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When did you first become interested in old time radio?

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Kid and radio

My interest in old time radio started when I was around eight years old and my dad played The Whistler radio show on reel-to-reel. I was spooked, but hooked. It became our nightly routine to listen to The Whistler after dinner. As an adult, I had long hours at work and a one hour commute each way in the 1990s. I heard a radio program on a local station and I looked for a comprehensive and affordable source for vintage radio programs. That's when I began trading and collecting radio shows in earnest and it has brought me endless joy ever since.

When did you first become interested in old time radio? Please add your comments below!

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COMMENTS

I may have told you that I renewed my interest in the last few years after retiring from the army. When I was about 11 years old, probably as a birthday gift, I received a Longines Symphonette LP set of old time radio. This would have been in the mid 1960's and I can still clearly remember the LPs. It included samples of radio shows with radio broadcasts of drama, soap operas (Ma Perkins), comedy (Amos & Andy and Fibber McGee and Molly), adventure (Jack Armstrong, the All American Boy), old commercials ( Chesterfield cigarettes, Interwoven Socks, Lava, Wheaties, Rinso White and Rinso Bright), A sporting events LP, Major News stories (The Hindenburg Disaster), and an LP of the famous War of the Worlds by Orson Welles. I remember my dad talking about the Whistler and reciting the introduction. I also remember the program on the Longines Symphonette LPs I sited as my introduction to old time radio.

Mark

I listened in the kitchin while my mother prepared dinner and I listen to the Lone Ranger. i DISCOVERED THE CBS Mystery programs and the Sears radio programs. We have a local man who does old time radio on various stations since the 1980's.

Roger

My Interest in OTR was when I was in Grade School, during WWII. I lived in Florida. I remember i was listing to one of the OTR programs when the broad cast was interrupted by the new broadcast the President Roosevelt had died. After the war, when the family would take Sunday drives, we'd listen to Suspense, The Shadow, Inter Sanctum, and The Greatest Story Ever Told. Ah, those were the days. I have a very extensive collection of OTR programs, and have set up a media server in my home so I can play them on my TV from my PC. It beats sitting on the floor, as we used to do, with our ear glued to the radio. I'm sorry that era has passed us by. The youth of today don't have the developed imagination that we acquired, listening to OTR programming. It's re their loss.

Ron Riemar

I started to listen to OTR as a young child before we had TV back in the 40's and it is still good to listen to it to this day. Thank You for re vitalizing it again. Roy

Roy W Helsel

I first encountered OTR in high school American History. We were studying the Great Depression era, and the teacher needed to catch up on grading essays, so he played a couple of cassettes,the excuse being that people listened to the radio during this time. He played Abbott & Costello's Who's on First routine,and an episode of the Shadow. Not long afterward I found some radio cassettes at Waldenbooks and other places, enlarging my collection over the years through mail order catalogs and later the internet. I really enjoy listening to them at bedtime, they relax me and help me sleep. I really love reading OTR history, very fascinating. I'm 53 now and haven't lost my interest in all these years.

Scott Andrews

Though I'd run across OTR material before, the "gateway" for me was PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION with Garrison Keillor's many parodies of classic radio genres and shows (in a 3 hour radio show already!) That got me curious to check out the actual originals, and OTR has been a staple in my life ever since.

Ross Bagby

When I was a little girl, my mom would listen to the radio while she ironed. I was fascinated by the shows. As an adult, while I was teaching, I purchased several CD's of the old radio shows. They became my way of relaxing after school. I am still hooked

Joyce Howard

I was raised on radio now referred to as old when it was new

Robert

I started listening to Old Time Radio when I started working from home 15 years ago. I started with Jack Benny and Fibber McGee and Molly. I loved them so much. It gave me a sense of how life was back when times were slower, there was no social media or TV. I liked that. I have gotten several shows from OTR.CAT and I highly recommend them. They do a fantastic job.

Patti Smith

My Father was an old time radio fan, and there was this radio station that would play these old radio shows every night at 7:30 PM in my city. We tuned in and they would air The Lone Ranger, The Shadow, Sherlock Holmes, and the Green Hornet regularly. So when I heard my first Shadow show, I was thrilled and hooked. It was the program, "The House That Death Built." Never forget it. And as I listened to these other shows too I got hooked. They also aired other mystery shows, and sometimes a horror show, on the days the regularly scheduled shows did not play. So 7 days a week, you could hear something great. My Father would tell me these stories of shows he remembered growing up to, and we had such a good time listening together. Since then, I started collecting, and haven't stopped listening. What a great hobby to have.

Brian Hochberg

I think I was maybe 9 when, one Christmas, my parents bought me a cassette tape (this would have been about 1979) of The Lone Ranger episodes. I was a fan of the old-school TV series and Clayton Moore, as well as the Saturday morning cartoon, and just LOVED the character. Now, on family holiday trips when the grownups were being boring and my cousins were doing something I wasn't interested in, I could disappear back into those golden days of yesteryear! Skip ahead to my teens, when I read about the War of the Worlds broadcast! I bought an LP containing that broadcast, and that became a Halloween ritual for me. Not long after, I discovered that my library card allowed me to borrow hours and hours of Dragnet, The Shadow, The Green Hornet, The Lone Ranger, etc.! Then when MP3 players and the Internet became a thing, I'll let you guess what happened. My career hasn't consisted of wealth acquisition, but it has afforded me hours upon hours with my ears and imagination free.

Raymond

When I worked for the Chicago Tribune in the late 1960s, I became curious about what existed of network radio in different archives. A company called the Nostalgia Book Club was offering as a premium LP record called "Themes Like Old Times," which collected the authentic openings of about 50 famous programs. Furthermore, old "Shadow" and "Green Hornet" programs were being syndicated by the Charles Michaelson Company. And a company called Radio Yesteryear had been formed recently, which offered custom made reel to reel tapes of complete b'casts. This seemed like a place to start. So I did a long story for the Tribune Sunday Magazine which came out in early 1969. The response made me realize that my curiosity was widespread. Within a year the "Themes Like Old Times" LP was issued to the general public on a small label and actually charted at a high level in Billboard. Soon Radio Yesteryear began issuing LPs as well on its niche label called Radiola, and local radio stations began devoting blocks of airtime to b'casts of the 30s and 40s ("Those Were the Days," for example, in Chicago.) Old radio became a significant trend. The timing was about right in terms of the nostalgia factor -- about 10 years after the NBC and CBS's commitment to entertainment radio disappeared in 1960-62.

John McDonough

I was 8 years old and living in Germany with my family. Listened to Armed Forces Radio. Was hooked eventually started collecting reel to reel. Now OTRCAT for everything now They have it all.

Bob

Seems I have always been interested to radio shows. Although I was raised at the start of the tv era, I don't recall listening to them when young and before my grandfather bought the family tv sets, probably before I started school. I was born December 1944, then it was watching television, Listening to Armed Forces Korea Radio Network in 1966 had an impact. Being a road warrior at times started me collecting tapes then CD's to listen to as I traveled long distances in a car. Now I have a new MP3 CD portable player next to my power chair in the living room and a nice new boom box in the office where I sometimes sleep. Thanks for providing this service for a 76 year old, handicapped man who can't drive. Television is fine, but to do things as I listen to the radio adventure of Johnnie Dollar, Rocky Fortune, Men From the Ministry, Black Museum, and so forth is relaxing.

Seems I have always been interested to radio shows

Seems I have always been interested in radio shows. Although I was raised at the start of the tv era, I don't recall listening to them when young, and before my grandfather bought the family tv sets, probably before I started school. I was born December 1944, then it was watching television. Listening to Armed Forces Korea Radio Network in 1966 had an impact. Being a road warrior at times started me collecting tapes then CD's to listen to as I traveled long distances in a car. Now I have a new MP3 CD portable player next to my power chair in the living room and a nice new MP3 boom box in the office where I sometimes sleep. This service for a 76 year old, handicapped man who can't drive is great. Though my family thinks I am stuck in the past. Smart Television is fine, but to do things like paperwork and dishes as I listen to the radio adventure of Johnnie Dollar, Rocky Fortune, Men From the Ministry, Black Museum, and so forth is relaxing. We are fortunate to live in an age where I can read books on Kindle, Listen to them too through auto voices, Listen to performances by actors on Audible, gat books on CD's at the library, read my many books that in some cases go back over a hundred years like Tom Swift and his motorcycle, Detective stories and mysteries that my Uncle and Father would read on a street car to school or reread on the way to work and then I would read on an airplane traveling all over the United States, yet would fit in the pocket of a suit coat. The content is good, the writing is excellent and the radio performances were great. Lucky me.

John Froemke, Sr.

Hi, Jon! I first encountered old time radio when I was in college, about 1974. I remember the crappy rented room I was living in at the time, when one depressing Sunday night I started turning the radio dial. That's when I came upon WKAR-FM as it was airing an episode of "The Lone Ranger." I had never heard an old time radio show before, and I, too, was immediately hooked. After that, I listened on various public stations when I could find stuff. Then, when I moved to DC in 1999, it all happened. There was "The Big Broadcast" each week on WAMU, and then I found sellers on the internet who could provide CDs. Finally, we got computer connection speeds that allowed for streaming as well. So, I have been enjoying OTR for nearly 50 years. (Yikes! I'm old.) I want you to know that many of these wonderful moments are due to you and the OTR Cat. Thank you! Kellie

Kellie

1954, when I had to stay home from school and away from the rest of my family (and the family TV) while suffering from the Mumps. The Radio was my only source of entertainment. Particularly, The Lone Ranger.

Joseph

When I was ten years old, we moved to a new town in upstate New York. Being a Long Island kid, I didn't really fit in with the country kids- it took a long time to assimilate. I spent many hours ( when I was supposed to be sleeping ) with a radio under my pillow, listening to "Radio Mystery Theater". It was coming in from WOWO in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Listening to E.G. Marshall and being totally creeped out is one of my favorite memories. That was in 1970.

Glover

When I was growing up, my grandmother used to take me out for a "shopping spree" for my birthday. "Big Spender" that I was at the time, decided that we would go to Venture (something akin to a Walmart/Target) and get some cassette tapes. There were a couple of sets of old radio show collections, packaged in "old radios". I got the Comedy set and the Mystery/Drama set. I think I was about 10 years old. Completely hooked! Memorized every word of the Jack Benny, and Fibber McGee and Molly tapes. I also knew Sherlock Holmes, Spellbound Screen Director's Playhouse, and the 1984 broadcasts by heart. Now my son is a fan of My Favorite Husband, Fibber, and The Great Gildersleeve. These shows just make me happy. Thank you so much for keeping them alive! I can't tell you how much they mean to me!!!

