------------------------------
The Old-Time Radio Digest!
Volume 2001 : Issue 401
A Part of the [removed]!
ISSN: 1533-9289
Today's Topics:
WJSV [ BH <radioguy@[removed]; ]
DVD/MP3 Players [ luckycowboy@[removed] (Gregory Robe ]
Real Crime Dramatizations [ "bmr3d" <bmr3d@[removed]; ]
Re: Stephen Kallis, Jr. [ Fred Berney <berney@[removed]; ]
Great Show [ "glen schroeder" <gschroeder10@char ]
singing offsprings [ Jer51473@[removed] ]
MP3 on DVD players [ Bob Noble <bobnoble@[removed]; ]
OTR recording speeds [ "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed] ]
Perry Como [ Jer51473@[removed] ]
Re: WJSV [ "Dave Walter" <fredallenfan@hotmail ]
GE Stereo Dramas [ "Eric Cooper" <ejcooper2001@[removed] ]
Same Time Same Station [ "Eric Cooper" <ejcooper2001@[removed] ]
Re: What is good sound? [ Fred Berney <berney@[removed]; ]
Today in Radio History [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]
Re: DVD and MP3 [ Fred Berney <berney@[removed]; ]
Re: Fun Quiz [ hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed]; ]
Re: Martin Grams quiz [ Thomas Butts <trbutts@[removed] ]
RioVolt 250 [ Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed]; ]
MP3 Players [ "Gil Miller" <ghmiller@[removed] ]
Sound Patterns [ Henry Howard <hhoward@[removed] ]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 15:43:14 -0500
From: BH <radioguy@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: WJSV
The following web site may help clear things up, or maybe not.
[removed]~[removed]
If I remember correctly I think it was 1941/42 when the FCC made
it's anti-monopoly ruling limiting the number of stations that
could be owned by any one entity. Too bad that rule isn't still in
effect.
Bill Harris
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 15:43:45 -0500
From: luckycowboy@[removed] (Gregory Robert Jackson, Jr.)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: DVD/MP3 Players
First of all, I want to say that I highly recommend the Philips Expanium
CD/MP3 boombox AZ1155. It can play all types of MP3 CDs and I like
having the built-in speakers so that I can listen to it without wearing
headphones. A terrific model for $130.
My wife wanted to get me a DVD player for Christmas but insisted that I
choose the model I wanted so that I would be completely satisfied.
I went to a local (Las Vegas) electronics store (The Good Guys) and took
some of my MP3 CDs with me. A Toshiba DVD/CD/MP3 player was on sale for
$200 and I asked the salesman if I could try my MP3 CDs in it. He said
none of their DVD players was connected to a TV. But he was very nice
and said he would connect the Toshiba DVD player for me. We played my
MP3 CDs and all we heard was loud screeching. Then he suggested trying a
$300 Mitsubishi DVD/CD/MP3 player. When I put in one of my MP3 CDs, I
got an on-screen message that the Mitsubishi player would not play the
disc. I then suggested to the salesman that we try a Philips DVD/CD/MP3
player. I was thrilled when it played perfectly every MP3 CD that I put
in it. Santa (my wife, Kim) will be giving me that model for Christmas.
It is Philips DVD953 with progressive scan and costs $250. There is a
cheaper Philips DVD/CD/MP3 model without the progressive scan.
Gregory R. Jackson, Jr.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 15:45:40 -0500
From: "bmr3d" <bmr3d@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Real Crime Dramatizations
Over the years that I've been listening to OTR, I've developed a fondness
for real crime dramas, my favorites being The Black Museum and Gangbusters.
I also enjoy Dragnet and Whitehall 1212. There don't seem to be many
Gangbusters or Whitehall 1212 around so I'm always looking for something
new. I recently recieved a disk of MP3 files of This is Your FBI but was
dissapointed in the first two episodes.
My questions:
1. Can anyone reccomend any other shows in this vein (that they enjoy)?
2. Do the This Is Your FBI shows get better with time?
I'd also like to wish you all Happy Holidays. (Ours will be happier this
year - we managed to get all our Christmas shopping done early and will not
be rushing around at the last minute!)
Bruce Rosenberger
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 15:45:55 -0500
From: Fred Berney <berney@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Stephen Kallis, Jr.
The December issue of Radio Recall, the Metro Washington Old Time Radio
Club's Newsletter, features an article by Stephen A. Kallis, Jr. I am just
amazed at the amount of research Stephen does.
