BeforeTV

beforetv's podcast

Comedy EN ↓ 100 episodes

A history of Old Time Radio and how it changed us all.

Author

BeforeTV

Category

Comedy

Podcast website

beforetv.libsyn.com

Latest episode

Jun 23, 2026

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Episodes

When Radio Ruled #86 - SoundScape 1938 part 15 19.10.2023

  This episode consists of a curated collection of Old Time Radio Clips originally broadcast live April 20 through May 4 1938.   Featuring: The Cast of the Lone Ranger The Cast of Blair of the Mounties Fred Allen Harry Von Zell Charles Atlas Winston Churchill The Cast of Columbia Workshop Jack Benny Phil Harris Mary Livingston Georgie Jessel Norma Talmadge Portland Hoffa   Featured Songs Include:...

When Radio Ruled #85 - SoundScape 1938 part 14 09.10.2023

This episode consists of a curated collection of Old Time Radio Clips originally broadcast live April 3 through April 18, 1938.   Featuring: Jack Benny Don Wilson Eddie "Rochester" Anderson Mary Livingston Kenny Baker Phil Harris Fred Allen Portland Hoffa Harry Von Zell Harry Morgan Robert Taylor Fanny Brice Featured Songs Include: Dear, Dear, What Can the Matter Be? – The Merry Macs I'm Coming Ho...

When Radio Ruled #84 - SoundScape 1938 part 13 21.09.2023

This episode consists of a curated collection of Old Time Radio Clips originally broadcast live March 24 through April 3, 1938. Featuring: Gabby Hartnet Frank Morgan The Cast of the Lone Ranger Georgie Jessel Jack Benny Harry Von Zell Abe Lyman Bob Ripley Fred Allen Orson Welles Robert Taylor Connie Boswell Louis B. Mayer Adolf Hitler The Cast of The Shadow Weber and Fields Don Wilson Phil Harris...

When Radio Ruled #83 - SoundScape 1938 part 12 01.09.2023

This episode consists of a curated collection of Old Time Radio Clips originally broadcast live March 14 through March 23 1938.   Featuring: The Cast of Blair of the Mounties The Cast of The Lone Ranger Eddie Cantor Jimmy Wallington Orson Welles Agnes Moorehead Georgie Jessel Joe the Chimpanzee Jack Benny Phil Harris Don Wilson Mary Livingston Eddie "Rochester" Anderson Harry Von Zell Fred Allen a...

When Radio Ruled #82 - SoundScape 1938 part 11 12.08.2023

This episode consists of a curated collection of Old Time Radio Clips originally broadcast live March 9 through March 13 1938. Featuring: Eddie Cantor Gloria Swanson The Mad Russian Deanna Durbin Bobby Breen Georgie Jessel Norma Talmadge Jack Benny Don Wilson Mary Livingston Andy Devine and Phil Harris Featured Songs Include:   Broadway has Gone Hawaii medley – Connie Boswell My Man – Fanny Brice...

When Radio Ruled #81 - SoundScape 1938 part 10 29.07.2023

The Soundscape series is a happy side effect of the research phase for the When Radio Ruled Historical Documentary Podcasts. I listen to hundreds of hours of old time radio shows in order to create the year by year historical When Radio Ruled documentaries, and as I listen I extract the most interesting and entertaining bits and create a best of reel as a reference for when writing the script. And...

When Radio Ruled #80 - SoundScape 1938 part 9 21.07.2023

The Soundscape series is a happy side effect of the research phase for the When Radio Ruled Historical Documentary Podcasts.   I listen to hundreds of hours of old time radio shows in order to create the year by year historical When Radio Ruled documentaries, and as I listen I extract the most interesting and entertaining bits and create a best of reel as a reference for writing the script. And th...

When Radio Ruled #79 - SoundScape 1938 part 8 07.07.2023

  This episode consists of a curated collection of Old Time Radio Clips originally broadcast live February 17 through February 20 , 1938.   Featuring:   Jack Benny Robert Taylor Maureen O'Sullivan Jack Conway Meredith Wilson Fanny Brice The Cast of Dick Tracy Don Wilson Phil Harris Mary Livingston Kenny Baker Eddie "Rochester" Anderson Orson Welles Norma Talmadge Sigmund Romberg Josephine Starr Ch...

When Radio Ruled #78 - SoundScape 1938 part 7 30.06.2023

The Soundscape series is a happy side effect of the research phase for the When Radio Ruled Historical Documentary Podcasts.   I listen to hundreds of hours of radio shows in order to create the year by year historical When Radio Ruled documentaries, and as I listen I extract the most interesting and entertaining bits and create a best of reel as a reference for writing the script. And that's what...

When Radio Ruled #77 - SoundScape 1938 part 6 18.06.2023

The Soundscape series is a happy side effect of the research phase for the When Radio Ruled Historical Documentary Podcasts.   I listen to hundreds of hours of radio shows in order to create the year by year historical When Radio Ruled documentaries, and as I listen I extract the most interesting and entertaining bits and create a best of reel as a reference when writing the script. And that's wha...

When Radio Ruled #76 - Soundscape 1938 part 5 08.06.2023

I listen to hundreds of hours of radio shows in order to create the year by year historical When Radio Ruled documentaries, and as I listen I extract the most interesting and entertaining bits and create a best of reel as a reference when writing the script. And that's what you are about to hear, a one hour chunk of really great audio artifacts from 1938.   This episode consists of a curated colle...

When Radio Ruled #75 - Soundscape 1938 part 4 27.05.2023

This episode consists of a curated collection of Clips originally broadcast January 26 through January 30, 1938. Featuring: Eddie Cantor Dorothy Wade Jack Benny Don Wilson Mary Livingston Don Ameche Charlie McCarthy Edgar Bergen Nelson Eddy Boris Karloff The Stroud Twins Dorothy LaMour Norma Talmadge and Georgie Jessel   Featured Songs Include: Rosalie Medley – Eddie Cantor Ave Maria – Deanna Durb...

