Old Time Radio Listener

Breaking Walls - EP76: Over There—The War for Radio’s Airwaves (1912 - 1922)

September 20, 2020 14:10 - 1 hour - 153 MB

Breaking Walls is a once-per-month audio documentary on the history of American Network Radio Broadcasting, focusing on people, places, and events from the Golden Age of Radio. http://thewallbreakers.com/ To find out more about James Scully: http://thewallbreakers.com/jamesscully/ I personally recommend listening to episodes in this order to get the full story of the beginning of Radio Wave, and the beginning of the three major networks NBC, CBS, ABC. EP75: We Are Echoes—The Birth Of Ra...

Escape - The Footprint

September 20, 2020 00:18 - 27 minutes - 4.77 MB

Tonight we escape with the story of the murderous priests of a weird cult, hidden in the barren desert of Mexico. . . Duration: 27:46 Starring: William Conrad Broadcast Date: 18th August 1950

The Adventures 0f Ozzie and Harriet - Antique Vase

September 20, 2020 00:06 - 29 minutes - 6.86 MB

For a change Ozzie has put himself out on a limb. Instead of taking the antique vase, which is Harriett’s pride and joy out to the garage he’s decide to save himself some physical labor in the future by following that old slogan out of sight out of mind and we find him going to Mr McQueen’s antique shop to sell the vase which he finds so hideous. Duration: 29:57 Starring: Harriet Hilliard Nelson, Ozzie Nelson, Bea Benaderet, Louise Erickson Broadcast Date: 12th August 1945

Box 13 - The Professor And The Puzzle

September 20, 2020 00:00 - 27 minutes - 4.79 MB

Bob Lamb was engaged to be married to Evelyn and then for no apparent reason she called it off. Everything was fine until her uncle Professor Gardener killed himself and now she was going to marry Ed Macklin her uncle’s assistant. Even more puzzling Bob could think of no reason that the professor would want to kill himself. That’s why he contacted Dan Holliday at Box 13 to investigate. Duration: 26:31 Starring: Alan Ladd Broadcast Date: 9th January 1949

Four Star Playhouse - The Hunted

September 19, 2020 23:47 - 29 minutes - 6.77 MB

How often have you had that strange experience that makes you say it seems like all this has happened to me before? Psychologists call that phenomenon prevision and this story explores an experience in prevision and will hold you spellbound up to its stunning and fearful finish. Duration: 29:31 Starring: Robert Cummings, Rosalind Russell, Fred MacMurray, Loretta Young Broadcast Date: 14th August 1949

Quiet Please - If I Should Wake Before I Die

September 19, 2020 23:38 - 29 minutes - 5.06 MB

He is the epitome of the word "mad scientist." This top scientist doesn't care whether his inventions have already vastly altered the world, all that he cares about is the vast amount of knowledge that he acquires in his research. What the world sees as a destructive weapon is nothing more but a mere scribble of equations for him. The world is starting to reach a crucial point when human knowledge has become dangerous and unwise. A satellite rocket has been circling the earth for three month...

Jack Benny Show - Jack Buys a G String

September 19, 2020 23:28 - 23 minutes - 5.28 MB

Tuning up his violin, Jack breaks a string, and needs to get a new one. Taking a walk, since the Maxwell is broken down, Jack greets people on the street. Namely a French nurse maid, a baby, but will they believe that Jack can get them into the movies? In the music store, Jack ponders where he'd be without his success in radio and TV.

Let George Do It - The Penthouse Roof

September 19, 2020 23:13 - 29 minutes - 6.86 MB

It’s only natural for a member of the bird watchers society even when he’s a professional statistician like Dr. Wormsley to be watching starlings on a penthouse roof. But when instead his binoculars reveal one man pushing another off that self same roof that is just sort of the case George valentine would get involved in. Duration: 29:31 Starring: Bob Bailey, Frances Robinson, Wally Maher Broadcast Date: 19th April 1948

Breaking Walls - EP75: We Are Echoes—The Birth Of Radio (1887 - 1912)

September 19, 2020 23:04 - 1 hour - 148 MB

Breaking Walls is a once-per-month audio documentary on the history of American Network Radio Broadcasting, focusing on people, places, and events from the Golden Age of Radio. http://thewallbreakers.com/ To find out more about James Scully: http://thewallbreakers.com/jamesscully/ I personally recommend listening to episodes in this order to get the full story of the beginning of Radio Wave, and the beginning of the three major networks NBC, CBS, ABC. EP75: We Are Echoes—The Birth Of ...

