisconsin Public Radio broadcasts a program called "Old Time Radio" every Sunday from 8 - 11 pm CST. It's a great show...with lots of old goodies. And, of course, you can tune in to them online. (Hooray for the internet!)

Gawd, I am such a public radio junkie....

[sida-al-hurra.livejournal.com]

I love those radio shows. My great-uncle who died last year turned me on to them. He used to tape them for himself, and sometimes for me. He remembered them from when they first aired, of course. I now have all his tapes. One particular favorite is the "Suspense" one with Agnes Moorhead.

I like the old stuff for some similar reasons you do. It's like "The Hobbit" and "TLOTR." I like my fantasy rather on the innocent side.

:)

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

good taste! (or at least similar! )

[crazy-talk23.livejournal.com]

I love the old radio shows, my father has a bunch of tapes, like The Shadow and the Green Hornet and even has some movies like THe Maltese Falcon..they are cool. We used to listen to them when we were out on our boat off Cali's coast when you didn't have TV. I wish there was some way to get them from tape to my computer..sure there is I'm just not that tricky. =)

[rejectomorph]

I was lucky enough not to have a television in the house until I was 13. Although the radio shows began migrating to the new medium in droves by the early '50s, I still got to hear a lot of them on our old Silvertone console radio. I think my favorite was probably The Whistler, which continued to broadcast new shows to about 1955. About that time, too, one of the networks began broadcasting the BBC series The Goon Show with Peter Sellers and Spike Mulligan. One of the strangest things ever heard on radio. I loved it!

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[scottobear.livejournal.com]

oh, the whistler is very cool. I don't have any of the goon show, but if peter sellers and ol' spike were involved, I image it was great!

[laurak.livejournal.com]

I have never laughed so hard in my life as I did listening to Jack Benny's radio shows. :) I used to have several tapes of them that have gotten lost over the years. :( I think he has to be one of the funniest people who ever lived! Another one I always liked was a show called "Duffy's Tavern." One of the public radio stations where I grew up used to play it every Sunday night at 10, and I'd listen to it in bed with my headphones. "Duffy's Tavern, where the elite meet to eat!"

Would you perhaps be interested in negotiating some sort of trade for copies of your jack benny stuff? :)

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[scottobear.livejournal.com]

yup, I have a pile of both on CD in mp3 format... let me know if you want my to burn you a few... :) I'm happy to spread the joy. :)