I was curious about how other people in this techno age got started listening to OTR. Mine started with my father when I was a kid. He was a kid from pre-WWII radio generation; while most people my age have parents from the baby boom TV generation. He would get cassettes (remember those) of old radio programs from the library and we would listen to them. I've tried to get my kids listening, but with texting, facebook, and i-pods. They never slow down enough to listen.
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For me it started with listening to BBC 7 as it was, I really loved listening to round the horne etc. From there I started searching out old shows online, adding them to my library to listen to later, the more I listened to different stuff the more I became hooked. I mainly go for old comedy & sci/fi but I also have documentaries & drama's as well as audio books.
Earlier this year it had gotten to the point that I had only watched one tv series and a few films in a year! so I got rid of TV altogether, now only having the radio, my itunes library, my 200 disc dvd player (stuffed with old films) and the downloaded media I watch on the ipad mini. I cant see me going back to watching tv stations again to be honest, I'm happy with the radio & old films I have.
Currently I've become interested in film as well so have been hunting out old scifi movies, drama's and films I remember watching as a kid on saturday afternoons on BBC2 & sunday afternoons on BBC1. I adore black & white films so tend to go for them in preference to colour versions, I also find with my photography I prefer to shoot in black and white, I guess those early days had a lasting effect on me.
I use the ipad mini to play them all as they are low resolution and dont hold up well on a larger screen.
I was born in 1956 and my dad told me we heard Johnny Dollar in the car on the way to and from my grandma's house in Sargent, Nebraska. I don't remember exactly, but when I heard the canned theme song it sent chills of remembrance up my spine, so the experience is in there somewhere. I got into comics, science fiction, and monster movies and became hooked on Robert E. Howard and the pulp reprints Bantam produced in the late 60s, haunting drug stores and news stands for books. My dad got the Longine Collection of otr hosted by Jack Benny and he told me about his radio days, but what really sparked my imagination was Jim Harmon's The Great Radio Heroes. Wow! I got to see him at a comicon in Oklahoma City in 1970 and, amid all-night showings of movie serials, I sought out what shows I could. Radio shows were fairly expensive at that time so I didn't buy any. My dad was stationed at Ramstein AFB in Germany and AFN played many shows, some of which I taped. Throughout the 70s and 80s I picked up what I could find in libraries and some mail order. I have adapted several novels and stories for the medium but none have been produced. I'm now working on my master's degree in history at the University of New Mexico and will be entering the Phd. program in Spring 2013. My undergraduate thesis? The Political Life of Orson Welles. My master's thesis? Radio Drama and Propaganda in World War II. My Phd. dissertation? Politics and Radio in Drama and News Broadcasting 1933-47. So you can see, my perspective is pretty much historically based.
The online otr community has been hugely helpful in my work; it has been a community of like-minded friends whose spirit of sharing and generosity should be an inspiration to anyone encountering other communities on the net. I have met many people who have gone out of their way to help me--and Times Past embodies this spirit. I'm very, very grateful to have been accepted into this group.
Radio played a big part in World War II. The programs broadcast on D-Day were 4 months before I was born, so it was good to hear the mood of the country at that time, when I heard them almost 56 years later. Great subjects for your master's thesis and dissertation. Have wondered what part radio propaganda played in World War II.
There are more and more academics writing about the era. Howard Blue's Words at War is an example of a writer that got some help from the otr community.
Words of War is one of the best sites about World War II. I can see how it could inspire a book.
Mike Grasse > Andrew John GodfreyMarch 30, 2012 at 6:41pm
I was born in 1947 and love listening to the news from before then and try to imagine what it was like living those years when the only news available was on the radio.
I grew up with old time radio in the house. I still remember shows like Bob Hope, Dragnet and Don McNeill's Breakfast Club. My mom listened to the soap operas like Just Plain Bill, Stella Dallas, Lorenzo Jones and Pepper Young's Family. When they started selling MP3 old time radio disks on eBay is when I really got started collecting. The shows were so cheap that I had collected over 17,000 shows in two or three years. Not a whole lot at one time, but gradually built the collection.
I joined the Army about 12 days after the last old time radio shows aired on September 30, 1962. I wished I had known the significance of that date or I would have listened to both Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar that day.
