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BlindNews:Old-Time Radio Shows and Newsreels Available for Free Download
Old-Time Radio Shows and Newsreels Available for Free Download
10/31/2006
From: The Fred's Head Companion
By: Michael McCarty
Submitted by BlindNews Mailing List
Network radio in the United States really began when the National
Broadcasting Company (NBC) assembled it's first line-up of stations
in 1926. The Columbia Phonograph Broadcasting System (it soon dropped
the word Phonograph and become the CBS we know today) followed
shortly thereafter. NBC-Red, NBC-Blue and CBS, along with the younger
Mutual Network, were to dominate the airwaves throughout the
remainder of the Golden Age of Radio. In 1943 NBC was compelled by a
court decision to divest itself of it's Blue Network. After the sale,
it eventually became the American Broadcasting Company (ABC).
Network radio provided free entertainment and amused a nation during
a decade of economic hardship in the 1930s, and bound the nation
together during the harrowing years of the Second World War. (If
you're interested in WWII news broadcasts, may I suggest you visit
Echoes of the Past.)
LINK:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~irvmitchell/gene/echoes.html
In addition to news - the broadcasting of history as it happens -
network radio often looked to the past for source material. A unique,
and honored, series was "Cavalcade of America," sponsored through its
long-run by DuPont. The program brought American history to life by
presenting big, and little, stories from the nation's past. Shows
were done before a studio audience and cast members dressed in
costumes appropriate to the period of the story being aired.
Jack Benny
Jack Benny was the master of radio comedy and the master of comic timing.
From the first broadcast of his first series for Canada Dry, Jack
thrived in a 30-minute format. During his first few seasons, in shows
for various sponsors, he slowly acquired the cast that would remain
with him for many years . . . Mary Livingstone, Don Willson, Phil
Harris, Kenny Baker (later replaced by Dennis Day) and a supporting
cast including Mel Blanc, Frank Nelson, Benny Rubin, Sheldon Leonard
and Bea Benaderet.
By the time Jello took over sponsorship of the show, Jack was a
Sunday night institution, and would remain so until 1955 (and for
several years thereafter via transcriptions). Jack's association with
Jello was so ingrained that even though Jello ceased to be his
sponsor after 1942, he could get a laugh with a Jello joke right up
to his death in 1974.
In 1942, his show became a vehicle for Grape Nuts and Grape Nuts
Flakes for two seasons. And in the fall of 1944 he begain touting
Lucky Strike cigarettes. Jack Benny's Lucky Strike years are the best
of the best in radio comedy. The humorous commercials became integral
to the program. So much has been lost in recent years because
over-the-air rebroadcasts of his show strip out the tobacco
advertising for legal reasons. Often guest stars, including Humphrey
Bogart, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Dorothy Kirsten, et. al., would take
part in the commercial hijinks.
The fun continued on Sunday nights until May 1955 when Jack ended his
weekly radio series. His efforts on television (in a series, then on
a special basis) continued until 1974. Another special scheduled for
1975 was in the planning stages at the time of his death in December 1974.
OTR Sites of Interest
The following is a list of internet sites with free old-time radio
programs that you can download to your computer or portible MP3 device.
Captain Midnight A history of the series and many ra episodes
http://www.otr.com/midnight.html
Dave's Old Time Radio Trading Post
http://www.tapemngl.com/otr/download.htm
Echoes of the Past WWII era newscasts and clips
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~irvmitchell/gene/echoes.html
Evan's Gallery of OTR Broadcasts "Dimension X," "X Minus One,"
"Mystery Theater"
http://www.xminusone.com/
EY's Audio Links A ton of links
http://users2.ev1.net/~ey/audio.html
floorten.com Internet audio s.f. dramas
http://floorten.com/
Generic Radio Workshop Radio script collection
http://www.genericradio.com/
Green Acres Home Page Dedicated to the TV and radio series
http://www.maggiore.net/greenacres/
Jezner.com
http://www.jezner.com/old_time_radio/
Mercury Theatre on the Air, The Dozens of classic Orson Welles productions
http://www.unknown.nu/mercury/
Munich Crisis With newsclips from the 1938 crisis
http://www.otr.com/munich.html
Old Time Radio Line-Up, The
http://angelfire.com/il2/otr/
Old Time Radio Show Server
http://senior.billings.k12.mt.us/cgi-bin/otrvdyn.pl
One Act Players, The
http://www.oneact.org/
OTR Vault, The Thousands of shows
http://www.oldtimeradiovault.com/
Plot Spot, The Guide to OTR plots
http://www.otrplotspot.com/
Quiet Please
http://www.quietplease.org/
Radio Theater on the Web Links to contemporary sites
http://www.greatnorthernaudio.com/audio_theater/radio_theater.html
Robert Dickson's Goon Show mp3 Page
http://www.alphalink.com.au/~robertd/GoonShowmp3.html
RUSC Old Time Radio Over 3,000 shows in mp3 and growing daily
http://www.rusc.com/
SnaPs HOt's Place
http://www.xs4all.nl/~ahofman/otr/otr.htm
Sound Portraits - The Day After Pearl Harbor ra stream
http://soundportraits.org/on-air/the_day_after_pearl_harbor/
Unofficial Fibber McGee & Molly Page, The
http://www.compusmart.ab.ca/agirard/fibber/79.htm
W.C. Fields: The Radio Years
http://www.louisville.edu/~kprayb01/WCRadio.html
www.tinfoil.com Early recorded sounds preserved on wax and tin
cylinders. This isn't OTR, but it is interesting.
http://www.tinfoil.com/
Here's a huge collection of Free Old Time Radio shows -- including
278 episodes of my favorite: Amos 'n' Andy. If you want it, there's a
good chance this site has it. Here's a list of the catagories offered:
Adventure
Children
Comedy
Fantasy
Horror
Miscellaneous
Music
Mystery
News
Science Fiction
Superheros
Theater
Westerns
World War II
Click this link to visit the Free Old-Time Radio site:
http://www.related-pages.com/oldtimeradio.
Old Time Radio for Halloween
Thought you had seen everything, all those old movies and television
shows two or three times even? Well you probably haven't experienced
old time radio! This media is so old, it is refreshingly "brand new"
to many of us. Here, we present 100 of our favorite horror theme
stories, from shows like Witch's Tale, Lights Out, Innersanctum,
Quiet Please, The Haunted Hour and others. These are the very stories
that inspired favorite Horror Comics and shows like Twilight Zone and
Thriller! In fact, old time radio horror show, "Witch's Tale" is
reported to have served as direct inspiration for EC Comics.
Click this link to listen to Old Time Radio shows at The Monster Club.
http://www.themonsterclub.com/radiolibrary.htm
Universal Newsreels
In the pre-TV era, people saw the news every week in their
neighborhood movie theaters. Newsreels were shown before every
feature film and in dedicated newsreel theaters located in large
cities. Universal Newsreel, produced from 1929 to 1967, was released
twice a week. Each issue contained six or seven short stories,
usually one to two minutes in length, covering world events,
politics, sports, fashion, and whatever else might entertain the
movie audience.
These newsreels offer a fascinating and unique view of an era when
motion pictures defined our culture and were a primary source of
visual news reporting. Universal City Studios put the newsreels into
the public domain, and gave film materials to the National Archives
in 1976. Surviving materials from the entire collection are available
at the National Archives and Records Administration in College Park, Maryland.
Click this link to visit the Universal Newsreels web site:
http://www.archive.org/details/universal_newsreels.
posted by Michael McCarty at 11:15 AM
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