Kristin

I was still a kid when radio's "Golden Age" was in its last stages, as it was "rusting", so to speak. But I was hooked in that I was always still looking for network radio to play more than newscasts, special programs and the last morsels of music and drama. I began collecting otr memorabilia when I began recording shows on old reel to reel tapes, beginning in the mid-60's and going on to the early 70's. Then, I began collecting cassettes that already had the programs commercially recorded. I started collecting from your site in 2003, I think, when I got the shows on mp3 disks. I had till then also gotten shows on audio cd's from places like Cracker Barrel. And now, here I am, downloading shows from your site and putting them on thumb drives or blank mp3 cd disks. A great hobby!

Duncan

When I was a kid in the early 80s, CHUM-FM in Toronto had a Sunday night lineup of 1-2 hours of Dr. Demento, then an hour of "Sunday Night Funnies" which were either album sides of comedians or occasionally a half hour of that followed by a half of Jack Benny or a similar classic show. Then from 11-12 we had "Theatre of the Mind", two episodes of different shows, which over the years included Escape, Sherlock Holmes, Gangsters, Blue Diamond, Boston Blackie, and probably a few others. My mother listened (dad fell asleep all the time), so I was given the ok to listen in my room too, despite being a very tired (and sometimes freaked out) 11yo on Monday morning.

Chris R

I first enjoyed old time radio when it wasn't old time radio but was instead the entertainment that we had at home. My first favorite that I remember was Boston Blackie which was on the air in New Orleans in 1951. Other favorites were Big Jon and Sparkie from Cincinnati on Saturday mornings which ran about 1 1/2 - 2 hours followed by Let's Pretend and Space Patrol in the very early 1950's. Comic Book Man read the comics to us before we learned how to read very well. I enjoyed all of these on my granpa's 1936 Crosley tombstone radio with the 5 inch tall vacuum tubes glowing inside. The rest of the day was spent playing outside until it began to get dark. We didn't have television there until I was 11 years old. The golden age of radio ended right before my 18th birthday. Nice to see OTRCAT has most of these shows and more preserved for all to enjoy

Carl

When I was a young boy in the late 1950's, my dad borrowed a recording of The War of the Worlds from the public library. He told me that he had heard the broadcast live when he was a young man. I listened to it late one Saturday night when everyone else in the house was asleep and I was hooked.

Dennis Guerra

CFRA AM Radio in Ottawa used to play OTR from 3 to 4 am. The first half hour was variety and comedy. The second was SF, Crime, Mysteries. On the weekends in the 1970\\'s, I would stay up to listen to them. When I first heard the opening of the Hall of Fantasy \\"The Man From the Second Earth\\" I was hooked. Recording them with a microphone held up to the radio speaker was the only way to have a copy.Thus began my decades long search to acquire as many shows as possible. After many meager years I found OTR CAT. Driving cross country playing MP3s of X Minus One is the cat\\'s meow and the bee\\'s knees all rolled into one.

Jim Goetz

From my earliest memory, I wanted to be a radio announcer – when listening to the radio, I wanted to BE the voice, not just listen to the voice. (Watching Gary Owens every week on Laugh-In probably also had something to do with it.) Also, when I was a kid in the ‘60s, major labels like MGM, Mercury and UA were still putting out radio-style dramatizations for kids (UA’s “Tale Spinners” series, for instance). Eventually, I discovered that, before TV took hold, such programs were regularly done on radio. To make matters “worse,” my local station actually began airing old-time radio programs – and, from there, there was no turning back.

Andrew

Before I was old enough for school, my dad and I had a morning crawl: I would crawl into bed with him first thing in the morning, and we'd listen to Don McNeil's Breakfast Club together on weekdays, or Big John and Sparky's "There's No School Today" on Saturdays. In 1955 I was eight years old and my father bought me a radio for my bedroom. Our small city had one AM radio station, which stopped broadcasting at 11 p.m. daily. Evening programming was news and music, but when I was home sick from school, that's when I really got addicted to OTR, with "It's a Crime, Mr. Callen," "Gangbusters," "Mr. District Attorney," etc. They also broadcast soap operas, but they weren't to the taste of a young boy. I also loved Space Patrol and, when I could find it on an out-of-town station, The Lone Ranger. Those two became early purchases when I discovered OTRCat.

Ed Sebring

I can remember when I was 4 maybe 5 every morning my Mom would have Don Mcneil and march around the breakfast club, when I got my own room my Granpa gave me a full-size stand-alone radio with a little tiny window that when you change the dial it would show you what station you were listening to. The biggest problem for me was to learn which of the 1 million dials did what (at least is sure did like that many. Never did seem to get into TV I figured out I could do two things at once build trains and listen to the radio. When I got back out of the USN I was sad to find out that OTR had become a thing of the past. THEN low and behold I found the CBS RADIO WORKSHOP I was back in 78th heaven, Then years later OTRCAT was born now I have in my collection close to 5,000. programs, I thank them often as I have tinnitus, in my ears, also with OTRCAT and an earplug it drowns out all the ringing.!!! Again I'm now a little bummed because cars don't have CD/DVD player and its getting hard to find anyone who still makes anything that plays dvd R, likely when I'm still building train layouts, I purchased an old model computer and set it up I can still listen and play with trains.

Thomas

I was a Navy brat. My dad was stationed in Yokoska Japan in 1961. All we had for entertainment was Armed Forces Radio. After school I would come home and hear the old time radio programs they played.Including Johnny Dollar and the Lone Ranger.

Tommy Walker

Born in the 40\\'s I grew up listening to these shows. My favorites then were The Lone Ranger, Sgt Preston of the Yukon, Suspense, Fibber McGee and Molly, Hopalong Cassidy, Jack Benny, and others. Later, while in the Military I worked rotating shifts so that two thirds of my shifts were at night. I was a weather observer and on \\"quiet nights\\" (with clear skies) only took one observation an hour while sitting in a small tower, alone, near a taxiway. This helped pass the time (and helped keep me awake some nights on a midshift). When stationed overseas the military radio station (AFN) played a lot of the old shows. That is where I first heard X-Minus One, which is still one of my favorites. Begin collecting a trading old radio shows when stationed in the Kansas City area. Still enjoy hearing these old shows.

Larry Hamm

I'm a Boomer. I grew up with radio. I listened to The Lone Ranger & Tarzan while washing dishes as a kid. Once we had a TV (when I was about nine) I used to listened to Space Patrol on radio then run out to see if the TV episode matched. I always preferred radio's GUNSMOKE over the TV version. I was a big fan of the Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar as a 5/per week serial. I've collected William Conrad's Gunsmoke on both cassettes & MP3. I've filled in the James Pierce Tarzans, Superman & Batman episodes of the former's radio show. I picked up Let George Do It as a Johnny Dollar companion. I've enjoyed Orson Welles in the Black Museum and Harry Lime, Bogie & Bacall on Bold Venture thanks to OTR as well as detectives Sam Spade, Mr. & Mrs. North. The suspense Lights Out and Quiet Please along with the SF of X Minus One still hold up. Thanks for the opportunity to fully enjoy the "theater of the mind."

Richard Paul Glass

When I was 8 or 9, I listened to CBS Mystery Theater with my brother, not knowing it was Old Time Radio! Twenty five years later (late 90’s) my 8 or 9 year old daughter selected a box of cassettes to listen to on a road trip across the western US. She selected OTR “Suspense!” We were glued to the story as we drove across the desert. As soon as we got home we started coming local book stores and libraries to find more shows. We have been collecting and listening ever since.

Kirt.at.the.lake (IG)

I had loved old movies from the time I was three, and this grew to an interest in the history of the 1920s through the '40s. I read about the radio shows of that period, and when I saw a magazine advertisement for the Longines Symphonette "Jack Benny Presents the Golden Days of Radio" LP set, I asked my mom if we could buy it. (I think it was $9.99 for a six-LP set!) This was in 1968, when I was nine. Before much longer I was taping (on reel-to-reel) episodes of "Lum and Abner" which were airing nightly on KFI, and I also taped a lot of their wonderful 50th anniversary festival in 1972 (which had new messages of congratulations from Groucho Marx, Jimmy Durante, and many other great radio personalities). Around this time I also taped the audio of a PBS documentary about "The Great Radio Comedians" and bought several books about OTR by Jim Harmon and others. I began acquiring more radio shows on LPs and cassettes, and now am delighted to get them on mp3 CDs. Thanks so much for being a wonderful resource, Jon and OTR-cat!

Randy Skretvedt

Growing up in the 50's and 60's my family never listened to radio, except to get the school snow closings in winter. I was always a big Sherlock Holmes fan. And in thel ate 80's I took a course on Sherlock Holmes at the New School in Manhattan. The instructor on time played a Basil Rathbone/Nigel Bruce radio adaptation of a Sherlockian story. I then searched for old radio shows of Sherlock Holmes, on albums or cassettes, which brought me to the Shadow, then Suspense, and Gunsmoke, Johnny Dollar, Fort Laramie, Broadway Is My Beat, Burns and Allen. I also love the old baseball games. Last year I was on the beach listening to the 1958 and 1959 World Series when there was no baseball because of the pandemic. Now I have a collection of MP3 discs numbering at least 145. I put together files with episodes of 8 or 9 different shows, load them into my iPod shuffle and play them when I am at the beach or driving. Peter McIntyre

Peter

Growing up with a mom who loved radio, depending on her mood I was either Digger O'Dell or Ish Kabbille & who told me the stories she remembered from Inner Sanctum & Lights Out,, and a grandma who listened to soap operas when I was growing up, I've always been into otr. Saturday morning tv in the '50's & early '60's was radio with pictures what with the Adventures of Superman, the Lone Ranger, Sky King, Wild Bill Hickok. I suppose I became aware that it was considered a thing when the syndicated recordings of The Shadow, The Lone Ranger & others were broadcast in the mid-60's. Radio has always been there for me.

