Old Time Radio

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Promotional graphic, Flash Gordon
Annotation

This website features 85 selections from the "Golden Age of Radio," which lasted from the early 1920s until television replaced radio in many homes in the United States in the 1950s. Shows include original dramatic favorites such as Dragnet, Perry Mason, Gunsmoke, Sherlock Holmes, and the Radio Detective Story Hour, and adventure and western shows such as The Adventures of Superman, The Lone Ranger, and Batman Adventures. Other selections include shows discussing aspects of radio's Golden Age, and presenting clips from shows, such as Theater of the Mind and Yesterday's Radio, as well as shows devoted to music and radio soap operas. There are at least 10 episodes of each show available, and often more than 70. All shows can be streamed online, and many can be downloaded via an iTunes podcast. This website is now part of a larger website devoted to presenting more contemporary radio shows, some of which may not be appropriate for young audiences.

Music
Oral History
radio
Audio
Great Depression & WWII, 1929-1945
Postwar US, 1945-Early 1970s
Popular Culture, Leisure
Ad*Access Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 01/25/2008 - 22:21
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Image, Timken Roller Bearing Company ad supporting war bonds, 1943, Ad*Access
Annotation

Images of more than 7,000 advertisements printed primarily in newspapers and magazines in the United States from 1911 to 1955 appear on this well-developed site. The material is drawn from a collection of one of the oldest and largest advertising agencies, the J. Walter Thompson Company.

Advertisements are divided into five main subjects areas: Radio (including radios, radio parts, and programs); television (including television sets and programs); transportation (including airlines, rental cars, buses, trains, and ships); beauty and hygiene (including cosmetics, soaps, and shaving supplies); and World War II (U.S. Government-related, such as V-mail and bond drives). Ads are searchable by keyword, type of illustration, and special features. A timeline from 1915 to 1955 provides general context. "About Ad Access" furnishes an overview of advertising history, as well as a bibliography and list of advertising repositories.

Advertising
advertisements
advertising
cosmetics
radio
television
transportation
World War II
Images
Text
Emergence of Modern US, 1890-1930
Great Depression & WWII, 1929-1945
Postwar US, 1945-Early 1970s
Business
Consumer Culture
Economy
Gender
Global Contact
International Relations
Media
Military History
Popular Culture, Leisure
Science & Tech.
Women

NYC and the World of Radio

Description

From the Bowery Boys website:

"The discovery of radio changed the world, and New York City was often front and center for its creation and development as America's prime entertainment source during the 1930s and 40s. In this show, we take you on a 50-year journey, from Marconi's newsmaking tests aboard a yacht in New York Harbor to remarkable experiments atop the Empire State Building.

Two of the medium's great innovators grew up on the streets of New York, one a fearless inventor born in the neighborhood of Chelsea, the other an immigrant's son from the Lower East Side who grew up to run America's first radio broadcasting company (RCA). Another pioneer with a more complicated history made the first broadcasts that featured the human voice, the 'angelic' tones of a Swedish soprano heard by a wireless operator at the Brooklyn Navy Yard.

The second half of our show features the creation of the great radio networks and many local New York stations that are still around today. What indispensable station got its start as a department-store radio channel? What borough was touted in the very first radio advertisement? What former Ziegfeld Follies star strapped on a bonnet to become Baby Snooks?

Featuring tales of the Titanic, the rogue adventures of amateur operators, and a truly scary invasion from outer space!"

Broadcasting Longevity

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Grand Old Opry in the 1930s over WSM radio
Question

What was America's longest-running radio show?

Answer

In 1925, Nashville radio station WSM went on the air. Like many early radio stations, it was the voice of a particular commercial enterprise—in this case, the Nashville-based National Life and Accident Insurance Company, which was looking to move beyond sickness and accident insurance into life insurance. WSM program director George D. Hay, who had previously been an announcer on the Barn Dance on a Chicago radio station, organized a Saturday-night show which was also called the "barn dance." Live performances ranged from minstrel acts to military bands, but old-time or traditional string bands performing country music dominated.

