Subject: [removed] Digest V2016 #81
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 12/8/2016 4:18 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]
Reply-to:
[removed]@[removed]

------------------------------


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2016 : Issue 81
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  A Hard Sell On A Popular OTR Serial   [ Stephen A Kallis <skallisjr@[removed] ]
  RADIO RECALL: December Issue          [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
  This week in radio history 4-10 Dece  [ Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed] ]

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2016 14:40:42 -0500
From: Stephen A Kallis <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  A Hard Sell On A Popular OTR  Serial

One of the more inventive features of OTR shows, particularly the weekday
afternoon adventure serials was the Radio Premium.    These novelties,
obtainable by mailing a proof of purchase from a sponsor's product, often
accompanied with some small payment in coin.  The premium provided the
(usually) young listener with a souvenir of the story being featured, or
just a connection to the show itself.  Many of the premiums were finger
rings.
For a lot of the premiums, the items were written into the story being
presented.  Some premiums like the Radio Orphan Annie Secret Society
Decoder Pins (one of which is shown in the film, / A Christmas Story/)
were annual items, but others became elements within a plot.  During
World War II, for example, a /Captain Midnight/ adventure had the
characters using a premium, the MJC-10 Plane Spotter, to help identify
and direct a bomber flight over Nazi-occupied France.
Probably the best promotion within an adventure serial has survived.  In
the /Jack Armstrong, The All-American Boy/ serial, an adventure involving
the Sulu Sea region, involves a premium known as the Dragon's Eye Ring, a
premium made of luminous plastic.
The promotion for the ring was masterful.  In the story, a package is
sent to industrialist James ("Uncle Jim") Fairfield.  From the first,
attempts are made to intercept;pt and steal the package.  Eventually,
Fairfield gets  , opens the package, and discovers that the item sent is
a ring, one that will help him while negotiating with natives in islands
in the Sulu Sea while trying to recover i lost shipment of Uranium.
After the ring is identified, there are further attempts to steal the
ring,
Even to a current listener, the psychological influence is something to
experience.  The whole show theme was to motivate listeners to send in
for their own copy of that ring.

According to radio historian Jim Harmon in his book, /The Great Radio
Heroes/, the sponsor so overproduced the ring that listeners were urged
to send for another copy, so that wearing a pair of them on one hand in
the dark would loom like the glowing eyes of a wild animal.  But
listening to the story gives a demonstration of one of the most effective
pitches for a radio premium.

Stephen Kallis, Jr.

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2016 14:40:50 -0500
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
To: OTRBB <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  RADIO RECALL:  December Issue
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

The December 2016 issue in full color went out yesterday in PDF via email to
most subscribers. The hard copy B & W version will be mailed on or about
December 12th to our other subscribers.

This jam-packed issue leads off with an article by tireless OTR researcher,
Stewart Wright, on the CBS Gunsmoke series , concentrating on Norman
MacDonnellbs stock company. Stewart sets forth the identities of all members
in this remarkable ensemble and then details the advantages of having a small
cadre of regular guest performers.

The holidays always include gift-giving so some suggestions for OTR books are
included in this issue with two reviews. Robert Farr reviews Volume 3 of Life
in the Past Lane written by Jason Hill for Bear Manor Media. Book is based
upon Hillbs many hours of interview with OTR stars and Farr points out that
the author managed to catch them before time had dimmed their memories. Next,
Mark Anderson reviews Adventures in Old Time Radio by Brian Rogers, a compact
volume which is termed an admirable guide to leaping back across the years.

Looking across the Atlantic to the BBC, John Abbott sets forth the background,
and reasons for the success, of The Goon Show. This unique and humorous
British radio show retains its popularity throughout the years, based upon
skilled writing and excellent comedy performers.

If you were planning a Halloween concert of spooky music and you included
Mussorgskybs Night on Bald Mountain, would you not mention in the program it
was the main theme for the very popular radio series, Escape? The Fairfax City
Band did not and this issue asks why? Turning to another OTR mini-mystery, Bud
Collier used a deeper voice for Superman than when he was playing Clark Kent.
Howard Culver used the same technique voicing Straight Arrow and Steve Adams.
So why did the half dozen actors who played Lamont Cranston instead go to the
filter mike when they became the Shadow?

