Audio Antiques

We're putting the spotlight on Ella Fitzgerald, the legendary African-American jazz singer who many believe was the greatest of all time. Her career spanned nearly 60 years, in nite clubs, on radio, television, and in movies. The entertainer and civil rights activist won fourteen Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom. We will hear Ella Fitzgerald on her o...

The Zero Hour was a daily Mutual Broadcasting System radio drama hosted by Twilight Zone star Rod Serling. We're going to hear two episodes from 1974 starring African-American actor Greg Morris, the Cleveland, Ohio native who got his start appearing on such TV shows such as The Twilight Zone, Branded, and Ben Casey. Morris is best known for his role as electronics expert Barney Collier on Mission:...

It's time for Destination Freedom, a weekly radio program produced by NBC Radio's Chicago affiliate from 1948 to 1950. The show presented biographical histories of prominent African-Americans. The show was the brainchild of black journalist and author Richard Durham. This episode is called Dark Explorers, and is about the Moors of New Spain.  More at KRrobCollection.com

At the age of 25 in 1927, Charles Lindbergh became an international hero when he made the first non-stop solo flight from New York to Paris. Even though British aviators John Alcock and Arthur Brown made the first ever non-stop transatlantic flight in June 1919. Never-the-less, the solo flight by the former airmail pilot was viewed as a tremendous breakthrough for aviation. A huge celebration was...

During the great depression of the 1930's, CBS Radio cooperated with the federal government to create the series Americans All, Immigrants All, to combat the rising tide of racism, and anti-antisemitism sweeping the nation at the time. Americans All highlighted the many hardships minorities suffered, and the numerous contributions they had made to society. It provided a counter balance to the view...

On this podcast, we honor the great Louis Armstrong, one of the most influential figures in jazz. Also called, "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", the African-American trumpeter and vocalist had a career that spanned five decades, starting in the early 20th century. In the 1920s, he was a driving force behind the Harlem Renaissance. In the 1930s Armstrong began appearing...

In this podcast we learn about Lionel Hampton. The African-American jazz great who received the National Medal of the Arts in 1996, and numerous awards throughout his career. Hampton began performing on the xylophone in the 1920s, and became a popular bandleader, percussionist, and pianist. Hampton recorded extensively, constantly touring the nation and the world giving concerts, often appearing o...

Cavalcade of America was an radio anthology drama series that was sponsored by the DuPont Company. It occasionally presented musicals, and condensed biographies of popular composers. It was initially broadcast on radio from 1935 to 1953. In 1952, the show featured the true story of a black family of sharecroppers, who overcome tremendous odds through hard working and appreciating the value of educ...

Broadway Is My Beat, was a popular radio crime drama that ran on CBS Radio, portraying Times Square Detective Danny Clover. This 1949 episode is called the Paul Thomas Case. It's about an African-American man, who served time in prison, but after getting out and trying to make an honest start in life, finds himself in big trouble. It's one of the rare radio plays centered on African-Americ...

Babe Ruth remains one of the most famous names in baseball, but did you know the slugger also had a radio show? The Adventures of Babe Ruth first hit the airwaves on NBC Radio in 1934 one year before he retired after 22 major league seasons. We'll hear two episodes. Plus, we have Babe Ruth as a guest on the Bob Hope radio show in 1942. More at KRobCollection.com

William Grant Still was a 20th century classical music superstar. The African-American composer created nearly 200 works, including five symphonies, four ballets, nine operas, over thirty choral works, plus art songs, chamber music, and works for solo instruments. Still was awarded numerous doctorates because of his accomplishments. He received little attention from mainstream radio in the U.S., b...

It's the Music Depreciation Show...a 1944 jazz program from the Mutual Broadcasting System, that takes a few pokes at the classical music programs of the era. This episode features Illinois Jacquet, the African-American jazz tenor saxophonist recognized as performing the first R&B saxophone solo. With Herb Jeffries, a long time jazz singer-songwriter and actor, who starred in many Black cowboy...

