Oh wow! I haven't been able to find my entrance into the comedy genre in OTR--maybe because my main use for it is listening while painting, and the pacing of comedy might not be as handy for that--so it's good to have a tip on somewhere I might start. The incredible thing about OTR--aside from how top-notch the production of much of it is--is just how MUCH of it was cranked out in those golden days of radio. Aside from BBC stuff--I'm on Poirot now, next will be Miss Marple; not sure these are truly public domain but they're on archive.org, so eh--the US shows I've gone through so far have been the various Sherlock series, and Sam Spade, and those were loads of fun.

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Posted by Paleface on May 27, 2020 at 18:48:24 EST in reply to I’m huge into Old Time Radio. So is Luna Ian. I’ve been on a Fibber McGee and Molly deep dive for a few years now. I’ve even been to the Johnson Wax compound in Racine Wi...which will mean nothing to those not familiar with the show... (n/t) from SignOfZeta.

Oh wow! I haven't been able to find my entrance into the comedy genre in OTR--maybe because my main use for it is listening while painting, and the pacing of comedy might not be as handy for that--so it's good to have a tip on somewhere I might start. The incredible thing about OTR--aside from how top-notch the production of much of it is--is just how MUCH of it was cranked out in those golden days of radio. Aside from BBC stuff--I'm on Poirot now, next will be Miss Marple; not sure these are truly public domain but they're on archive.org, so eh--the US shows I've gone through so far have been the various Sherlock series, and Sam Spade, and those were loads of fun.

n/t

Follow Ups:

Yeah, the BBC still produces radio drama and so does Japan. I don’t get why audio-only non-music content died out, I love it. Also the CBS radio network made decent mysteries and such...well into the 1970s I think. South Africa also did some not so old OTR. Fibber McGee and Molly was one of those shows were the formula never changes, very vaudeville. It lasted a long time and was the most popular show in the country forever. It lasted 680 episodes (still more than The Simpsons as of this writing). Because of this it’s almost like reading a newspaper or some other contemporary chronicle. You learn about the war and rations and all that week by week and Fibber was often the “Goofus” to Molly’s “Gallant” when it came to explaining away the things people grumbled about back then. What I mean by this is that in one episode they talk a bit about gasoline rationing which is something I knew a little about. What I didn’t known was that there was plenty of gas, gas was only rationed mainly to conserve the rubber parts on cars and trucks since for some months literally zero rubber was being imported into the country. I also confess that I like the formula a lot. There is comfort in knowing what you’re going to get if you already like it. Of course I love Suspense! and The Sealed Book. Journey Into Space (BBC) and it’s sequels are terrific. I played the entire series twice through on my radio show.

(SignOfZeta)

(20:23:17 05/27/20 EST)

Ooh. I'm not into terror, which I guess is part of The Sealed Book, but scifi is another OTR genre I've been planning to hit, will definitely have to check out Journey into Space! And yep, the historical perspective you get from these shows (even the incessant ads, although those can get old--one reason to like the ad-free BBC stuff :) is pretty great.

(Paleface)

(11:05:31 05/28/20 EST)

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