Does anyone listen to archived old radio shows?

[Purcy]

My DH is old enough to have listened to the old radio shows like Inner Sanctum, The Whistler, the Shadow, Ellery Queen, Sherlock Holmes, etc. He listens to some on a site called www.radiospirits.com and they now offer a 30 day free trial membership to their Radio Spirits Subscription plan. You can download up to 20 hours of shows for free during this 30 day trial and they save as .wma files. You need to open the file while you are connected to the internet, as it will go and get the license to open the protected DRM file. Once the license downloads to your computer, you can then listen to it freely and even sync the file to a PDA. I am not old enough to have listened to radio shows, but some of them are pretty darn entertaining. What a concept though, to have sat in front of a radio!! Can't imagine many kids going for that today.

[Kyocera]

There was a station in S.F. that used to play some of those Radio Shows on Sunday night in the 70's, very cool and entertaining, on the order of a book you can't put down.

[Purcy]

Very cool. They are sort of addicting. DH loves the horror one and I downloaded 42 shows for him and didn't even use all the 20 hours as they are all around 27 minutes long. Hey the music for the Shadow is pretty scary

[JHEM]

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"

There were several NYC region radio stations that carried all of the old serialized 30's and 40' era radio programs during the late 50's and early 60's. I wasted many a Sunday night lying abed with my headphones on absorbing every nuance of them.

I don't know which came first, my appreciation of the radio shows or my love for the old pulp magazines from which they were drawn. Probably the former.

My appreciation for the SciFi genre as a whole certainly grew out of this early immersion in the radio series.

Trivia Note: An at that time unknown actor named Orson Welles starred as the Shadow on the radio show for several years opposite Agnes Moorhead as his love interest, Margot Lane. It was where they first met, and their professional association would continue on "The Mercury Theater" and such unforgettable movies as "The Magnificent Ambersons" and, of course, "Citizen Kane".

James

[Kyocera]

A small transistor radio was a way to travel to another demension back then

[Purcy]

"Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows!"
I don't know which came first, my appreciation of the radio shows or my love for the old pulp magazines from which they were drawn. Probably the former.
James

Ahh Captain, my DH is now going around the house saying that very line in that creepy voice!! We still have the big wooden 4' high radio (as big as a small dresser) that belonged to DH's father, and he said he used to beg to stay up late enough to listen to these, and yes later when transitor radios came out, would take one and hide under his covers at night to listen.

I just checked the shows I downloaded and low and behold I have one called "The Silent Avenger" with Orson Welles and Agnes Moorehead! and I got 3 that are from the True Detective Series based on the stories in that same magazine.

[schen]

There are several sites that I came across that had shows for download. You might search under Podcast. I think that's how I found them. I wasn't old enough to have listened to them either, but I find them really interesting..... and I like old radios. Maybe our next house will be big enough for me to collect, more than the 1941 Magnavox Chairside that I have.

[Purcy]

Schen, there are so many radio shows on Radio Spirits, I don't think we'll run out of them. Plus I just wanted to use the free 30 day trial, as you get 20 hours of shows to download for free. That will suffice my husband for a while, as he can re-listen to them many times he loves them so much.

I'm intending on having the wood cabinet of our old radio refinished so we can also display it too; it is so nostalgic to look at.

[joester]

A small transistor radio was a way to travel to another demension back then

Brings back the days when I would sneak my transistor radio into bed with the crystal earpiece...
The local stations didn't play them, so I had to tune in to a Chicago station and ride the skip, straining to make out what was happening when the signal dropped into the static.

Hadn't thought of that for years!

[JHEM]

The local stations didn't play them, so I had to tune in to a Chicago station and ride the skip, straining to make out what was happening when the signal dropped into the static.

Used to do the same listening to 800 AM CKLW, dubbed "Motor City Radio", even though it was actually across the river from Detroit in Windsor (Sarnia), ONT.

James

[Turbo Audi]

I have 232 Shadow episodes in mp3, been listening to them since I was about 8 years old. My friends think I'm nuts.

The Shadow knows..

[Purcy]

I have 232 Shadow episodes in mp3, been listening to them since I was about 8 years old. My friends think I'm nuts.

The Shadow knows..

You are my hero may I ask where you obtained them all and did you have to pay for the downloads? The ones on radiospirits.com download as .wma and you can choose 16 or 32bps for file size. I have synced all the shows I downloaded onto my PDA so we can listen to them mobilely too.

Don't listen to your friends

[Turbo Audi]

I ordered them from oldtimeradio.com a few years ago. They are unprotected MP3s, so you can do what you want with them, no DRM crap. I think I paid only $15 or so. If you like Suspense, someone sells over 800 episodes in MP3 format, for about $40 online.

I often fall asleep to my Shadow playlist, so when I have dreams, it usually has to do with the episode that is playing at the moment. Sleeping is quite entertaining!!

[Purcy]

Thanks so much for that info. I will have to find that $40 person on-line and perhaps surprise DH with that as a gift. It's nice that they are unprotected files, that was a PITA to get the license, apply it and such to use these.

EDIT: I found an e-Bay seller, "Adam's Oldtime Radio Shows", that sells CD's filled with .mp3 files of the old radio shows; they each have about 70 shows on them for $4.99 each and free shipping, and buy 3 get one free!