Subject: [removed] Digest V01 #106
From: <[removed]@[removed]>
Date: 4/5/2001 8:22 AM
To: <[removed]@[removed];

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


                      The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                         Volume 01 : Issue 106
                   A Part of the [removed]!
                           ISSN: 1533-9289


                           Today's Topics:

 MP3 player                           [Barth Wysong <stargazerbw@[removed]]
 INTERVIEWS ON YUSA                   [Duane Keilstrup <duanek9@[removed]; ]
 Juvenile radio shows                 ["Richard Pratz" <[removed]@home]
 student difficulty comprehending rad ["J. Randolph Cox" <cox@[removed]]
 Re: Car and other OTR MP3 Players    [[removed]@[removed]        ]
 Re: April 1                          [SLP1933@[removed] (Shelby Peck)    ]
 WLW power levels                     ["John Moore" <john_moore@mindspring]
 Listening Habits --                  ["Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@]
 barney beck                          ["Harold Zeigler" <hzeigler@charter-]
 On WLW                               ["David Phaneuf" <dphaneuf@[removed]]
 two great programs for starting stud [leonardfass@[removed] (Leonard Fass]
 CBC History                          [Gordon R Payton <thescifiguy@[removed]]
 Lois Culver TV appearance?           ["Lois Culver" <lois@[removed];  ]
 Radio Yesteryear                     ["J. Randolph Cox" <cox@[removed]]
 Marx Bros tours - correction, softly ["Philip Railsback" <philiprailsback]
 Looking Over My Shoulder ...         ["Bill in GA" <wmewilson@[removed]]
 April 1 Digest                       ["Tim Lones" <tallones@[removed]; ]
 re:College students and OTR          ["Vince Long" <vlongbsh@[removed];   ]
 MR. [removed] / Highway Patrol / BOB & RA [HERITAGE4@[removed]                  ]
 Re: People who started at WLW        ["Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@hotmail]

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 11:46:56 -0400
From: Barth Wysong <stargazerbw@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  MP3 player

I purchased a Philips Expanium portable CD player.  This unit will play
standard CDs and MP3 encoded files.  I thought this would be great to listen
to NTR on trips.  It comes with a AC adapter, Car adapter and a cassette
adapter that allows you to play your CDs through the car stereo.  All for
$149 at Amazon.

The only complaint I have about this unit is the pause feature doesn't
always work well with MP3s.  You can pause a playback, but if you wait too
long you have to start the track all over again.

Regular CD pause works great though.  I listen to Radio Mystery Theater
which runs 45 mins.  It was frustrating to get to the third act and then
have to start over again.  I worked around it by making a "regular" CD.  It
limits a CD to 1 show instead of 60 mp3, but it works.

Barth

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 11:47:08 -0400
From: Duane Keilstrup <duanek9@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  INTERVIEWS ON YUSA

Some great live interviews coming up on The Yesterday USA Radio Networks
include Eleanor Vallee; Joan Benny; Henry Busse, Jr.; Dick Beals; Buddy
Ebson; and Peter Ford (son of Glenn Ford); and more.

On Sunday, April 8, after 7:30 EST, Bill Bragg and Walden Hughes will
interview Red Steagall, known around the globe for continuing the tradition
of authentic American cowboy culture in song, poetry, and western swing in
the style of Bob Wills.  Red's radio show "Cowboy Corner," still heard on
many stations in the [removed], features performers such as the Sons of the
Pioneers.  Red's work will also be showcased this same night on the Classics
& Curios segment of the Bill Bragg Sunday Night Live Show.

It all happens on your "dial" at [removed] where OTR lives daily.
Log on for more details.
Duane Keilstrup

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 11:47:02 -0400
From: "Richard Pratz" <[removed]@[removed];
To: "OTR (Plain Text Only)" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Juvenile radio shows

Help wanted: If you have any knowledge of "dressing races" on OTR, apply
within!

I am writing a book relating my experiences of 40-years in broadcasting
(1959-1999) and want to include my very first memory of radio. A stumbling
block is my memory. How can I relate something that occurred when I was a
youngster with any semblance of accuracy? That's where all you knowledgeable
folks come in. A children's radio program (circa 1940's) featured a
"dressing race" in which the voice on the radio urged kiddie participants at
home to take part. He'd say such things as - "Johnny, did you remember to
bring your socks? Patricia, don't forget your hair ribbon. Walter, remember
to tie your shoes faster than last time."  (I'd always listen for my name to
be mentioned and if by chance one week he'd say "Richard", I was thrilled!)
Then it was "On your mark, get set, go!" as all us kids dressed as fast as
we could to the accompaniment of frenzied "dressing music" (what a boon this
must have been for parents)! It sure sounds silly now, but we tiny tots put
our all into it and actually held our hands up to signify when we had
finished! I was very proud if I finished in the time allotted. There were no
[removed] the praise of those over the airwaves.  By no means were the
dressing races "the" [removed] rather just a segment of a larger
production.

