Seriously thoughtful Anyone else like old radio shows?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Radio 7 is almost worth the license fee on its own. Apart from all the classic comedy and drama series, they have fantastic audio book adaptations of classic and contemporary fiction. Today I'm listening to a fantastic version of Walter Moseley's classic noir tale "Devil in a Blue Dress" on iPlayer catchup (i really should get a DAB radio).

They're also doing an excellent adaptation of "Vanity Fair" at the moment with Emma Fielding and Stephen Fry.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by columbus

I remember well listening with my family in the 50's, Dick Barton, Journey into space, Round the horn, Much binding in the marsh, The Navy lark and of course the Goon show. Just a few that spring to mind.

Radio 7 are doing a complete re-run of "Journey into Space" at the moment. Fantastic! It's 50 years old, but still a great story.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Radio 7 are doing a complete re-run of "Journey into Space" at the moment. Fantastic! It's 50 years old, but still a great story.

'The Saturday Play' on Radio 4 yesterday was a modern 'Journey into Space' drama - the character called The Host was played by David Jacobs (the original Jet Morgan according to the Radio Times).

There's also a Torchwood play on Wed-Fri afternoons on R4.

[columbus]

Originally Posted by HarryT;

Radio 7 are doing a complete re-run of "Journey into Space" at the moment. Fantastic! It's 50 years old, but still a great story.

Was not (the) Quatermass (experiment) a radio series before then moving to Television.

So! come on HarryT you have not admitted if you listened to any of them when originally broadcast

My earliest recollection of "a radio" was in the late 40's, as the farm where we lived did not have "Electricity" we had to have batteries charged at the local garage.

Mmm brings back some really fond memories.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by columbus

Was not (the) Quatermass (experiment) a radio series before then moving to Television.

No - according to the Wikipedia Article it was originally written for TV in the 1950s, although a radio serial did appear in 1996.

So! come on HarryT you have not admitted if you listened to any of them when originally broadcast

I just missed out on the "radio era". I was born in the early 1960s and, although we certainly didn't have a TV when I was a young child, I have no memory of the radio either, although I'm sure it must have been around, so all these old radio series are "new" to me, which is what makes them so entertaining.

[GeoffC]

the Navy Lark was a favourite of mine, too ....

[Sparrow]

When I was a child I remember laughing fit to burst at an episode of "The Clitheroe Kid" on the radio.
I've never laughed so hard before or since. I thought I was going to die because I couldn't breath, but I still couldn't stop.
It got a bit embarrassing in the end.

[RWood]

I too love the old radio shows. I have collected OTR (short for Old Time Radio) since college when I was given a box of old reel-to-reel tapes of air checks (recordings made to verify what went out on the air.) I kept adding to it over the years.

Today I have transferred it to digital and store it on the music server. I have almost complete (I think they are as complete as possible) of shows like X-Minus One and the other 1950s US SciFi shows. For US radio, the 1950s were the golden era. I also have a lot of crime/detective shows with some dating back to the early 1930s.

Comedy is a very strange bird. It is enjoyable to listen to what people laughed at in the past to see the evolution of comedy. It is quite refreshing to listen to comedy from the depths of the Great Depression and realize how constrained (read PC) today's comedy is while the sexual aspect has been blown wide open. (Pun not intended.)

the Good Doctor Don is also a fan.

[Sparrow]

Originally Posted by RWood

It is quite refreshing to listen to comedy from the depths of the Great Depression and realize how constrained (read PC) today's comedy is while the sexual aspect has been blown wide open. (Pun not intended.)

An old-time comic called Max Miller was banned for years by the BBC. The story is disputed, but apparently he told an unscripted joke on the radio about going up a mountain path which was very narrow, a sheer cliff on one side and a vertiginous drop on the other. As he's going up, a beautiful blonde girl comes round the corner going down. Max told the audience he was in a quandary, he didn't know whether to toss himself off or block her passage.
He got a five year ban for that one!

[Fathermole]

I love old radio shows . One of the most listen to stations on my xm satellite radio .

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by RWood

Today I have transferred it to digital and store it on the music server. I have almost complete (I think they are as complete as possible) of shows like X-Minus One and the other 1950s US SciFi shows. For US radio, the 1950s were the golden era. I also have a lot of crime/detective shows with some dating back to the early 1930s.

Yes, I have "X-Minus One"; "Dimension X" was another good one, too and, of course, a lot more recently there was "The Twilight Zone".