This is one of the most recent artifacts in the KRob Collection. It's Sears Radio Theater from the year 1979, near the end of radio's golden age. The episode is called the Afro-Westerner, and stars long-time movie and TV actor Brock Peters as an African man, exploring the American west. Peters first appeared on the screen as Sergeant Brown in the 1954 movie Carmen Jones. His last was in th...

This is one of the oldest artifacts in the KRob Collection. From the year 1924, the National Defense Test Day Radio Broadcast, direct from the War Department in Washington DC. It was carried on the AT&T Radio Network, which was America's very first national radio network (It was later sold to NBC). The show linked military leaders from coast to coast. Keep in mind that broadcasting itself had...

This is an episode from a CBS Radio show show called The Free Company. It was produced by a group of writers, actors, and radio workers who came together voluntarily, to create plays about America's basic liberties. This 1941 episode is called A Start In Life. It's about the challenges and difficulties African-Americans faced in the deep south.  More at http://krobcollection.com

From December 29th, 1957, It's the NFL Championship game between the Cleveland Browns and the Detroit Lions as broadcast by NBC Radio. Both teams battled in 3 previous championship games, in 1952, 1953, and 1954. In this contest, the Browns were favored by 3 points. 12 people in the game made it into the Pro Football Hall of Fame including, John Henry Johnson, Bobby Layne, Lou Groza, Jim Brown, an...

On January 4th, 1963, a ceremony was held marking the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln. The Proclamation changed the legal status of more than 3.5 million enslaved African-Americans in the Confederate states, giving them freedom if they could escape rebel control. We'll hear this 100th anniversary celebration, as covered by VOA Radio. M...

We highlight the life of African-American actor, singer, and activist Paul Robeson, was one of the driving forces in the civil rights movement starting in the early 20th century. Educated at Rutgers College and Columbia University, Robeson was a star football player, was named an All-American twice, and was inducted into the College football Hall of Fame.  He graduated with a law degree while...

From the year 1965, we're going to hear two shows from the ABC Radio series, Theater 5. The first episode is entitled Incident On US 1, a crime drama with a twist. It stars celebrated African-American actor James Earl Jones, who would go on to win three Tony Awards, two Primetime Emmy Awards and a Grammy Award. The second episode is called A Bad Days Work, starring six-time Emmy and Golden Globe A...

From the year 1941, it's Forecast, a CBS Radio show that presented new or experimental programs the network was hoping would catch on with the public or sponsors. This edition had an all African-American cast, with two half hour segments. The first is Tree of Hope, broadcast from New York, the second is Jubilee broadcast from Hollywood. Forecast stars singer-actress Ethel Waters, bandleader/compos...

From 1939 this is an episode from one of the longest running series during the golden age of radio. Over a 20 year span, Lux Radio Theater adapted Broadway plays and films for broadcast. Putting countless Hollywood stars on the air. The one we're going to hear is a recreation of the movie Bullets or Ballots, starring film legends, Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart.  More at http://krobco...

It's the story of Harriet Tubman, the African-American abolitionist and political activist. Born into slavery, Tubman not only escaped but  scores of fellow captives, including family and friends,  through the Underground Railroad. During the Civil War, she served as an armed scout and spy for the Union Army. In her later years, Tubman was an activist for women's suffrage.  More at...

This is NBC Radio and it's Blue Network coverage of the 1944 Democratic National Convention. World War Two was at it's peak, and Democrats met in Chicago to renominate President Franklin Roosevelt for a 4th term in office, even though there were many rumors that FDR was in very poor health. (He died a few months after the election) Meanwhile, the party establishment pulled Vice President Henry Wal...

From 1940, this is a show called The Chamber Music Society of Lower Basin Street. It Was a popular a musical variety radio program, which was a satire of the high brow classical music programs on network radio at the time, and featured jazz and blues performers. Appearing on this episode are singer Dinah Shore, who would go on to have a 3 decade career on television. And Jelly Roll Morton, the leg...

Family therapist and author Leslie Landis, Rachel Zhou of GirlUp, and two representatives of the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation.  For details visit http://krobcollection.com