Robert

The biggest thing that triggered my interest in old-time radio was a show in Chicago called THOSE WERE THE DAYS, hosted by Chuck Schaden. The nostalgia craze was already in full swing - tee-shirts, towels, greeting cards, posters of THE THREE STOOGES, LAUREL AND HARDY, FELIX THE CAT, MICKEY MOUSE, etc. were every where! So, I heard about the show as a youngster and started listening on Saturday afternoons. Then, I'd ask my dad about his favorite radio shows over the years: JACK ARMSTRONG, THE ALL AMERICAN BOY when he was a kid, and then as he became an adult - GUNSMOKE and other shows. Then I began collecting LPs or cassette tapes of the shows and have been a fan ever since! THE GOLDEN DAYS OF RADO set - which Randy Skretvedt mentions - was a big favorite of mine when I was a kid!

Leonard J. Kohl

My earliest memories of the radio were a kids' Saturday morning series called Big John and Sparky. I can remember sitting in the living room on a stool anticipating its theme song.Growing up in my teens I remember an episode of Gunsmoke that my father listened to at night while he worked in his frame shop. And soon after I became captive to to a detective series called Mr. Keane, Tracer of Lost Persons. Old time radio is a constant enjoyment for me today. I am still enamored with the Star Wars audio version episodes that I first heard around 1981 on NPR. It made me feel like a kid again waiting each week to sit by the radio to listen to the theme song and how well the story would weave my mind. Jan Alter

Jan

As a boy in Canada around age 5. Happy when I could reaccess OTR about 20+ years ago. I was able to listen to them taped in the Middle East and Asia as well as in Canada, USA and Central America.

Sidney

I listened first with radio during 1945.Then television took over around 1950. We did not know that our mesmerized with the new toy we were destroying radio. Then around 1980 I reawakened my interest radio.

TR

I have listened to OTR since I was able to turn the knob. I am 84 now and still enjoy the radio shows. I now play my OTR disks into an AM broadcaster and listen to them on one of my many antique radios. I prefer to listen on one of my Philcos like my family had back in the 30s and 40s. I have and built many crystal sets in my time. My first one was a Philco with the glass cover over the crystal and cat's whisker that I got for Christmas. All this led me into my field of work, electrical and electronics for over forty of my years.

William Mitch

I was fascinated by vintage movies and older television shows that were on the air years before I was born. I specifically remember a documentary on radio, and hearing snippets of these amazing radio programs. Like some of the comments already posted, I got recordings from Radio Yesteryear, Radiola and books from Nostalgia Book Club. Because of my interest in jazz and big bands, I soon discovered AFRS recordings of shows like Jubilee and big band remotes which were being bootlegged; I've written a book on the big bands partly thanks to those broadcasts. The boon for those of us who love these shows is that one can actually buy an entire run of a show that ran for years for a reasonable cost (I am also someone who remembers collecting shows on R to R tapes; to obtain an entire run that way would cost a fortune). Improvements in technology make some previously unlistenable shows sound better than we'd ever dreamed. How long have I been a radio fan? As long as I've been living!!!!

Jeffrey Sultanof

I have always been interested in music from the 1920s to late 1950s. Most of the the less known American singers were not catered for here. Just by chance several years ago I come across the web site of Old Time Radio and there I have enjoyed the vast catalogue of songs and singers that who I now love to listen too. There was also a bonus that I could exhaustion about singers band songs and got a quick reply. I would recommend this company any time.

Bruce

I loved Abbott and Costello movies as a kid, so for my 10th birthday in 1974, they got me an A & C record along with the Shadow. I never heard of the Shadow, but I quickly became a huge Shadow fan. I soon had a bunch of Shadow records and cassettes from Radiola, Murry Hill, Radio Yesteryear among others. Then came Light's Out, Inner Sanctum, Suspense, Green Hornet, and a bunch of other horror, drama and detective series. The Shadow is still my favorite. At 56, I still listen to radio shows everyday and go to sleep listening to them. It was so exciting when Xmas and my Bday came and I got more records and cassettes, and eventually CDs from my parents. I never dreamed radio shows would still be popular today! Long Live Old Radio!

Mark H

I first became interested in the Radio in the early 1950's. We didn't have a television or even recent records. Computers and the like were not even in our imagination and tape recorders out of financial reach for most. My favourite time was over the week-end when I would listen to Radio shows like Meet The Huggetts, Life With the Lyons, Ray's A Laugh, The Clitheroe Kid, and so on. In those days the BBC would not play modern pop/rock records as, like my dad, they thought it was the devil's music. I therefore spent much time and effort trying to stay tuned to Radio Luxenbourg, "The Station of the Stars" as they called it. I loved the original rockers, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Little Richard and of course Elvis. Great times and nostalgia, sat in front of a coal fire, in the only heated room in the house.

Norbury Fairclough

I first became interested when I was about 7 or 8. My father had recorded a rebroadcast of the Suspense classic "Sorry, Wrong Number" on reel to reel tape in the mid '60's and would play it once in a while for us when I was growing up. I also remember listening to the CBS Mystery Theatre series growing up in the '70's. When I was in my early 30's I purchased a boxed CD set of Suspense episodes that was on sale at Barnes & Noble that had about 50 episodes including an earlier broadcast of Sorry Wrong Number. I was hooked by that point and later purchased the complete Suspense series from OTR. It's a shame that what passes for entertainment these days can't hold a candle to the talent and creativity of yesteryear.

Michael Filippello

When I started listing to the Sears Radio Hour.

E. H.

A long time ago. I was probably six years old. My mother like most women on that time listened to the "Soaps". I can remember laying in my bed at night listening to the radio downstairs in the living room. Always a big part of my life.

Jack Blease

About forty years ago I stumbled across a cassette recording of Amos N' Andy Radio programs in a bookstore. I remembered seeing the TV program (reruns) and have been at it every since. Gotta love it !!

J. A. Dennis

I began listening to old time radio on the old radio hour on KNX 1070 AM Los Angeles in 2001; this was previously the CBS Mystery Hour. The news station ceased the programming in October 2003. After searching the internet, I found OTRCAT and began ordering my favorite programs as MP3’s on DVD. Additionally, I subscribed to SiriusXM mainly for the Radio Classics station. I’ve learned much about my favorite actors by listening to old time radio. For example, I only knew of Agnes Moorehead as “Endora”, then watched her in movies only to learn she had a prolific radio career. It was nice to see some radio performers make the transition to television as did Mary Jane Croft and Virginia Gregg (she had a slight gap between her upper front teeth)... Listening to these programs gives me a sense of history, partly through the intermittent news reports of the time, and the patriotism that existed. Thank you for maintaining a record of the “Radio Age.”

Walden Lee

I listened to the Mystery Playhouse radio program as a kid. That was the last carryover from the golden age of radio in my area. As an adult I picked up a couple of collections of The Shadow on cassette and it rekindled my interest. I searched for other sources to get more collections of old programs and found OTRCAT.com. They are the best and most comprehensive source for old radio programing by far. I now own dozens of MP3 CDs of hours of listening enjoyment. Great for long trips driving and great for daily workout routines.

Russ Landrum

My early remembrance is me approx 6 yrs old sitting in front of our family radio listening to the Lone Ranger while eating a bowl of Cheerios (the sponsor).I got interested in collecting OTR thru a friend. I obtained many tape reels from him. Next came MP3 format. Upon retirement in 2001, I began to go to retirement homes and play OTR shows for the residents. The Shadow was always a favorite. Bob Lord

Robert

I began paying attention when I was 2 or 3, I think. There was no television in most households in Nebraska in the early 50s. I saw my first TV in a tavern and was in awe. Most media entertainments were radio shows. I have fond memories of laying on the farmhouse floor next to the radio listening to The Lone Ranger.

Thomas

The first time I heard an old radio program was the radio version of "Have Gun Will Travel", when I was ten years old. At the time, I couldn't get my head around why Paladin was played by someone other than Richard Boone. Fast forward about 15 years later, where dial-flipping, I came across a daily morning show hosted by Chuck Schaden ("The Hall Closet"), and I became a semi-regular listener. Chuck also had a three hour Saturday afternoon program called, "Those Were the Days", that I tuned into when it did not conflict with baseball. From there, I would occasionally check record stores for cassette tapes of shows that I liked, although the audio quality fluctuated. After that, life kind of got in the way and the opportunity to hear OTR programs diminished. But around 2003, I obtained a satellite radio and quickly found Greg Bell's "Radio Classics" station, which greatly expanded my exposure to OTR shows that I had previously not been aware of, such as, "The Whistler", "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar", "The Six Shooter", "Fort Laramie", to name just a few. And that is when I started to collect programs. Before retiring, I had a daily minimum one hour commute each way. And OTR programs made those long rush hour rides more tolerable. Now, they are my treadmill companions as well as my go-to car entertainment. Unfortunately, I have never been able to get my wife hooked on OTR, even on long road trips. I even resorted to sharing, "Dead Ernest", with her, but to no avail.

William

Not so much the old time programs but the vintage radio airchecks and commercials. The news programs are like a time machine, so im interested in them as well. As for the serials, I just have the full days broadcast of WJSV in Washington,DC. (I first had it on cassettes,) Thanks for your continued good work.

George

When I was in elementary school, I found the Longines Symphonette release of The Mercury Theatre's War of the Worlds in my grandmother's record collection. I was well aware of the story behind the broadcast, however inaccurate, and couldn't believe I was holding a copy of it. I was fascinated! I also assumed an extant broadcast from the era was an anomaly. It would be several more years until I stumbled upon the Longines Symphonette Society's I Remember Radio... double-LP compilation and realized there was a whole lot more out there! Once I found the old time radio section at our library (and all those cassette sets), it was all over. And thank you for your great site and all you've done to help keep OTR alive!

Patrick

I was 13 and laid up with a terrible flu that kept me sick to my stomach for 2 weeks. All I could do was knit and listen to the radio. I was listening to a weekend celebration of Old Time Radio on KMPC and was very entertained by the comedy. A few months later, CBS Radio Mystery Theater debuted on KNX, and I was hooked. I listened to it from 1974-1982, and it was replaced by the KNX Drama Hour for about 20 years. After that, I began to listen to online. I've been a fan for 48 years.

Amelie

I can remember Gunsmoke and Yours Truly Johnny Dollar as a boy (about 6 years old). I can also remember my mom with her soap operas and both my mom and dad listening to Hawaii Calls. I have always liked the radio Gunsmoke better then the one of TV.

