Audio Antiques

This is one of the lesser known radio series which was broadcast toward the end of the golden age. Theater-5 aired on the ABC Radio Network between 1964 and 1965. Theater-5 used an anthology format, each play was about 20 minutes long covering several genres, including science fiction, crime, drama, comedy and romance. Here are three episodes. The Absence of All Intelligent Life from 1965. Jazz Fe...

Ken Robinson introduces us to the University of Akron steel drum band "Tropical Winds". More at KrobCollection.com

Josephine Baker was an American-born French entertainer, a decorated French Resistance agent during World War Two, and  a civil rights activist. Baker's career was centered primarily in Europe, where in 1927, she became the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture. Born in St. Louis, the singer, dancer, actress and freedom fighter worked for the French as a secret agent during World...

Host Ken Robinson explores the need for adoptive parents. More at KrobCollection.com

Stand-up comedian, actor, singer, dancer, and author Bob Hope was very popular on radio, and had a career that spanned nearly 80 years. In addition to his long running radio show on NBC, Hope starred in 54 feature films. He also became a sensation on television, and hosted the Academy Awards show 19 times.  Hope was born in southeast London, England but arrived in the United States with his family...

Journalist Ken Robinson takes a look at the unique qualities of Saturday nigh in America, and how people spend their time on the sixth day of the week. Plus, A Nurses' Story, Haunted Houses, and DPLA. More at http://krobcollection.com

We celebrate legendary American jazz pianist, organist, composer, violinist, singer, and comedic entertainer Thomas Fats Waller. He laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano and some say he paved the way for rock-n-roll. Waller started playing piano at the age of 6, and copyrighted over 400 songs during his career, including Grammy winners "Ain't Misbehavin'" and "Honeysuckl...

Crime dramas were very popular during radio's golden age. Most featured tough guy detectives, except one! Candy Matson, was a female private investigator, operating in San Francisco, with a penthouse on Telegraph Hill. The program premiered on NBC Radio in 1949, and was notable for having a veiled gay sidekick serving as Candy's best friend Rembrandt Watson. Candy Matson starred Natalie Ma...

Here are two episodes from the classic late 1940's radio show Destination Freedom. It begins with The Saga of Blanche K. Bruce, the first African-American United States senator to serve a full term, from 1875 to 1881. Bruce was born into slavery in 1841. The second episode is entitled Shakespeare of Harlem, The Story of Langston Hughes. The poet, novelist, playwright, and social activist was k...

It's the final game in 1958 NBA World Championship Series between the Western Division champion St. Louis Hawks and the Eastern Division champion Boston Celtics. The series went six games, the Hawks were ahead 3 games to 2, with the legendary Bill Russell playing for the Celtics even as he was suffering from an ankle injury from Game 3. We pick up the action in the fourth quarter with the radi...

The Mutual Broadcasting System was the last of the 4 radio networks to go in the air during the golden era, and started operating in 1934. It was called Mutual, because unlike the other 3, it was owned by its founding affiliates. Mutual ended operations in 1999, and was best known for shows like The Lone Ranger, Superman and The Shadow, Major League Baseball, and the NFL. In 1936 MBS celebrated ca...

Albert Einstein the German-born theoretical physicist, is widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest scientists of all time. A champion of civil rights, an outspoken critic of racism, plus a lifetime member of the NAACP, Einstein is best known for developing the theory of relativity, and for the development of quantum mechanics. We'll hear a 1950 dramatization of the of life of Einstein from th...

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...