Does anyone else listen to old time radio

[ripcord]

I have recordings of many shows from the 30s, 40s and 50s, Jack Benny, Sherlock Holmes, Hopalong Cassidy and The Whistler. I drive a truck and spend a lot of time in the cab, talk radio is ridiculous and you can only listen to so much music then I ran across these a Fred Allen show one day and have been collecting ever since.

[hibbing]

1. yes

I have a podcast app on my phone and listen to old Dragnets, kind of fun. I have listened to some of the others you mentioned too.

Peace

[johnp3907]

2. I love old time radio.

I especially like Fibber McGee and Molly and Orson Welles. Also a big horror fan, so I like shows like Lights Out and Suspense.
I subscribe to http://www.rusc.com/ and mostly listen to the shows through their player.

[MADem]

3. Yes--I have a relative with a massive collection.

You can download lots of stuff off the net, too, if you'd like. Samples:

https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio

[Ron Obvious]

21. Thanks for that!

I love this sort of thing! Bookmarked.

[Jenoch]

4. I think listening to old radio shows

is a great way to avoid talk radio.

You might wish to check with your local library. It is possible they have CDs of old
radio shows as well as audio books. My local library has a system to check out audio books via mp3 download.

[lpbk2713]

5. We had Armed Forces Radio when I was in the Navy in the 60's.

They played a lot of the drama and variety shows from the Golden Age of Radio.

[choie]

7. I love listening to

old Long John Nebel recordings (for those unfamiliar with him, he was talk show host out of NY in the 50's thru 70's.)

[ripcord]

8. Sirus has a channel just for OTR

Our Miss Brooks, Phil Harris and Alice Faye, The Halls of Ivy even Father Knows Best, I have over 1700 recording and many I can listen to over and over.

[mucifer]

9. yeah, on archive.org the public domain shows are free for download:

https://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio

old public domain tv:
https://archive.org/details/classic_tv

[oregonjen]

10. Not exactly old time, but I loved Mystery Theater from the 70's

http://www.cbsrmt.com/synopsis.html

I used to get scared listening to the different stories and hearing the door creak open and closed at the beginning and end of each show. E. G. Marshall was the host.

[ND-Dem]

11. yes.

[kentauros]

12. Sometimes. Old stuff as well as "new" :)

Here are some links:

RadioLovers

Radio Free Oz

Great Northern Audio Theater

Radio Repertory Company of America

ZBS

Riders in the Sky

Stage Shadows, Inc.

And the Internet Archive - Old Time Radio collection. (IA full audio archive here.)

[shenmue]

13. I like the classics channel on satellite radio

[bemildred]

14. Yep, I have a few CDs I burned just for that.

I have one good ear and the monaural doesn't bother me a bit.

[NJCher]

15. My aunt is a fan

I have a 90-year-old aunt who is in assisted living and she just lives for Saturday afternoons when they broadcast from one of the educational stations in Chicago.

She also subscribes to Nostalgia Digest, which covers old-time radio:

http://www.nostalgiadigest.com/podcasts.html

At the above link are some of the past shows in the form of podcasts.

This was one of the most entertaining Coast to Coast shows I've ever listened to:

Date: Thursday - January 9, 2014
Host: George Noory
Guests: John Tefteller, Dr. Keith Scott-Mumby
Owner of one of the world's largest and best collection of rare records and high-quality radio shows from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, John Tefteller, discussed the rich history of recorded entertainment in the United States. A number of excerpts from classic old radio shows were played during the program including a Groucho Marx and Fanny Brice comedy bit from The Big Show, an Inner Sanctum that featured Boris Karloff in a version of "The Telltale Heart," and two episodes from Suspense--"The Hitchhiker" starring Orson Welles, and "Sorry Wrong Number," with Agnes Moorehead. The radio plays were originally performed live, along with a live orchestra, and sound effects, and had huge ratings-- much bigger than TV shows of today, he detailed.

Alas, only about 10% of all the live radio shows still exist as recordings today, Tefteller lamented, as many of the original live shows were either never recorded, or the 16-inch platters called "electrical transcriptions" were trashed or recycled. While some of the old radio shows heard today sound dated or corny, many remain compelling, and "had the power to unleash people's imagination in ways that television and film could not do," he remarked.

Tefteller also talked about his rare record collection, and his various methods for tracking items. He paid $37,000 for a 78rpm by Delta blues singer Tommy Johnson from the 1920s-- only one other copy of the record is known to exist. He plans to re-master and re-release the recording. Records of rare blues music from the 1920s & 30s can be quite valuable, he noted. The blues are looked at as the beginnings of rock 'n' roll, and of particular interest to some music aficionados, he added.

Here is Tefteller's site:

http://www.tefteller.com


Cher

[Eleanors38]

19. Dragnet was a favorite, and rather revolutionary...

In it you heard background conversations, ringing phones, chairs moving, etc. A break from the stand and deliver approach used before in radio and even early T.V.

[byronius]

16. The Great Gildersleeve, Fibber McGee and Molly, Space Patrol.

http://www.otr.net/

I love this particular site. Donated. Spent a year researching a screenplay set in 1948. Beautiful learning experience. Love this stuff.

[ripcord]

17. I love Fibber McGee and Molly

[Eleanors38]

18. Mostly big band music. Hard to hear on any other format.

[Jesus Malverde]

20. I like this stream...

They try and match the day the episode played to the current day.

http://radio.macinmind.com

These archives are served as podcasts.

http://www.botar.us/feeds.html

[Warpy]

22. Oh, yeah, from the time I was an insomniac little kid

with a radio turned really, really low in the wee hours. I loved Amos & Andy, it was better than the TV show; Fibber McGee & Molly, The Shadow. I thought Garner Ted Armstrong was the funniest satire of southern preachers I'd ever heard, imagine my shock and disappointment when someone told me the cat was serious!

Every once in a while I'll go on a jag of listening to them online. I greatly prefer them to TV because I can do something else while listening, I don't have to stare at a screen to follow a plot.

The last time I drove across the country, I lucked into a PBS station down south someplace that was playing a radio drama. I missed the first bit but thoroughly enjoyed the last of it.

Eventually maybe stations will catch a clue and dump right wing hate in favor of playing the old shows. Long distance drivers and people who work in shops making things will greatly appreciate them and the advertisers will suddenly be drowning in mink.

[FSogol]

23. I do. Here's my favorites:

Bob and Ray (These two were the funniest ever. Check them out if you aren't familiar)
Jack Benny
Sherlock Holmes
Johnny Dollar (the man with the action packed expense account!)
Gunsmoke
Fort Laramie
Lux Radio Theater

[el_bryanto]

24. Yes i love old time radio

My favorite show is probably Broadway is my Beat. Very dark at times and atomspheric but strangely poetic as well. I also love the Goon Show and Burns and Allen.

Bryant

[Lee-Lee]

25. Shows like Dragnet offer quite a glimpse into life in the 50's

Until I ended up with a long commute and listening to a lot of that on XM I had no clue about maby things.

How prevelant rooming/boarding houses were in those days. Now when you move out on your own you get an apartment. Back then you rented a room in a boarding house.

If you were poor, then that's how you lived as well.

It's interesting how that has largely disappeared now. You have an apartment or nothing.