On Stage - Statement of Fact

September 18, 2020 23:28 - 29 minutes - 6.81 MB

Cathy Lewis begins by thanking the listeners for the cards and best wishes they have received for their wedding anniversary! John Bradford rings District Attorney Dale Christian to tell him that Helen Randal Dudley has been found and arrested. Apparently Mrs Dudley’s husband Roger Aimes Dudley has been found dead and a coroners report shows it as a result of wounds inflicted by Mrs Dudley with a hatchet. Further evidence points towards Mrs Dudley being guilty and Mr Christian needs to dete...

Crime Classics - Roger Nems - How He, Though Dead, Won the Game

September 18, 2020 23:24 - 27 minutes - 6.29 MB

Suffolk England in 1676 and Roger Nems is playing croquet with his cousin John and friend Guy Marcy. The sound you will hear is that of Guy Macy hitting Roger Nems on the head with his mallet and killing him. So here is Thomas Hyland connoisseur of crime, student of violence, and teller of murders report on Roger Nems and how he, though dead won the game. Duration: 27:29 Starring: Lou Merrill, Ben Wright, Alistair Duncan, Richard Peel, Betty Harford, Gary Montgomery, Ellen Morgan Broad...

Ellery Queen - Number Thirty-one

September 18, 2020 23:20 - 25 minutes - 5.85 MB

Ellery Queen begins by dedicating this program to the fight against crime. Not merely crimes of violence and crimes of dishonesty but crimes of intolerance, discrimination, and bad citizenship, crimes against America. He then tells us the story of a mysterious international figure suspected of diamond smuggling. Duration: 29:28 Starring: Hugh Marlowe Broadcast Date: 7th September 1947

Halls of Ivy - Dr Hall's Reappointment

September 18, 2020 23:12 - 32 minutes - 7.33 MB

This is the audition show for Halls of Ivy in which Gale Gordon and actress Edna Best were originally cast as Dr William Todhunter Hall, the Ivy college president and his English Theatre actress wife formerly Victoria Cromwell. The story is the same as the first episode of Halls of Ivy entitled “Reappointment” starring Mr and Ronald Coleman in the title roles. We are all familiar with the Coleman’s as The Halls but Gordon and Best played superb roles. Fantastic! Duration: 32:23 Starring:...

Fort Laramie - Don't Kick My Horse

September 18, 2020 22:22 - 27 minutes - 6.4 MB

Private Jobey Turler’s horse Belle Shannon was 11 years old and lame but she meant more to him than just a form of transport to be changed. When he found she was on the remount order list Jobey appealed to Captain Quincy. Understanding what she meant to him, Quincy agreed to take her off the order for the time being. Duration: 28:14 Starring: Raymond Burr, Harry Bartell, Lawrence Dobkin, Barney Phillips Broadcast Date: 3rd June 1956

Inner Sanctum Mystery - You Could Die Laughing

September 18, 2020 22:07 - 28 minutes - 6.62 MB

Draw close your chair and if there are no faint hearts among us we’ll begin tonight’s tale of terror. Three doctors have told Elwood Fitch that he has only a year to live unless he moves to Arizona but Elwood doesn’t know how he would make a living there. While driving home from a movie with his wife he ran a red light at speed and hit a man killing him. Elwood believes that no one saw them and he does not want to spend his last year in prison for manslaughter so they flee the scene. The...

