Ran across this site. Has over 100,000 free otr programs

January 31st marked the 89th anniversary of the first broadcast of the Green Hornet radio series.
The Grand-Nephew of The Lone Ranger continues the family legacy as he dons a mask to take out organized crime in the big city.

I'm helping my family to start removing stuff from my mother-in-law's house in New Jersey. She had a very large collection of cassette tapes - the large majority of which are spoken word (think Jack Benny, old radio plays, along with some more modern stuff from the 90s/2000s). Most were self-recorded, although a few were purchased. They haven't been played for about 6 years so no guarantee to their quality. I'd estimate there are around 1,000 cassettes. If anyone is either interested (free except postage!) or has any suggestions I'd be very grateful as it would be a shame to have to trash them.

I primarily listen to old radio via podcasts, and find some much more enjoyable than others in terms of curation, sound quality, reliable release times, and things like incongruous modern ad insertion. There’s a lot of chaff out there, so I wanted to share the ones I enjoy the most in the hopes that folks will share some that I haven’t heard yet.

Down These Mean Streets - Cleverly themed collections of detective and mystery shows, introduced to provide intelligent and entertaining context. This is a brilliantly put together show that I always look forward to.

Stars on Suspense - From the same podcaster (sorry I can’t find your name!), another gold standard series curated around actors and creators on Suspense.

Mysterious Old Radio Listening Society - I really enjoy the format and perspective of this podcast, which features a horror, crime, or mystery show and then a discussion of how the episode succeeded or failed on a creative level. Really fun conversations that take the craft seriously.

Enhanced Radio Classics - These episodes sound soooo good. Quiet, Please episodes especially stand out since they normally sound pretty bad.

Relic Radio - Reliable, solid network of podcasts from several genres throughout the week.

Breaking Walls - Magnificent, sprawling project exploring the history of old radio mixed in with actual episodes. There’s something dreamy and transcendent about this podcast that’s hard to describe but lovely to listen to.

What am I missing?

EDIT I mixed up the Relic Radio title :X

I was having problems with the OTR streamer program with ads showing up suddenly after paying for it years ago, so I decided to uninstall and reinstall the program to see if it helped and found out it was kicked off the App Store.

That said, what is your go to app for OTR on IOS now? I see several but don't know which one....

Got to have suspense, whistler and CBSRMT

Ever since I was 15 I was obsessed with old radio shows (found on cassettes). The music to the sound effects. The acting. Those scripts. The cast would usually play against type. Always fun. The sponsorship spots weren’t to be fast forwarded through. Decades later I finally created a show of my own. It’s called Terror On The Air. The latest episode, “There’s Somethin’ In Them Hills”. The tagline: “And remember… keep your volume turned up… for TERROR.”

If you’re curious:

YouTube:

https://youtu.be/watch?v=blQyDPuRRhY

SoundCloud:

https://soundcloud.com/terrorontheair/terror-on-the-air-theres-somethin-in-them-hills

RSS

https://feeds.soundcloud.com/users/soundcloud:users:685742501/sounds.rss

OTRR-maintained The Mel Blanc Show v2501 (2.88 GB on Windows/42 episodes) is available for download from Dropbox, OneDrive or pCloud. Thanks to all those who made this collection possible.

These links will be available for 30 days. The episodes of this set will be released on our YouTube channel at https://otrr.cc/yt starting January 25.

• pCloud: https://otrr.cc/QTrJCh
• Dropbox: https://otrr.cc/4TVtam
• OneDrive: https://otrr.cc/9pTArx

Synopsis
Mel Blanc’s solo program, The Mel Blanc Show, premiered on September 3, 1946 and ran for a single season. The premise was built on a general fix-it shop run by Blanc and allowed the star to interact with a variety of visitors to the store who brought in random objects for repair. The wide-open potential for stories allowed Blanc to show off his near-limitless vocal abilities.  