When Radio Ruled #74 - SoundScape 1938 part 3 17.05.2023

This episode consists of a curated collection of Clips originally broadcast January 16 through January 3, 1938.   Featuring: Georgie Jessel Norma Talmadge Josephine Starr Eddie Cantor Pinky Tomlin Bert Kalmar Harry Ruby Lee Wiley Don Ameche Charlie McCarthy Edgar Bergen Nelson Eddy Alice Brady Dorothy Lamour Featured Songs Include: Bei Mir Bist Du Shoen – Georgie Jessel When You Dream About Hawaii...

When Radio Ruled #73 - Soundscape 1938 part 2 07.05.2023

This episode consists of a curated collection of Clips originally broadcast January 5 through January 16, 1938.   And it's a good one, too! Lots of classic comedy and infectious songs coming your way!   Featuring: Eddie Cantor Pinky Tomlin Don Wilson Jack Benny Kenny Baker Mary Livingston Phil Harris Ned Sparks Charlie McCarthy Edgar Bergen And - The Mad Russian   Featured Songs Include: Bei Mir B...

When Radio Ruled #72 - SoundScape 1938 part 1 28.04.2023

The Soundscape series is a happy side effect from the research phase of the When Radio Ruled Historical Documentary Podcasts.   The creation of the historical documentaries begins with research. In my collection of Old Time Radio Shows I have hundreds of hours of recordings from 1938. I arranged all these radio shows by order of date broadcast and then listened to them one by one until I had liste...

When Radio Ruled Episode #71 - The Year 1938 part 2 17.04.2023

In the previous episode, 1938 part 1, we looked at the political situation across the world. The coming confrontation between countries trying to provoke war and countries wishing to avoid it. How Hitler, Mussolini, Tojo, Franco, and Stalin created fear and suffering. How the USA, Britain, France, and the smaller democracies tried to keep free and out of war through appeasement and diplomacy while...

When Radio Ruled #70 The Year 1938 part 1 - Politics International and Domestic 07.04.2023

The Year 1938 as presented through Old Time Radio! Featuring: Eddie Cantor The Cast of March of Time Adolf Hitler Orson Welles Georgie Jessel Neville Chamberlain Jack Benny Judy Garland Winston Churchill And More!

When Radio Ruled #69 - Phil Harris and his Orchestra 1938 16.03.2023

The Jack Benny show made Phil a huge star. Even though Phil would go on to do more films and have his own radio shows, and tour the country with his band, and appear on television and build a real estate empire he would always be known first and foremost for his Jack Benny years. What you are about to hear are a series of musical selections Phil and his orchestra played live on Jack Benny's Jello...

When Radio Ruled #68 Eddie Cantor Sings 1938 05.03.2023

Born Edward Israel Iskowitz in 1892 to a poor family or recent immigrants, through sheer tenacity and talent street urchin Eddie Cantor became a show biz giant for half a century. Starting out in vaudeville in 1907, starring on Broadway, a movie star in both silents and talkies, and a radio and television pioneer.   For three Generations Every household in America knew the name Eddie Cantor as wel...

When Radio Ruled #67 - Jack Benny's Gang Go to Yosemite. 25.02.2023

Old Time Radio's Jack Benny show was a sitcom disguised as a variety show.   The cast used their real names, or rather their real stage names, but they all played characters unlike themselves. Characters of diverse comic points of view, each character contrasted with the others. Each funny in their own way and all together a delightful mix of contrasting attitudes and motivations.   Jack Benny was...

When Radio Ruled #66 Dorothy Lamour Sings 1938 15.02.2023

Best known today as the third angle in the Bob Hope Bing Crosby road pictures romantic triangles, or perhaps as the sarong wearing eye candy in several other films, Dorothy Lamour started out as a big band singer. Appearing weekly on the Charlie McCarthy show afforded Dorothy opportunities to remind audiences of her musical roots, and her lovely expressive voice. And that's what this episode is al...

When Radio Ruled #65 Charlie McCarthy Sexiest Man Alive 1938 05.02.2023

The ladies love Charlie. Featuring: Rosalind Russell Ella Logan Barbara Stanwyck Marlene Dietrich Edgar Bergen  

When Radio Ruled #64 - Fred Allen People You Didn't Expect to Meet 25.01.2023

The Fred Allen material you are about to hear is from his radio show, Town Hall Tonight, in 1938. Fred Allen was unique in the radio world of corny set up/punchline type snappy patter his former vaudeville and current radio peers like Eddie Cantor, Ed Wynn, Georgie Jessel, the Marx Brothers, and others favored. Oftentimes Fred's comic voice is compared to that of Mark Twain. All American and homes...

When Radio Ruled #63 - Fanny Brice and Baby Snooks 14.01.2023

Baby Snooks was an iconic and wildly popular character through the late thirties, the war years and the end of the forties, into the fifties.   Fanny Brice had joined so many other Vaudeville greats who jumped to radio when Vaudeville collapsed and died. Al Jolson, Jack Benny, Eddie Cantor, Connie Boswell, Fred Allen, George Jessel, and so many others had a journey from Vaude to Airwaves but they...

When Radio Ruled #62 - Judy Garland Sings 1938 05.01.2023

Judy Garland was born Frances Gumm in 1922, and soon revealed a talent for song and dance. Her first public performance was when she was just 2 and a half years old, singing jingle bells at a Christmas pageant.   Her father was a successful vaudevillian with Judy and her sisters following in his footsteps, touring a singing act "The Gumm Sisters" in the waning days of Vaudeville.   When sound came...

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