American Radio

[stephen]

Anyone interested in Old Time American Radio in the UK.

[Frederick Thompson]

I am a bit and there appears to be plenty of stuff on the net to buy including quite long series or seasons.

I remember hearing Superman and Tom Corbett in Hobart, Tasmania in 1953-4.

However, you remind me that there is an Oldie AM Radio Station in Los Angeles, which started in 2004, broadcasting on 1222 kHz or thereabouts. When I was there it was broadcasting old plays and serials in the evenings. Its usual daytime output was music. I do not know if it webcasts so I will try and find out.

[Frederick Thompson]

Dear Stephen W,
Thanks for information, new to me.

[Wright Blan]

There's a lot that has been preserved, but there's still a ton that either wasn't or hasn't turned up yet. I looked up a sight about The Shadow and found that there was a ton of it missing. Same with the Jack Benny Show.

[peterconvery]

May 4, 2005 12:12:50 GMT Frederick Thompson said:

I am a bit and there appears to be plenty of stuff on the net to buy including quite long series or seasons.

I remember hearing Superman and Tom Corbett in Hobart, Tasmania in 1953-4.

However, you remind me that there is an Oldie AM Radio Station in Los Angeles, which started in 2004, broadcasting on 1222 kHz or thereabouts. When I was there it was broadcasting old plays and serials in the evenings. Its usual daytime output was music. I do not know if it webcasts so I will try and find out.

Wouldn't that have the Aussie version of Superman though. I don't think tye USA one was sold abroad

[Stephen Byers]

OTRR - Massive interest with a huge archive at Archive.org Regular distros circulated for free. See Facebook

m.facebook.com/groups/1677714482510214/

They have an active FB group, and also an IO Groups mailing list.

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[sonnybh]

It's interesting what American radio has survived, I've heard of shows the Lux Radio Theatre being sold abroad.

[Stuart Monk]

A few Lux Theatre and the like were broadcast on Radio 4 as the Saturday afternoon drama in the late 90s and I still remember how exciting it felt to discover that the old Radio 5 (on Medium Wave/AM!) was playing the Orson Welles 'War of the Worlds' at Christmas in 1992!
Conversely, some BBC broadcasts survive purely because they were recorded from Short Wave broadcasts for American listeners.
There was a US series of Hercule Poirot episodes in the 40s, the first of which was meant to be introduced by a live chat with Agatha Christie via SW but there's just dead air as the connection failed - the announcer jumps in with a pre-recorded interview, instead...

[Ed Brown]

There have been editions of 'Lux Presents... Hollywood' aired on 4 Extra.


Here are some broadcast quality recordings of American old-time radio on the BBC:

archive.org/details/USA-Golden-Age-of-Radio


... and here are the original Lux shows from the 1930s and '40s -

archive.org/details/Lux01


CBS insisted on a host who personified the dignity and prestige of Hollywood, and determined that legendary 54 year old producer-director Cecil B. DeMille was the man, signing DeMille for $2,000 a week, then convincing the film studios to get behind the show.

On June 1st 1936, announcer Melville Ruick was first heard to say, “LUX…presents Hollywood!” and the premiere broadcast from the Music Box Theater at Hollywood & Vine was underway, with Clark Gable and Marlene Dietrich in The Legionnaire & The Lady, based on the 1930 film Morocco.

Lux followed-up in succeeding weeks with William Powell and Myrna Loy recreating their movie roles as Nick & Nora Charles in The Thin Man, and Burlesque starring Al Jolson and his wife, Ruby Keeler. Ratings increased nearly 30% in the month when radio listenership traditionally declined for the summer, and CBS knew they had a winner.


And for film noir fans, here is Ed Bishop as Philip Marlowe, in Raymond Chandler's greatest classics, from The Big Sleep to Farewell My Lovely --

archive.org/details/philip-marlowe