Jerry

When we were young, we spent a lot of time at our local library. I became hooked after listening to Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy cassettes! Bergen...what a GENIUS! Taking ventriloquism to a new art form over radio!! In many respects, it was a simpler time. In reality, OTR occurred in some of the most tumultuous times in our country's history! "Political Correctness" is a buzz-word right now. Much of OTR would NOT be considered "correct" these days. That said, there are portions of OTR that faced the issues of the day (including some of the same ones we're dealing with now!) head on: Take Jack Benny and Eddie "Rochester" Anderson...a black actor performing alongside a white man? A Jew nonetheless? Jack and Eddie did more to broach racial divides than they receive credit for! One must see the entire picture and the maturation of their relationship. Rochester, who was initially portrayed as a man-servant...was, in reality treated as an equal. Laughs were never attained at the expense of a minority. If anything, Jack was the butt of most of the humor and Rochester was given equal shots relative to the other actors on the show! OTR allows us to use our minds to "see" what we are hearing! It wasn't always perfect, but the "Best of the Best" are timeless. So grateful to have access to shows like Bergen and McCarthy, Gunsmoke, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, Jack Benny, and so many others! Thank you for providing this entertainment to yet another generation of Americans!

Chris Moore

I grew up when radio was the only source of entertainment there was in the home my favorite was Johnny Dollar when TV came in and Rock'n'Roll DJ"s took over and pushed the radio serials off the air it saddened though I was a Teenager in the mid 50"s I missed the radio shows. I feel that you get more out of the radio dramas and such as you have to use your imagination and brain to see what's happening. TV takes that away. I remember sometime in the 8o's I believe I discovered Radio Spirits and started buying their cassettes then after awhile when they became outdated and some would break. and their CD's were too expensive for me I saw an ad about OTRCAT and started buying from your company. I am now 79 years old and still love listening to the old shows (I remember them when they were new) Thank you for bringing them back into my life.

Andrew Gerdau

As a kid, I somehow discovered listening to the radio from 4 to 5PM, every weekday. After school, I'd come home and play outside with my friends. Then, I'd go inside, turn on my AM radio and, as I remember it, listen to The Adventures of Superman, Captain Midnight, Tom Mix, and Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders. (Possibly, Hop Harrigan was there, somehow, and Bobby Benson might have replaced Tom Mix.) Eventually, I was allowed to stay up late enough to listen to The Lone Ranger and The Challenge of the Yukon. By and by, a fascinating show appeared for a while, alternating with The Lone Ranger, called Captain Starr of Space. (There was one provocative episode I'd like to hear again, but it's not one of the six which are available.) I understand they were based on works by Isaac Asimov. And, of course, there was the Green Hornet episode where we learn that Britt Reid's Father was the Nephew of the Masked Rider of the Plains, with an excerpt from the William Tell Overture Finalé playing softly in the background. Sunday afternoons, usually when my Dad was driving me home, I started listening to The Shadow at 4PM, and to Jack Benny and Our Miss Brooks (with the wonderful Gale Gordon). Lots of good memories, including Groucho's wisecracks on You Bet Your Life, and John Brown's Digger O'Dell, the Friendly Undertaker, on the Life of Reilly. I've currently got some two dozen Internet stations flagged as OTR favorites. Some of them aren't OTR, at all, but TV shows with enough added exposition to imitate radio. But, even that is occasionally okay. TV can never replace listening to radio and using your imagination, while doing your homework. What was the book and movie which included the young Irish lad listening to a big piece of furniture radio in the afternoon, with the curtains drawn, and his Grandmother asking, "Can you see it? Can you see it?" Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt?

Dave

We were the last in our neighborhood to have a tv. Through my entire childhood the radio dramas were the only form of entertainment we had. The beauty of that was we could employ our hands and eyes in doing our sewing knitting or any of the things I now do in my old age. Having discovered your website has been such a wonderful thing for me. Your accommodation to requests is to be commended as well. The folks who played the various characters were absolute geniuses. I introduced my own children to this medium and they said to me Where’s the picture? To them said I,in your own head! Then they understood. It was quite magical. Now with our carry along media we can hear our old favorites while out in the world walking the dog. The combination of the two makes me smile. Picture that wonderful old tube console in your pocket! Please continue to discover more of these treasures and make them available to us your undying fans. Thank you for this opportunity to express my appreciation for your service.

HelenHarding

OTR-- I first was attracted to Radio Shows as a teenager in the 1970's when our local AM radio station broadcasted episodes of EG Marshall's Radio Mystery Theater. Years later the old Live365 online radio broadcasting site came into my life. I discovered it quite by accident and began listening to the old comedies on my computer. While I delightfully discovered period production like Our Miss Brooks, George Burns & Gracey Allen, Phil Harris & Alice Faye, McCarthy & Bergman...I fell in love with Jack Benny and his crazy ensemble. It wasn't too long afterwards that I happened upon OTRCAT and I began to buy my favorite radio shows from them and place it inside my iTunes. Marvelous!

Stephen Clark

I discovered old time radio when I discovered this website about 13 years ago. It’s enjoyable but I no longer have a computer to listen to the disks and have streaming working on my tablet. I have recommended these shows to a number of friends & some now use the site regularly.

Ann

Listening to "Randy's Record shows" from Nashville when I was a teen living just outside of Columbus, Ohio...getting a good taste of R and B just as the Motown Sound was becoming so wonderful...living in a spot called Urbancrest it was difficult to get stations that played the real "stuff" I craved so the powerful broadcast from the mid-South...caught my attention....Steven Michael

Steven

I started listening to Old Time Radio programs when they were being aired on KEAR Radio in San Francisco in the late 1960's and the early 1970's. I then went to my local library in my community and checked out LP records and then eventually audio cassettes of Old Time Radio programs. In the San Francisco Bay Area, other radio stations from the 1970's and early 1980's started to air Old Time Radio programs at selected times in the week. I was and I am still very impressed with the writing and the production of Old Time Radio programs which I have been enjoying now for over 50 years. I have ordered a large collection of Old Time Radio shows over the years from OTR.CAT and their service has been excellent! I am living overseas now and these precious radio shows bring back to me wonderful memories of home when I was living in the U.S.

Keith Hendrickson

I first became interested in old radios and radio shows when I bought a 1932 RCA radio for my Dad's 80th birthday as that was the year he was born. I fit it with a jack to plug in to an MPS player to load old baseball broadcasts on for him to listen to. He and my uncle spent many weekends listening to the old games. When he past away my mother gave the radio back to me. I have enjoyed listening to the old games and am a SciFi fan and have bought several old shows to listen to. Brings back old memories of my Dad and I watching the Cubs and White Soxs' on TV throughout the 60's.

Jeff Hill

I've been hooked before it became old time radio and first started listening around 6 years old in 1948.

Mel

I was in my 20's way past radio shows, but got a cheap album of Fibber McGee & Molly. Loved that concept, so my friends Dad in Chicago sent me 10 cassettes on varying shows including mysteries such as the Whistler. Found where I could purchase these cassettes and was on my way. Than CD's, Can't get enough. I am a baby boomer and asked my parents about these shows, no only listened to the Shadow. OMG, I was born 20 yrs too late. I adore OTR which I just discovered last year. So happy and my favorite is Betty Lou Gerson, so nasty and she stars in her performances. Finding how William Conrad was on radio yrs before TV as well as many others. Lorraine

Loraine

The news channel in Los Angeles use to (maybe still do?) play them on my way home from work. I would listen to them while sitting in traffic. Took my mind off the slow going and helped me unwind from the day at work.

Kim Brumby

My late parents grew up with old time radio, so I was always interested in what they had to tell about it. In the late 1970s a public radio station and a Christian radio station broadcast old radio programs. Many years later I found your website.

Alan

I was about 12 years old when I got a cassette tape of The War of The Worlds. I played it until it was worn out. Still have it today. Today at 55, I am hooked on OTR.

Don Williams

In the late 40’s afternoon 15 minute dramas like Terry and the Pirates, Tom Mix, Jack Armstrong and Sky King on the family radio hooked me. With my father’s help in the early 50's, listening on my Cub Scout crystal set made radio heroes even more exciting. Much later when Mp3 came along with a complete set of Gunsmoke, driving became a joy - almost. Now thanks to OTR Cat and Gary Mercer, I have a huge set of dramas as company on the road.

Ed

There was a script in one of my schoolbooks when I was about 11 years old (mid-90s, Italy): it was an Italian translation of an old radio show's episode. There were no indications of broadcasting year, nor other info about the show, but my friends and I used to play it. We were only three, but we played all the parts, switching roles, enjoying it enormously. I guess they forgot everything about it, but it remained very dear to me. After a few years I became a great Orson Welles fan; we had internet connection back then and - almost by chance - I ran into a few episodes of "The Shadow". I recognized the characters and the atmosphere of "my" show instantly and I was able to find the exact episode based on the loose Italian translation of the title. It was the first discover of a new world to me. As an old and classic movies fan, I fell in love with Old Time Radio and I'm eager to discover more and more of these wonderful shows. I'm an avid listener: they keep me company and they also make me a little bit more familiar with English language. I'm so happy to have found your website!

Alessandra

I started listening to OTR in university in the 1980's... I can't remember if it was a Vancouver AM station that I first started listening to, but later it was Sunday night "Lights Out" on CFMI. I loved it when they ran serials... couldn't wait until the next week's episode, even tho it meant staying up til midnight on Sunday to hear it. (Sometimes I would miss it due to work, but the programmer at the station sometimes would be gracious enough to send me a link to the episode - thank you, Owen!). Then one day they stopped airing Lights Out. So sad; Lights Out on Sunday night was like getting together with an old friend. But then I discovered all these OTR resources on the internet (why it took so long I don't know). Thank you OTR.CAT. For those in the Vancouver area who might remember Lights Out, "Sleep well, children!"

Ray Li

I started listening to OTR at the very young age of six or seven. My dad milked cows and always had WMT 600 AM radio station on in the barn.(all the time) I first remember hearing the very scary and entertaining "Hall of Fantasy" ,"Lum and Abner", and later on,"The Great Gildersleeve". Later on we tuned into "CBS Radio Mystery Theater". Of course War of the Worlds was on every Halloween! Magical times....

