Favorite Old Time Radio Shows and websites for downloading? (station, online, AM)

[nighthouse66]

I didn't see a thread for this and as i am a rabid OTR junkie, and have collected tens of thousands of them over the years i would love to share and discover new shows with others.

i am collecting the very best of the ones i have heard so far, and some day in the next year hope to upload them somewhere where people can download them as I have from many sources online.

one of my favorite sources is the archive.org, which is amazing resource i have used so much over the years. whether it be old safety films, feature films, commercials- anything that has passed into the public domain can be found on this site. their collection of OTR is vast, and if you are looking for something its worth checking them out.

my second favorite is the one-new-show-a-day site, http://boxcars711.podomatic.com/
i like this one for its more in-depth info about the show featured, and the links last for years for download so its worth it to scroll down and look at everything they have there.

anyway, i favor suspense and horror OTR almost exclusively. not really into comedy or adventure or western. love "inner sanctum" and "nightfall" and "cbs radio mystery theatre" and stuff like that.

i don't think it gets any better than orson welles' suspense episode, "the hitchhiker". pretty much set the standard for me and i have yet to find one that is as effective and eerie as that, though these have came close:

"Nicky" from the series "The Clock"- about a gangster who stages his own execution, but something goes wrong. this one is LOADED with organ-drenched atmosphere and comes right out of the gate being eerie as all get-out.

"The Wellington Boot"- from the series "Whitehall 1212" This series was British, and focused on recounting actual crimes. This one, by far the eeriest in the series, is about a little girl who goes missing, leaving only a wellington boot behind. A real life boogeyman story.

"Safe in the Arms of Jesus" from the series "The CBS Radio Mystery Theatre". This one in my opinion really pushes the envelope, about a child who discovers religion and becomes something of a fanatic. telling you anymore would ruin it.

"the Thirteenth Floor" from the "Murder at Midnight" series- I'm partial to the "noir'ish ones, the ones that combine the hardboiled with the supernatural as "Nicky" did above. to me that is a scarifying combination and this episode, about a girl who is being pursued by the man she doublecrossed, is ghoulish fun. "I'm gonna cut you open, to see if you have a heart". good fun!

anyway, if anyone has any favorites or sites to recommend, please do!

[zooando]

I started getting into OTR radio about 2 years ago while I was in grad school. We met once per week and would get out at 10 pm. Driving home after one class early in the program I was scanning the AM dial and found a station (zoomerradio.ca) that played an hour of OTR each night at 10 pm -- 2 half hour episodes. After I found the station I was hooked, and would listen each week on my way home. I really got into a comedy called The Great Gildersleeve. Actually a few months ago I bought a disc that had all 550 episodes on it! I also got into listening to Mr. District Attorney and Boston Blackie, but neither had the hold on me that Gildersleeve did.

The writing on these OTR shows was amazing! All these years later the shows can still captivate listeners.

[nighthouse66]

yeah, on the podcast link i put up on the OP there are some boston blackie episodes on that first page.

and you are right- the writing was so good on some of those! just the very idea of trying to make people visualize with sound, that idea just works on me. creating atmosphere- the "fear you can hear"- that's much harder to do in a purely audio medium!

[Twinkle Toes]

I wish we stilll had the Dr. Demento Show!!!

[Gimme3steps]

Here's one... Free Old Time Radio Show Downloads

[Grandpa Pipes]

OTR shows....links

[nighthouse66]

thanks for the links everyone- i just went and downloaded a whole bunch more! : )

[zooando]

Have you developed any favorite shows yet?

[nighthouse66]

Originally Posted by zooando

Have you developed any favorite shows yet?

i love Night Beat, that's some good noir. Crime and Peter Chambers- great dialgue on that one. Lights Out has been a favorite for a while, and of course, Inner Sanctum. CBS Radio Mystery Theatre is very high quality. but generally i enjoy shows on their own- not necessarily a series.

[h.p.davis]

is there a station that just carries jack benny that can be loaded on an internet radio