There are thousands of TV channels available and even more websites on the internet for video content, why would anyone listen to old time radio? Well, the answer is simple. Old time radio(OTR) is just better. You can’t match the story lines and amazing voice acting you find in those great old programs. Shows, such as the Suspense, Ellery Queen, The Whistler and Lux Radio Theater remind us just what they did to bring you in and make you part of the story.

I started following old time radio when I was about 18 years old. I listened to a program called CBS Radio Mystery Theater with E.G. Marshal. After only one episode, I was hooked. It may seem odd to some, but you can enjoy a story that is made up of only audio. Once the show begins and the announcer tells you about the program you realize that something special is going to happen. Your imagination kicks in a fills in all the missing pieces. I like to quote the tag for Sirius XM’s book channel, “Book Radio, where the books come to life and the pictures are in your head”.

OTR provides some of the best stories and greatest adventures known. Think about this, the biggest problem that TV and movies face is that they have to make you believe what you are seeing. Special effects and incredible CGI are required for this. On the other hand OTR only has to tell you and it is up to you and your imagination to make it happen. All of this has to be sold by radio actor and script writer. Make no mistake they were artists at telling you what you see. They knew how to give a great entertainment experience to their audience.

What sets OTR apart from other forms of entertainment is that the amount of material available. Do you like a great comedy? Then try Father Knows Best. Maybe you like a good western? Then listen to Gunsmoke or The Six Shooter. If you like a good mystery story, there are many shows to choose from. Some of my favorites are Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Box 13 and Nick Carter, Master Detective. There are so many old time radio programs in so many genres that you will never run out of great stuff to listen to. Before television, radio was the way to be entertained. Whole families would sit around the radio, just like we do with TV today.

So why am I telling you this? I guess I just wanted to say something about the benefits to old time radio. You can take it with you anywhere and it makes you use your brain. What more can you ask from an entertainment source.

-Ron

Old-Time Radio (OTR) and the Golden Age of Radio refer to a period of programming in the United States starting in the 1920s and lasted until television replaced it in the late 1950s.  During this period, when radio was dominant the airwaves were filled with a variety of radio formats and genres. In fact, according to a 1947 C. E. Hooper survey, 82 out of 100 Americans were radio listeners.

The Golden Age of Radio had its origins with the Théâtrophone or “Theater Phone”. Broadcasting began at the 1881 World’s Fair with audio recordings of musical acts and other vaudeville. These were sent to people by means of the telephone. Visual elements, such as effects and sight gags, were adapted to have sound equivalents. In addition, objects and scenery were converted to have audio descriptions.

On Christmas Eve 1906, Reginald Fessenden is said to have broadcast the first radio program, consisting of some violin playing and passages from the Bible. While Fessenden’s role as an inventor and early radio experimenter is not in dispute, several contemporary radio researchers have questioned whether the Christmas Eve broadcast took place.  Fessenden’s wife Helen recounts the broadcast in her book Fessenden: Builder of Tomorrows published in 1940, eight years after Fessenden’s death.

It was not until after the Titanic catastrophe in 1912 that radio for mass communication came into its own.  Investors inspired by the work of amateur (or “ham”) radio operators began to use the medium to promote news events. Radio was especially important during World War I as it was vital for air and naval operations. War brought about major developments in the radio, superseding the Morse code of the wireless telegraph with the vocal communication of the early two-way devices.

After the war, numerous radio stations were born in the United States and set the standard for later radio programs. The first radio news program was broadcast on August 31, 1920 on the station 8MK in Detroit, Michigan.  That night the station covered local election results. This was followed up later that year with the first commercial radio station in the United States (KDKA in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania). Regular entertainment programs began being broadcast in 1922.  The highlight of this time came on January 1, 1923. The Rose Bowl was broadcast on the Los Angeles station KHJ.  Radio went on from there and began to increase in quality and popularity.

During the Golden Age of Radio, it featured just about every genre that was popular in other forms of American entertainment.  These venues include Broadway, traveling road shows and of course Vaudeville.  Some of the genres covered were: Adventure, comedy, drama, horror, mystery, musical variety, romance, thriller, classical music concerts, big band remotes, farm reports, news, panel discussions, quiz shows (beginning with Professor Quiz), sidewalk interviews, talent shows and the all-important weather forecast.  As you can see just about everything that we watch today on our current television.  It all found its start in Old Time Radio.