TRACY B

I became interested in Old Time Radio in the 1970's after I started teaching. I found listening a way to relax after a day of working with teenagers. I was pretty much born after radio(1949)ended. I had a collection of around 1,000 shows on cassette and have transitioned to MP3 where I have even more shows. I enjoyed the temporary resurgence with Sear Radio Theater, Mutual Radio Theater and of course, The CBS Radio Mystery Theater.

Rich Larmer

It wasn't "old time" radio when I first started listening to it in the 50's. Now both the radio and me are old timers!

Jim

My Father was in the Army and we were stationed in Okinawa, AFN Tv didn't come on till 4 PM back then and the AFN Radio would plat old Radio shows. The Bickersons, Bob Hope bits, Jack Bennie and Charlie McCarthy. Later I was in the Army Station in Germany and AFN would play Box 13, Dimension X, Guys and Dolls, and others to fill time slots. Later My wife and collected cassettes of old programs to listen too on long drives and working around the house and yard. Found your site and have collected The Lux hour Movies and Phil Harris and Alice Fay. and the Christmas shows'.

Alvin R. Williams Iv

I grew up with radio in the 1940s and never lost my delight in collecting and listening to the same programs I heards some 70-75 years ago.

Jerry

My uncle Jim created The Lone Ranger and The Green Hornet and directed them for years. My mother was a radio actress on these and other shows for about twenty five years, and occasionally (when she couldn't get a sitter) took me with her to WXYZ, where I got to watch the broadcasts being created. I was fascinated, and actually spent six years in my teens singing on Make Way For Youth every week on WJR in Detroit. I loved it. The rest of my working career was spent as a TV engineer.

Richard Allman

Used to listen to Bob and Ray and Jean Shepard on WOR in New York. Been Hooked ever since, now I can't go to sleep without listening to an old radio program or a BBC show. As a matter of fact listening to Abbot and Costello at work right now.

Arne

I was interested in OTR all my life. I was born in 1936.

marlon

As a wee lad in the early 50's, our family tree had many pot luck get togethers and jam sessions (our family had a lot of musicians) as well as the yearly family reunion. Result was I was happily exposed to two wonderful things: The Great American Songbook and old time radio...the grown ups would talk about the depression recovery, WWII, FDR's "fireside chats", and Ernie Pyle's reports from the battlefield. And then the talk would turn to more radio classics and who was everyone's favorite. In later years I became a musician myself, playing the Songbook, keeping it alive...and beginning a real interest in old time radio. I discovered OTR, their fantastic inventory, a show for any taste and genre out there! Favorites of mine are the detectives, sci-fi, and of course any of the old big bands. But I am discovering so much more. Thanks to OTR for their dedication of keeping this important era alive and well. Pass these memories on to your children and grandchildren. They will thank you for it!

Doug

I became a fan of Old Time Radio after hearing War of The Worlds as a child. Just love how your imagination provides all the visuals you need.

Jeff Juergensen

I grew up with radio. It was our souce of news during WWII and entertainment. I dreaded my 8:00 PM bed time at the end of the day. My mother listened to the soaps , I listened to the 15 minute kid's serials from 5 to 6 PM p;us Saturday Smiling Ed and the gang,Archie. I think radio was great you had to use your mind to "see" the action. Now I love hearing the ads plus the programs. Thank you so much.

Charlee Lang

Started watching movies from the 30's and 40's about 20-25 years ago. Then started listening to Big Band - Swing after that through which I found out about the radio programs. OTR helped introduce me to great music and shows. Thanks. Gene Haas

Eugene

I became interested in Old Time Radio when my Dad took me to bed with he and Mom and Dad turned the dial to THE BLUE BEETLE. I was mesmerized and began paying attention to the programs that Mom and Dad listened to. Very shortly after that Dad was listening to THE LONE RANGER and I became instantly hooked on that program -- I never missed it, nor did my uncle who had a farm and would come in from the fields when it was time for THE LONE RANGER to come on. Growing up we listened to all of the crime shows, and when I was home sick from school I even listened with Mom to her soap operas. Later on, when it was introduced, I never missed an episode of GUNSMOKE. In the early 1970s a friend introduced me to old time radio on reel-to-reel tapes, which had become available through some dealers. I followed through cassette tapes then CDs. Sadly, in my old age, I don't buy many old radio shows because I just don't have the room to store and keep them, but I still occasionally pull what I have off the shelf and relisten to them.

Robert

I do not enjoy the so-called television shows. The radio music ended for me about 1970. Old radio gives me the pleasure of something to listen to. I go to sleep at night with old time radio.

Ivan

During the 1970's. I am hearing impaired. I enjoy reading radio scripts mainly Generic Radio Workshop. When I have a program that matches a script I like listening and reading the script at the same time. My dream is to be able to see everything that is being said with old time radio shows.

Donald

Hi, fellow fans. My parents always talked about the days of gathering around to listen to the radio. One day I came across OTRCAT on the internet and listened to a few samples and ordered. I instantly became addicted. In the evenings, my wife and I listen, while falling asleep and when on vacation traveling listen in the car. We really enjoy most shows but especially Jack Benny, Blondie and The Great Gildersleeve’s. My wife’s favorites are westerns and Science fiction. We tease each other that one of these days we’ll enter the contest to win a new Ford sedan in the name Majorie’s baby contest (The Great Gildersleeve’s). Thanks so much for keeping these shows alive we really enjoy them.

Allison

I was born in early 44, a few years before TV. After my dad came home from the war he bought a True Tone radio at the local small town hardware store. It seems like it was on from the time we got up in the morning and stayed on until bedtime. I can still see and hear that radio and finally found a True Tone from a computer search recently. It had been nicely restored and looks just like the one we used to have. I had an “Aux Port” installed on the back of the radio frame so as not to alter the Bakelite case. I can easily plug an MP3 player into it and tune an unused or distant frequency so the CD Player audio comes through the old radio speaker. It takes me back over 70 years to listen to the programming I am so fond of. When my dad upgraded the old True Tone to a Console Entertainment Center, I inherited the table top radio and had it all to myself in my room. In 1951 I discovered model airplane kits and spent hours building them while listening to my favorite radio shows, Sky King was one of them. I did not abandon my interests and made aviation my career field as well as my love of OTR. I have collected nearly all of the airplane kits I built as a youngster as well as several more. I’m 77 now most of the time, but occasionally return to being 12 or so...... Regards, Robert. Aurora,CO

Robert Lane

I was born before WWII and brought up listening to "Old Time Radio" from about 1943 onward. My husband and I are still listening to our favorite programs such as Jack Benny, Our Miss Brook, Luigi, etc. We have acquired an extensive collection and enjoy it every evening.

Julia

When I was born in 1935 Radio was king- it was everywhere- except in church & on the streetcars. As soon as I was brought home & in the living room I heard the magical voices & music coming from that big Philco cabinet with the orange eye. I don't know how old I had to be when I would be able to recognize Ma Perkins as a real live person or Stella Dallas with all their problems. And the many murder mysteries with all the organ music & sound effects were an absolute delight & still are! I lived just to listen to my favorite programs & even bought & assembled a crystal set because mom wouldn't let be have a real plug-in radio in my bedroom. I had the cat's whisker set just so I could pick up KGO San Francisco at night & listen to "I Love A Mystery" but only if atmospheric conditions were perfect! When TV came on board in 1948 I thought what a great thing it would be to add pictures to radio but none of us expected the networks to drop radio programming as though it were a dirty word. My world came crashing down upon me as I listened to the "final broadcast" of all my favorite shows. I bought a reel to reel tape recorder with built-in radio & began recording my favorites but already NBC had killed off all its soap operas. CBS continued with limited mystery shows for a few more years. Over the years I have purchased recordings of old radio shows from various sources & OTR is the latest & finest. I enjoy listening to the oldest radio soap opera still on the air- "The Archers". And the oldest TV soap opera still broadcasting "Coronation Street"- another British achievement. Please keep up the good work OTR.

Francis Riley

Sophomore year in high school, 1967. We were studying one act plays in English class, and our teacher played us the radio version of the play Sorry, Wrong Number with Barbra Stanwyck. I remember the records being the old 78 rpm discs.

dan

When I was a teenager there was a radio station that would play old radio shows in the early mornings and I would stay up to listen to them. Now I have a big collection of classic radio shows that I listen to every night when I go to bed.

Perry

I remember listening to radio shows back in the 1950's because my mother would listen to soap operas like Dr. Kildare and Helen Trent. But my interest really blossomed around Christmas when some local AM stations would play Christmas shows like Fibber Mcgee and Molly. For the past years, I built up a collection of Comedy radio like "Our Miss Brooks, Great Gildersleeve, Fibber and Molly, Ozzie and Harriet, Henry Aldridge, and others. But my favorite radio shows are the Christmas shows.

Dan Goodman

I was a huge Jack Benny fan when I was a kid watching him on TV, so I naturally gravitated to his radio show. It went on from there.

David Howell

My earliest memory of what is now "Old Time Radio" was sitting with my mother in our kitchen in the early-mid 1950s and listening to the adventures of Helen Trent. My mom is now about to turn 90 and a while back I got some Helen Trent from OTR and brought them to her. She enjoyed hearing them again after so many years. I really enjoy the old music, comedy, and news shows. I also like hearing an old baseball game (when they didn't do commercials between pitches!). My mom has also told that her dad loved sitting in the living room after a hard day of factory work and listening to these shows; he died shortly before I was born in 1948, and listening to these shows now makes me feel a little close to him.

Barry

Can't say for sure... I got very interested in broadcasting following a trip by my Cub Scout troop to a local TV station when I was in second grade. Little did I know that at that very time the "Golden Age of Radio" was ending. I can't help it. I grew up in the TV age. It was when I was in high school that a local AM radio station sprang up in Orlando. WORL played Old Time Radio and Big Band music. I was hooked! Whilst my school chums were tripping out to Grand Funk Railroad and other mainstream pop-rock of the time, I was groovin' to Harry James and Glen Miller. And I was totally happy with that. I still am, although my taste in music since high school has been jazz. The real stuff rooted in the blues and later, bebop. I was actually a pretty cool kid in high school. And damn proud of it!! Doing some work later for a major NPR station when NPR was distributing some OTR programming I discovered more and more. From "Our Miss Brooks" to "The Goon Show". The medium of radio was a multi-faceted world of wonder. And to this day, I would so love to get my hands back in it!

