July 3, 2022
50 years ago tomorrow, on July 4, 1972, radio station KPPC in Pasedena, CA handed its broadcast day over to Harvey Tow who, in the persona of "Cousin Zino," played uninterupted OTR for about 24 hours.
As a novice collector of OTR, I decided to grab as many programs as I could and set up my Panasonic RS-760S reel-to-reel tape recorder, loaded with a 7" reel with 3600' of tape, with the speed to 1-7/8 ips to give me 3 hours of recording time before needing to flip the tape over, and started recording. I had also set it to record just one of the stereo channels at a time which should yield about 12 hours of recording time on that one reel. When that reel was full, I put a second reel on. When I finshed, I ended up with about 14 hours of content.
I did listen for a while as the shows were played and would occassionally stop the tape at the end of each show, starting up again as the next show began, but for much of it I just let it run and picked up Cousin Zino's comments along the way.
On the 50th anniversary of that recording, I decided it was time to share it online. Luckily, being collector that I am, I still have those tapes and that reel-to-reel machine. However, the machine has seen better days so I used my Akai X-2000s to do the transfer to digital.
Note: Several OTR programs are still covered by copyright so I only post a small sample rather that the complete show which you may be able to find elsewhere. These shows are noted with this symbol: *
The sound quality of these tapes is not the greatest but it is what it is so listen through the lo-fi and static and enjoy a trip into the past that was about a trip into the past.
I have separated the reel's recording into individual files to provide more random access to the content.
| Show | Play time | |
| The Lone Ranger * | 24:00 Edited to 2:08 | Click to Play |
| Jimmy Fidler | 14:27 | Click to Play |
| A Date With Judy | 29:51 | Click to Play |
| The Aldrich Family | 27:52 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | 1:11 | Click to Play |
| Red Ryder | 27:04 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | :32 | Click to Play |
| The Lone Ranger * | 7:09 Edited to 2:04 |
Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | 1:11 | Click to Play |
| Jack Armstrong | 13:26 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | 1:11 | Click to Play |
| Tom Mix | 14:31 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino - Excerpt | :04 | Click to Play |
| Gangbusters | 29:03 | Click to Play |
| The Whistler | 29:03 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | 1:23 | Click to Play |
| True Detective Mysteries | 24:35 | Click to Play |
| Amos and Andy | 28:08 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | :11 | Click to Play |
| Nick Carter | 29:04 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | :11 | Click to Play |
| Fred Allen | 27:16 | Click to Play |
| Rosie by Al Jolson | 1:58 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | :11 | Click to Play |
| Suspense - Excerpt | 1:08 | Click to Play |
| Same Spade | 27:12 | Click to Play |
| Superman * | 13:26 | Click to Play |
| Captain Midnight | 12:24 | Click to Play |
| Jergen's Journal | 15:06 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | 1:18 | Click to Play |
| Kraft Music Hall | 27:13 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | :58 | Click to Play |
| It Pays to be Ignorant | 26:27 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | :25 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino Theme | 2:05 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | :47 | Click to Play |
| Break the Bank | 30:10 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | :13 | Click to Play |
| Bing Crosby and Al Jolson - Excerpt | 1:49 | Click to Play |
| FBI in Peace and War | 29:23 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | :11 | Click to Play |
| Burns and Allen | 29:44 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | :11 | Click to Play |
| Cisco Kid | 26:21 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | :11 | Click to Play |
| Gunsmoke | 27:22 | Click to Play |
| The Lone Ranger - The Origin, Part 1* | 7:57 Edited to 2:04 |
Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | 1:58 | Click to Play |
| Take It or Leave It | 30:14 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | 1:45 | Click to Play |
| Casey, Crime Photographer | 28:44 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | 2:31 | Click to Play |
| Great Gildersleeve | 2:31 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | 1:00 | Click to Play |
| The Falcon | 29:44 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | 1:47 | Click to Play |
| Mysterious Traveler | 29:47 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino - Excerpt | :01 | Click to Play |
| Jack Benny | 29:14 | Click to Play |
| Minnie the Moocher by Cab Calloway | 3:05 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | 1:05 | Click to Play |
| The Shadow* | 28:22 Edited to 2:03 |
Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | :42 | Click to Play |
| Music in the Morgan Manner | 29:38 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | :44 | Click to Play |
| Counterspy | 28:48 | Click to Play |
| Suspense | 26:39 | Click to Play |
| Song by Al Jolson | 2:32 | Click to Play |
| Cousin Zino | :11 | Click to Play |
| Duffy's Tavern - incomplete | 5:51 | Click to Play |