This article deals with Captain Midnight's Secret Squadron's "Pocket
Locator". Not only is it informative, but it is extremely interesting.
Most of us in this hobby just enjoy listening to the old programs, but
there are a few, like Stephen, who go that extra step and bring in
information that many of us never knew about the programs.
My best to everyone at this holiday season.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 15:46:14 -0500
From: "glen schroeder" <gschroeder10@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Great Show
Hi listers.
Last night my wife, my daughter and I were treated to a performance of a
group called Radio Active. This is a group that does re-creations of otr
shows here in Madison. Ted Meland, who is a member of the group, and is also
a frequent poster on this list is the one who invited us. They did two great
Christmas shows. They did an episode of Father Knows Best and a Fibber Mcgee
and Molly. They were great and the audience loved them. I hope we get to see
more of these shows, and thanks again Ted for asking us.
Happy hollidays to all.
Glen Schroeder
Madison WI.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 15:46:31 -0500
From: Jer51473@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: singing offsprings
I posted this earlier, but for some reason it never got through. I listed
hank williams and hank jr. which since has been listed 2-3 times, but there
was or is also liz anderson and daughter lynn and rex allen and rex allen,
jr. In all three cases, imo, the offspring sings better than the parent. Yes,
im including hank, jr. as being better than hank, sr. Sr. was a much more
talented as a writer of music, but jr. has a better voice, again my opinion.
Dottie west has a daughter that sings about as well as dottie did, but will
never be as famous.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 15:45:25 -0500
From: Bob Noble <bobnoble@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: MP3 on DVD players
Harry Machin Jr. wondered:
I wonder why the CDs from one dealer will
play and those from another dealer
won't. When I put in MP3 CDs
from the latter, I get an on-screen
message that the player will not
play the disc. Both dealer's CDs
will play in my PC, though.
= ===========
There are probably many answers to this, but here are two: file format
and file NAME.
Format:
My "Suspense" disks have most of the shows encoded in the MP3 format,
but some of them, especially the earlier ones, are in ".RA" and ".RM"
("RealMedia" players will play these, but not stand-alone MP3 players).
RealMedia, I think, pre-dated MP3, so some collectors began saving their
shows in this format. They can be converted to MP3, I think, but since
my burner is not on my computer (and won't burn anything but a regular
audio file anyway) I've never tried to make this conversion. I just play
those particular files on the computer and leave it at that.
NAME:
In my Jack Benny MP3 cds, the person who made the files has them in MP3
format, all right, but on a couple of them, he made the file extension
(the last part of the filename) ".MP" instead of ".MP3"
In doing this, my MP3 portable and even my DVD player both do not even
see the file at all, no recognition. It's as if the file were not even
there. I copied it to my Macintosh, and it would not open any
traditional player (RealMedia, QuickTime, Windows Media Player).
However, when I simply changed the filename to .MP3, it immediately was
able to open the QuickTime player, the one that seems to be designated
to open when it sees that file extension name.
- ---------
As I say, there may be other reasons why a file won't play on an MP3
machine, but these are a couple of ones I've noticed.
-bn
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 15:47:32 -0500
From: "Philip Chavin" <philchav@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: OTR recording speeds
Recently I acquired four OTR broadcast dubbings on cassette and, on
playback, in order to hear the people's voices on them sound like I know
those people really sounded, I've needed to slow down the tapes by using my
tape recorder's variable-speed control.
I timed these complete half-hour shows -- played back at the
correctly adjusted speed -- and all four ran at 30 1/2 to 31 1/2 minutes
each despite the fact that the sound is true-to-life and each of these
programs must have been about 29 minutes long when originally broadcast!
(This seems very strange to me, since my technical savvy is very limited.)
Can anyone explain or comment on this? Also:
How can I calculate the original running time (minutes and seconds)of
each of these dubbed broadcasts?
Thanks.