William Whitaker

My first interest was to get the old Command Performance shows from WWII. As a very avid Student of WWII I wanted these shows along with shows on the V disc including some ole Tokyo Rose radio recordings.

Don chastain

I first discovered this hobby when I was 11 years old. I had a physical/occupational therapist named Elaine Williams that would come over to my house. We would exercise during summer vacation. I told Elaine how much I enjoyed watching reruns of The Green Hornet TV show on the FX network that starred Van Williams and Bruce Lee. She said, “My husband has a couple of radio shows of The Green Hornet.” Elaine copied them off for me on cassette, and I enjoyed them a lot! At the end of the tape, there was a phone number that I could call to request a catalog and order more shows. (The business was called Metacom (“Adventures in Cassettes),” and it is now defunct. I began to collect additional Green Hornet and Lone Ranger shows and Superman. I expanded to comedy with such shows as Fibber McGee and Molly, Our Miss Brooks, and Jack Benny. My Grandma and I especially enjoyed the Lone Ranger and Our Miss Brooks. One of my favorite Christmas memories (1996) was getting a set of Sargent Preston of the Yukon episodes. (Sgt Preston was part of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Preston and his dog Yukon King helped keep the Yukon Territory safe from crooks during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898). The day after Christmas, Grandma and I listened to those shows while a blizzard that produced a foot of snow took place outside. Believe me; I felt like I was in the Yukon listening to those shows and watching what was going on outside my window. I often listened to programs while working on homework or before going to bed. I took a break from collecting for a few years but rediscovered the hobby in 2003 when I happened upon this site. I started listening more often when I began attending American Public University, an online school. Let’s say that Jack Benny helped me laugh as an I studied for and wrote many a term paper. Currently, my interest in the hobby has resurged with the discovery of the Lum n’ Abner Comic Strip drawn by my good friend Donnie Pitchford. You can read the strip at www.lumandabnersociety.org; please feel free to join our Facebook group)! I have also discovered Yesterday USA (www.yesterdayusa.com), a 24/7 network that plays OTR all the time. Their app is also available in the App Store. They also have live shows every night at 7:30 PM Pacific Time. During these live shows, they often have celebrity guests, and listeners can call in and ask them questions. So far, I’ve gotten to talk to Cynthia Collyer (daughter of “Bud” Collyer, who played Superman on the radio) and Gloria McMillian (who played Harriet Conklin on Our Miss Brooks). Old-time radio is my favorite hobby, and I couldn't imagine my life without it!

Robert

My love with old time radio starting in '93 in high school. I was taking a class in communications and one day the teacher played The War of the Worlds and I was hooked. The following year I moved to Minneapolis and while walking through a bookstore, I found a collection of NPR radio broadcasts of Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. These recordings had lines and scenes in them cut from the films, it got my mind racing as to who these new scenes would play out in my mind. Being a huge Star Wars fan, these discs were with me all the time, along with The War of the Worlds. Some years later when I moved back to Philadelphia I found a collection in a book store of Superman and Batman old time radio recordings, my collection was growing. About 10 years or more ago, found this site and my collection continues to grow. I love the Jack Benny program, and watch a lot of his TV show. I have always been a Bob Hope fan, and listening to his radio show has been a treat. I might not listen to shows daily, but when I do I find myself wrapped up in them for hours; between sci-fi, comedy, WW2 news and suspense, I am drawn in and always wonder if this was a broadcast that my grandmother would have heard while tending to WW2 when they were brought back - she was a Army nurse stationed in Georgia.

Thomas Coulton

I have a vague memory of listening with my mom to the CBS radio mysteries, which often seemed to feature E.G. Marshall. That was a good memory, and I can picture in my mind right now her sewing room where was had a big radio and a couple of chairs. We'd sit there together and listen. Then MANY years later, when I got satellite radio about a decade ago, I learned about all those radio shows that existed before I was born. I have rather fallen for the detective mysteries and for the Jack Benny comedies.

David Jackson

I got interested in old-time radio the easiest way -- when some of the shows first aired! Also, our high school decided to use a "Shadow" broadcast as a school play. I was the only person with a deep voice; some other person portrayed Lamont Cranston -- but I was the Shadow; never seen, always heard.

John Teeter

I've been interest in Radio ever since the early 50's. I used to listen to the Gunsmoke, Shadow, and a few other shows. We had a TV, but as I recall, it was on the fritz quite often. Radio in the Los Angeles area was a big thing. As years went by, the old shows disappeared and Disk Jockeys became my next interest. I was a dial twister, listening to anything and everything up and down the dial. I began collecting OTR in the early 70's when I happened upon a guy who had a few copies of Our Miss Brooks, The Lone Ranger, Chase & Sanborn with Bergan & McCarthy and the Mysterious Traveler. I bought some Reel to Reel Tape, and he made me copies. I found listings in the Classified section of Popular Mechanics, and bought some more, then began trading. I even made copies on cassettes and sold them at the Local Swaps meets. I traded and purchased show, until about 1982. I still have a lot of stuff on cassettes, but they are probably oxidized by now. My interest was revived in the early 2000's through the internet.

Rodrick

I first became exposed to radio late at night and on Sunday drives in the mid-Fifties listening to “Our Miss Brooks” and “Gunsmoke.” Television in Los Angeles was profuse with classic films and movie stars from the Golden Age. Many featured swing music and I loved them: musicals, westerns, dramas, screwball comedies, and film noir. It wasn’t until the Nineties when sets of four “Suspense” on cassette tapes that I got interested in radio and its wealth of limitless imagination. I frequently traveled alone to New York and brought them along to listen to them on my Walkman after dinner in my hotel. My big awakening to the art of radio came in 2014 with the discovery of the treasures of OTRCAT. Favorites are the dramas and comedies featuring the great movie stars—especially “Lux Radio Theatre,” “Theatre Guild on the Air,” “Screen Director’s Playhouse,” and “Studio One.” Superb entertainment with highly professional writing, performances, music, and sound effects. Wow!! It’s opened up a whole new old and better world for me. My favorite actors and actresses in great play and film adaptations! If you want to learn more about OTR, there are two well-researched and written books I would recommend: “The Great American Broadcast” by Leonard Maltlin and “Raised on Radio” by Gerald Nachman. Enjoy! And special thanks to you, Jon, for opening up new old and more literate worlds for all of us to explore. Highest marks!

Jeffrey Tucker

It was back in 1945 if I remember right, there were several programs us kid listened to. I remember ma wouldn't let us listen to the spooky ones. So it was the western and of course Sargent Preston etc. When I seen OTR.CAT and the huge selection of radio programs he had. I ordered a bunch,I now have like 700 hours of OTR programs. Will most likely get more sometime in the future. The sound quality is very good, much better than the originals over the radio that I remember. Thanks Jon, for all the hard work you put in acquiring these for us. They bring back a lot of fond memories. Lawrence

Lawrence Murray

My family gathered in the living room to hear favorite radio shows before we got our first TV in 1956. Dad liked The Shadow and crime stories while Mom preferred Our Miss Brooks and Jack Benny. In the mid-70s KAAY in Little Rock AR would sometimes play scary OTR shows in the middle of the night, much to the enjoyment of the long-haired community. We were reminded of how powerful radio drama could be. Now I have a small MP3 player that I can move from one side to the other when I roll over in bed, and not miss a word.

Jack Schroeder

When I was a little kid in the fifties, we use to listen to the radio shows. I will never forget Gunsmoke on the radio. Or Johnny Dollar. I still listen to Gunsmoke.

Bobby Odom

When I was a kid I remember listening to the CBS Mystery Theatre on the radio at night before going to sleep. I had one of the small box am/fm portable radios that I would put under my pillow and listen. Although I must admit that some of the episodes kept me up at night,lol. So I am very happy since discovering OTRCAT because now I not only have the Mystery Theater but a few dozen more radio shows that I enjoy listening too.

Troy

When I was a child in the 1960s, our local radio station played the Cinnamon Bear series every year at Christmas time. It was my introduction to "Old Time Radio" although I didn't know it at the time. In my late teens, I went to work at that very station, and every evening as a CBS affiliate we broadcast the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. I learned to love the experience of picturing the stories in my mind as I listened. We also broadcast an old radio show called "The Thirty Hours of Christmas" each year along with my beloved Cinnamon Bear. What a delight, as an adult, to discover the huge treasure trove of old radio recordings that have survived.

Brian Noe

It goes back to around 1965. I was 11 years old to the time. I can't remember how the conversation got to the subject, but I remember my mother talking about the wonderful radio programs she listened to during the golden age. She then mentioned her favorite radio commercial for Lifebuoy Health Soap and the infamous "B.O." sound effect. I thought that sounded real cool and I would have given anything to hear that commercial up close and personal. At that time, I thought I never will because none of the radio broadcasts exist. I later found out I was wrong. In 1976, I received a catalog where cassettes of OTR programs were available. I immediately made a purchase and for the first time I heard the OTR programs for myself. From that point on, I started a personal study of OTR and its advertising with the help of books and magazines. It gave me an excuse to put the information I have in my home PC with MS-DOS that I was also learning at the time. I gained enough knowledge that I was asked to co-host a panel of OTR commercials with John Rayburn and Dick Beals (the voice of "Speedy Alka-Seltzer") at the 1992 Friends Of Old Time Radio convention. When I mentioned Lifebuoy and "B.O." in what I presented back then, that was a dedication to my mother. In the 2000's, I was asked to write different articles on OTR commercials on the Old Time Radio website. As far as I know, those articles are still on the website. For a brief time, I also wrote OTR commercial articles on my own website. Unfortunately, I had to discontinue the website when I was unable to keep it. From 2008 to the present, I am presenting occasional presentations on COMMERCIAL CORNER. My theme song has the "B.O." sound effect in it as a dedication to the memory of my mother. OTR Cat and different outfits, past and present, has helped out with a tremendous amount of radio commercials to use for these presentations. My only regret is my mother's health problems wouldn't allow her to hear the different radio programs or attend the 1992 FOTR convention. She would have loved it!

Danny Goodwin

I was born in 1950 and I vaguely remember listening to OTR in the early '50s before our family got its first TV set around '55. I enjoyed the B-serials that'd play on tv every once in a while, like The Green Hornet and some John Wayne features. Around 1979 or early '80 a neighborhood grocer started selling OTR on cassettes (I still own about 50 of them) and I really got interested then. I really enjoyed playing the old comedies for my mom who had often talked about Fibber & Molly, etc. and she really enjoyed them. I like(d) the histories and mysteries best and still enjoy them today.