Are there any radio stations in the US which continue to broadcast that kind of thing? We're very lucky here in the UK to have the BBC, which still broadcasts it, and indeed, continues to make high-quality new radio programmes too.

[columbus]

Originally Posted by HarryT;

I just missed out on the "radio era". I was born in the early 1960s and, although we certainly didn't have a TV when I was a young child, I have no memory of the radio either, although I'm sure it must have been around, so all these old radio series are "new" to me, which is what makes them so entertaining.

I can understand then why the humour would not strike you, whilst I find it dated it is still generally funny.

[krisk]

I LOVE old radio programs! I spent my senior year of high school at an international boarding school in (of all places) the foothills of the Wasatch Mountains in Utah. TV was virtually non-existent, and we had to be in our rooms by 8 on school nights anyway. by one of those weird accidents of atmospheric skip, I was able to receive a station out of Denver which broadcast the aforementioned Radio Mystery Theatre. as I recall it played from 9 until 10, so I could be in my bed with my light out (I think lights out was at 9:30) and as I was a notorious reader, and not music player, the dorm mother only checked for lights in my room. I could have the radio on very quietly by my head.

AFN, the Armed Forces Radio played many of the old programs occasionally. the second time I was in Germany there was a spoof that ran for about 2 years in the morning called; "The adventures of CHICKEN MAN!!!" which was pretty funny.

Prarie Home Companion was a standard when I was growing up. one of fondest memories is of doing sstuff in the garage with my dad listening to Garrison. I wish there were more radio programs

[RWood]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, I have "X-Minus One"; "Dimension X" was another good one, too and, of course, a lot more recently there was "The Twilight Zone".

Are there any radio stations in the US which continue to broadcast that kind of thing? We're very lucky here in the UK to have the BBC, which still broadcasts it, and indeed, continues to make high-quality new radio programmes too.

In the US there is a channel on the subscription satellite radio service Sirius dedicated to classic radio shows. From time to time some public radio stations also air classic radio shows -- some as a regular feature, most just as part of a pledge (donation) promotion.

[jgray]

I guess you could say that I like OTR. I have over 200GB worth of MP3 files Everything I have was aired on US radio, although a few series were originally British (the Holmes stuff in particular).

As for comedy, I never cared for most of the British comedy shows that I have heard or seen. Monty Python is an exception, but even there, I don't like all of their stuff. Two of my favorite US OTR comedy shows are "Jack Benny" and "Amos 'n Andy". Very funny stuff, even today.

"Praire Home Companion" isn't considered OTR, as even at 35 years, that means it started in 1974. One of the last real OTR programs that I am aware of was "Gunsmoke". A radio program that sort of resurected the ghost of OTR for a while was "CBS Radio Mystery Theater".

"X Minus One" and the later "Dimension X" were the best adult oriented SF programs on radio. Both drew from the major SF magazines of the day for their stories. There were one or two other adult SF programs, but they weren't very good IMO. For juvenile SF, there were several to choose from, some quite good.

For drama, there were quite a few radio shows of this type aired over the years. The one that almost everyone knows is "Mercury Theater on the Air", because of the infamous 1938 adaptation of "War of the Worlds". That is a great episode to listen to, BTW.

Two excellent programs that were a mix of drama, mystery, thriller, fantasy, SF, etc. were "Suspense" and "Escape". Suspense in particular is worth listening to.

For adult westerns, I already mentioned "Gunsmoke". Two other fine programs were "Tales of the Texas Rangers", starring Joel McCrea, and "The Six Shooter", starring Jimmy Stewart.

The Internet Archive (archive.org) was mentioned as a source of OTR. There is quite a bit of OTR there for download, some good and some not. If you want the best quality, most complete collections of a particular show, look on archive.org for the distributions by OTRR (Old Time Radio Researchers). OTRR will have a distribution listed two ways - a CD image (ISO) and individual MP3 files for download.

If you can't find an OTRR distribution of a show you want, then see what archive.org has from someone else. The quality and completeness of these "other" OTR sets is quite variable, however.

Another source are the Yahoo OTR groups that you can join, where they "round robin" a set of CDs to group members via snail mail. There are also some OTR forums on the net that make downloads available.

Whatever you do, try to avoid spending money with the many vendors selling OTR. They are just making a buck off of the efforts of others. Also, they generally don't put any effort into making sure that the OTR they sell is good, bad or indifferent. They just fill up a disk and sell it.

With few exceptions, most of the US OTR that is available did not have the copyrights renewed and is public domain. "CBS Radio Mystery Theater" is still copyrighted and I'm not sure about "The Lone Ranger".