Subject: [removed] Digest V2006 #325
From: [removed]@[removed]
Date: 11/21/2006 8:06 PM
To: [removed]@[removed]

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


                            The Old-Time Radio Digest!
                              Volume 2006 : Issue 325
                         A Part of the [removed]!
                             [removed]
                                 ISSN: 1533-9289


                                 Today's Topics:

  "Golden Age of Radio" and "A One Nig  [ "Bob Scherago" <rscherago@[removed] ]
  Lossless formats and OTROTR           [ "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed]; ]
  radio phone numbers                   [ "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed] ]
  Thanks!                               [ Kelli Stanley <ks4color@[removed] ]
  Still trading                         [ "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed] ]
  OLDE TYME RADIO NETWORK               [ "Jerry Haendiges" <jerryhaendiges@c ]
  Oldtime Radio & MP3's                 [ "[removed]" <asajb2000@ ]
  Lassie on Radio                       [ jack and cathy french <otrpiano@ver ]
  MP3 controversy sounds familiar       [ Art Chimes <[removed]@[removed] ]

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 13:35:55 -0500
From: "Bob Scherago" <rscherago@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  "Golden Age of Radio" and "A One Night Stand
 with the Big Bands"

The latest "Golden Age of Radio" programs with Dick Bertel
and Ed Corcoran, and "A One Night Stand with the Big Bands"
with Arnold Dean can be heard at [removed].

Each week we feature three complete shows in MP3 format
for your listening pleasure or for downloading; two "Golden
Age of Radios" and one "One Night Stand." We present new
shows every week or so. The current three programs will be
available on line at least until the morning of 11/28/06.

Program 12 - March, 1971 - Carroll Carroll

Carroll, Carroll served as the head writer for the Kraft Music
Hall for many years, and it was he more than anyone else who
developed the relaxed, jovial persona of Bing Crosby so well
remembered today. Both Bing and Carroll shared a love affair
with big words and alliteration ("There's a lot of limber lumber
on that calfskin"), and the casual, laid-back banter with the
show's guests convinced many a listener that the show was
completely ad-libbed. Carroll wrote  memoir of his years in the
radio writing biz entitled None of Your Business: Or My Life
with J. Walter Thompson (Confessions of a Radio Writer) in
1970, and he succinctly summed up the attitude of KMH by
commenting that the program served to "treat opera as if it
were baseball and baseball as if it were opera."

Program 13 - April, 1971 - Jackie Kelk

Character actor Jackie Kelk was born  July 6, 1923, in
Brooklyn. He was perhaps best known for his radio
acting as Homer, Henry's best friend, on "The Aldrich
Family," or Jimmy Olsen in "Superman," but he appeared
in many films and on Broadway as well.

As radio was moving into the forties, many programs
were beginning to show a professionalism not heard
before. Comedies became more sophisticated and more
genuinely funny by moving away from a rehash of vaudville
routines. One such series which began on this day was
"The Aldrich Family." Henry Aldrich was like many other
teenage boys of the time with his worries about relationships.
If nothing else would be remembered about this series, the
opening will always be around as it has been used over and
over both in satire as well as commercials. As mother screams
"[removed] Aldrich" and the adolescent cracking voice
of Ezra Stone responds with "Coming, Mother!" the listeners
knew they were in for some good laughs.

"A One Night Stand with the Big Bands" With Arnold Dean

Program 9 - February, 1972 - Conrad Gozzo

Gozzo, lead trumpeter on the Glen Gray and Harry James
"remakes", recorded extensively with arrangers such as Van
Alexander, Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Ray Conniff, Jerry
Fielding and Shorty Rogers, as well as accompanying Frank
Sinatra. Gozzo always played lead trumpet on all of the
recordings of his close friend, Henry Mancini. He was heard
on many major live television shows aired on the NBC network,
originating from Hollywood, including the Dinah Shore Show,
between 1955 and 1964. Gozzo also played on several movie
soundtracks, such as The Glenn Miller Story, The Benny
Goodman Story, Bye Bye Birdie, Call Me Madom, Ben Hur,
and Cleopatra.

In the 1970's WTIC decided that there was a market in
the evening for long-form shows that could be packaged
and sold to sponsors. Two of those shows were "The
Golden Age of Radio" and "A One Night Stand with the
Big Bands."

Dick Bertel had interviewed radio collector-historian
Ed Corcoran several times on his radio and TV shows,
and thought a regular monthly show featuring interviews
with actors, writers, producers, engineers and musicians
from radio's early days might be interesting. "The Golden
Age of Radio" was first broadcast in April, 1970; Ed was
Dick's co-host. It lasted seven years. "The Golden Age
of Radio" can also be heard Saturday nights on Walden
Hughes's program on Radio Yesteryear.

