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Ye Olde Tyme Radio shows. I looked in RGD and didn't see anything obviously for the olde tymey radio shows so heres a thread for it. What the hell are radio "shows"? Is that like a podcast? Not exactly. Before TV was wide spread, radio was the main form of mass entertainment in the developed world. And as such there were all sorts of programs. These days most radio is music, sports, religion and news. Back in ye olden dayes there was a whole lot of other content on the radio. Dramas, mystery, comedy, westerns, action, sci-fi, adventures and a whole gang of other poo poo that I probably can't even think of. I guess in a way, the old radio shows could be likened to Audio books. But rather than being an entire novel they were more like short stories. Most of the ones that I've heard range from about 15 minutes to half an hour. I'm sure there are some that were longer, and maybe even some shorter ones. I feel like some of the comedies may have ranged up to an hour, but I'm not as familiar with them. My personal favorites are a western and a Mystery type show. First: Frontier Gentleman, this series didn't last very long, only about 40-50 episodes. Starring John Dehner as J B Kendall its the tales of an English newspaper reporter on assignment in the American Frontier. The task is to travel around the "west" and send stories back to his employer, the (probably fictitious) newspaper, the London Times. In his travels he met William Bonnie Aka Billy The Kid, Wild Bill Hicock, Calamity Jane, and Jesse James, as well as numerous fictional personalities. The other one, a mystery type show: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. This one had a couple different incarnations. The first one as a private detective. The second one, the one I'm familiar with, and also the most well known incarnation the main character, played by Bob Bailey is "the insurance investigator with the action packed expense account". Episodes were usually about 15 minutes long and broadcast 5 days a week. Monday to Friday I'd assume. Each day was fifteen minutes of the story, and each story was typically 5 parts, thus the Monday to Friday format. Episodes were usually called "The ______ Matter" For example "The Todd Matter" or "The Lansing Fraud Matter". Most stories would start Dollar recieving a phone call from an insurance company outlining a claim that they needed investigated. Stolen Jewelry, a suspicious death, or some other type of suspected fraud that the insurance company would want investigated. From then on Johnny Dollar travels to various locales in the U.S. and beyond to investigate. Every so often you would hear him add to his list of expenses "Item 1 XXdollars, plane/train/taxi fare to (location)" for example Or later on "Item 10 XX dollars, hotel room in (city where investigation takes place)" and so on. Stories would conclude with closing remarks from Dollar himself as the narrator to wrap everything up. These are the two series that I'm most familiar with but there are a ton of other ones ranging from sci-fi to comedy, drama, adventure and more. Gunsmoke: Another western starring William Conrad as Marshall Matt Dillon of "Dodge". I haven't gotten too many episodes in to this one yet, but it ran from 1952-1961. There was ofcourse the long running TV series as well of the same name with Matt Dillon telling people to "get the motherfuck out of Dodge ya fucker", or something along those lines..... Where can I listen to some of these stories/shows? Well, Sirius/XM radio has the Radio Classics channel. Thats where I was introduced to these shows but for those of you who don't have that, you can try looking at some local AM radio station programming schedules and see what they're playing for an actual authentic "listening to it on the radio" experience. In my area I've found that the following stations play some of the old shows: AM 900 CHML Hamilton Ont. AM 740 CFZM Toronto Ont. AM 1540 CHIN Toronto Ont. Of course, just about anything can be found on youtube these days and there is a wide selection of shows to choose from. Some of it is even free to download if you look in the right place. A lot of it is probably public domain these days, but some may not be. I'm not sure if its considered  to point people to where these things can be downloaded, so I won't post any links. Suffice it to say they aren't hard to find....Goons, feel free to post up any that you like. I know a couple mentioned in another thread they were fans of some of the comedies, others, the sci-fi and so on. Ya'll are welcome to add anything you like here. wesleywillis fucked around with this message at 01:01 on Oct 11, 2020 |
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Oct 11, 2020 00:58
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That's probably why I like Johnny dollar so much. The episodes don't really drag. They're trying to tell so much in each segment but not to the point of ramming everything down your throat in rapid succession. It's fast but not too fast.