The show that preceded the barn dance was a classical music program called the Music Appreciation Hour. One night in 1927 Hay introduced the barn dance by saying, "For the past hour you have been listening to music taken largely from the Grand Opera, but from now on we will present the Grand Ole Opry." The name stuck, and it continued to be broadcast under that name for the next six decades.

Although some "proper" Nashville residents thought the show was not in tune with the city's genteel reputation, it soon became wildly popular. A new radio tower built in 1932 allowed WSM to reach most of the nation with the show, although southerners remained the core of the audience. Whereas commercial media like radio have sometimes been seen as a threat to "traditional" cultures, WSM and the Grand Ole Opry spread and preserved (while it also transformed) southern white rural music.

Bibliography

Charles Reagan Wilson and William Ferris, eds., Encyclopedia of Southern Culture Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press, 1989.

Radio Fights Jim Crow

Description

During the World War II years, a series of groundbreaking radio programs tried to mend the deep racial and ethnic divisions that threatened America. At a time when blacks were usually shown on the radio as lazy buffoons, the federal government and civil rights activists used radio for a counter attack. Did radio unify America in the face of war? This documentary is divided into three downloadable sections.

To listen to this documentary, select "Part One," "Part Two," or "Part Three" beside the text "Radio Fights Jim Crow."

Radio's Classic Comedies

Description

If you know why (or would like to know why) "I'm thinking it over" is the funniest thing Jack Benny ever said, this class is for you. Participants will travel through the hilarious shows from the golden age of radio: Charlie McCarthy to Jack Benny, A Date with Judy to The Great Gildersleeve. See why the humor has never been equaled in these sidesplitting chapters from a bygone era.

Contact email
programs@newberry.org
Sponsoring Organization
Newberry Library
Phone number
312-255-3700
Start Date
Cost
$180
Duration
Seven weeks
End Date
Website
https://dnbweb1.blackbaud.com/OPXREPHIL/EventDetail.asp?cguid=E4243507-922D-45C…

A Spark!Lab Activity Prototype: Developing and Testing Hands-on Activities

Description

What are the goals of hands on learning? How do museum educators come up with activity ideas? How do they test ideas to make sure things work, and what happens when something fails?

Visitors will see prototypes and finished "products" of activities used successfully in Spark!Lab, and then will have the opportunity to prototype and give feedback on a new activity under development.

This month's prototyping activity is on electrical history. This is being developed to allow visitors to explore electrical science via the works of inventor and electrical engineer Nikola Tesla (1856–1943). Tesla is best known for his many revolutionary contributions in the field of electricity and magnetism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Tesla's patents and theoretical work formed the basis of many modern technologies now taken for granted, including fluorescent and neon lighting, automation, radio-controlled toys and guided missiles, and wireless transmissions that earned him the name "father of radio."

Sponsoring Organization
National Museum of American History
Target Audience
K-12
Start Date
Cost
Free
Duration
Thirty minutes
Website
http://americanhistory.si.edu/events/event.cfm?key=26&eventkey=1683&date=2009-0…

Packaging Presidents

Description

"With a presidential election just around the corner, this workshop will focus on how presidents are packaged according to the most winnable personality, prepared in minute detail for every public appearance, and promoted as viable candidates and chief executive. Educators will look at examples and methods of how presidential image has been portrayed in the public sphere from George W. to George W. The evolution of presidential campaigns will be examined by comparing and contrasting early, short, and inexpensively-run campaigns to the grueling more than year-long marathons and multi-million dollar campaigns of the present. Educators will also examine the art of campaign buttons, banners, and broadsides of the past to the fire-side chats of FDR, the television ads, sound bites, and Internet of today."

Contact name
Manning, Carol
Contact email
Carol.Manning@illinois.gov
Sponsoring Organization
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum
Target Audience
Kindergarten through Twelfth Grade
Start Date
Cost
None
Course Credit
"CPDUs/CEUs: 4 CPDU"
Duration
One day
Website
http://www.alplm.org/education/teacher_workshops.html
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