My dilemma? What the heck was the name of that show? I lived in Chicago and
perhaps it was a local effort. If so, fellow Chicagoans might have a clue.
But on the off-chance it was a network [removed] someone else can
come up with an answer. I don't recall if this show was broadcast only on
Saturday's or five days a week. If I had to wager a guess on what program it
was, I would guess The Smilin' Ed McConnell Show (1936-44) or Smilin' Ed's
Buster Brown Gang (1944-53).

Anyone remember "dressing races" on ANY show?

Rich

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 15:49:30 -0400
From: "J. Randolph Cox" <cox@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  student difficulty comprehending radio drama

The question about the inability of students to be able to really hear and
comprehend radio drama is interesting. There is a correlation with people
who also have trouble watching black and white movies. I've heard from film
studies teachers who say their students claim they can't see a black and
white film as clearly as they can a technicolor film.

Randy Cox

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 15:49:32 -0400
From: [removed]@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: Car and other OTR MP3 Players

Thanks to Jan Bach on the Rio Volt review.  For the moment I'm staying with
my Expanium; I figure that the new technology will result in better, more
featured and cheaper players this year.

I'm currently using the Expanium in the car with the cassette adapter.
I've played approximately 95 Dragnet episodes, many B&A and Jack Benny.
Jan, luckily I've never had the problems with this device OTR that you
experienced.

This month or next Sony is coming out with a $399 CD deck for the car that
plays MP3's.  It only plays CD's, no tape capability; the website picture
is pretty nice.  This I intend to get;  I'll just have to shelf my R$I
tapes for the moment.
I tried the Aiwa ($299) in the store-- it was pretty good--but it received
too many bad reviews from fellow (fellher?) otr fans at [removed],
including skip problems.

I've given up the idea of building an OTR mp3 player devoted to the car.
Instead, I got the novel notion to find an old-style jukebox and refurbish
it to play OTR mp3's.  What a great idea!

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 15:49:34 -0400
From: SLP1933@[removed] (Shelby Peck)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: April 1

  I had a great deal of fun making that decoder badge. I was looking
foreward to spending hours upon hours decoding the messages sent and
encoding those I wished to send. Then disappointment reared its ugly
head. But seriously folks. I did the secret decoder badge with a small
group of 4-6 graders in conjunction with the showing of a Saturday
matinee cliff hanger during  a 12 week program I had developed. These
were kids who were having their first contact with things I had done as
a kid. I'd show one chapter and put a coded message on the board that
gave a clue to the next week's chapter. A great motivational learning
program.
  Thanks for the fun Charlie!



Shelby Peck (Retired pedagogue)
aka Monsieur Pamplemousse
Click on: [removed]

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 15:49:44 -0400
From: "John Moore" <john_moore@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  WLW power levels

On Wed, 4 Apr 2001 11:53:07 -0400, [removed]@[removed]
wrote:

WLW got into trouble with FCC at one point for illegally operating full
time at 500,000 watts. They were only licensed by the FCC to operate at
that power under an experimental license, which meant no commercials.
(after about midnight) However they were operating full time at that
power. Apparently an "RI" (FCC Radio Inspector) dropped by and read the
meters (as they were wont to do) and Powell Crosley was in trouble.

An inspector wouldn't have needed to read the meters.  According to
photos I have seen, the 500KW rig was water-cooled and whenever it was
operating, there was quite a visual fountain display in the cooling
pools outside the building.  In contrast, at the 50KW level the pools
were quite tranquil.

John Moore
Atlanta, GA

For a copy of my PGP public key, simply reply
to this message with the subject "Get PGP Key"

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 15:50:38 -0400
From: "Stephen A Kallis, Jr." <skallisjr@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Listening Habits --

Jim Widner, reacting to Alan Bell's comment on the inability of his
students to listen to OTR observes,

I think that listening skills have been one of the victims of our
cultural development. Because everything comes at us now, not only
visually, but in short bytes of information, I find that many people have
difficulty focusing on something that is rather lengthy and literal. <<

Well, we manage quite well on call-in talk radio, drive time radio, and
the like.  I suspect that if a person is in the right environment, the
listening techniques would kick in, and they'd hear the stuff the way we
used to.  I suggested before listening while jogging, rollerblading, and
the like.

Stephen A. Kallis, Jr.

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 15:50:40 -0400
From: "Harold Zeigler" <hzeigler@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  barney beck

	hi anybody,
	i just got off the phone with barney beck and he sounded like the old
barney we knew . i called to sing "happy birthday" to him and he said " iv'e
heard that  song many times before".  he was asking about the cin city
convention and said he would like to make the one next year. he sounded
cheerful and i asked ( the women out number the men 20 to one) him if he has
the pick of the crop there and he said " only the iceman has his pick". same
ol' barney. hope to see you all at the burchett bash at the cin city
convention.
				till next time,harold
	[removed]
                   tomorrow is barney's birthday and i called him a day
early. talk about old age memory.