Greg Bales

I've been hooked on old time radio programmes since I was 5 years old. My mother used to listen to her soap operas and the odd comedy show on the radio back in the sixties, in the seventies I was given a transistor radio and discovered Mystery Theatre. I found OTR a few years ago and have purchased many series (mostly comedy and music) and there are still many more I would like to add to my collection. I've repurposed an old floor radio that someone had gutted, and basically turned it into a large speaker, the dial lights up, I play radio shows (including adverts) from my mp3 player. Feels like I'm back in time.

John

When my father passed away in 1990, amongst the things he left behind was a collection of Jack Benny cassettes that I kept and began to listen to over and over. I laughed with joy over the simple but sharp humor and have been a fan ever since. When I was a teenager, in the mid-70's, I enjoyed listening to the CBS Radio Mystery Theater on the local AM radio station. Many years later, searching for copies of that show lead me to OTRCAT. This was like heaven to me. Now I have found the best source of the old-time great programs. I especially enjoy the fact that I can do downloads of shows for a very reasonable price. Great job ORTCAT...as good as it gets.

Don

My grandmother used to listen to Don McNeil's Breakfast Club every morning and all the other morning radio shows. We also listened to Gang Busters, The FBI, The Lone Ranger and Gunsmoke, also listened to the horror and suspense shows. I heard a lot of shows, too many to mention. I decided to start collecting them and even got my son interested in them too. Furthermore, I have 1,0000 of them now. Nice way to spend a few hours relaxing.

Byron McCarty

I don’t know any way to identify when my interest in OTR began, because it was just “radio” when I myself “began” In 1936. We still have the Atwater Kent radio on which I listened to so many shows for so many years, and it still works. It’s a console model with a space high enough for me to stick my head underneath. That’s the way I heard a lot of the serials like Captain Midnight, etc. I could look up to see the tubes glowing and always wondered how on earth such a magical thing was possible—sounds through the air! Many years later I worked for a while in radio-TV repair and then in broadcast radio and TV—so found out first hand. My interest in collecting the shows came about just because I missed them so much and found it really exciting when they were sometimes broadcast again, and then actually became available to own.

Sam

I remember listening to some Gunsmoke shows as a kid in the early 1950's. But my real interest began when an Oregon radio station began rebroadcasting shows on the weekends. Chanced upon them by accident and started to listen. I knew about them because of other interests in pulp magazines like The Shadow and Doc Savage. There was a radio station in Chicago (I don't know if they are still doing it) who would broadcast over the weekends.

Herb

I a boomer and was raised in rural northen Nevada no Television radio shows were what we had.

Kenneth

This is a 2-part story. Part 1: When I was young, the family would go visit one of my Grandmothers. On the drive home we would sometimes hear GUNSMOKE on the radio. I was too young to realize that Marshall Dillon (William Conrad) was not portrayed by the same actor from the TV series (James Arness). I listened but don't remember too much from those days. Besdies, GUNSMOKE was not a children's series. Part 2: As a young child, I LOVED the LONE RANGER on TV. As far as I knew, Clayton Moore was THE LONE RANGER! One afternoon I'm at home after school when my sister, a student at the University of Houston, called to let me know that if I tuned into KUHF FM radio, I could hear the Lone Ranger. On the radio? I was intrigued and tuned in. A classmate of hers was doing a show on the station called "Experiment in Radio". He played OTR shows. [I forget his name, Earl something maybe?, but I believe he later became associated with Nostalgia Merchant, or some similar name, a vendor of OTR shows, old movies, and such.] Well, I was hooked - by Brace Beemer's golden voice! From that moment on, BB was THE LONE RANGER. [Later I discovered radio transcriptions which I have been colecting ever since.] Ultimately this, among other influences, led me to an interest in audio and that led me to an interest in video. Made my living in video production for 30+ years. Now retired, still listening....Hi Yo Silver - AWAAAAAAAYYYYYYYY! (cue the William Tell Overture)....fade out......(cue the commerical). This topic is a great idea!

Joe Salerno

When I was eight years old, I was hit with a car. They thought that I would never walk again. Thankfully, I did, and became the unofficial second fastest runner in the State of Ohio, during my first year in college. I know that, because I beat a man who was, at that time, the official fastest runner in the State of Ohio. He later became a star Professional Football Player. We went to the same church together. I say, "Second Fastest," because my best friend at the time, ran so fast, that he would beat me by a full city-block, in a four-block race. The car accident laid me up for six months in bed. We had no TV. I loved listening to the thrilling shows on radio. I'm now 81, and I still can vividly remember so very many of them. Is there a recording of the "Masks of Azure?" That broadcast gives me the willie's, to this very day?

Michael G. Malley, GA, FIC

I first really fell in love with old radio shows in the 1960s and 70s, when an AM radio station in Houston TX, I forget which one now, used to play several of them each Sunday evening, for nostalgia's sake. They became well known and very popular for that, even into the late 1970s. The played The Whistler . I still miss not hearing them on a radio. I also miss the sound of a radio.. forget the noise cancelling and automute between stations. Darnit, I used to love listening to the white noise between stations. When skip was running hot, you could occasionally find a station out of town, or even out of your country to listen to, for as long as atmospheric conditions lasted. I miss those days.

Randy Cain

When I was home in bed with a cold in the fourth or fifth grade. I used to get to listen to Dr. Gentry, who now it appears to have been played by that actress who Sterling Hayden was in love with.

Lisa

I grew up with "Old Time Radio". As a young boy, probably 6th grade or so, I remember turning the radio on but VERY low, and pulling it under the covers so my parents couldn't hear (periodically foiled by static or crackling) and listening to I Love A Mystery. Then we'd all talk about it the next day at school. Great fun.

John

I bought some old time radio shows from a garage sale and listened to them at work. Ever since than I have been looking for more to listen to. Really made the day more enjoyable and go by faster.

David

The Jack Benny Program and the Lone Ranger are burned into my memory. Jack Benny was on TV in the 1950’s, but his show came on after my bedtime, so I listened as I went to sleep. It was a lot like listening to radio. I will never forget the commercials for Candy Gram as announced by Don Wilson. When I started buying radio shows on cassette tape, Jack Benny is where I started. Then I branched out to the spin off shows like The Dennis Day Show and Phil Harris & Alice Faye. It’s so great to have these shows as downloads now! The Lone Ranger was still on the radio in the ‘50’s and may dad would listen in the car. I have wonderful memories of that. My current favorite radio show is The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett. I can watch the TV Show on my Roku, and then listen to radio shows when I go to bed. I've gone full circle, and I love it!

Al

I started when I was in high school in the 1970s. A local radio station aired The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre from 11:07 to Midnight. Every night I listened as long as I could stay up, and looked forward to this each night. My father-in-law was blinded when he was 26 years old. I told him about my interest in OTR, and he told me about all the radio shows he listened to as he was growing up as a child. I started buying collections for him - Your Truly, Johnny Dollar (the insurance investigator with an action-packed expense account) was his favorite since my father-in-law was a successful insurance salesman. He also liked Jack Benny and Jack Armstrong, the All American Boy. I found a couple of MP3 players that has large buttons and would hold about 8 hours of shows each. Each week when we came over to dinner, I would fill up his players with 16 hours of shows that would hold him for the upcoming week. He also enjoyed any historic baseball or football game. It was like he was sitting at the games. We followed this weekly routine for more than 10 years. He has his favorite chair to sit in and listen to the shows. We made it all the way through Johnny Dollar and Jack Benny, as well as many other collections - mostly mysteries and history shows. He passed away a few years ago, but I'm sure that listening to OTR brought joy to his life.

Wayne Stoler

I became interested in the early 1950's. I loved Fibber McGee & Molly, Suspense, Whistler, Gunsmoke and many more. I have collected OTR programs ever since then.

Ray Bishop

I was interested in Radio around 1942-1943 era! I was around 2 or 3 years old!I listened with my mom when she did housework during the mornings, and at nights we would listen to Bob Burns, Lum n' Abner,Fibber McGee & Molly, The Great Gildersleeve, Judy Canova, Red Skelton,Bob Hope and other comedies!In 1944, I would listen to Smilin' Ed Mcconnell and the Buster Brown Gang! On the weekends we would listen to The National Barn Dance and The Grand Ole Opry! Also, Your Hit Parade, The Chesterfield Supper Club, The Glenn Miller Show,Truth Or Consequences etc; I really didn't start listening to the Kid Shows until 1946,such as :The Cisco Kid,Roy Rogers, The Shadow,The Green Hornet, the Lone Ranger, Challenge Of The Yukon, The House Of Mystery,Sky King, Captain Midnight,Tom Mix,Terry And The Pirates,Melody Ranch with Gene Autry, Jack Armstrong, Straight Arrow, Chandu, The MagicianILove A Mystery. Superman,Ted Drake, Bobby Benson, Dick Tracy,Hop Harrigan, Red Ryder, Tennessee Jed, etc: And at night, Pat Novak, Sam Spade,Let George Do It,The Fat Man, Gang Busters , The FBI In Peace ANd War, The Mysterious Traveler,and Inner Sanctum etc;on untill we got our first television in the Spring of 1953!Then in 1950 it was Big Jon and Sparkie, Space Patrol,Mark Trail,Tarzan,My Friend Irma,Tom Corbett,Tales Of The Texas Rangers,Wild Bill Hickok,Clyde Beatty, Gunsmoke, Dimension X, Our Miss Brooks, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Bob And Ray and X Minus One!I hope I did not bore you with this large list!Anyway that was my listening habits untill television! I loved them all!I started collecting the old shows from 1968 or 1969 on Reel to Reel Tape Thanks to"Rocket Blast and Comic Collector magazine and my old friend Jim Harmon!Also. my first books were Radio's Golden Age , The Pictorial History Of Radio by Irving Settel, and Jim Harmon's first radio book, The Great Radio Heroes, around 1967!

Bob

It was June of 2016. We were on vacation in Florida and our rented car had XM radio. I came across a Johnny Dollar show and it grabbed me. Have not stopped listening since.