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Oct 11, 2020 02:35
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Lumbermouth posted:The 5 part Bob Bailey episodes of Johnny Dollar are a masterclass in radio drama writing and pacing. Like I genuinely don’t think there’s a bad one, but I still recommend folks listen to the Open Town Matter and the Invincible Mike Matter. I specifically checked out the Clinton Matter on youtube and of course one of the comments was: Patrick Lee Patrick Lee 4 months ago Pretty ironic that the town of Clinton is corrupt! 5 REPLY
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Oct 12, 2020 13:27
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Youth Decay posted:Not in the same vein as radio dramas, but still old time radio related, Orson Welles' 1946 Commentaries should be required listening https://archive.org/details/1946OrsonWellesCommentaries/ Especially The Affadavit of Isaac Woodward, holy poo poo that hits hard even by 2020 standards. I'll check that poo poo out this weekend if I get the chance. Or some of it anyway. Speaking of Orson Welles I downloaded war of the worlds a while back. Iirc it was broadcast on the night before Halloween in whatever year. I'm saving it to listen to on the 30th this month.
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Oct 15, 2020 01:42
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I haven't listened to too many episodes of gun smoke yet but I have noticed that Matt Dillon can kinda be a bit of a dick to Chester. I guess that's why it was a drama rather than a comedy.......
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Oct 15, 2020 19:44
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Are you talking like they're podcasts where people are talking about stuff or actual "episodes" with scripts/story lines and whatnot? If they're stories in a similar vein to the oldies, then yeah bring them on.
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Oct 17, 2020 17:12
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Ok. If theres a thread for the "new" stuff already, then yeah maybe keep the new with the new and the old with the old. I didn't know there was the "podcast drama" thread, but that sounds a bit more appropriate for the new stuff.
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Oct 17, 2020 17:31
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gently caress. I don't want to be thread hitler because I just don't want to be a meanie. How about we just use our own discretion to decide what to post and not to post in here. Like say if its a Podcast type dealie with a more modern feel/sound to it, then post up in the serialized podcast thread, but if its done "in the spirit/style of" an old time radio program then put it here? What say you goons?
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Oct 17, 2020 21:42
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Does anyone know this one? I want to say it was an episode of X minus one, but maybe not. Maybe that was more of a space Sci-fi vs Earth Sci-Fi. I heard it a couple times back in the spring, around the anniversary of Lincoln getting capped. It was some sort of sci-fi program, with the episode taking place in whatever year the show was produced, probably the 40s or 50s. Some scientist guy built a time machine of sorts wherein the user went back in time and assumed the body of a person at or near where they were at the time of their arrival in the past The caveat being, I guess, that if the person who's body you assume had a weak mind/personality, you could control that body and do whatever, but if they had a strong mind/personality, you could only basically go along for the ride, and if you died while in that body, then there was no way for you to come back to the present. So to experiment, science guy sends another guy (guy #2) back in time to a very specific date in about 1918 or so. The place, and date where his (guy #2) father met his mother. As it turns out, guy #2 assumes the body of his father, and in order to not gently caress things up he goes inside and asks his mom out on a date, just the way his parents told him it happened back on (date), 1918. Science guy's ultimate goal was to prevent the assassination of Lincoln. When guy #2 gets back to the present, science guy convinces him to go back in time to try and prevent it from happening. So they go to Ford's theatre, and science guy activates the time machine. Guy #2 is transported back in time and inhabits the body of "someone" who was in Ford's Theatre near the time of the assassination. The script turns to Guy#2, now in 1865 talking to a couple ushers or employees (I forget exactly) at the theatre and at one point, just before the end of the show he asks them something like "Have y'all motherfucks seen John Wilkes Booth around"? They chuckle and Guy#2 walks away and the two theatre employees are all like "well that was a weird thing for John to ask". Implying of course that he took over the body of John Wilkes Booth. The episode ends right about there. Anyone know which show that was from?
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Oct 24, 2020 04:15
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^^^^ I figured it out. The Mysterious Traveller It was called "The Man Who Tried To Save Lincoln" A link for anyone who wants to listen: https://www.oldtimeradiodownloads.com/thriller/mysterious-traveler-the/mysterious-traveler-50-02-07-241-the-man-who-tried-to-save-lincoln Listened to War Of The Worlds last night. I think I might have been a bit disappointed. Don't get me wrong, it was GOOD, but perhaps having heard about it and the surrounding hype maybe I was expecting too much. I think my favorite part was in the last third or so of the story, when its being narrated from a few days later and one guy (Orson Welles) was thinking he was the only man left alive until he comes across some guy who was all like "We 'gon take back o'er them marshinz and then we gon' take over the res' of the world", and dude (narrator) was all kinda like  and GTFO only to make it to New York City and see a whole bunch of the Martian Spaceships in Central Park.
