Comments on: When Radio Was Young

By: Pete Elem

Pete Elem — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 21:13:11 +0000

I used to go to sleep when I was a kid and wake up about 1AM to listen to Long John Nebel on WOR radio in NYC. Sometimes I even made it to 5AM when the show left the air and slept in class that day.

By: Infowars » Blog Archive » Must-hear for lovers of Radio

Infowars » Blog Archive » Must-hear for lovers of Radio — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 06:47:33 +0000

[...] Interview from WBUR with the author of this new book about the birth of American Radio: [...]

By: CJ

CJ — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:26:13 +0000

Tom’s guest tells the story for Brinkley’s goat glands as a means to correct male impotence. FYI – the Lyndon Johnson tapes record Johnson talking to Sargent Shriver about the ‘glands.’

Toward the Great Society
By Ernest May, Timothy Naftali
Published by W. W. Norton & Company, 2007
Page 19

The one topic missing in Tom’s discussion was the role of the Border Blasters (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Border_blaster) in the early days of radio.

Great show Tom!

By: Dave Martin

Dave Martin — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:41:00 +0000

Bravos, Tom. Exceptional show. Great use of sound along with your usual fine job of interviewing. Congrats & cheers to Anthony on a good read.

By: Ali

Ali — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 21:27:57 +0000

I enjoyed this interview and bought Rudel’s book. So far it’s a great read about early broadcasting media. Great topic! You should have him on again!

By: dm

dm — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 14:18:57 +0000

It’s unfortunate that a CD is not included with the book. I wonder why not? Cost or legal reasons I assume, but the value of the book would be hugely increased.

(I’m only half way thru the podcast, so perhaps an explanation is given)

By: K S SHAMA SUNDER

K S SHAMA SUNDER — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 04:00:16 +0000

Dear Mr Tom:

Yesterday I was listening to your show “when radio was young’. It was really interesting. I still remember the good old days of radio way back in 1960. We used to pay the license fee for the government for having owned the radio. We used to depend on radio for all the news. Specially BBC for the international news. It was nice to hear old clippings of the broadcasts.(1920 and 1930s.)

During 1960 my favorite station was VOA.

I am a ham radio operator holding call vu2usa. I am radio DXer for the last 30 years. I used to use old RCA valve radio world war surplus for my dx listening. I still own radio from Zenith model Transoceanic. Unfortunately not in working condition.

I enjoy each and every show on NPR.I regularly listen to ONPOINT on my worldspace radio.

Bye
Shama Sunder K S
India

By: Wen Stephenson

Wen Stephenson — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 17:33:15 +0000

The Old Time Radio Catalog site offers free daily downloads, here:

http://www.otrcat.com/today.php

Also, there are free sample episodes of the collections they sell on CD.

Enjoy!

By: Peter Nelson

Peter Nelson — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:55:26 +0000

There is a link to the Old Time Radio Show Catalog on the OnPoint site but they seem to sell their content only on CD’s. Am I overlooking an option on their website?

I love “Old Time” radio but I have very little patience with “Old Time” technology like CD’s. A few years ago I converted my 1500-CD music collection to digital files and since that time I’ve led a CD-free life and all the new music I’ve acquired has been downloaded from the web. (we keep the music on a network-attached harddrive and play it through our Sonos system, or on our iPods. Obviusly we do regular backups).

Obviously I can copy the CD’s to the HD but that still doesn’t get around the environmental/energy waste of pressing/shipping the CD’s) A lot of old-time radio material is available out on the internet for download if you Google for it.

By: Tom Connors

Tom Connors — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:51:36 +0000

Very interesting and stimulating show. I heard it on WBUR Boston. I was waiting for some mention of developments somewhat later in the timeline. Specifically of the development of “educational radio” in the 1940s as I understand it. Not quite the beginning of radio, but early in my experience. And a predecessor of WBUR and other school radio.
When I was in Brooklyn Technical High School in New York City in 1945 I discovered the existence of WNYE, “The FM Station for the New York Schools” – with studios, transmitter, and antenna atop the school building. The station operation was performed (under faculty supervision) by students. Much of the programming was syndicated from other sources, but some were locally produced dramatic and talk shows (no call-ins).
My first involvement was as a sound-effects man. Later, the head of the English Department originated a program for “homebound children” who had physical infirmities that kept them from attending high school. They had visiting teachers for one-on-one instruction. Our teacher invited two or three students in our school to be his “radio class” in English, for credit. The Red Cross and other charities provided each student with a radio and a typewriter.
He was the teacher. We broadcast English classes, he gave written assignments, and sent us letters to be read on the air (no phone-in shows at that time). It was called “The High School of the Air for Home Instruction”.
Since I moved away from NYC, I haven’t followed developments at WNYE, but I married a woman who was a student participant in Radcliffe College radio in Cambridge MA.
—tlc

By: Paul Cosway

Paul Cosway — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 16:41:32 +0000

I find the growth and ongoing evolution of radio to be a collection of fascinating and interwoven stories. One narrative line links the changes in technology/hardware with the introduction of new radio formats and/or forms of community.
- Early radio sets first regional/national connection
- Transistor radios Youth, rock & roll, portable music
- FM radio Album oriented rock, higher quality sound

If this narrative applies, it makes me wonder what changes in content and community might drive:
- Satellite radio
- HD radio (DAB in UK and rest of world)
- Internet radio

By: Mike H

Mike H — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:58:27 +0000

I remember a comedy skit I heard on the radio that was particularly helped by the way we imagine the speaker we hear on the radio. It was in the days of operator-assisted phone calls and exhibited the regional accents all over the country. It was about someone making a long distance telephone call from one coast to the other. The connection went back and forth with operators from Cape Cod, New York, Texas, and probably others, handing off to each other in their regional accents. It was quite funny.

By: Heather Mazzoni

Heather Mazzoni — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:41:23 +0000

Great topic! Anthony Rudel is a fabulous guest I can’t wait to buy his book.

Heather Mazzoni – PD WHRV FM
Norfolk VA

By: Bill W.

Bill W. — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:31:39 +0000

When I was growing up, I had to put the bedspread over the radio so my parents wouldn’t see the dial light while I was listening (well past my bedtime, with earphones) to:

Corliss Archer, The Jack Benny Show, Lamont Cranston/The Shadow (”Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man? The Shadow do,” was our apocryphal joke–from Flip Wilson’s era), Stella Dallas (”Can a young woman from a mining town out west? find happiness in the throbbing metropolis of New York?” –’s best I can recall w/out googling it.)

By: Bill W.

Bill W. — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 15:19:01 +0000

(Don’t forget WGN–Chicago Tribune’s “World’s Greatest Newspaper”