Life with Luigi - The North Halstead Street Block Party

September 17, 2020 23:12 - 30 minutes - 6.95 MB

In class Miss Spalding explains that their street is 50 years old this year. Luigi suggests that it would be a good idea to have a block pary so that the neighbors can get to know each other but Pasquale the “head of the block” or as Luige puts it the “block head” won’t donate the food unless Luigi marries his daughter Rosa. Oh no, it looks like there isn’t going to be a party! Duration: 29:20 Starring: J. Carrol Naish Broadcast Date: 1st May 1949

Ford's Theater - Of Human Bondage

September 17, 2020 23:06 - 58 minutes - 13.4 MB

Here is the link to the novel: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Of_Human_Bondage

Rouge's Gallery - Blondes Prefer Gentlemen

September 17, 2020 22:51 - 29 minutes - 6.75 MB

Richard Rogue was extremely busy when Mrs Eccle a little old lady called in for his help concerning her granddaughter. Mrs Eccle reminded him so much of the grandma he spent so much of his youth with that he couldn’t resist helping her. When Rogue went round to the girl’s apartment there was no answer so he went in only to find a girl dead. Duration: 30:15 Starring: Dick Powell Broadcast Date: 18th October 1945

Old Gold Comedy Theater - The Show Off

September 17, 2020 22:36 - 30 minutes - 6.93 MB

Our story tonight takes us to Brooklyn New York. Brooklyn is a quiet little place at the end of a bridge, it is noted for its cemetaries, a tree that grows there and its baseball club, the Dodgers. Now Brooklyn is also the home of an assortment of rather odd characters not the least of whom is Aubery Piper played by Fred Allen. Aubery has recently blown in to the Fisher home as the suiter of daughter Amy and you can tell exactly what the rest of the family feels about him if you listen to wh...

Nero Wolfe - The Bashful Body

September 17, 2020 22:33 - 29 minutes - 6.79 MB

Orchids don’t grow up overnight. They have to be carefully planted, tended, watered and watched and the same thing goes for murder. Take Zavros’ Flower shop minutes after Archie Goodwin got that phone call for Nero Wolfe. . . Duration: 29:07 Starring: Sydney Greenstreet Broadcast Date: 29th December 1950

Michael Shayne Private Detective - Case of The Crooked Wheel

September 17, 2020 20:37 - 25 minutes - 5.76 MB

“The big gun in his hand turned over and over. He leaned his face close to mine hissing softly between his teeth it was a face that held all the evil in the world, a kind that gets up close when somebody’s gonna die. Suddenly everything shattered in front of me like a bulb smashed against a rock. I got the last funny flash Michael Shayne, a guy head deep in nothing. . . ” Duration: 26:27 Starring: Jeff Chandler, William Conrad Broadcast Date: 25th September 1948

The Jimmy Durante Show - Should Men Be Allowed In Beauty Parlors

September 17, 2020 20:29 - 29 minutes - 6.65 MB

Good question: should they? Duration: 29:03 Starring: Jimmy Durante Broadcast Date: 16th June 1948

Lights OUt - Bon Voyage

September 17, 2020 20:21 - 25 minutes - 5.75 MB

Carrying a trunk with mysterious contents to be dumped overboard, two sisters soon discover that the ship they've boarded is mysterious as well..

Dimension X - The Embassy

September 17, 2020 20:04 - 27 minutes - 6.28 MB

There is a man loitering outside the Broderick Private Detective Agency. He looks strange, but very intelligent, like a professor. His name is Mr. Grapheus, and he has come to New York to locate the Martian Embassy and the agents of the government of the planet Mars. Broderick obviously believes him to be a crackpot, until he hands him a document, an authentic 5th century note. . Duration: 29:13 Starring: Norman Rose Broadcast Date: 3rd June 1950

Gunsmoke - Legal Revenge

September 15, 2020 22:37 - 24 minutes - 7.07 MB

Doc wants to speak to Matt. There has been some trouble between a man and his lady, known by the name Tebbs. Doc had popped around to their house to introduce himself. But, when he got there, the man was lying on the bed with a knife wound to his leg. Doc thinks that the lady is trying to kill him. . . Duration: 23:48 Starring: William Conrad Broadcast Date: 5th February 1956