-- Phil Chavin
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 15:47:06 -0500
From: Jer51473@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Perry Como
I took exception to Harlans post that Perry had a thirty minute program on
tv for Kraft Foods. I remembered the sponsor to be Chesterfield. Harlan wasnt
sure and i wasnt 100% sure. Last night on Biography they reported that Perry
went on tv for Chesterfield in 1948 for thirty minutes and in 1959 he started
his one hour show for Kraft. He moved to Jupitor(sp), Fla. around 1970 and in
71 or 72 a friend of mine and I visited his(my friends) father in Fla. and
he lived a couple of blocks from Perry. The people down there said he was
just a chip off the old block, was seen often in the supermarket, and was
treated very low key, which was the way he seemed to want it. I remember my
friend and me going to his home and climbing the solid fence that surrounded
his home to spy on him and get a glimpse, but we didnt see him. My friends
father saw him around often and often conversed with him. He was extremely
down to earth and "just another neighbor". We struck out on Perry, so we
later traveled way back in the woods to look for Burt Reynolds. Burts from
Jupitor also and at the time owned either John Dillinger or Al Capones old
hideout. He had it fixed up with his father living in one wing and he in
another. My friend and his own father had visited Burt a couple of weeks
earlier. My friend had known Burt back in the fifties as the two of them had
played football together at Florida State when Burt was Buddy Reynolds.
Anyway he had gone back to Hollywood so I didnt get to meet him either. I am
a huge Bing Crosby fan and almost as huge fan of Perrys. I have a hard time
saying anyone was as good as Bing, but as far as singing, im not sure anyone
was better than Perry and he seemed to be one outstanding human being.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 16:36:54 -0500
From: "Dave Walter" <fredallenfan@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: WJSV
Michael Biel <mbiel@[removed]; quotes William L Murtough <k2mfi@[removed]; and
replies:
According to the FCC rules a particular owner could only
actually own five stations in each category, AM, FM, and TV.
Not true. The rules from at least the late 1950s into the early 90s was
seven AM, seven FM, and seven TV but no more than five of the TV could
be VHF.
This was how, in the mid-to-late 1950s, CBS was able to own a sixth TV
station, WXIX (now WVTV) in Milwaukee, while maintaining its five VHF
stations (WCBS-TV New York, WBBM-TV Chicago, KNXT Los Angeles, WCAU-TV
Philadelphia and KMOX-TV St. Louis).
But back before the FM and TV services were firmly established,
the ownership rules were different. Indeed, in the 1920s and 30s there
were no rules against anyone owning more than one station in a city--NBC
owned two stations in each of several cities.
Among them were, of course, both WMAQ and WENR in Chicago, and there were
also two otherwise-owned NBC Blue affiliates in Chicago at the same time,
WLS (sharing 870 with WENR) and WCFL (the Chicago Federation of Labor
station which only carried sustaining programming from NBC Blue as a gesture
of goodwill towards the AFL-affiliated unions that NBC had to deal with).
Did the FCC regulations ever state anything (perhaps post-Blue Network)
about networks having a cap on the number of affiliates in a given
community?
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 17:36:38 -0500
From: "Eric Cooper" <ejcooper2001@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: GE Stereo Dramas
What can anyone tell me about a series called something like "GE Stereo
Drama Theater" . Was it network or syndication? Weekly or daily?
Eric Cooper
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 17:37:26 -0500
From: "Eric Cooper" <ejcooper2001@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Same Time Same Station
This item appears in todays issue of the Orange County Register, here in
sunny (for the moment) southern California:
STATION BREAKS
You can't hear it in most of Orange County, but John and Larry Gassman's
"Same Time Same Station" old radio show has been around for years, most
recently on [removed] FM in the San Fernando Valley.
The show was to end this month - John and Larry were moving and would no
longer have access to the tapes and equipment. But they found a new show
runner - Jerry Haendiges, who will take over the program in February. If you
would like more information about the show or early radio programs, e-mail
John at jjgassman@[removed].
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 17:41:41 -0500
From: Fred Berney <berney@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: What is good sound?
What is good sound to one person, may not be to the next. When I first
started trading with other collectors, I was told that what I considered
"good" in my collection, other collectors would consider "very good".
I was a stickler. If it didn't sound like the show did when it was first
broadcast over the air, I would not grade it as excellent. To me
"excellent" meant that it was flawless. No buzz, cross talk, hum,
distortion, etc. It sounded just like a listener would have heard it on a
good radio back in the day it was broadcast.
"Very Good" meant that it might have just a slight flaw. Maybe a very
slight hum that I could not filter out. Or some tape hiss. But, once you
started listening to the show, you would probably never notice unless it
was pointed out.
"Good" was a much wider range. It just meant that you could comfortable
listen to the recording. It might have a buzz, hum, hiss, but they were all
at levels that did not distract from the program material. Kind of like a
record that you can hear the surface noise on, but it is not enough to keep
you from listening to.
