Thursday, March 26, 2009

Old radio Shows

Posted in by Laughing Soul | Edit
Hello Everyone
I hope all has had a wonderful day and evening.

I thought tonight I would talk about one of my favorite things in the entire world...

Old Radio shows

I have been a been a fan of old radio shows for a very long time. Sadly enough I don't even really remember how I got into them. ( thinking... thinking... thinking) Oh Now I remember!

When I was a kid at Christmas time, after my family went to church we would drive around the neighborhoods and check out the Lights. My parents would turn on NPR ( national public radio) and they would always have on old recordings of A Christmas Carol. The Dramatic performances and then Comedy performances after that. I just remember being enthralled and captivated listening to them. Thinking they were fun and silly. They relaxed me and it just made the holiday so much better.
Years later we were at a Crackerbarrel in South Carolina, and you know how they have those general stores on the inside? Well I found an old tape of a collection of radio shows!! From that I was hooked. I listened to it all the time and I couldn't get enough. One of the things that got me hooked was the fact that I am such a Looney Tunes fan. Looney Tunes got most of their material from radio shows. Anytime you see Bugs Bunny hop on a phone ask for the Operator and then say the words, "Oh, is that you Mert? How's every little thing?" That comes from Fibber McGee and Molly.
As a matter of fact I am listening to one of my Favorite shows right now which I will mention here in a little bit.

But here I will go through my top five favorite Radio Shows to listen to.

#5

Suspense!
The title pretty much describes what this show was. It was a show that kept you in suspense and on the edge of your seat. Some of my favorite stories come from this show.

#4
Fibber McGee and Molly!
This is such a great show. Its one of the earliest sit com shows around. I can guarantee you that if you listen to this show you will smile, and laugh and have a great time.

3#
Abbot and Costello
This is a Vaudvillian act that is timeless. These are the creators of the legendary bit " Who's on First" The absolute funniest thing Ive ever heard. These gentlemen are legends and they gave so much to radio and laughter. Another on of the shows that is hilariousl without having to shock you or gross ou out to get a laugh. Being silly is just enough.


#2
Red Skelton
This is a great comedian and pantomime actor. He is so funny and so much fun. He makes himself giggle all the time. He once asked in an interview, "Why do you always Laugh at your own jokes?"
"Well, its not fair that everyone gets to laugh I want to laugh at the joke too"
This is a reminder of a time when comedy was innocent and pure. In all of his shows he never said anything cruel or rude at someone elses expense and not one curse word has come out. This was a man who lived to make people laugh. IF you ever get a chance check out some of his stuff. He showed me that it's alright to be silly sometimes.

#1War of The Worlds
Now this was the mother of them all. This is one of the greatest shows you will ever hear. This the show that everyone should know about. During this show people actually flung themselves out of windows into the streets thinking that this actually happend. As horrible as a thing that is, and hard to believe for this day and age, if you listen to it you will see exactly why this could happen. (This is what I am listening to right now) It's incredible.


Give these all a shot. I love these shows it brings you back to a time where everything was much simpler and fun and innocent.
If you'd like to possibly listen to a few episodes or are looking into purchacing some you can go to the following websites. All of which are great.
Also XM radio has its own Radio Classics channel which of course is always on at my house.

www.radioclassics.com

www.radiospirits.com

Goodnight, and have a beautiful day tomorrow.
Happy Friday!


Slainte

3 Comments


  1. Vampymaus says:

    I travel every week for work, so I go through a LOT of rental cars. I absolutely LOVE it when I get a car with XM because I can keep it tuned to Radio Classics. (There are times when I've gotten to the client site and I have to sit and wait while a show finishes. heh.)

    When we have the time, Jeremy and I like to listen to WAMU (88.5) on Saturday nights. (7pm to 11pm) At that time, they have a show called "The Big Broadcast" which plays various radio shos from the 30's, 40's, and 50's.

    Dragnet, Gunsmoke, Fibber Magee and Molly, Johnny Dollar, Jack Benny, Suspense, and more. It's AWESOME! 4 hours of classic radio on our public airwaves!

    *ahem - calming down*

    Sometimes, J and I will get in the car and drive around or park somewhere nice to listen to the broadcast.

    OR, we'll stay at home and listen online! (www.wamu.org) I'm not sure, but I think you can listen to back-dated shows too, not just live. I'll have to check it out.

    Thanks for the great post!!!

    March 28, 2009 at 10:35 AM

  2. Vampymaus says:

    Doh - I typed "Saturday", but meant SUNDAY. The Big Broadcast is on SUNDAY from 7pm to 11pm on WAMU. (88.5)

    March 28, 2009 at 10:37 AM

  3. Anonymous

    What a great idea!!

    I'd kind of forgotten about radio...but I also get a feeling of nostalgia when thinking about family gatherings/radio shows, so I will definitely have to check those ones out!

    Really awesome post :)

    March 29, 2009 at 11:18 PM

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