Sherlock Holmes - The Adventure Of The Devil's Foot

September 15, 2020 22:24 - 24 minutes - 5.62 MB

The story that Dr. Watson is about to relate is a Cornish horror known as the Adventure of the Devils Foot. It was spring of the year 1897 Holmes iron constitution had shown some signs of giving way due to some particular arduous nerve-racking winter. In March of that year Dr. Moore Aver of Harley Street positive injunctions that Holmes get out in to the country and the third week in March found Dr Watson and Holmes in a small cottage on a grassy headland on the Cornish peninsular. One morni...

Abbott & Costello Show - Who's On First

September 15, 2020 22:14 - 29 minutes - 6.74 MB

Abbott’s the coach of the Yanks for as long as Costello is on the team and you know nowadays they give the players strange names such as Who and What! Duration: 30:00 Starring: Bud Abbott, Lou Costello Broadcast Date: 18th June 1947

Quiet Please - Thirteen and Eight

September 15, 2020 21:58 - 29 minutes - 6.77 MB

:Someone is trying to jump out of a window and that scene triggers a crowd of photographers. While taking the pictures, a person seems to be always getting in the way of a photographer which makes him yell "13 and 8" to warn all the photographers around to be on their guard for that person. But that photographer can't prove the existence of that person because he doesn't show up on his photos. This is a typical "the boy who cried wolf" story, but with a twist of horror. Duration: 29:34 Bro...

Our Miss Brooks - Tears For Mr. Boynton

September 15, 2020 21:44 - 29 minutes - 27 MB

Sadly there is no summary for this episode. Starring: Eve Arden, Jeff Chandler, Gale Gordon, Jane Morgan, Richard Crenna, Gloria McMillan, Leonard Smith Duration: 29:18

Empire Builders - Armistice Day

September 15, 2020 21:24 - 27 minutes - 6.28 MB

RECORDING NOTE: While audible there is a lot of hiss on this 1930 recording. This playlet is offered as a tribute to the men who served in World War I. It is a story of a reunion of friends who served together at Dunkirk. It brings a picture of what actually happened along the many miles of frontline trenches when word was received that the World War was over. It was written by an American army officer who was there. Duration: 27:48 Starring: Harvey Hays Broadcast Date: 11th November...

Blackstone, The Magic Detective - Organ Murder

September 15, 2020 21:19 - 13 minutes - 3.01 MB

Blackstone’s newest addition to his magic studio is an organ and of course there’s a story behind its acquisition. Helen was a friend of Rhoda’s and when her husband was shot she asked Blackstone if there was anything he could do. . . Duration: 12:41 Starring: Ed Jerome Broadcast Date: 21st November 1948

Mercury Theater - Search for Henry Le Ferre

September 14, 2020 23:19 - 24 minutes - 5.56 MB

There is no summary for this play: so we are getting some background history of the Mercury Theater. Mercury Theatre. The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory theatre company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman. The company produced theatrical presentations, radio programs and motion pictures. The Mercury Theatre began with a groundbreaking, critically acclaimed adaption of The Tragedy of Julius Caesar that evoked comparison to contemporary F...

Casey, Crime Photographer - The Mysterious Lodger

September 14, 2020 22:59 - 29 minutes - 6.69 MB

The proverbial "Little Old Lady" reports a little old knife killing that never really gets solved. An elderly widow calls the police to report the murder of her female lodger. Quality – Good - sound drops slightly at 5:15 Duration: 29:08 Starring: Staats Cotsworth, Lesley Woods, John Gibson, Eva Condon Broadcast Date: 7th March 1947

You Are There - The Dreyfus Case

September 14, 2020 22:48 - 31 minutes - 7.1 MB

The French artillery officer Captain Alfred Dreyfus is wrongfully convicted of communicating French military secrets to the German Embassy in Paris, initiating a political scandal that rocks the Third Republic. ---- Important Information ---- The Dreyfus Affair was a political scandal that divided the Third French Republic from 1894 until its resolution in 1906. "L'Affaire", as it is known in French, has come to symbolise modern injustice in the Francophone world, and it remains one of the...