Jeff

I first became interested in old time radio when a friend of mine showed me his collection of authentic fully restored console radiograms. I was 24 years old at the time. I begged him to sell me one of his radiograms. All its vacuum tubes still worked perfectly and it could pickup radio stations. But something was missing. It was no good having an authentic 1940’s radiogram playing modern radio. No, that just wouldn’t do. I needed to find old radio shows. But this was back in 1998, when the internet was still in its early days. So, over the following years I would constantly search the internet for old radio shows, but didn’t find anything. It wasn’t until 2009, when I discovered the Tunein Radio website that I found a station broadcasting old radio shows. That was when I first heard The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriett. It was the Christmas episode, where Ozzie goes to a department store to buy a Christmas present for his wife. After the broadcast had finished, I immediately searched the internet for The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet and Old Time Radio. That was when the search showed up otrcat.com, your website. I found hundreds of old time radio shows that I never knew existed, where I have been purchasing and downloading countless radio shows ever since. I store them on an iPod, which I then use to broadcast a radio signal that I tune my 1940’s radiogram to and listen to all those delightful old time radio shows all day. A big, hearty thank-you to the family behind OTRCAT.com for the wonderful collection of old time radio shows and newsreels that you have put together and made available for people like me to enjoy so much.

Rico

When Radio Mystery Theater has it's first broadcast. My dad would listen to the CBS news station and at 9:00pm I would be glued to the radio.

Seth

I had no idea OTR existed, especially growing up in Australia - only a few years back I saw the movie "The Great Gildersleeve" on local television late one evening, and its hometown theme got me interested, so I looked it up on Amazon/Wikipedia and discovered it was a movie made from the successful radio show - the 2nd longest running ever after Fibber McGee and Molly and the first to be borne from another show, also Fibber - I was astounded to find the total 17 odd years of the radio program could be bought for not much money - so I bought the radio program and listened to every episode, often with the wife and sometimes with the children - I then discovered there was a world of OTR that was available and was amazed to realise that most of the famous movies, plays and entertainers of the day were also presented as radio shows and these were also available to be purchased, such as Lux movies, Screen Directors' movies, Kraft Music Hall etc - so I bought many of these and became totally engrossed - great artists, great shows, great acting, people I had never heard of such as Lily Pons, and the list goes on - seemingly an endless treasure trove of priceless entertainment - I still hear performances and shows that astonish me and convince me, more than ever, what a paucity of real entertainment our current world now possesses.

Nicholas

My first interest was during my childhood (1950s) and listening to radio in the car with family or at a friends house with no TV. Daytime radio was mostly live and it seemed funny as my neighbors listened. My interest renewed in the 19702 with the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. When not studying I would listen nightly. Then I found When Radio was on WBBM radio and listened every night It was through those nightly broadcasts that I found OTR CAT and began to build my personal collection.

P g

My father grew up during the 'golden age of radio' and would check out LP's of old radio shows from the local library. He told me about rushing home after school to hear the latest installments of Superman and Jack Armstrong. My dad especially enjoyed comedies. I remember hearing Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Fred Allen, Jack Benny, and Fibber McGee and Molly at home. One of my mother's favor expressions was, "Taint funny McGee." I've been hooked on radio since I was a small boy and would find replays of old radio shows on local stations and listen with my father. The advent of the Internet made it easier than ever to find and enjoy old time radio programs. I have acquired a large collect of OTR CAT CD's and can now listen to favorites any time I like. Friends my age and younger kid me about it but I love old time radio.

John

I am 68 years old, grew up with an appreciation of Hollywood's classic movies. This led to my interest in radio, the history of the time period, its people and events, beginning with Bing Crosby and Bob Hope. It would come to include Christmas, news programs, Edward R. Murrow, Fred Allen, Jack Benny, Fibber McGee & Molly and baseball. I also have number of Philco radios from the 1930s and 1940s, including two which are also 78 rpm phonographs. I haven't been able to listen to most of the OTR I have. Jim Stephenson

Jim Stephenson

I grew up with it. (We didn't get a TV set until I was in my teens.). Should I admit that one of my favorite programs was IT PAYS TO BE IGNORANT? I actually thought they were gret ad-libbers.

Hugh Spencer

I( started listening and enjoying what you call 'old time radio' when I was a kid in the end of the 1940s or during the early 1950s before television starting making its inroads. I was hooked on certain shows, like THE SHADOW, I LOVE A MYSTERY as well as the comedy shows such as Jack Benny and Fred Allen. That's the whole story.

Eric

In the mid-1980s my Mom gave me a collection of OTR cassettes for Christmas. It featured The Green Hornet, The Shadow, Jack Benny, Suspense, and a couple of Sherlock Holmes. I LOVED it. The next year I received the cassette crate known as "A Baker Street Dozen" featuring most of the Gielgud/Richardson (my favorite duo) Sherlock Holmes episodes. Since then I've discovered a plethora of great listening including "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar", "Nero Wolf", and many others. One of these days, I'm going to retrofit an old classic console with an mp3 rig inside and listen that way.

Andy

I was turning 9 when the first radio shows were coming out in cassette form. My dad bought me one as a birthday present and I chose what was to me a superhero show. The Green Hornet! Shortly after that I found a radio station that was airing shows so my collection was under way. This would have been the late 1970's.

Matt Ludwick

My interest began when, one Christmas, my parents gave me and my two brothers each a nice cassette player and a few old radio broadcasts. I remember one was Suspense or Inner Sanctum. Anyhow, that’s how it began, I might have been junior high age. I managed with persistence to find others selling old radio on cassette before internet or CDs or computers. I had over 200, did a report on them during my first professional journalist internship and played them during a radio show on our small college station. Now I am on a Dragnet kick. So much nicer and cheaper to buy a lot on CD now. Long live old radio - oh, and I am now 54 years young!

Deb Piroch

As a young child, I loved old radio programs such as The Lone Ranger, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon, that fun quiz show Truth or Consequences, and others in the late 40’s and early 50’s. Then as a teenager in the late 50’s and into the early 60’s I discovered detective shows and listened to my favorite, Johnny Dollar, until it ceased in I think 1962. Now I have access to OTR and when I can’t sleep sometimes it is soothing to go back to my past and relive some old favorites! Such fun.

Freda

I became interested while I was listening to it circa 1951 when it wasn't "old time radio" but just radio. But I'm old

Dennis

I've had two periods in my life when old time radio figured prominently. The first was when I was in my 30s and working long hours sometimes overnight to finish my illustration commissions. Dr. Dimento would play an eclectic mix of comedy and suspense shows that almost always included the well known staples of that genre. It never occurred to me back then that one could collect those shows. Years later when my wife and I bought a vacation property in the east coast of Canada and I found myself on long drives there from Toronto I "discovered" Old Time Radio and all it had to offer. My library continues to grow. John Fraser (Toronto Canada, soon to be moving to the Maritimes permanently).

John

In the 70's, when I was about 13, I started listening to CBS radio mystery theater on my AM radio before bed and then found "when radio was" later on. I have been a fan ever since, so 50+ years later. I have an extensive MP3 collection on CD's and DVD's and eventually want to put them on a hard drive to make it easier to listen to them. I have 2 friends that are also fans, but we don't get the chance to listen together because of the distance. Tried to get my family interested but it is my hobby so I will continue to enjoy the shows myself.

Larry

I became interested in old time radio while listening to the original broadcasts in the early 40s. I have been collecting recordings first on records, then tape and now on CDs since the 60s.

Tony

I was lucky enough to grow up in the fifties and sixties, when the last of the big-time radio shows were still broadcast: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Have Gun, Will Travel, and the best drama of them all, Gunsmoke. Even Amos and Andy was still on - in The Amos ‘n’ Andy Music Hall. I used to love staying home when I was a kid, listening to the Breakfast Club. I listened to a set of shows that were broadcast locally nightly, including The Sealed Book and the Green Hornet. Whenever I could, I tuned in to rebroacasts of OTR shows, recording them and accumulating a nice collection. Wherever I lived, I found OTR shows; the station in Denver broadcast Dragnet every Saturday morning; and in Chicago, I became a fan where I expanded my appreciation of OTR to include The Great Gildersleeve, Fibber McGee and Molly, and the greatest of all time, The Jack Benny Program. It's been a wonderful hobby.

Neil Holman

I remember my mother fondly talking about the great radio dramas of her youth, but my real interest began more than 20 years ago when I caught a BBC radio drama late at night when I was picking my son up from his job. We were both so captivated, that we sat in the parking lot for an hour until it ended. I was hooked. Discovering OTRCAT has opened up a treasure trove shows and experiences. Thank you!

John F

I am one of the “OLD GUARD” I grew up on radio, in the mid ‘50’s l, I would actually run home from school every day to listen to the following, not all on the same day of course. BOBBY BENSON [who I knew well before his death, Clive Rice]. Challenge of the Yukon, Clyde Beaty, Straight Arrow [still have my cave ring with My picture in there], Lone Ranger [of course, in prime time] , Sky King, and more, all the afternoon kid shows, I got to meet the woman who played Little Orphan Annie, sorry can’t come up with that name right now, sigh, 81 years will do that to you. I started collecting radio shows on the original 16-inch transcription disks, gifts from my local radio station KRHD, I have over three hundred of those, some still not on the market, then in the late ‘60s started getting them on reel-to-reel tape, next on cassettes [thousands of them] and now still staying with CD’s, I own 6,367 different cd’s, but.. I love the MP-3 format, which started out pretty bad, yours are fine however and I will continue to buy from you. The news casts were always tough to get and you have done great on those. I listen to twelve hours of OTR every week, rain or shine. Robert A. Brown

Robert .A..

Hard to say, really. As long as I can remember, I have enjoyed the old WWII shows like command performance. But in the 90s when I could get online I discovered a whole new world. I am not obsessed with your website and I have just about all the WWII shows I want (except I am still looking for Revellie with Beverly) and a bunch of other shows of all genres.

Dale

I was born in 1940 so I grew up with radio. It wasn't old time radio then. I listened to all the favorites - Amos and Andy, Fibber McGee, Suspense, the Shadow etc. as well as the childrens programs after school and on Sat. morning - Superman, Green Hornet, Broken Arrow and the lady who did fairy tales on Sat mornings. Today I record MP3 shows onto my thumb drive and listen to the programs in my car.

Richard Grusell

The Fallout series of games hooked me on old time radio. I am even building a fully functional radio that simulates and analog radio complete with simulated radio stations.

ZapWizard

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