How Did You Discover Old Time Radio?

[Harp]

I listened to it when I was a kid. Favorite programs then were The Lone Ranger and Sgt Preston of the Yukon.
karol

...and his dog, Yukon King!

 

[J. M. Stovall]

It was probably the shows "Prairie Home Companion", "This American Life" and general NPR that made me think about listening to old radio. After that I just started buying old Bing Crosby and Bob Hope shows on CD.

 

[K.D. Lightner]

"On Ya Huskies!"

or....

"Well, King, this case is closed."

karol

 

[Hawkcigar]

I remember staying with my grandmother as a kid and one of the local radio stations would play old Lum and Abner shows late on Saturday nights. She would let me stay up late and listen with her. This was around 1970 or so.

The other thing is that at about this same time I heard War Of The Worlds on the radio. My birthday is on October 30th so it made quite an impression on me as a 10 year old. I listened to it again this year on my 46th birthday.

Now that I have developed an interest in old radios, my interest in OTR shows has really increased.

 

[missjo]

I got annoyed by the cds people played at living history and reenactment events.
It was almost like there was nothing else but churchill, hitler and glenn miller on the radio during ww2.
So I started looking for more interesting broadcasts and not so well known music.
Also cd's simply didnt sound right, one song after the other, short breaks inbetween.
So I edited old music and old broadcasts together with some static, interference, etc.
I liked that so much that I have now a collection of thousands of hours of old broadcasts that I play constantly from my 1930s radio.

 

[Fred]

I found out about OTR whilst trying to find info on 'Part 15'.
A few of the stations I found on the web just played OTR & there were a few links to sites you could download free from.

I subscribed to R U Sitting Comfortably for a few months. I was hooked!

Nobody ever warns you that collecting OTR is so adictive. Thankfully its a fairly cheap hobby to enjoy, unlike most of my other interests & it doesn't take up too much space if you are collecting on MP3 encoded CD's.

I find it great on those nights I cant sleep, its almost like being read to when I was a child

I just wish my native BBC programs were copywright free like OTR stuff is.

 

[MKL]

Back in 1985 or so my wifey and I were listening to station in Lubbock, TX in which the station was playing a week's worth of OTR for some special recognition. I am not sure what the recognition was about but I was sure glad we tuned in. Since then I have collected quite a number of OTR programs and listen to them on a regular basis.

 

[Rick Blaine]

My Da' had a midlife crisis

when he was about the age I am now (45 yrs. YIKES!) and began to obsessively collect & endlessly play for us all (Mom, sister & I) The Lone Ranger, Amos & Andy, Allen's Alley, Jack Benny, Fred Allen, Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy...and so on. So my sis & I ended up spending our formative years both in the 70's & the 30's... for which I am now grateful, not only did it give me a greater appreciation & understanding of my parents & the times grew up in but a broader appreciation as well for our country's history, culture & people.

 

[Travis]

One year, when I was about 12, for Christmas my dad got a set of old time radio detective shows on cassette tape. He wasn't really into that sort of thing so it just sat in the closet for a while, than I pulled it out and fell in love with them. Pat Novak For Hire, Phillip Marlowe, Boston Blackie, The Shadow, I could never get enough of that.

 

[Parallel Guy]

Going to college. Too poor to have a tv. Every Sunday some station put on these shows in Bellingham, Washington. I had heard them before but it was then that I finally understood why people used to look forward to their favorite shows.

 

[DeeDub]

The Zoo

Like 52Styleline, I'm old enough to have caught the tail end of it. Not to mention that just about all the TV stars in the 50s and early 60s came from radio. And I enjoyed hearing my Dad's stories about learning how to fix radios so he could build one for his family when they were too poor to buy one.

But, like most people, as good radio shows were replaced by formulaic music playlists, I went along with it. That is, until I discovered the Stanford University radio station, KZSU, (aka The Zoo.) In the late 70s and early 80s, they had the most diverse offerings of any broadcast channel I'd ever heard. In addition to the new music one would expect from a college station, they had plenty of old music and spoken recordings.

I've since switched to XM, but the Zoo seems to still have an eclectic mix. See http://kzsu.stanford.edu/

 

[dhermann1]

I used to listen to Big John and Sparky on the radio when I was a little tyke, maybe 1951. So I started out with old time radio back in the days of old time radio. I think I heard a show callled "When Radio Was" maybe 20 years ago, on some NPR station. I'm pretty sure When Radio Was is still on the air.

 

[Jumpstart]

I used to work late (Playing music), and would listen to talk radio on the drive home. "When Radio Was" would come on, and that half hour went by so enjoyably, I looked forward to my drive home. Then I discovered Radio Classics, and bought OTR from them, and now I have XM radio, primarily for channel 164, XM's OTR channel. I have since started collecting Vintage Radios, and am running a small local OTR radio station, in my neighborhood.

 

[dangerouslyred]

i got started on 40s radio stuff listening to the old rerun late at night on AM and now i have XM so the 40s station is totally awesome. i just love it. and i especially like when they play the news reels from that day one year from the decade. they're fun to listen to.

 

[nulty]

The local NPR plays old radio every night from 8pm to midnight. I've been listening for years.

 

[Brian Sheridan]

As a child, back in the late 1970's, I listen to the "CBS Radio Mystery Theater." I then saw an ad for old radio cassettes from a company called "Radio Reruns" and LPs from "Radiola Records." After buying some of those old radio shows, I became hooked!

 

[ScionPI2005]

My parents got me a few radio show tapes probably ten years ago for Christmas. One was The Shadow and the other was Suspense. I used to listen to those two tapes over and over again.

Fast forward about five years from then and I purchased an MP3 CD of Richard Diamond radio shows on ebay. I was looking for detective stuff and came across it and decided to give it a try.

Now fast forward the last five years and here I am with nearly 2000 shows in my collection ranging from Ozzie and Harriett, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Smiths of Hollywood, Rocky Fortune, Johnny Dollar, The Shadow, Suspense, Sam Spade, Phillip Marlowe, Inner Sanctum, Richard Diamond, Campbell Playhouse, Lux Radio, and who knows how many others. I guess you could say I'm hooked.

 

[jazzzbaby]

I discovered it on AM radio after I had made the choice
to nix my cable completely. It was the best discovery!
The theater of the mind came to life.

 

[Marko]

Ira Blue

"Does anybody remember Ira Blue? His theme music was 'Rhapsody in Blue' and I can't hear that without thinking of him." --Tony in Tarzana


Yes! In 1966 and '67 I was a kid with my first transistor radio; I'd would listen late at night from Monterey. "This is Ira Blue from the Hungry i." Ira Blue had a distinctive voice, and I loved hearing his programs.

 

[Chas]

I was born into a family with a love of culture and with long memories.

My parents were from the depression/WW2 generation; they used to talk alot about popular culture of that era. It was fun; except when they used to whupp me, my brothers and my friends' butts at "Trivial Persuit". It was sad to watch.

I remember once, Dad was in the kitchen with mum (dad was working on his custom fishing rods, mum was tidying up) and they were talking about "The Shadow"

dad: "who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men?"
mum: "the shadow knows.....heh heh heh heh heeeeh....."