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 15:50:42 -0400
From: "David Phaneuf" <dphaneuf@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  On WLW

Bill Murtough writes:
WLW was a good station. <<

Thanks, Bill.  As a Cincinnati boy, I appreciate recognition of one of my
favorite [removed] Home of the Reds, etc.

Thought you all might be interested in some "first facts" about WLW and
Powell Crosley from the book: "The Trouble Is Not in Your Set" by Mary Ann
Kelly copyright 1990 Published by The C. J. Krehbiel Company, Cincinnati,
OH.  --

        SOAP OPERA was born at WLW Radio with the sponsorship of
Proctor & Gamble headquartered in Cincinnati, hence the name soap
    opera. . . In 1933 WLW started _Ma Perkins_ in Cincinnati and it
continued
    from New York for twenty-eight years.
        One of the first radio stations in the United States, WLW, 1922.
        First 10,000-watt international transmitter to Europe and South
    America, 1933.
        One of the first television [oops! sorry about that one!] stations
in
    the United States, 1948.
        One of the first and largest domestic installations of "Voice of
America",
    in 37 languages, 1942.

The book is mostly about WLW TV, but has a fair amount of the radio
history -- with great pictures and anecdotes of the early days.

For example, WLW's farm show "Everybody's Farm" utilized an actual "working
farm, operated by farm people who talked on farm programs," near its
transmitter in Mason, OH.  The microphone used was designed to look like an
ear of corn.  An actual ear of corn was taken from the farm, from which a
metal mold was made to hold and RCA salt-shaker type mike, and then painted
to look like an ear of corn.

More modern [removed] During the BIG RED MACHINE'S world series -- when
was that? 1975? Gosh all hemlock, my memory is fuzzy on that -- I was a
young college student in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  How nice it was to actually pick
up WLW way out in Tulsa (made one somewhat homesick boy feel almost home
again) -- The only time I could pick up WLW was during the world series, so
I must assume they boosted their signal just for the occasion.

Dave Phaneuf

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 17:18:54 -0400
From: leonardfass@[removed] (Leonard Fass)
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  two great programs for starting students
 listening

i love a [removed] a lot happens but it sure does paint pictures and
the characters basically being stereotypes it is easy to imagine [removed]

and of course jack [removed] at first students need to be alerted to what
is funny, take them through an imaginary show with the characters they
will meet in the one you play, so when the students actually listen they
have a start at being experience listeners. is that point clear?

[removed]

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 19:53:46 -0400
From: Gordon R Payton <thescifiguy@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  CBC History

Does anyone know of a book(s) that cover the history of what the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation has done since it started? A website to suggest?

Gordon [removed]

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 20:08:49 -0400
From: "Lois Culver" <lois@[removed];
To: "OTR Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Lois Culver TV appearance?

Boston Blackie from 1952. KentTaylor plays [removed] But guess who plays
Blackieís girlfriend ...? Itís none other than our own Lois Culver. Of
course >her long radio history is ìknownî to all, but I was unaware of her
TV work. >Lois is very [removed]

If this was April Fool's Day I'd think Charlie was doing it again!  Hate to
disappoint you, but "your own Lois Culver" never did any TV work.  The only
female Culver I knew of in Hollywood radio was a much older woman, mostly
stage or [removed] very distant relative of Howard's.  But surely glad
to know that I was pretty! :)  Anyone have any idea who this imposter was?
(The picture of the REAL me is found with Howard Culver at:
[removed]

Lois Culver
KWLK Radio (Mutual) Longview, WA 1941-44
KFI Radio (NBC) Los Angeles CA 1945-47, 50-53
Widow of Howard Culver, actor

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 20:48:56 -0400
From: "J. Randolph Cox" <cox@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Radio Yesteryear

Someone was lamenting not having ordered from Radio Yesteryear while it was
still in business. Did its video counterpart - Video Yesteryear - disappear
as well? I used to order from that end of the business and  was reminded of
that whileshelving a couple of silent movies this afternoon.

Randy Cox

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 22:03:49 -0400
From: "Philip Railsback" <philiprailsback@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Marx Bros tours - correction, softly

Besides "Night at the Opera" and "Day at the Races", I believe they also
road tested "Go West", but only the opening scene, which shows because it is
signifigantly better than the rest of the movie.

  - Philip

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 22:03:48 -0400
From: "Bill in GA" <wmewilson@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Looking Over My Shoulder ...

