rand's esoteric otr

“The Story Lady” was a local children’s program on WHO, Des Moines, Iowa.  In this post, we hear the last fifteen minutes of the broadcast of January 10, 1948.  The show includes birthday greetings, songs, a segment where the kids try to come up with names for pets of listeners, and a child in the audience with a bad cold who coughs up a lung during the broadcast.

Lanny Ross was a singer who had a long career on radio, nightclubs and in films.  His better known films include the 1939 animated feature “Gulliver’s Travels” and “Stage Door Canteen” from 1943.  On radio, he appeared with Annette Hanshow on the “Maxell House Show Boat”.  By the late 50s, Ross was hosting a morning program weekdays on WCBS in New ...

“Interesting People in the News” was a program syndicated by Crowell Publishing Company in New York during the 1930s.  Each program featured a talk about little-known people by Sumner Blossom, the editor of “American Magazine”. Here’s an interes...

In this post, a real rarity.  “Weird Tales” was a series (or perhaps a proposed series) recorded in Hollywood in 1932 and based on stories in the famous horror anthology magazine.  So far, discs from the series haven’t turned up - until now. I obtained this disc from Jim Blackson and would like to thank him [...]

Continuing from our previous post, we hear a brief one minute mp3 from a home recorded 10″ lacquer.  The other side of the disc contained a ten minute excerpt from a national Basketball League game.  This side contained very short test recordings. This particular cut is curious because it’s a shortwave aircheck of the opening of Armed Forces Radio’s “GI Jive” and the closing of the show with KGEI, San Francisco giving their sign-off.  OTR era airchecks are rare ...

Next up on the blog, an aircheck of a National Basketball League game between the Sheboygan Red Skins and the Oshkosh All-Stars heard on March 17, 1946.  The recording features the last ten minutes of the game recorded from WHBL, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, and includes a commercial for Friendly Finance with various locations throughout Wisconsin.  You can read an article about the game from the Milwaukee Sentinel

Well, I’m still quite busy with work and family, but I’ll be popping up to post an interesting show once in a while on the blog.  These won’t be on a regular schedule - just a little something now and again when I have the time that I hope you find interesting. I want to thank all of you following the blog for your kind words and thoughts over the past few months. -rand

I’d like to thank everyone for their good words and well wishes over the past few months.  Many of you have been curious when the blog will be back. I’m going through a major life-change right now, so it appears the blog won’t be updated through 2012.  I’m in the process of looking for another job and possibly changing careers.  I’m lucky in one sense that my job is stable, but it’s got me working very long hours and going nowhere - after having projects a...

As I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago, I have several things going on with my job and family.  So I’m going to be stepping away from the blog for a time.  I may be posting an occasional show or interesting recording, but not on a regular weekly schedule as I’ve done in the past. I appreciate all the kind words, comments, and research folks have sent my way over the past couple of years.  I’m still interested in pursuing old time radio research, and I’m thinking abo...

It wasn’t until the mid-1930s that instantaneous lacquers took off as a way to preserve live radio shows.  So recordings of radio’s earliest years are quite rare.  “Sunkist Musical Cocktail” was a musical variety program that featured Hollywood stars as guests.  The sponsor, taking advantage of the Hollywood glamor, had some excerpts from the series recorded and released them as promotional items giving us a glimpse...