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Oct 31, 2020 19:04
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Goddam, I just took a quick glance at that page and holy gently caress is it ever........ 20 years ago looking. They just needed a hit counter for the authentic 1998-2004 internet experience.
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Nov 1, 2020 17:38
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Last night I listened to two episodes of Frontier Gentleman that I thought were both pretty good. I don't want to give away too much of the plots, so I'll try to only give a few details. "The Cat Man" About an Irish dude who is a "cat salesman" And "The Wonder Boy" who is fast as gently caress with a gun, but only when he's not under pressure. Worthwhile listens. THe first one is kinda funny, while the second one seems more of a morality tale.
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Dec 6, 2020 20:00
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RandomFerret posted:Sirius XM has a channel that's just old radio dramas 24/7, and first I heard this while taking a long night drive. I was loving rivited. FilthyImp posted:Man, if y'all are going John Dehner then how can you skip Have Gun, Will Travel where he plays the errant knight gunslinger Paladin, working out of his San Francisco hotel replete with racist-rear end bellhop Hey Boy. I haven't listened to much of the dramas lately, but thats on my list of things to get to, I downloaded about 100ish episodes of HGWT a while back, and thats coming up when I finish with the aforementioned Frontier Gent, and get further through my collection of Johnny Dollar. I'm trying to not listen to more than two series at a time so I don't confuse things too badly. "FG" only had about 50ish episodes and I'm nearly done them.
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Dec 12, 2020 17:30
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FilthyImp posted:Some of the smaller series are real interesting. ^^^ I just heard him on the Six Shooter a day or two ago On Sirius. Also saw him in the movie Its a Wonderful Life last night. And the radio version of that movie on my drive today. The Angel, or the wannabe Angel sounded like Elmer Fudd. Speaking of that, anyone catch any christmasy Olde Tymey shows? Like I mentioned, I heard Jimmy Stewart in the radio version of Its A Wonderful Life. Also heard a few different versions of A Christmas Carol. Including one reading that I swear has Captain Picard doing it. I know, not "old" but still it was good. This version was more of a reading of the book with Picard doing everything vs some of the other versions I've heard with multiple people doing characters and voices. Also pretty sure one of the Christmas Carol versions was narrated by Orson Welles. Miracle On 34th Street wasn't bad either.
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Dec 26, 2020 05:04
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drat! I never really thought about checking out any books about it. A quick google doesn't really bring much up but websites. There are a few books for sale here, but I think they might be more like transcriptions of shows more so than a history of Radio shows. http://www.radiospirits.com/P2Brows...books&selSort=0
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Feb 23, 2021 22:58
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Not lately, but I've heard a few episodes of this show on Satellite radio. It was pretty good.
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Mar 1, 2021 19:18
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Haven't been listening to much lately, but I'm home sick from work today, so I've been listening to a few episodes of Frontier Gentleman. Almost finished the series as there were only about 40 episodes. Heard one that was kinda  in a way. Episode was called "nasty people". Link to youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AsX7PAwSv2o
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Mar 1, 2021 20:50
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Bringing this thread back from the dead(OOOOOOOOOO SPOOKY!!!) on Halloween. Currently listening to The Mercury Theater's production of Dracula on Satellite Radio. Missed the first half of the first part, and now on part 2. I've read the book, and seen the movie with Bela Lugosi, and they were both good but very different. From what I've heard thus far, this production follows the book closer than the movie did. Though it's been several years since I read the book so maybe its not that close at all. None the less, very interesting show thus far. Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mercury_Theatre_on_the_Air#Episodes Looks like you can listen to it here: https://orsonwelles.indiana.edu/items/show/1961 E: Apparently Frankenstein is up next. wesleywillis fucked around with this message at 02:06 on Nov 1, 2021 |
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Nov 1, 2021 01:47
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FilthyImp posted:Last night they did a 2 parter with Orson on Donovan's Brain that was pretty cool. I heard The Thing On The Fourble Board on the highway today! It made an uneventful, somewhat monotonous drive pretty interesting. One interesting thing about that was the narrator talking about how they drilled like 7000 feet one time and that was a record, and then one time someone drilled 10,000 feet!!!!! I guess oil was a lot easier to find in those days. These days some wells are tens of thousands of feet (though some of that might be horizontal) E: just googled the title and found this: https://www.quietplease.org/forum/general/the-thing-on-the-fourble-board-questions-184.html wesleywillis fucked around with this message at 02:42 on Nov 1, 2021 |
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Nov 1, 2021 02:40
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The Screaming Skull, like you mean the super budget rear end movie from the 50s? gently caress, I think i remember seeing that on Off Beat Cinema like 20 years ago.