Riklaa > Andrew John GodfreyMarch 30, 2012 at 3:47pm
Hi Andrew,
I bet you have listened to those 2 shows since 1962. LOL ------------ Rick
Replies
For me it started with listening to BBC 7 as it was, I really loved listening to round the horne etc.
From there I started searching out old shows online, adding them to my library to listen to later, the more I listened to different stuff the more I became hooked.
I mainly go for old comedy & sci/fi but I also have documentaries & drama's as well as audio books.
Earlier this year it had gotten to the point that I had only watched one tv series and a few films in a year! so I got rid of TV altogether, now only having the radio, my itunes library, my 200 disc dvd player (stuffed with old films) and the downloaded media I watch on the ipad mini.
I cant see me going back to watching tv stations again to be honest, I'm happy with the radio & old films I have.
Currently I've become interested in film as well so have been hunting out old scifi movies, drama's and films I remember watching as a kid on saturday afternoons on BBC2 & sunday afternoons on BBC1.
I adore black & white films so tend to go for them in preference to colour versions, I also find with my photography I prefer to shoot in black and white, I guess those early days had a lasting effect on me.
I use the ipad mini to play them all as they are low resolution and dont hold up well on a larger screen.
I was born in 1956 and my dad told me we heard Johnny Dollar in the car on the way to and from my grandma's house in Sargent, Nebraska. I don't remember exactly, but when I heard the canned theme song it sent chills of remembrance up my spine, so the experience is in there somewhere. I got into comics, science fiction, and monster movies and became hooked on Robert E. Howard and the pulp reprints Bantam produced in the late 60s, haunting drug stores and news stands for books. My dad got the Longine Collection of otr hosted by Jack Benny and he told me about his radio days, but what really sparked my imagination was Jim Harmon's The Great Radio Heroes. Wow! I got to see him at a comicon in Oklahoma City in 1970 and, amid all-night showings of movie serials, I sought out what shows I could. Radio shows were fairly expensive at that time so I didn't buy any. My dad was stationed at Ramstein AFB in Germany and AFN played many shows, some of which I taped. Throughout the 70s and 80s I picked up what I could find in libraries and some mail order. I have adapted several novels and stories for the medium but none have been produced. I'm now working on my master's degree in history at the University of New Mexico and will be entering the Phd. program in Spring 2013. My undergraduate thesis? The Political Life of Orson Welles. My master's thesis? Radio Drama and Propaganda in World War II. My Phd. dissertation? Politics and Radio in Drama and News Broadcasting 1933-47. So you can see, my perspective is pretty much historically based.
The online otr community has been hugely helpful in my work; it has been a community of like-minded friends whose spirit of sharing and generosity should be an inspiration to anyone encountering other communities on the net. I have met many people who have gone out of their way to help me--and Times Past embodies this spirit. I'm very, very grateful to have been accepted into this group.
Radio played a big part in World War II. The programs broadcast on D-Day were 4 months before I was born, so it was good to hear the mood of the country at that time, when I heard them almost 56 years later. Great subjects for your master's thesis and dissertation. Have wondered what part radio propaganda played in World War II.
There are more and more academics writing about the era. Howard Blue's Words at War is an example of a writer that got some help from the otr community.
Words of War is one of the best sites about World War II. I can see how it could inspire a book.
I was born in 1947 and love listening to the news from before then and try to imagine what it was like living those years when the only news available was on the radio.
Mike it is like going back in time. Some of the old radio shows going back into the 20's are 86 years old like Sam N' Henry.
Steve we are glad to have you here in this community also. -------------------------- Rick
I grew up with old time radio in the house. I still remember shows like Bob Hope, Dragnet and Don McNeill's Breakfast Club. My mom listened to the soap operas like Just Plain Bill, Stella Dallas, Lorenzo Jones and Pepper Young's Family. When they started selling MP3 old time radio disks on eBay is when I really got started collecting. The shows were so cheap that I had collected over 17,000 shows in two or three years. Not a whole lot at one time, but gradually built the collection.
I joined the Army about 12 days after the last old time radio shows aired on September 30, 1962. I wished I had known the significance of that date or I would have listened to both Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar that day.
Hi Andrew,
I bet you have listened to those 2 shows since 1962. LOL ------------ Rick
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