History and Old Time Radio

[Andrew John Godfrey]

Old time radio not only broadcast comedies, detective shows, thrillers and music programs, but also broadcast informational programming like Biography In Sound, which consisted of one hour-long broadcasts about famous politicians and personalities in history.The show was broadcast from 1954-1958.

For instance you can listen to shows featuring the life of Babe Ruth, then listen to Franklin Delano Roosevelt life story. Right now I have a Connie Mack program lined up in my MP3 player to play.

Last week I listened to story of Ernie Pyle the war correspondent, who lived with American troops mostly in the European theater. The broadcast features people who remember him as a kid and as an adult.

The list of shows represents a large spectrum of authors, presidents, entertainers and even the elderly painter Grandma Moses.

Readers can view the list of show at: http://www.archive.org/details/BiographiesInSound

Cavalcade of America was the longest running historical old-time radio show. It ran from 1935-1953. There are as many as 741 episodes available today.

If you would rather just listen to a few free shows online you can enjoy listening to episodes like Here Is Your War, with James Gleason portraying war correspondent Ernie Pyle and telling the story of the American soldier in combat.

The list of shows at archive.org gives an idea of how many different topics are covered in the show that ran 18 years.

http://www.archive.org/details/OTRR_Cavalcade_of_America_Singles

Mister President is a drama in which Edward Arnold portrayed a different president each week. The show ran from 1947-1953. Listeners asked to guess which president was being represented in each episode. Almost all the presidents in the series were in office in the 18th and 19th centuries.

I listened to the President James Polk episode last week and thoroughly enjoyed Arnold’s portrayal of President Polk.

Archive.org has this list of free shows to listen to. The shows can be downloaded, then uploaded into an MP3 player:

http://www.archive.org/details/Mister_President