The Chase - The Cats Meow

September 14, 2020 22:34 - 29 minutes - 6.81 MB

When Miss Van Allan’s aunt Emma dies she leaves her entire estate to her beloved cat Stanley with a weekly stipend of $500 to be paid to a distance niece Mrs Bird from Brooklyn whom she referred to as the only member of her family who never asked her for money in return for her for taking care of the cat. Mrs Bird will only receive the money whilst Stanley is in her care and Miss Van Allan is none too happy. When Stanley goes missing the chase is on to find him and become the benefactor. D...

Frontier Town - Return to Dos Rios

September 14, 2020 22:29 - 30 minutes - 6.96 MB

“Frontier Town eh? Yes, I guess that’s what most folks would call Dos Rios, a frontier town, loud and lusty, tough and tumbling like a score of other frontier towns, El Paso, Cheyenne, Tombstone. The only difference probably is the name of the town, Dos Rios, Spanish for two rivers. My name is Remington, Chad Remington, born in Dos Rios twenty odd years ago, reared there until I went upstate to school to study law. And I wouldn’t have come back I guess if I hadn’t got word that my father was...

Broadway is my Beat - The Lt Jimmy Hunt Murder Case

September 14, 2020 22:21 - 29 minutes - 7.15 MB

It was early on January morning and Detective Danny Clover had not even had time for his coffee or paper before a call came in to get down to St Anthony’s Hospital. Sister Angela was waiting to see him; it appeared that her patient Jimmy Hunt had committed suicide with a steak knife from his dinner plate. However, further inspection confirmed that it was murder. Duration: 29:00 Starring: Larry Thor Broadcast Date: 03 February 1950

X -Minus One - And The Moon Be Still As Bright

September 14, 2020 21:53 - 24 minutes - 5.53 MB

The first three expeditions to Mars left Earth in a mushroom of flames arched through the atmosphere and finally dwindled to tiny specks on the big eye of mount pelimars telescope and then were lost to the eye altogether. Prearranged landing signals flashed back to Earth and the radios went dead. One after the other ships had disappeared and were never heard of again. But still the rockets came. The fourth expedition emerged from the silent gulfs of faith and angled down towards the floating...

Studio One - Let Me Do the Talking

September 14, 2020 21:45 - 58 minutes - 13.4 MB

Let Me Do The Talking is based on the novel by Richard Mayland. It is a behind the scenes inside the agents portrait of the literary business and its main concern is the young man who came to be known as the agent Gabriel. Charles Gabriel Bachelor moves with the speed of light through publishing and promotional circles. Duration: 58:41 Starring: John Garfield, Mercedes McCambridge Broadcast Date: 11th November 1947

Suspense - Strange for a Killer

September 14, 2020 00:12 - 25 minutes - 5.71 MB

Henry is walking down his street on his way home when the police stop him. It seems that a murderer has been hiding out in the boarding house next to their apartment and the police have the whole area surrounded. Henry goes to phone his wife and son Johnny to tell them why he is late home and to tell them to stay safe at home but something in her voice worries him. He fears that the murderer Roy Jelescoe may be in their apartment. Duration: 22:35 Starring: John Forsythe, Anthony Ross Br...

The Great Gildersleeve - The Canary Won't Sing

September 14, 2020 00:05 - 29 minutes - 6.83 MB

Gildy has won a canary named Napoleon in a raffle, but for some reason the bird won't sing. Gildy and Leroy head to the library to find a book on canaries and get into trouble. Duration: 29:50 Starring: Harold Peary Broadcast Date: 30th November 1941

Lux Radio Theater - My Man Godfrey

September 13, 2020 22:49 - 51 minutes - 11.8 MB

My Man Godfrey is the comedy story of an eccentric rich family and all begins with a game of “scavenger hunt” in which you have to find something that nobody wants. Miss Irene, flighty socialite heiress finds Godfrey a down-and-out “forgotten man” at a dump and feeling sorry about the way her family ridiculed him she hires him as the family butler. His humility, honesty, directness and outlook have him teaching the whole family a thing or two about life. Duration: 55:53 Broadcast Date: 9...