The enormous expense of seeking reprint authority for OTR obituaries is set
forth in this issue, using the Los Angeles Times as a prime example. The death
of sound man and author, Bob Mott, who died at the age of 92 this September,
is remembered in an obituary herein. Derek Tague points out that Mott, with
Ray Erlenborn, became known as Bob  & Ray at OTR conventions.

The latest news from nostalgia auctions regarding OTR characters is in this
issue, plus details on all upcoming OTR festivals, in addition to Letters to
the Editor.  For a peek at past issues, or information on subscribing to this
journal of the Metro Washington OTR Club, point your mouse at <[removed]
<[removed];>

Jack French
Editor

  *** This message was altered by the server, and may not appear ***
  ***                  as the sender intended.                   ***

------------------------------

Date: Wed, 7 Dec 2016 14:40:56 -0500
From: Joe Mackey <joemackey108@[removed];
To: otr-digest <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  This week in radio history 4-10 December

12/4

1932   "Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. North and South America and all the
ships at sea. Let's go to press!" The Jergens Journal aka The Walter
Winchell Show and later, Kaiser Frazer News was first heard on the NBC
Blue network. Winchell kept that gossip show going on the radio for 23
years. It was sponsored at first by Jergens lotion and, later, by Dryad
deodorant, Kaiser Frazer cars and Richard Hudnut shampoo.

1933   One of America's great radio shows made the leap to the big time.
Ma Perkins moved from WLW in Cincinnati, OH to the NBC Red network. The
show proved to be so popular that it was later carried on both CBS and NBC.

12/5

1936   Bing Crosby took over as host of The Kraft Music Hall. Jimmy
Dorsey (who would later be host, himself) led the Kraft Orchestra.

1952   Mutual broadcast The Green Hornet for the final time. The show
left the air after 15 years on Mutual, NBC and ABC.

12/6

1923   The first presidential address to be carried on radio was
broadcast from Washington, DC. President Calvin Coolidge addressed a
joint session of the [removed] Congress.

12/7

1948   NBC presented the Horace Heidt Youth Opportunity Program for the
first time. The talent show earned Dick Contino, an accordionist, the
$5,000 ($49,739 in 2015 dollars) prize as the program's first national
winner. Over the years Heidt gave some big stars their big starts: Art
Carney, Frankie Carle, Gordon MacRae, the King Sisters, Alvino Rey, Ken
Berry, Frank DeVol, Dick Contino, Al Hirt, Fred Lowrey, Ronnie Kemper,
Larry Cotton, Donna and her Don Juans, Ollie O'Toole and many others.

1952   My Little Margie, starring Gale Storm and Charles Farrell, made
its debut on CBS. The TV version of the popular show had begun on June
16, 1952. My Little Margie stayed on radio for three years.

12/9

1940   The Longines Watch Company signed for the first FM radio
advertising contract with experimental station W2XOR in New York City.
The ads ran for 26 weeks and promoted the Longines time signals.

12/10

1927   For the first time, famed radio announcer George Hay introduced
the WSM Barn Dance as The Grand Ole Opry.

Joe

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2016 Issue #81
********************************************

Copyright [removed] Communications, York, PA; All Rights Reserved,
  including republication in any form.

If you enjoy this list, please consider financially supporting it:
   [removed]

For Help: [removed]@[removed]

To Unsubscribe: [removed]@[removed]

To Subscribe: [removed]@[removed]
  or see [removed]

For Help with the Archive Server, send the command ARCHIVE HELP
  in the SUBJECT of a message to [removed]@[removed]

To contact the listmaster, mail to listmaster@[removed]

In the event of a major mail problem, please contact the listmaster via
  the web-based contact form available at [removed]
  (on the sidebar) or follow/DM CFSummers on Twitter

To Send Mail to the list, simply send to [removed]@[removed]