I've been interested in OTR for about a dozen years, or so, and of course
have had programmed into my skull the fact that "Sorry, Wrong Number" and
"The War of the Worlds" was the scariest OTR ever done.  Then, the
discussion of Arch Oboler's wonderful "The Dark" came up and I got to
thinking ... what OTR program episode has scared you the most????

For me, it wasn't any of the above.  I work for a radio station that carries
"When Radio Was" and during my lunch hours, I'd take a used "episode" out
with me for my brisk walk in the park.  So it was in broad daylight that I
first heard an episode of "Suspense" that opened with the narrator intoning
that the LAST time they ran this story, they received hundreds of phone
calls and letters, about half of them positive, the other half not.  He
requested that if you hadn't heard this before, that you feel free to
contact them after hearing ... "The Zero Hour."

Apparently, the show had been adapted on "X-1" as well, but the version I
heard kept me LITERALLY looking over my shoulder as I made my way nervously
back to work.  CHILLING!

How about the rest of you?

Bill W.

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

Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2001 23:00:35 -0400
From: "Tim Lones" <tallones@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  April 1 Digest

    Just another brief [removed] went to the web page Charlie said to go
[removed] almost downloaded the [removed] I said to [removed] go to all
this trouble just to read the [removed] in my 40's I had never had secret
decoders as a radio premium so it was confusing anyway,,there would have to
be [removed] I just waited things [removed] just about had me
Charlie!..I think I'll skip April 1 next [removed]


Tim Lones
Canton, Ohio

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

Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 00:20:45 -0400
From: "Vince Long" <vlongbsh@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  re:College students and OTR

First off I want to thank those who answered my question about The Lights
Out episode, The Dark.  This was spurned by an article in our local paper
here on the eastern plains of Montana.  If interested, the article is here:

[removed];display=rednews/200

On the subject of the "younger generation" and their listening skills.  I
teach at the high school level (technology, programming, drafting) and make
my OTR collection available to teachers throughout our district with my only
request being that they give me feedback about the students' reactions.  In
general they say that the students thought that the experience was just OK.
Only once or twice has a student come in wanting to find out more about the
shows.

An suggested activity to keep the listeners focused is to tell them that
they will write a verbal description of what they "see" in a particular
scene.  After the show is over, give them a few minutes to write up the
description and then share with the class.  The different ways that we "see"
when we only listen could lead to some interesting discussions.

I do not think that this generation is any more or less imaginative, it's
more that they have so many more choices in how to entertain themselves, an
almost overwhelming amount.  And, in my observations, they want to
multi-task as they try to take it all in, such as playing a computer game
while downloading music off Napster while their favorite CD is playing and
the TV is on in the background, and, of course, they are talking on the
phone.  And we want them to sit quietly and listen to an ancient, scratchy
recording of some non-relevant (to them) piece of broadcast history after
all that stimulation?

Vince

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

Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 00:28:20 -0400
From: HERITAGE4@[removed]
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  MR. [removed] / Highway Patrol / BOB & RAY

Dennis Crowe made mention that the early TV show,  HIGHWAY PATROL used the
same theme music as radio's MR. DISTRICT ATTORNEY.  Only the sydicated MR.
[removed] had that theme.  That was the 1952-52 syndicated series from ZIV  which
starred David Brian.  The original NBC radio series had an exclusive,
strirring and distinctive theme, 1939 to 1952 with Jay Jostyn in the "title
role" from 1940-52.  HIGHWAY PATROL was also syndicated.  The music was
multiply licensed.
All the folks interested in hearing some early BOB & RAY who wrote to me,
please write again.  We have put some things together for you.
Tom Heathwood - Heritage Radio Classics - Boston.
Heritage4@[removed]    04/04
---------------------------------------

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

Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 10:11:53 -0400
From: "Michael Ogden" <michaelo67@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Re: People who started at WLW

In talking about famous folk like Durwood Kirby and Red Barber who got their
start--or first significant career boost--at WLW, we should not forget to
mention Fats Waller. There's a hilarious story about Fats at WLW, and I've
often wondered if it was really true or not. As the story goes, Powell
Crosley came into the studio one day and found Fats Waller playing on one of
the organs there--playing something "low-down and dirty," possibly even one
of his own compositions. Crosley exploded and fired Waller on the spot,
because that particular organ had been installed at the station in memory of
Crosley's mother and the only kind of music that was allowed to be played on
it was classical and sacred. But, as the story goes on, Fats got his revenge
for being fired, because the organ never worked right after that. There was
something off, something wrong about the sound of it. And it wasn't until
much later that the source of the problem was discovered when a cleaning
lady found that Fats had used the back of the organ as a dumping space for
his empty whiskey bottles! (Talk about "mis-behavin'"!)

Has anybody heard this story before and can comment on the veracity of it
one way or the other? Any Fats Waller authorities out there? (Or, in the
idiom of Beulah, "Somebody holler for a Waller scholar?")

Mike Ogden

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V01 Issue #106
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