# Old Time Radio Shows Available at Internet Archive: Any Favorites? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** radio-podcast\ **Created:** [May 6, 2021, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529 "2021-05-06T15:04:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/41 "2021-05-09T04:48:59Z")
There are lots of Jack Benny at: > **[Jack Benny - OTR](https://www.oldradioworld.com/shows/Jack_Benny.php)** > > Jack Benny (born Benjamin Kubelsky February 14, 1894 - December 26, 1974) was an American comedian, vaudevillian, and actor for radio, television, and film. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/42 "2021-05-09T05:03:29Z")
Thanks, I’ll check that out! ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/43 "2021-05-09T08:04:07Z")
too bad they never realized wed want to hear these shows later and maybe kept them in better shape … ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/44 "2021-05-09T13:39:57Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > too bad they never realized wed want to hear these shows later and maybe kept them in better shape Or at least kept them, period. Sadly, some shows are forever lost. (One example: the Marx Brothers show [_Flywheel, Shyster, and Flywheel_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flywheel,_Shyster,_and_Flywheel).) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/45 "2021-05-09T23:30:25Z")
Every once in a while something will make me think of an old episode of one of those thriller type shows: as part of his scheme to rob the bank he works at, a guy locks himself in the vault, calculating that he has just enough air to get him through the weekend. I don’t remember why he’s doing this, anyway…he forgets that it’s a three day weekend. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2021, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/46 "2021-05-09T23:38:19Z")
Sounds like “The Whistler” where people were always making plans and forgetting one little detail. It could be “Escape” - but that title is a little too ironic here. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 11:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/47 "2021-05-14T11:02:30Z")
I’m another fan of _Johnny Dollar_ and _The Whistler_. I also like _Broadway Is My Beat_. It’s the adventures of Lieutenant Danny Clover of the NYPD, who’s so hard-boiled he’s almost a parody of the entire fim noir/detective genre. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/48 "2021-05-14T11:29:43Z")
As a kid, I really enjoyed listening to Lum and Abner, which would air at 6:45 AM on the local radio station. I would stop any part of getting ready for school and listen to it. Eventually it became too annoying to do that, so I used the VCR to record it from the local access cable channel, which played the local radio when ever the show wasn’t on. It surprises me how it seems that there are lost episodes that didn’t didn’t seem to be lost back in the 1990s. At the very least, there was continuity in every episode I remember, yet there are quite a few gaps in the archives I’ve found. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/49 "2021-05-14T21:08:31Z")
I’m trying to think of a hardboiled detective radio program with the gimmick that when the hero was knocked out (once an episode) he was mocked by a voice out of his unconscious (calling itself by the hero’s name backwards?) who would somehow still give the hero a clue to the case he was working on. Anyone remember this one? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2021, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/50 "2021-05-14T21:19:14Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > too bad they never realized wed want to hear these shows later and maybe kept them in better shape … Television suffered from the same issue – a lot of early (and even not-so-early) TV shows are lost, because either (a) they weren’t recorded at all, (b) recordings on film (or, later, videotape) were thrown out, or (c) the videotapes on which they were recorded were re-used (with something else recorded over the original show). ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2021, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/51 "2021-05-15T01:24:40Z")
Richard Rogue of Rogue’s Gallery [Rogue's Gallery (radio series) - Wikipedia](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogue%27s_Gallery_(radio_series)) ---
**Author:** ![pmwgreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@pmwgreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pmwgreen)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2021, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/52 "2021-05-15T22:30:46Z")
Yes! I read the description and couldn’t place it. Dick Powell before he went on to the lead role in Richard Diamond. Rogue’s Gallery is another one where there only a couple dozen of episodes surviving. Which as pity because they are a hoot. Once you get past all the sexism, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2021, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/53 "2021-05-15T23:06:44Z")
Yeah, I kept getting stuck on Richard Diamond- which I should have treated as a subconscious clue from Ydna ---
**Author:** ![Boycott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boycott/32/6741_2.png) [@Boycott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boycott)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2022, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/54 "2022-01-06T23:41:50Z")
Listening to an old 1940s era anthology of weird and twisted tales called The Mysterious Traveler. Enjoying it so far. > This is the Mysterious Traveler, inviting you to join me on another journey into the strange and terrifying. I hope you will enjoy the trip, that it will thrill you a little and chill you a little. So settle back, get a good grip on your nerves and be comfortable—if you can! [https://www.radioechoes.com/?page=series&genre=OTR-SciFi&series=The%20Mysterious%20Traveler](https://www.radioechoes.com/?page=series&genre=OTR-SciFi&series=The%20Mysterious%20Traveler) ---
**Author:** ![Push\_You\_Down](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/push_you_down/32/9095_2.png) [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)\ **Post date:** [January 8, 2022, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/55 "2022-01-08T23:53:19Z")
I really like Life with Luigi…a comedy about a sweet natured Italian immigrant. Think Perfect Strangers but with no Cousin Larry…only Balki. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2022, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/56 "2022-01-09T00:01:51Z")
A group of us delivering pizza for Domino’s in the early ‘80s used to tune in to the radio drama hour on KNX at 9pm every night. Our favorite was _Gang Busters_ because the violence was so ridiculously over the top. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2022, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/57 "2022-01-09T05:18:25Z")
X Minus 1 was the successor to Dimension X, also at [archive.org](http://archive.org) (X, X-1, get it?). If you like one you’ll also the other. Then there are the scary series, like “Lights Out”, which is the source of the famous “Chicken Heart”. A one-season series called “Sleep No More!” had a narrator reading scary classics by Poe and others. Also “Inner Sanctum”. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2022, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/58 "2022-01-09T15:04:32Z")
My Friend Irma is kind of cute - two single women sharing an apartment, one sensible, one ditzy [My Friend Irma - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Friend_Irma) “Our Miss Brooks” is terrific - Eve Arden is just so snarky. Scary episodes I particularly like are “The House in Cypress Canyon” from Suspense, and “The Thing on the Fourble Board” from “Quiet Please” ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2022, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529/59 "2022-01-14T17:13:40Z")
I’ve been listening to some episodes of Hancock’s Half Hour this week. Pretty funny stuff! > **[BBC Sounds - Hancock's Half Hour - Available Episodes](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/brand/b009t2ld)** > > Listen to the latest episodes of Hancock's Half Hour on BBC Sounds [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/old-time-radio-shows-available-at-internet-archive-any-favorites/941529.md?page=2)