The reason those shows are successful is that you can tune into and out of them at any time and still get exactly what they are about.
For radio drama you have to be there from the beginning to the ending or it just doesn’t have much of a point. Even people with very long commutes couldn’t guarantee their drives would coincide exactly with these shows.
Admittedly radio was pretty tired by the late 1940s, with the same stars having been in the top ten for twenty years. But even with these stars (most of whom moved to television with large ratings) and these top shows and a tradition of listening to them, the radio audience dumped them in 30 seconds once early tv - really bad early tv - came along. If real radio listeners didn’t prefer radio, why would anyone else want to bring it back?
Oh man, I lived for “The Lone Ranger”. There was something about the voices of Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels that was very comforting and reassuring.
About 15 years ago WCAU-AM in Philadelphia had these on around 11 pm. The announcer always began with something like, “Fluff up your pillow on the davenport, and return to the days when Radio Was King!”
I miss that. Listening to those old shows on the radio - and not no tape or CD - was quite a treat.
I bought Fibber McGee and Molly and The Shadow at Cracker Barrel.
Everton: To quote the immortal StrongBad with respect to things British. “Screw all y’all!” Just kidding, of course – and venting my considerable envy.
Exapno:
God knows that’s true of radio today. However, I would submit the soaps on the TV. They’ve run forever, yet you can come and go as you please anytime. They’re consistently able to hook viewers who tune in midstream into the latest plot development. Why couldn’t radio drama be written in a similar style and do the same?
Excellent point. What if serials were produced in shorter chunks e.g. 10 to 15 minutes? Weren’t many of the old shows 15 minutes?
Granted media can become moribund after long periods of sucess. Look at the network sitcom today…
But I think there are a couple of problems with this argument. First, how much of the mass exodus to TV was related to TV’s novelty? Was it so much a repudiation of the old media or rather an embrace of new and exciting technology.
Second, I don’t see radio and TV as direct competitors. I would submit (solely as a WAG) that the vast majority of radio listening hours take place in vehicles. We watch TV in the home. Radio drama would have to compete with Rush, not American Idol.
I don’t know whether this is of use to you, Frankd6, but I remembered that you can listen to BBC radio drama online. You can see what’s available here. They also archive programmes for seven days, and if you click on the Listen Again link you can see a full archive listing. Obviously it’s no use if you’re away from your computer, but at least it’s something.
They’re currently running On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder in 15 minute episodes. Episodes 6 to 10 are being broadcast from Monday 25 to Friday 29 August, but an archive of all episodes can be found here, so you can listen to them one after the other.
This week’s Saturday Play was The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett and the Book of the Week strand has a series of readings commemorating the life of Martin Luther King, so it’s worth digging around under the generic sounding programme names to see what you like the look of.
I can remember listening to the Lone Ranger and one other series, but can’t remember the name of it. This was back in 1953, but when we bought a TV, in 1954, it took the place of the radio.
No, I don’t think it was Sergeant Preston. I want to say it was “The Life Of Riley”???, but I am just not sure.
There is one other that I remember: Amos and Andy
I was only 5 yrs. old or so back then. “The Lone Ranger” was far more interesting to me, at that age, of course.
I have better memories of early TV shows:
Sky King
Lone Ranger
Hopalong Cassidy
Annie Oaklie (spelling may be wrong)
Flash Gordon
Wild Bill Hickock (with Guy Madison)
Cisco Kid
Roy Rogers & Dale Evans
Gene Autry
I believe Riley was on radio. I know it was on TV and was among the first TV shows I saw. Nefertiti, you might get a kick out of Remembering the B Westerns where some of the old TV westerns are also mentioned.
Many if not most of the old radio shows that are still available have been converted to MP3. There are many Old Time Radio groups on yahoo devoted to trading OTR. Do a search.
You can also find them on ebay.
I have many shows myself. I like the horror…like Inner Sanctum and detectives like Johnny Dollar.
Here’s a good site to just outright purcase the shows in MP3…
I also grew up with the KNX Drama Hour. It was great, they had two different radio shows ever night. Saturdays was Jack Benny and George and Gracie, as I recall. One night was X Minus One and Lights Out, both of which creeped me out sometimes.
Some of those theme songs have really stuck with me. The other day I was going somewhere in the car with my dad when a familiar piece of music came on the classical music station. I puzzled for a moment, then realized where I remembered it from and shouted, “It’s Sergeant Preston and his dog, King!”
