The Good Old Days of Radio Show

Stan Freberg is here with episode 7 in his short summer-replacement program for Jack Benny. This is a classic show, presenting some of the best known skits. Stan and his band of cartoon voice misfits present "The Lone Psychiatrist," the tuned sheep, the completion of the transcontinental railroad, and the banana boat song.  Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebo...

For Memorial Day 2023, we pay tribute to all branches of the service with this well-written and produced episode from the short-running patriotic series "This Is War." Broadcast in the early days after the stunning attacks on Pearl Harbor, this show, narrated by Jimmy Stewart, was created to stir up the patriotic spirit and morale of the American people.  Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofra...

Red Skelton was a supercharged comedian who was famous for his physical comedy and characters. Today we tribute him with an episode of his show which features Clem Kadiddlehopper, Deadeye, and the Mean Widdle Mean Kid. Listen for Red getting away with mercilessly roasting his own sponsor's commercials in this program from 1947. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Fa...

A beautiful, bright garden full of lilies, the kind hearted man who loves them, and the flowers that love him back. If you think this isn't the kind of story to listen to in the dark, you might be right... if you get easily disturbed. Wyllis Cooper brings us another horror gem from his late '40s series "Quiet Please." Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Gro...

Early radio collector J. David Goldin joins John one last time for another Jack Benny Show with Ronald Colman from 1948. This time they discuss, among other things, lost or missing radio shows and what became of the thousands of radio transcription discs he donated to The Library of Congress.  RadioGold Index: https://radiogoldin.library.umkc.edu/   Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.co...

Our series of radio plays designed to be heard in the dark continues with a story of a family taking up residence in a creepy house full of grim secrets. "Lights Out" was a horror radio series written by Arch Oboler known for its use of suspense and gruesome sound effects. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podca...

J. David Goldin joins John again today with another radio show! It's a humorous science fiction story by Robert Sheckley about a second hand exploratory "lifeboat". Dave talks about working with X Minus One announcer Fred Collins, how "Quiet Please" was discovered and released to the public, and some horrifying stories about working for the William Paley Broadcast Museum.  RadioGold Index: https:/...

In this series of "listen in the dark" vintage radio shows, don't look at those shapes on the wall. They may be cast by nothing at all. "There Are Shadows Here" is a master class of spooky images, with brilliant dialogue writing by Wyllis Cooper. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podcast: https://www.facebook.co...

John is joined once again by old time radio collector, J. David Goldin. Dave brought along a really unusual episode of Escape about people living in a department store, tells stories from the early days of being an engineer at CBS, NBC, and Mutual, and his transition into producing Grammy Award winning records, including "The best LP record I ever produced… and why only one person has ever heard i...

In 1947, the Escape radio series presented a lush adaptation M.R. James' ghost story with full orchestra. The story concerns a researcher who becomes the target of a vengeful practitioner of the occult after rejecting his paper for publication. Settle back, and turn off your lights, for this spooky duel of wit and superstition. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Fa...

Today John is joined for an extensive chat with the legendary radio collector J. David Goldin. They talk about how he got into radio and started finding radio transcription discs in the 1960s, they listen to a Jack Benny Show from 1953, and Dave talks about a "fantasy broker" who arranged for him to have lunch with Jack Benny. RadioGold Index: https://radiogoldin.library.umkc.edu/   Visit our webs...

We continue with 10 more great horror shows to listen to in the dark. We are going to a horror favorite, with an extremely eerie story of two college boys who stumble upon a strange masquerade ball in Paris. Also John gives us the complete history of Arch Oboler's cabinet.  Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group for news, discussions, and the latest podc...

We just received two thick volumes of original You Bet Your Life scripts from the actual show. So we are listening to an episode from January 4, 1950 and following along. Hear about why a show that seemed to be so spontaneous had scripts at all, and what we discover as we compare what was written with the program. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group f...

Horror is one of the most powerful genres in the medium of sound, and we couldn't possibly stop at 10. So today we begin a new series of "10 More Great Horror Shows." We start with an unusual pick from the series that dramatized movies, The Screen Director's Playhouse. The story is a well-done half hour adaptation of the 1948 film about a man in a mind reading act who starts to see actual visions...