"Fair" meant that I was not happy with it. Usually it was the only copy I
had. It could have all kind of problems, but you could still understand the
program material. It might even have some low cross talk.
"Poor" is just that. IF it were me, I wouldn't buy it. But if you just
wanted to hear what the program was about and no one else had it, then get
it. I don't have too many of these. Usually they came in my early days of
collecting, when I might have traded with someone who had not understanding
of recording equipment. Certainly not from any of the dealers of today. The
only reason I would even put it in my catalog was to have it is someone
could not find any other copy around.
You could hear it, it wasn't like a sound that was drowned out by noise,
but you would have to suffer though loud hiss or buzz or maybe some bad
"flutter". In fact, what I would do if I found a better recording would be
to make a note in my catalog right next to the show, that a better
recording could be found on "such and such a tape".
Keep in mind, my first catalog was made on a typewriter. The home computer
was not around back then and it was much easier to just keep moving forward
with the catalog and make references when I would reprint them.
Today, we have the equipment to do a better job of cleaning up these poor
tapes. In some cases, better recordings have surfaced and when that happens
I am just putting them in the catalog in later reel numbers. If I can go
back and drop them into my master tapes I'll also do that, but I have a
better chance of doing it with the CDs.
When I copy from master reels to CD, I listen to see if anything can be
cleaned up. Sometimes there were transcription noises that I could filter
out back in 1968 that I can today. So, in some cases someone who orders a
CD, may get a slightly better recording than if they ordered the cassette.
Although the catalog would still be grading the cassette quality.
I've never had a really big catalog. While a number of other collectors
would just drop new shows into their catalog as they received them, I would
spend time listening to the shows and deciding if they needed any cleaning up.
Either way, I'd end up putting them on a reel to reel master "half track
tape". 1200 ft.
I still have several thousand shows that I have not yet cataloged that I
received back in the 70's. I've slowly been getting to them along with a
number of transcriptions that I've been fortunate enough to come by.
When I started my collection, it was not to own ever shows that ever
existed, but rather to find the programs that I had remembered listening to
as a child and wanted to listen to again. Or programs that I had only heard
about, and wanted to hear.
Over the years, my taste has widened and I've been made away of programs
that I never even knew existed. I guess a ten year old has different taste
than a 62 year old. At 10, you could not have gotten me to listen to "One
Man's Family" if you paid me. Today, I find them charming to listen to.
Well as usual I've gotten off the track. So to wrap it up, let me just say
that quality is in the "ear" of the beholder. I will continue to maintain a
high standard of sound and when I have something that does not measure up
to what I consider "very good" or "excellent" you'll see it noted in my
listings.
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 17:41:58 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-net <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Today in Radio History
From Those Were The Days --
1907 - Eugene H. Farrar became the first singer to broadcast on radio.
He sang from the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York. The song? Do You Really
Want to Hurt Me?
Joe (I doubt this was the same song done by Boy George <g>)
--
Visit my home page:
[removed]~[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 17:42:17 -0500
From: Fred Berney <berney@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: DVD and MP3
At 05:06 PM 12/15/01 -0500, you wrote:
When I put in MP3 CDs
>from the latter, I get an on-screen
message that the player will not
play the disc. Both dealer's CDs
will play in my PC, though. Can
anybody suggest why this is?
More than likely, your DVD player will not play MP3 files that are encoded
at 32/22. Try encoding some at 64/44 and see if they play. Also, make sure
they are CD-Rs and not CD-RWs. Again some DVD players won't play audio on
CD-RWs. Lastly, see if your DVD player requires files to be in the root
directory of a CD or in a sub-directory.
Fred
For the best in Old Time Radio Shows [removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 18:19:55 -0500
From: hal stone <dualxtwo@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: Re: Fun Quiz
The Only name on Martin's "prominent figures quiz" that I might know, was
the reference to [removed]
If the letter O stands for Oscar, then you should be able to find reams of
information about him. The Oscar Serlin I knew, (and worked for), was a
heavyweight [removed] Theatre Producer. His biggest claim to fame was producing
the very long running, blockbuster Broadway hit play, "Life With Father".
Hal(Harlan)Stone
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 18:20:08 -0500
From: Thomas Butts <trbutts@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Re: Martin Grams quiz
The only one who immediately came to mind was
Abe Lyman drummer
I found this site: [removed]
Tom Butts
Dallas, TX
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 18:51:34 -0500
From: Jim Widner <jwidner@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: RioVolt 250
Doug Leary wrote:
The screen lighting is very nice for night-time use, but it shuts off very
quickly (after only a few seconds)... Perhaps there are adjustments for
this that I haven't found
yet.