After Blanc finished work on Judy Canova’s program in the spring of 1946 under the sponsorship of Colgate Palmolive Peet, the tooth powder producer was given first crack at sponsoring his forthcoming namesake program in the fall. Through the company’s agency, Sherman & Marquette, Colgate decided to green-light the series to replace Theater of Romance which they dropped. In addition to the namesake headliner, The Mel Blanc Show also featured West Coast regulars Hans Conried, Mary Jane Croft, Joseph Kearns, and Earle Ross. Music was provided by Victor Miller and his Orchestra and the Sportsmen while Bud Hiestand served as announcer.  

By November 1946 the show was seen as being on shaky ground, earning a meager 7.1 at the 101st rating spot and a “thumbs down” from Variety. Soon after, the trade paper revealed that director Joe Rines unexpectedly left the program because it “became too much of a hassel [sic]” which left Sherman & Marquette scrambling for a replacement, who was eventually Mac Benoff.        

Upon The Mel Blanc Show’s renewal for another quarter in February 1947, the series had a publicized budget of $7,000, similar to programs such as Mr. District Attorney and Gene Autry’s show but far less than top shows such as those of Bing Crosby at $25,000 per week and Fred Allen and Eddie Cantor who were budgeted at $20,000 per week. By April of that year, it was reported in the trades that the future of The Mel Blanc Show was in doubt and by the end of May the show’s cancellation was official. The last episode aired June 24, 1947, and was replaced by Mr. and Mrs. North.

Updates:

• All new .flac encodes
• Updated documentation
• New Mel Blanc Show Introduction

I wonder if this stuff really worked? My 1970s Ford gearbox was diabolical, sometimes stalling the car when pulling off, usually in the middle of a junction. Did the whole jerk thing described in the advert.

Hello all, I'm looking for an episode of Dragnet involving a woman who had escaped from a mental institution after being involuntarily committed by her husband. I listened to a bunch of different crime story shows around the same time, so it might have been Tales of the Texas Rangers or really any of the popular crime shows.

Anyone remember this?

ETA: I think I remember that she climbed over a wall to escape. She runs into the cops and frantically describes how she's been locked up, she's not crazy, etc. That's really all I remember 😞

I forget the title, but I once listened to an episode of the old science fiction radio show known as X Minus One. I’m trying to find it now, but I can’t remember the name for the life of me.

I remember the plot quite well, so I’d be obliged if anyone knows the name.

Here’s the plot:

Rich man decides to go to space. Has no idea how he’s gonna get there. Builds a space ship, but can’t make it fly. Offers reward for scientist to invent first engine. Many apply, none succeed.

Strange man shows up, offers a kind of “anti-magnetism” method. All other scientists are let go.

Rich man gets shot by scientist. Survives

Strange man and rich man talk about sentiment and sympathy vs will and ambition.

Rocket and engine is finished. Strange man and rich man take off on test flight, but don’t return.

Cut to rich man begging to go home and strange man revealing that he is an alien, and that his “sentiment” (i.e his homesickness) is what brought them here, and he is going home.

That is all I remember, best of luck.

It's got to be a Suspense or Escape or similar episode - but I'm having trouble finding it, maybe I'm not searching for it correctly. I figure someone here will know! The two main characters are either actual children or very young men, they clearly don't really know what they're doing. As I recall it's quite intense. Anyone? Thank you in advance!

Looking for information on Jessica Dragonette and family

I’m not sure if this is the best sub to post in- I apologize if it is not. Long story short, my daughter’s friend, B, goes to Georgian Court in NJ, Ms. Dragonette’s alma mater. B has been asked by the Dean of Students to create a presentation about Ms. Dragonette and her accomplishments. This presentation is to be given at a ceremony where they are announcing their new School of Performing Arts. (After Ms. Dragonette graduated the school for performing arts was shut down.)

B has been doing a lot of research and is hoping to find a relative or someone close to Jessica to attend this event that celebrates her work and life. B has been looking at genealogy records and researching but I suggested going to Reddit and seeing if anyone had any information.