Arnold Dean began his love affair with the big band
era in his pre-teen years and his decision to study
the clarinet was inspired by the style of Artie Shaw.
When he joined WTIC in 1965 he hosted a daily program
of big band music. In 1971, encouraged by the success
of his daily program and "The Golden Age of Radio"
series, he began monthly shows featuring interviews
with the band leaders, sidemen, agents, jazz reporters,
etc. who made major contributions to one of the great
eras of music history.

Bob Scherago
Webmaster

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:41:48 -0500
From: "Bill Scherer" <bspro@[removed];
To: ""old-time radio digest">" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Lossless formats and OTROTR

Rodney asked about SHN and FLAC for OTR collecting.
You are right it's a much better way to go but the average collector has to
do a little mor learning to get familiar with it, and new formats scare folks
off I think.
Plus MP3 has been around for quite a while and I think even some collectors
wonder which of the lossless formats will survive.
It is certainly the best way to go though.
Bill

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:43:23 -0500
From: "Mark Kinsler" <kinsler33@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  radio phone numbers

2X2L and 8X3R were not valid ham radio callsigns, but after all it was a
radio show.

So what did radio shows do when they had to use a bogus telephone number on
the air?  On TV nowadays they use 555, as in 555-1234, because 555 is an
exchange used only for telephone system work and thus will not connect you
to the bedroom of a litigious person in New Jersey somewhere.  But I don't
recall ever hearing 555 on a radio show, and it would seem that networks
would be concerned over clueless listeners who idly call telephone numbers
they heard in a radio drama.

I suspect that people think they'll win a prize if they hear a number on a
TV show and call it, and I'll bet it happened in radio.

M Kinsler

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:43:41 -0500
From: Kelli Stanley <ks4color@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Thanks!

I just wanted to thank everyone who has replied to my Doughboy query
both on and off-list.  The collective knowledge and  memory of digest
readers--and their generosity in sharing it--is something for which to
be truly thankful.
I've learned a great deal about what I had thought to be an "obscure"
radio show--how wrong I was!--and have enjoyed every minute of the
education.
And of course, I'm hoping to find more radio-related postcards of
unfamiliar [removed] ;)
Best to all, and a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Kelli

[removed]  Unfortunately, there's no chance of  those delicious-sounding
Burrus flour biscuits for the holiday, even if you live in [removed]
were purchased by a conglomerate in the '90s and "rolled into the Martha
White Flour company", according to the Austin Chronicle.
[removed]
I'll just have to settle for my normal sourdough! ;)

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:43:46 -0500
From: "Ted Kneebone" <tkneebone1@[removed];
To: "Old Time Radio Digest" <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  Still trading

My last post did not include my OTR website URL, so here it is again, as
default signature #2.
I am still trading cassettes and CDs.

Ted Kneebone -- Aberdeen, SD
OTR website:  [removed]

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 15:44:54 -0500
From: "Jerry Haendiges" <jerryhaendiges@[removed];
To: <[removed]@[removed];
Subject:  OLDE TYME RADIO NETWORK

Hi Friends,
NOTE: Because of the many requests we've received, we are now making "Same
Time, Same Station" available as a free Podcast through iTunes by going to
our new website at: [removed]

Here is this week's schedule for my Olde Tyme Radio Network. Here you may
listen to high-quality broadcasts with Tom Heathwood's "Heritage Radio
Theater," Big John Matthews and Steve "Archive" Urbaniak's "The Glowing
Dial" and my own "Same Time, Same Station."  Streamed in high-quality audio,
on demand, 24/7 at [removed]
Many new titles added to our High-Quality mp3 catalog at:
[removed]
=======================================

SAME TIME, SAME STATION

Happy Thanksgiving!

GOOD NEWS OF 1939
Episode 48    11-24-38    "Thanksgiving At The Hardy's"
Host: Robert Young
Stars: Mickey Rooney, Lewis Stone, Fay Holden, Cecilia Parker, Ann
Rutherford, Director George B. Seitz
With: Frank Morgan, Fanny Brice, Hanley Stafford, and Tony Martin
Music by Meredith Wilson

THE LITTLE THINGS IN LIFE
Episode 84    11-27-75    "The Real First Thanksgiving"

THE JACK BENNY SHOW
Episode 7    11-19-39    "Jack Discovers He Bought an Ostrich for
Thanksgiving"

THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR
Episode 239    11-27-58    "A Live Turkey Is Delivered for Thanksgiving"

==================================

HERITAGE RADIO THEATER

Happy Thanksgiving!

THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE
(NBC)    11/16/41
Thanksgiving show a few weeks before the US joined WW II.

THE LIFE OF RILEY
(NBC)    11/29/47   "Mr. Stevenson & The Gillis Family Come For
Thanksgiving"

LUM AND ABNER
(ABC)    11/23/44
Lum is alone for Thanksgiving.

====================================

THE GLOWING DIAL

Thanksgiving Special

The Answer Man - "Thanksgiving Questions"
originally aired November 23, 1944 on WOR / MUTUAL
Starring: Albert Mitchell as The Answer Man.
Sponsor: Trommer's White Label Beer

Family Theater - "Home For Thanksgiving"
originally aired November 27, 1947 on MUTUAL
Starring: Paul Henreid, Joan Leslie, Charles Boyer hosts, Tony LoFrano
announcing.
Sustained

Casey: Crime Photographer - "After Turkey, The Bill"
originally aired November 27, 1947 on CBS
Starring: Staats Cotsworth, Jan Miner, John Gibson, Tony Marvin announcing.
Sponsor: Anchor-Hocking Glass Corporation

Anthology - "The Story Of Thanksgiving"
originally aired November 21, 1954 on WRCA, NY
Starring: Agnes Moorehead, Fred Waring Glee Club, New England Conservatory
Alumni Chorus, Fleetwood announcing.
Sustained

The Adventures Of Sam Spade - "The Terrified Turkey Caper"
originally aired November 24, 1950 on NBC
Starring: Steven Dunne, Lurene Tuttle, Dick Joy announcing.
Produced, Edited & Directed by William Spier (Suspense).
Music by Lud Gluskin.
Sustained

==================================

If you have any questions or request, please feel free to contact me.

     Jerry Haendiges

     Jerry@[removed]  562-696-4387
     The Vintage Radio Place   [removed]
     Largest source of Old Time Radio Logs, Articles and programs on the Net

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:14:44 -0500
From: "[removed]" <asajb2000@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Oldtime Radio & MP3's
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: from multipart/alternative
X-Converted-To-Plain-Text: Alternative section used was text/plain

Oldtime radio's frequency response and bandwidth is limited and so MP3 might
be adequate, but not at the sampling rate some people choose.  In the quest
to cram as much oldtime radio onto a cd or because they assume that the audio
quality does not require anything more, many people use sampling rates below
96.  Personally, I use about 128.  So it isn't the format that is limited or
faulty, it is the setting or preferences within the format.  I was using the
Mac equivalent of lossless audio, AIFF but this format takes up way too much
space and it makes things difficult when trying to save onto cd's.  I find at
most, I can put four half hours on one cd in the AIFF format.  Lately I have
been using .wav and now I have the option of making up audio DVD's and DVD's
can offer up to four gigs on one disc.  Most audio software limits you to cd
when making up audio discs, but Roxio Toast 7 and Nero both allow you to
create and save audio on DVD's.  This is very handy, when you
 consider that d's hold only up to 80 mb.

I like to think that allowing MP3's generous space and using the higher
sampling rates is like the way I first started out dubbing reels back in the
1970's.  I would double-speed at 7 1/2 ips but I would single track (1L, 2L,
1R, 2R).  When things got too busy and I was accumulating more material
faster, I fell back to the efault standard of double-tracking when dubbing.
Many of the single-tracked reels are still in pretty good shape, 30 years
later.
Andy Blatt

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

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:15:56 -0500
From: jack and cathy french <otrpiano@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  Lassie on Radio

On Tuesday, November 21, 2006, at 01:35 PM, Martin Grams, Jr.  wrote:

The official Lassie Fan Club plans to do a presentation at MANC this
September about the TV series
and they are open to offering information about the radio program as
well
but they have just as little information as I do.  Anyone know anything
about the show?  Cast lists?  Details about production?

There are 12 copies of the radio show in circulation and Marvin Miller
and Betty Arnold are usually in the cast.  Owner Rudd  Weatherwax, or
his brother, cued Lassie. (The show liked to pretend the real Lassie
delivered all her (his) lines, and there were even publicity shots of
Lassie alone with a script at the mike.) Earl Keene did the other dog
sounds, plus picking up cues that Lassie missed. For some strange
reason, in most of the episodes Lassie plays another breed.  In the
episode I have, Lassie portrays "Beauty" who chases a woodchuck and
gets lost in the woods.