I don't have the 250, Doug, but my 100 is similar in the ROM department and
to answer your question - there IS an adjustment. You have to go into the
Setup area (on the 100 it is accessed by holding down the Equalizer (EQ)
button while it is on). From there you need to navigate to the Display
settings using your circular control button and find the backlight display
item to change how it works. It is in the manual - I know how hard it is
to take time to read a manual with such a nice little toy <grin>.
Jim Widner
jwidner@[removed]
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 18:52:37 -0500
From: "Gil Miller" <ghmiller@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject: MP3 Players
Shawn wells said,
I was out shopping this past morning and I ventured into Best Buy. I had
previously seen a "Philips CD/Radio/CD-Mp3" boom box style player. Anyway, I
took along a CD that I made to see if it would play it. I was surprised to
find that it would. I was pretty "tickled" to hear Arch Oboler come over the
all the sounds around me from other people and say, "LIGHTS OUT FOR THE
DEVIL AND MR. O !!" It did turn some heads, and I laughed a bit. I didn't
think of it at the time, but when I had left the store I realized that the
disc I took was one that I encoded at 44,100 and on the higher bitrates so I
am not for sure if this player will play the lower ones or not. >
I bought a Memorex MP3124 Boombox yesterday at Target. It was on sale for
$[removed] Trouble is I didn't take any OTR disc with me. The radio plays MP3
music files, regular CDs (I have an Alec Guiness Audio book) and ,it says,
Cd-Rs. It's a nice radio w/ AM-FM and Audio cassette player/recorder but
since it didn't play my OTR discs, I took it back. This time I took 4 disks
(one from each dealer I buy from and one I copied myself. They all played
well on the Sony CFD-S40CP so I bought it. It also has AM-FM (w/digital
tuning), CD & CD-MP3 (and a earphone jack which the Memorex didn't). When I
got home and set it up, I put in a Gunsmoke MP3. It played fine until it was
into about ten minutes of the show. It skipped a line or more, went into a
commercial, abruptly came back into the show in the middle of Chester saying
something. In short it at some hiccups. I thought what the hey, I'm gonna
keep it anyway. I can live with the shortcomings and I have some MP3 music
that works flawlessly.
Then I read Shawn's letter to the digest. I have a few disks I bought from
Shawn so I tried them right away and Bingo! Perfect. The Sony read the files
and played them back without a skip or a bump. Whew! I felt vindicated.
After all the box cost me $130 and it was on sale! The other OTR disks work
okay, some skips, some hiccups but nothing that causes too much alarm.
However Shawn's do work PERFECTLY .
Hint: If you're going to buy one of these machines, take some discs and play
them for longer than the 40 sec or so intro.
And as far as portable players--I wouldn't trade my TDK MOJO for anything.
Once I mastered Navitrack, it was smooth sailing.
Gil Miller
------------------------------
Date: Sun, 16 Dec 2001 22:18:31 -0500
From: Henry Howard <hhoward@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject: Sound Patterns
Dennis Crow ask about the sound pattern credit on Gunsmoke.
Some time back, Ray Kemper explained:
As for the term mentioned, in 1952, about 4 or 5 months after Tom Hanley and I
began doing sound effects on Gunsmoke, Norm Macdonnell told us he was going to
start giving us name credit on the show so he coined the term "sound patterns
by Tom Hanley and Ray Kemper". That was a first in radio - up to that time sound
men were considered by many directors as necessary evils - with the notable
exceptions of Jaime del Valle, Elliott Lewis, Tony Ellis, [removed] Lewis, Bill
Gordon and others I can't recall at the moment.
Not only did Norm give us name credit but he gave us an acting check each week
(just for background "walla-walla's"). He would give Tom a check one week and
give one to me the next week. For some reason the company frowned on giving
fees to the sound men and that was Norm's way of getting around that rule. Of
course, Jack Benny gave me a fee for doing his show but he owned it and could
do as he pleased. Way back in the 40s, when Bill James and I did sound on
Voyage of the Scarlett Queen, Elliott Lewis saw to it that Bill and I
occasionally had a few lines to speak, thereby getting an actor's check.
Henry Howard - moderator of radiodrama@[removed]
770 923 7955 [removed]
--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2001 Issue #401
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