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On the Air - The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio - Get it for $22.50 - was $75.00

Posted by Robert on November 23, 2008 at 9:00pm

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I do not know for how long, but right now On the Air - The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio can be had for $22.50, regularly $75.00, from Oxford University Press. It is on my Christmas list. Description "Now long out of print, John Dunning's Tune in Yesterday was the definitive one-volume reference on old-time radio broadcasting. Now, in On the Air , Dunning has completely rethought this classic work, reorganizing the material and doubling its coverage, to provide a richer and more informative account of radio's golden age. Here are some 1,500 radio shows presented in alphabetical order. The great programs of the '30s, '40s, and '50s are all here--Amos 'n' Andy, Fibber McGee and Molly, The Lone Ranger, Major Bowes' Original Amateur Hour , and The March of Time , to name only a few. For each, Dunning provides a complete broadcast history, with the timeslot, the network, and the name of the show's advertisers. He also lists major cast members, announcers, producers, directors, writers, and sound effects people--even the show's theme song. There are also umbrella entries, such as "News Broadcasts," which features an engaging essay on radio news, with capsule biographies of major broadcasters, such as Lowell Thomas and Edward R. Murrow. Equally important, Dunning provides a fascinating account of each program, taking us behind the scenes to capture the feel of the performance, such as the ghastly sounds of Lights Out (a horror drama where heads rolled and bones crunched), and providing engrossing biographies of the main people involved in the show. A wonderful read for everyone who loves old-time radio, On the Air is a must purchase for all radio hobbyists and anyone interested in 20th-century American history. It is an essential reference work for libraries and radio stations." Get if from Oxford University Press
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A Prairie Home Companion - The News from Lake Wobegon

Posted by Robert on November 17, 2008 at 6:30pm
Featured on left side of TimesPast Main Page is podcast segments of shows for listening or downloading. Below is a clip of highlights and some show descriptions. Visit web site to listen to the full segments of all the shows and their archives.
November 1, 2008 This week on A Prairie Home Companion we're back in St. Paul at the Fitzgerald Theater, with hard-driving string band Pert' Near Sandstone, Rich Dworsky and The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, and The Royal Academy of Radio Acting; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Tom Keith. Join us this week, before the snow flies. November 8, 2008 Coming to you this week from the Fitzgerald Theater, we've got Dobro daredevil Jerry Douglas with grand champion fiddler Luke Bulla, singers Jearlyn Steele, Kari Shaw, Andra Suchy, Joanna Jahn, the Royal Academy of Radio Acting; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Tom Keith, Rich Dworsky and The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band, and much more. Join us this week for a post-election live broadcast performance. November 15, 2008 This week on A Prairie Home Companion, we've stumbled into grace with very special guest, Emmylou Harris and her notorious Nashville band. Also with us, live from the Fitzgerald Theater, bluesman Spider John Koerner, The Royal Academy of Radio Acting: Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Tom Keith, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band with sole man Pat Donohue, and our happy host, an escapee from the silent generation, Garrison Keillor. THIS WEEK'S SHOW
Kristin Andreassen Kristin Andreassen
November 22, 2008

This week on A Prairie Home Companion, live from the Fitzgerald Theater, we've got the inimitable singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and percussive dancer Kristin Andreassen. Also with us, The Royal Academy of Radio Actors; Tim Russell, Sue Scott, and Tom Keith, The Guy's All-Star Shoe Band with maestro Richard Dworsky, and much more.

http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/
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Podcast 13

Posted by Estleman on November 10, 2008 at 3:27am
It's the second (and only other) episode of the unaired Conan radio series, taken from our Sci-Fi and Fantasy Group.The podcast can be found here: http://otrtimespast.blip.tv/file/1450992/
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Books About the Golden Age of Radio