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Nov 1, 2021 23:02
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Was bored and scrolling through fakebook and saw a link for this poo poo right here: https://rumseyretro.ca/ I haven't had a chance to listen yet as I just saw it, but it seems to be a Canadian radio station from Alberta that plays nothing but ye olde radio shows. Can be listened to online.
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Jul 21, 2022 11:51
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I was listening to the radio last night while in bed and heard this episode of Suspense. Starring Lucille Ball. A Little Piece Of Rope. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgdRPvBo32U Lucille Ball plays some sort of scammer type who just happens to encounter a murderer whose calling card is strangling victims with a short piece of rope. She tries to blackmail him but it doesn't go quite as planned.
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Sep 8, 2022 03:05
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It seems like just about any show you want is on the Internet archive. Or internetarchive.com or some poo poo.
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Sep 12, 2022 19:01
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Thats probably true, like how many radio shows (dramas, comedy, mystery etc..) since the dawn of radio?
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Sep 12, 2022 22:55
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When I'm out driving around if I'm listening to the Radio Classics channel on Satellite radio, if theres something that I am liking but don't have the chance to listen to the whole thing because I've arrived at my destination or turned to it halfway through the story I'll usually take a picture of the screen so I can remember the name of the show and the episode. Here's a couple that I recently did that with and finally got a chance to listen to. Dark Fantasy: The Edge Of The Shadow https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j821EM46FaE A farmer has a dream that one of his hands wants to kill him and marry his wife, but it was just a dream. OR WAS IT??? Suspense: On a Country Road https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEDaE21K1fs A couple is driving down a country road at night during a thunder storm and run out of gas. And there is an escaped mental patient on the loose in the area.......
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Dec 11, 2022 05:15
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Speaking of Suspense, this was the next episode that came up on youtube after the Country Road episode: The House In Cypress Canyon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CX-HJbwumI Its kinda difficult to summarize the plot, but the howling is fuckin creepy as gently caress.
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Dec 11, 2022 06:21
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I just listened to it. It was pretty drat good. Once again, like I mentioned in my other post the screaming/howling was creepy as hell.
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Dec 11, 2022 19:03
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Sone of those old ads are pretty interesting. I forget if it's have gun will travel or gun smoke, but one if them is sponsored by Kent cigarettes. The ads make a big deal about how good they filter. Recently in the OSHA thread in GBS, someone posted an old(?) Picture of Kent cigarettes and they were apparently using asbestos in the filters.
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Jan 10, 2023 22:13
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Its spooky month here and I'm not just going to shamelessy bump my thread for no reason, anybody got any good spooky poo poo to listen to?
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Oct 24, 2023 17:52
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wesleywillis posted:When I'm out driving around if I'm listening to the Radio Classics channel on Satellite radio, if theres something that I am liking but don't have the chance to listen to the whole thing because I've arrived at my destination or turned to it halfway through the story I'll usually take a picture of the screen so I can remember the name of the show and the episode. Finally got around to listening to Escape: Occurrence At Owl Creek Bridge. The YANKEES trick a good southern gentleman in to trying to destroy a bridge to "stop the Yankees from running a train over it with supplies". Dude gets hanged for his efforts. Or does he?
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Dec 28, 2023 04:42
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Holy gently caress, how long did that take you?
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Dec 30, 2023 15:53
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Currently listening to Suspense, Ep43 "Sorry Wrong Number". A woman tries to call her husband at his office, but the operator dials a wrong number and she over hears people planning a murder of a woman thats supposed to look like a robbery. I'm only 10 minutes in to this and I think that she did infact get the right number and the guy on the phone was someone her husband knew, at his office talking to someone else on the other end (not her husband duh) about planning HER murder. I won't give it away.
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Jan 18, 2024 00:45
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DrVenkman posted:I'm almost certain that ended up being adapted into a movie. But there are a number of 'Person uses telephone and accidentally overhears nefarious plot' stories out there. Probably. I'm pretty sure it was redone on other radio shows as well. A bunch of times.
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Jan 18, 2024 18:24
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It seemed pretty well known based on the comments. Lots of people mentioning that they were listening as part of a (drama?) School assignment.
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Jan 28, 2024 19:55
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