Crime Club - Coney Island Nocturne

September 13, 2020 22:40 - 29 minutes - 6.66 MB

Coney Island Nocturne is the very absorbing story of fingers that were nailed by death. When Mike Donahue brought Helen O’Malley to Coney Island for an evening of fun he had only the best intentions, naturally, he was an officer of the law, a detective and she was his fiancee. ´ But three hours later as they stood in the middle of a crowded noisy carnival street they were faced with a crisis of catastrophic proportions. Duration: 28:58 Starring: Joan Alexander Broadcast Date: 10th July...

The FBI in Peace and War - The Crackup

September 13, 2020 22:30 - 28 minutes - 6.43 MB

The FBI was after four men and one woman in the vicinity of Park Dale after they abandoned their getaway car following a hold-up. Meantime tension is building between the gang members. Duration: 28:06 Starring: Larry Haines Broadcast Date: 14th September 1950

The Adventures 0f Ozzie and Harriet - Randolph's Come as You Are Party

September 05, 2020 22:58 - 25 minutes - 4.34 MB

The Randolph’s are having a party with a difference, It’s a come as you are party. The rules dictate that when they receive the phone call sometime in the afternoon from Joe Randolph they have to drop everything and come as they are even if they have their old clothes on or just their underwear. Ozzie decides he’s not getting caught out in his old pyjama’s like last year and is going to put on his best suit and sit in it all afternoon. Duration: 25:16 Starring: Ozzie Nelson, Harriet Hill...

Bill Stern Sports Newsreel - Guest Sammy Baugh

September 05, 2020 22:49 - 14 minutes - 3.22 MB

Bill Stern brings you the 340th edition of the Colgate Shave Cream Sports Newsreel featuring strange and fantastic stories, some legends others mere hearsay but all so interesting. Guest tonight in person is the famous football star of the Washington Redskin’s Sammy Baugh. Duration: 14:03 Starring: Bill Stern Broadcast Date: 10th May 1946

Old Gold Comedy Theater - Lucky Partners

September 05, 2020 22:42 - 29 minutes - 6.7 MB

When David Grant passes Miss Newton a neighbor of his that morning and greets her by saying Good morning and good luck and shortly afterwards she is bestowed with good luck she decides to make a business proposition to him. She has a hunch that if he buys a sweepstake ticket with her they’d be lucky partners and could stand to win $150,000. Duration: 29:16 Starring: Herbert Marshall, Jane Wyman, Sheldon Leonard, Will Wright Broadcast Date: 17th December 1941

Pat Novak For Hire - Give Envelope to John St. John

September 05, 2020 22:35 - 29 minutes - 27.2 MB

As Pat Novak leaves his office an old man is mowed down by a car on the corner of the street. Pat bent over the old man and turned him on his back. He was breathing heavily and asked Novak to help him. He has two envelopes one is money which he offers to Novak the other is to be kept sealed and given to John St. John but before the man can explain any more he takes his last breath of air and dies. Duration: 30:44 Starring: Jack Webb Broadcast Date: 21st May 1949

The Falcon - The Case of the Puzzling Pin-Up

September 04, 2020 00:27 - 24 minutes - 5.7 MB

Charles Sylvester Braden II, a rich boy from New York, falls in love with a not so rich young lady who lives in a rooming house on New York’s west side. His father does not approve and when she rebuffs his proposal of marriage he shoots her and then commits suicide. An unethical photographic journalist is the first to the scene and captures the dead bodies on film, but by the time he gets back to the newspaper office he finds out from his boss that young Braden’s body has vanished from the s...

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