Thanks!

https://preview.redd.it/70jo8yj8aqde1.jpg?width=400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=43c271aad24dfa9791ff0fa312bda6a860089b86

I've been wondering about this for months now and have even done some searching, but am still confused. I'm talking about Alice's rendition of the 1947 popular song "A Little Bird Told Me" in 1948 - episode 77, titled "New Drug". She does some weird noises in the middle of the instrumental section that have always baffled me. Was there a prior version or performance she's lampooning or what?

I do know that the song was the basis for a famous lawsuit, one of the first times a black artist (the record label to be accurate) fought back against a white copycat version of a hit song. That does zilch to explain those noises though...

I mean, all of a sudden it's a dumb girl/southern sounding "dyeeur dyeeur dyeeur der dyeeur" and "yak attack attack attack". What in the world could this mean?!? Maybe it's just nonsense, but if there's more to the story I wanna know. I've included an alluring photo of Alice as extra enticement.

I’ve been listening to “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar” for ~6 mos. I really like the show. I ended up looking into the wiki for the show. Here’re some interesting tid-bits from the wiki page.

“Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar was so familiar to CBS Radio's listeners that the network's resident comedians, Bob and Ray, occasionally satirized it. Their version, "Ace Willoughby, International Detective," followed the Johnny Dollar format of exotic locales, continental officials, cool villains, and tense confrontations, with Ray Goulding doing a letter-perfect imitation of Bob Bailey's delivery. In the comedy version, however, the detective usually gave up on the case after being beaten up incessantly.” Lol.

“Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar was a popular weekly radio mystery play in the 1960s and early 1970s on Radio Iran. The role of Johnny Dollar was played by Heidar Saremi, a popular radio performer. Contrary to the original, Johnny Dollar was more of a criminal investigator. At the end of each episode, the narrator asked the radio audience how Johnny found the perpetrators, making the show a mystery quiz as well as a drama; those who guessed correctly were entered into a raffle for a prize.”

I wish there were more show like this where the radio audience was involved.

“In 2003, Moonstone Books adapted the Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar radio program into a graphic novel illustrated by Éric Thériault and written by David Gallaher.”

“As of February 2019, a documentary about the program, Last Man Standing - Johnny Dollar & the End of Old-Time Radio, has been produced.”

“In 2023, a new graphic novel series was launched with Johnny Dollar investigating cybercrimes of the modern age.13] "The man with the action packed expense account" is a cyberinsurance investigator, taking on ransomware actors in the modern age.(14)”

Wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yours_Truly%2C_Johnny_Dollar

Before Gene Rayburn became the host of Match Game, in the 1950s he was one of the hosts of a morning radio show in the New York area called Rayburn and Finch. I am a fan of Gene Rayburn, so I am interested in listening to this show. However despite it being very popular in New York at the time, I am struggling to find any recordings.

I know the Library of Congress has a portion of the show on a record and cassette tape, but I haven’t been able to get my hands on that. A friend who is a college professor requested it through an interlibrary loan, but they refused her request. That’s the only recording I know of. I found nothing online at all, no uploaded recordings, nor people offering episodes for sale.

Much of the show is probably lost forever at this point. But, I thought it would be worth a shot asking here since I cannot reasonably get a cassette from the Library of Congress anytime soon. And while I do listen to OTR from time to time, it’s not something I regularly engage with, so I might be missing something when it comes to finding recordings. If you know of any way I might be able to listen to Rayburn and Finch, even a partial episode, please let me know.

I’m looking for copies of a radio program called the comedy show. I don’t know when it ended but I know I was listening to it between say 1982 and 1984 or 1985. I was DXing from 1210 WCAU in Philadelphia it was on Sunday nights. I believe it’s was hosted by Jack Carney. it was a thematic show based upon comedy routines from standup comedians. I would so love to be able to hear some of these again. There was one show in particular about cars that I am looking for. Any help is greatly appreciated.