Readers of my blog posts might be aware of one of my odd hobbies: collecting and listening to "old time radio" shows.
Huh? Why would a future-looking gadget geek want to fill up his smartphone with radio dramas popularized in the '40s and '50s?
Yes, I see the irony -- but hey, a great story is a great story. In fact, these bite-sized old-time radio (“OTR”) shows are awesome for combating boredom while spending time in the car. They’re typically 20- to 40-minutes in length, so they’re perfect for those who commute on trains, planes and automobiles.
As someone who travels a lot, I find nothing beats listening to one of these well-written and superbly-acted plays while resting my eyes on a plane. Or, in many instances, I'm playing a game on my phone or tablet while listening to these shows at the same time.
Just like other media – such as books, movies, television shows and video games – there are different genres for different tastes. Comedy fans, for example, might prefer to hear the likes of Jack Benny and Abbott and Costello, while those who prefer science fiction would likely get a kick out of X Minus One or Orson Welles' (in)famous War of the Worlds broadcast.
Me, personally? I love the horror, suspense and sci-fi stuff. Favorite series include Inner Sanctum, CBS Radio Mystery Theater, Lights Out, Suspense, Quiet Please, The Shadow, Mysterious Traveler, X Minus One, BBC's The Man in Black, and anything from Ray Bradbury (be sure to download “Mars is Heaven” and “To the Future”).
Because you're using your imagination to "see" the characters, environments and actions, these shows feel wonderfully intimate and personal. I even play them for my three kids and then ask them to tell me what the main character looks like or what does the house look like, and I get three different answers.
Survived by the Internet and MP3 files, most of these radio shows – which were popular before television took off in the 1950s – still hold up well in the 21st century. That is, if you can get past some of the classic stereotypes (such as the Irish cop), sponsor jingles about cigarettes and everyone calling each other “dahling.”
Because the copyrights expired for most of these shows, you can download and listen to them for free. Or if you can’t be bothered, there are OTR podcasts to subscribe to. Or for complete collections, you can buy them on disc or hard drive. However you acquire them – and I’ll provide some options below – you can fill up your smartphone, portable media player, car stereo or computer with OTR to enjoy as often as you like.
Enjoy, and spread the word.
Where to get OTR shows
Archive.org: The best online resource for free OTR is a website called Archive.org, which houses many tens of thousands of shows you can download – one-by-one or as a complete series – and you can then listen to these MP3s on any compatible device. You’ll also get photos, show descriptions and comments from listeners. Shows can be searched by name or browsed by average review rating, number of downloads, number of reviews or recent additions. Some OTR fans use BitTorrent sites or Usenet newsgroups to download or trade show collections with others.
Podcasts, apps: There are many dozens of free OTR podcasts to subscribe to. Most are divided into genre, such as The Horror! or OTR Westerns, or they'll be posted by name of show, such as ones devoted to CBS Radio Mystery Theater, Dragnet, Escape. Lone Ranger or The Shadow. Personally, I use iTunes to subscribe to podcasts and sync to mobile devices, but there are many other podcast aggregators that download new episodes when they're ready. Be sure to check out the Relic Radio podcasts; they're all free but the narrator -- who introduces each segment with a bit of historical information -- usually asks for a small donation at the end of the episode. There are also many good ones from Dennis Humphrey, too. A number of smartphone and tablet apps are also devoted to OTR, some of which let you stream shows while others have a download option.
Buy on hard drive, disc: If you have a lousy Internet connection, want complete collections or can't be bothered with finding and downloading episodes online, you can always buy OTR and have it shipped to your door. Yahoo! Shopping is a great place to buy collections. Or a website called OTRCAT lets you buy discs for $5 apiece, sold by show or theme (genre). Another option is a hard drive with many thousands of OTR episodes, such as the $100 portable drive at Old Time Radio DVD; the 500GB drive is packed with more than 74,000 radio shows and other audio and video material. There are also OTR collections to buy on eBay and online classifieds sites like Craigslist and Kijiji.
SiriusXM and other streaming sites: Those who listen to satellite radio (about $15/month) might not be aware of an old-time radio station that streams shows 24/7, covering multiple genres. The station is called Radio Classics and it’s on channel 82. Some of the sat radios let you pause live programming, which is ideal for OTR so you won’t miss the end of an episode in case you need to step out of the car. Some websites – like RUSC (Are you sitting comfortably?) – charge $7.50 a month (or less if you commit to a year) to download and listen to more than 20,000 shows – plus you get two e-books for signing up.
Digital Crave readers, do you ever listen to OTR? If so, how do you acquire them in the digital age?