Posted by Robert on November 6, 2008 at 6:22am
1. Sound and Fury By Francis Chase Jr. Harper, 1942 Francis Chase Jr. wrote his "informal history of broadcasting" at a time when broadcasting meant one thing: radio. With our lives now bombarded by television, satellite radio, the Internet and cellphones, it is difficult to imagine the technological breakthrough that radio represented and how it transfixed listeners. "Sound and Fury" beautifully captures the significance of radio's arrival and conveys a deep appreciation for the creative geniuses -- Fred Allen, Jack Benny and countless others -- whose radio shows were a watershed of American entertainment. Chase is astute in his appraisals of the earliest radio pioneers, and he wisely perceives that President Roosevelt's "fireside chats" in the 1930s heralded a serious new role for a medium that had once been thought strictly meant for diversion. The people Chase writes about, many of whom have been forgotten, and the conversational narrative style of the book, almost make it seem that you are listening to a great radio show. 2. A Tower in Babel By Erik Barnouw Oxford, 1966 The first of the three volumes in Erik Barnouw's towering "A History of Broadcasting in the United States" takes the reader back to the late-19th century, when scientists experimented with technology that would allow them to send sound electrically through the air. His descriptions of the earliest efforts of Guglielmo Marconi, Reginald Fessenden and other inventors bring those brilliant men to life and clearly explain the complex science involved. Though it has been used as a textbook, "A Tower in Babel" is also a model of historical storytelling and provides a fine underpinning of modern broadcasting. 3. Raised on Radio By Gerald Nachman Pantheon, 1998 Gerald Nachman was hooked on radio from an early age, and his love of the medium comes through on every page of "Raised on Radio." He describes the book as "a kind of memoir in that many of the shows within these pages were more real to me than my own life." Each chapter is devoted to a particular type of show -- the chapter called "Saddle Sore" discusses western dramas like "The Lone Ranger," while "Nesting Instincts" deals with domestic comedies. "Fibber McGee and Molly," he tells us, "seamlessly blended vaudeville high jinks with radio's cozier atmospherics." In addition to conjuring what it was like to sit at home and feel riveted by the stories emanating from the big box that dominated the living room, Nachman interviews many of the old radio writers and performers, who only enhance the sense that there was a certain magic in that vanished time. 4. Crosley By Rusty McClure Clerisy, 2006 Crosley is a highly recognized name in Cincinnati, not just because the Reds baseball team used to play at Crosley Field but also because two brothers, Powel and Lewis Crosley, built a radio business that helped spawn an entire national industry. Powel was the inventor, Lewis the businessman; together they made fortunes early in the 20th century selling auto parts and manufacturing radios. In the 1920s, the Crosleys started a small radio station, WLW, in Cincinnati -- and that's when the story turns fascinating. The book relates how a single company, and a city not located on either coast, could play a central role in radio's development. In 1934, calculating that if stations had stronger signals, then the Crosleys could build radios that were less expensive but still received broadcasts, the brothers were temporarily given permission to turn WLW into a 500,000-watt powerhouse. Author Rusty McClure, writing with David Stern and Michael A. Banks, excels in placing the brothers' pioneering accomplishments within the context of U.S. society in the 1920s and '30s, and the book sheds welcome light on the lives of two important but underappreciated figures of American business. 5. On the Air By John Dunning Oxford, 1998 John Dunning's "encyclopedia of old-time radio" is an invaluable resource about the performers, shows, sponsors, history and influence of the medium. We start alphabetically with "The A&P Gypsies" ("exotic music with a nomadic motif; one of radio's earliest, most distinctive programs") and end in "Zorro" country, finding along the way engagingly written entries that reflect a savviness about the shows themselves and their significance to audiences at the time. And Dunning is thorough: The entries include vital information about when and where shows were broadcast, who starred in them, who led the orchestra and other details that any radio fanatic will relish. Essays spread throughout this dense volume provide a commanding overview of the complexities of an entire industry at the height of its influence. From Wall Street Journal
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New Podcast

Posted by Estleman on November 4, 2008 at 10:42am
It's been a long time since we've had a Sherlock Holmes show on the podcast, so the Rathbone/Bruce show The Adventure of the Superfluous Pearl from, of course, The Definitive Sherlock Holmes page has been added at:http://otrtimespast.blip.tv/file/1420375/
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