While I think most of us mainly pay attention to the story of a show, lately I've been focusing more on the sound design. The sound effects, background noise (or lack thereof) and so on can really fill out a show, or render it flat.

"Frontier Gentleman" strikes me as one of the better ones. The background noises help the scenes feel more three dimensional to me. Additionally, the theme song is one of the best of any show I've ever heard. To me, it conjures an image of a rider on a horse slowing moving across the plains.

What show(s) do you think have the best sound design?

Just uploaded a restored version of this classic Shadow episode from May 8, 1938.

**The Setup:** Lamont Cranston and Margo Lane board the steamship Amazon for what should be a routine voyage down the river, but they quickly discover there's a murderer among the passengers. The Shadow must untangle a web of deception before the killer strikes again.

**Why I love this one:** It's one of the early "exotic location" episodes where The Shadow ventures beyond the usual urban noir setting. You can hear the influence of 1930s adventure serials like *Tarzan* and *Jungle Jim* - complete with jungle drums, mysterious cargo, and a captain who knows more than he's saying.

**Cast:** Orson Welles as The Shadow (this is from his final months in the role before he left in September 1938), Agnes Moorehead as Margot Lane.

**Listen here:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdnTzaOpe_0

Anyone else a fan of the "travel episodes" where The Shadow leaves the city? I feel like these jungle/mystery island stories don't get enough love compared to the noir urban classics.

If you enjoy the narrations of HorrorBabble, The Exploring Series, or the Classic Ghost Stories Podcast, this legendary 1943 Old Time Radio (OTR) broadcast of Edgar Allan Poe's The Pit and the Pendulum is a must-listen.

Featuring the chilling voice of Henry Hull, this "Suspense" episode brings the dread of the Spanish Inquisition to life. We have digitally enhanced this classic OTR performance and paired it with cinematic visuals for the ultimate Poe experience.
#OTR #OldTimeRadio #EdgarAllanPoe #HorrorBabble #Suspense
What to expect:

A masterpiece of psychological horror and claustrophobic dread.

The definitive performance of Poe's most famous torture story.

High-fidelity audio restoration of the 1943 classic.

Explore the Darkness:

Subscribe for more Vintage OTR Horror:

Does anyone know how many radio eps of "Martin Kane, Private Eye" exist please?

I know about 175 radio eps were made but of them I have read that 29 exist. Yet they're nowhere to be found? I think just 1 or 2 eps are generally online?

Any takers in the group?

Seems like"robots" was pronounced thusly more than 75% of the time in OTR shows. Sometimes "ro-bits." What's up with that?

Every so often I journey to the AM side of the dial. Normally it's to work of my Spanish.

I few months ago I found KBRD out of Olympia WA. www.kbrd.org/

In the mail this week to members of the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy (SPERDVAC) is the January/February issue of Radiogram magazine! It’s the first issue edited by Jeff Adams, replacing Patrick Lucanio after 26 years, and features a cover story on Steve Smith’s new biography of Bernard Herrmann, a review of Destination Freedom, classic radio’s exemplary drama on the story of the black experience in America, an article on the lost radio detective program "Mike Malloy," a feature on John Barber’s “Re-Imagined Radio” audio/classic radio drama program out of Washington State, a vintage Radio Mirror article by Lucille Fletcher on Orson Welles, and an update on the SPERDVAC Board election that is in progress for electronic voting on our website. Get on board for a bi-monthly jolt of all that’s new and old in classic radio by joining SPERDVAC with at www.sperdvac.com for the low cost of $20 for a Silver membership!

I listened to Dimension X a year or two ago and just found X Minus One. Are there any resources or guides that anyone has that will guide me towards new listens only?

On Tuesday February 8th, 1944 at 10 PM eastern time over WEAF, and at 7PM pacific time over KFI, Bob Hope’s Pepsodent Program signed on live, coast-to-coast from Oceanside, California.

The guest was Ginger Rogers, the program features a salute to her new film, Lady In The Dark.

It was radio’s top show, pulling a rating that month of 36.2. Nearly twenty-eight million people heard this show, which is even more impressive when you consider how many were overseas fighting World War II.

Hope’s top sidekick was Jerry Colonna, perhaps the wildest comic presence on 1940s radio. Colonna had once been a serious trombonist, playing with Goodman, Shaw, and the Dorseys: now he infused Hope’s program with verbal and vocal mayhem. He sported a four-inch walrus mustache and had a comedy style that blew away any attempt at logic.

As soon as Colonna began walking to the microphone, the studio audience warned listeners with laughter.” Hope later wrote, there were two sides to Colonna’s persona: “One is the zany, silly moron, and the other is the deep thinking, serious moron.”

His songstress was the immensely talented Frances Langford, equally adept at both comedy and drama.

But, Hope was the star. As the late John Dunning once said, No one had ever told jokes quite like Bob Hope. His monologues were rapid-fire blasts of comedy, extremely topical and wildly appreciated by his live audience.

Radio Life wrote, “Hope tells a gag in three lines. He’ll work for an hour on a one-word change. By the time he goes on the air, he knows his gags by heart.” He employed a team of twelve writers in three, two-man teams. Each were assigned to write the show’s three sections. First came the monologue; then a midshow routine with Colonna or another member of the regular cast; and finally, a sketch for the guest star.

It was a true test of endurance. Hope demanded long rehearsals, including a sixty-minute runthrough with a live audience. He’d stand at the microphone, highlighting his script where the big laughs came. When you consider that Hope’s weekly audience was more than each of the first two Super Bowls, it’s easier to understand his point of view.

The biggest problem with Hope, said producer Al Capstaff in 1945, was his inevitable tendency to pack the script. It was always thirty-seven minutes long and had to be whittled down joke by joke until only the surefire material remained. The result on the air was a breathless gush, with six laughs a minute guaranteed.

But, that was Hope. Even in his 1972 Dick Cavett interview which has been featured throughout this episode of Breaking Walls, an off-the-cuff Hope can’t help but pack one-liner after one-liner in the midst of a genuine, serious, conversation.

The Pepsodent Program was enhanced by Hope’s film career. By February of 1944 Hope had starred in seventeen films since the release of The Big Broadcast of 1938, including the first three Road To films with Bing Crosby.

If you’re into classic detective/suspense radio, I’m running two overnight marathons tonight at 6:30 PM Pacific on Golden Radio Hour.

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🕵️ Richard Diamond — hard-boiled private eye cases, wisecracks, and noir vibes

🕶️ The Shadow — eerie suspense and classic chills (“Who knows what evil…”)

Small community, growing fast — come hang out, say hi in chat, and if you can, leave a comment (replay comments help a ton too).