My archives include an excellent review (dated 3-27-50) of the NBC
radio series by noted critic John Crosby  which is not in electronic
form but I could xerox it for you.

Incidentally, Bob and Ray parodied TV's Lassie in their occasional
"Tippy, the Wonder Dog" with Gramps and Little Jasper, so there's
another radio connection.

And for another, Jack Wrather owned both TV's Lassie and The Lone
Ranger, so in one memorable Lassie episode, Clayton Moore in his LR
costume, showed up to pitch [removed] Savings Bonds with Lassie.

Jack French
Editor: RADIO RECALL
<[removed]>

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

Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2006 20:16:27 -0500
From: Art Chimes <[removed]@[removed];
To: [removed]@[removed]
Subject:  MP3 controversy sounds familiar

The MP3 format has a rather poor reputation within the OTR community, which
is understandable given the ocean of poor-quality MP3 material out there, but
in my opinion the reputation is not entirely deserved.

Since MP3s came into widespread use several years ago, some dealers and
collectors made or circulated very low bitrate MP3 versions of OTR shows so
they could cram a hundred or more - sometimes many more - shows on a single
CD. Even assuming pristine source material (which it mostly wasn't), the
resulting MP3 version would sound awful: tinny, hollow, metallic. Painful.

For the most part, the blame lies not with the MP3 format per se, but with
the choice of parameters, which severely constrained the quality in the
interest of producing the smallest possible file.

Here we have to take a small technical diversion. I promise not to get too
geeky.

A digital compression format can be either lossy or not.

Lossless means that the compression is done in such a way that all the
original material can be preserved. ZIP is a lossless compression format,
though not well suited to audio. FLAC is probably the best-known lossless
audio compression format. A FLAC file might be half the size of its original
WAV file. I believe there is a lossless flavor of WMA, too.

"Lossy" just means some of the material is thrown away in the process and
cannot be retrieved.  MP3 is a lossy format. So is OGG, an open-source
alternative. So are AAC and WMA. In theory, a high-quality compressed
algorithm discards only information that can not be heard anyway. Very good
quality compressed files are virtually transparent to most listeners -
transparent in the sense that they are sonically indistinguishable from the
original source material.

To use the MP3 example, that might involve a stereo bitrate of 192k or 256k,
compared with the typical 128k of files traded one way or another online.
(For mono, divide by two to get equivalent audio quality.)

As you reduce the bitrate, you discard more and more information, and the
resulting audio starts sound less and less like the original source material.

No wonder that OTR MP3s encoded at 32 or 22 or even 16k sound like crap.

I'm in the process of dubbing some cassettes to digital. I have to throw in
one more concept here, but bear with me: I'm doing them as "variable bit
rate" MP3s, which means that the actual bit rate changes constantly, with
more demanding segments (music, [removed]) getting more bits per second and less
demanding segments (a quiet room) getting a lower bitrate. But the final
result seems to be generally in the 48-64k range. To my ears, I can't tell
the difference between the digital file and the cassette source. My half-hour
(nominal) shows average around 11 MB.

(The top end of that range, 64k mono, is the compression equivalent of 128k
stereo, which for most listeners is very nearly indistinguishable from CD on
today's pop music, with much greater frequency response and dynamic range.)

Unlike cassette or other analog audio, my MP3 can be copied endlessly without
further quality loss. Of course, if it is copied to WAV or otherwise
upsampled, and then compressed again, there will be a further loss of
quality. But I don't expect to do this with these files. These are purely
personal listening copies, to be enjoyed on my portable MP3 player (a
Samsung, which supports OGG, not that uber popular i**c), or wherever MP3s
can be played. It's not going to the Library of Congress or other archive,
and I won't be selling copies. (The original cassettes, however, will go to
my local library book sale, where the proceeds will pay for more books and
other materials for our community.)

If I were making master copies of something designed to be preserved forever
with the expectation of further duplication down the line, I wouldn't be
making MP3s. But my source material - cassette - is not a high-quality,
archival medium, and the recording is at least a couple of generations from
the original source or disk, and often lots more.

I've been in this hobby since the mid-'60s, when we collected on open reel.
And in a sense, the MP3 argument is just a new incarnation of the question of
what format to use on a tape recorder. [removed] or [removed] (or even [removed]) ips? Full
track half-track or quarter-track? [removed] or [removed] mil? Off-brand tape? Scotch
111? Ampex 642? With digital media, cost and space is less of a concern, but
now that I think of it, the issues haven't really changed all that much.

-Art-
arts dot online at gmail dot com

--------------------------------
End of [removed] Digest V2006 Issue #325
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