It's income tax time, and we go back in time to 1950 to hear a slice of history. A CPA is slowly going crazy trying to sort out Gracie Allen's expenditures, a wacky script that was reworked several times over the course of the show. Hear about George and Gracie's evening at the ballet, Bill Goodwin's new girlfriend Mona Knocks, and Gracie's blooper that stops the show. Visit our website: https://g...

We are taking a break between Thursday series to bring you a highly unusual program for Easter, a strange story of the end of the world, the few survivors of the apocalypse, and a "V.U.P." (Very Unimportant Person). This weird fantasy from the fertile imagination of Wyllis Cooper is from the series, "Quiet Please." Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscribe to our Facebook Group...

GODOR host John Tefteller has a special relationship with the Basil Rathbone-Nigel Bruce "Sherlock Holmes" radio show, a series that strangely we have never presented... until today. Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson from the 1930s-'40s film series are on the case of a Scottish haunted castle and a family legacy on the precipice. Hear the story, and why Dame Jean Conan Doyle hated this radio series....

Today, the final episode in our 10-week tribute to the radio anthology "Suspense", finds us late in the series, with the story of a man (played by Sam Spade actor Howard Duff), entering a prison to observe the goings-on. Dr. Joe Webb is here to help us wrap up our look at the series, and to discuss the return of Duff to the air after being blacklisted in the '40s. Visit our website: https://goodol...

Stan Freberg is back today with the 6th show of a series. Joining him is a plethora of well-known cartoon voices, June Foray, Peter Leeds, Daws Butler, to bring you "Elderly Man River," great moments in history (a precursor to Stan Freberg Presents the United States of America), a satire panel of comic strip experts, and "Rock Island Line." Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.com/ Subscr...

As our journey through the series "Suspense" nears an end, today we are presenting Suspense in its latter years, under the direction of William N. Robson. This is the story of a lost airplane pilot, and the tower operator (played by the talented radio/TV actor Frank Lovejoy) who tries to bring him safely down. Joining us to discuss some of the concepts behind this nail-biter is Suspense historian...

Henry Morgan, the obscure nutty comedian of the '40s, is our feature for today, and we are going back in time to hear what sounds like an aircheck of his very first full scale radio show. Prior to this, Henry Morgan had a weird, off-beat, 15-minute, one-man DJ-type show. This full half hour comedy show gave him a full orchestra, cast, announcer, orchestra (and bagpipes), unleashing the full power...

Today on our tribute to the great thriller series, "Suspense," don't let the innocuous title fool you. This is one of the most unsettling half-hours in dramatic radio history, featuring unbelievable performances by the cast. It's the simple story of a man (Cary Grant) and his wife (Cathy Lewis) alone in a car that won't start, and some crazy goings on in the darkness. Joining us to talk about this...

We are joined for the second week by radio legend Dr. Demento. Today Dr. Demento talks about Stan Freberg, and we listen to a full episode of the Stan Freberg 1957 radio show, which features a lecture by Herman Horn on Hi-Fi, and Stan's merciless roasting of Laurence Welk. We also get to talk to Dr. D about his record collection and collapsing house. Visit our website: https://goodolddaysofradio.c...

Today, if you do not do well under stress, you may want to avoid this show! We are joined again by radio expert Dr. Joe Webb on our 10-week journey touching on some of the best shows from the series, "Suspense." This time Dr. Joe brings us his personal favorite episode of the series, which stars Van Heflin as a man literally tied in a basement with a ticking time bomb. Visit our website: https://g...

Today we are joined by radio legend Dr. Demento, who is here to talk about the music legend Spike Jones, among other things. We listen to a full episode of the Spike Jones Coca-Cola radio show, with Doodles Weaver as Professor Feitlebaum, Earl Bennet as Sir Frederick Gas, and the horror film actor Peter Lorre dropping by for ghastly rendition of "My Old Flame." Visit our website: https://goodoldda...