Vintage Radio Shows
- Complete Sampler #3 -
 
1930’s to 1960
 

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Digital EBook CD Requires Adobe Reader 7 or higher to View; or MAC Access
Autoboot Menu for Easy PC Access; Manually open files on MAC
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This CD includes a broad sample of radio program categories.  Representative of actual vintage  programming.
Eight to ten shows per category are typically included.
Approximately 30 hours of programs per CD.
Most shows are ½ hour; most of the Drama/Theater shows are 1 hour; some of the children’s shows are ¼ hour.
If you listened to these originals on your radio, they will bring back many pleasant memories. Younger generations also are still entertained.
 
 
Category
Selections (8-10 programs each)
Western
Roy Rogers
Comedy
Burns and Allen
Mystery
Murder at Midnite
Thriller
Lights Out
Drama/Theater
Radio Mystery theater
Musical
Victor Borge
Children
Cruise of the Poll Parrot
Incredible but True
Incredible but True
 
 
From the early 1920’s until TV came in the early 1950’s radio was dominant and the airwaves were filled 
with a variety of radio formats and genres.  By 1947 82% of Americans were radio listeners.
During the Golden Age of Radio, radio featured genres and formats popular in other forms of American 
entertainment—adventure, comedy, drama, horror, mystery, musical variety, romance, thrillers—along with
 classical music concerts, big band remotes, farm reports, news and commentary, panel discussions, quiz 
shows (beginning with Professor Quiz), sidewalk interviews (on Vox Pop), sports broadcasts, talent shows and weather forecasts.
 
Roy Rogers, was a singer and cowboy actor. He and his wife Dale Evans, his golden palomino Trigger, and his German 
shepherd Bullet were featured in over one hundred movies and The Roy Rogers Show ran on radio for nine years
 before moving to television from 1951 through 1964
 
In 1929 Burns and Allen they made their first radio appearance in London on the BBC. Back in America, they failed 
at a 1930 NBC audition. After a solo appearance by Gracie on Eddie Cantor's radio show, they were heard together on 
Rudy Vallee's The Fleischmann's Yeast Hour and in February 15, 1932 they became regulars 
on The Guy Lombardo Show  on CBS. When Lombardo switched to NBC, Burns and Allen
 took over his CBS spot with The Adventures of Gracie beginning September 19, 1934.  The title of their top-rated show 
changed to The Burns and Allen Show on September 26, 1936. When ratings began to slip in 1940-41, they moved
 from comedy patter into a successful sitcom format, continuing with shows on NBC and CBS until May 17, 1950. 
As in the early days of radio, the sponsor's name became the show title, such as 
Maxwell House Coffee Time (1945-49).
 
Rogue's Gallery came to the Mutual network on September 27, 1945 with Dick Powell portraying Richard Rogue, a 
private detective who invariably ended up getting knocked out each week and spending his dream time in acerbic 
conversation with his subconscious self, Eugor. Rogue's Gallery was, in a sense, Dick Powell's rehearsal for Richard
 Diamond, Private Detective. Powell played private detective Richard Rogue, who trailed luscious blondes, protected 
witness, and did whatever else detectives do to make a living.
 
The classic series, Murder at Midnight, offers stories of the "witching hour, when night is darkest, our fears are 
the strongest, our strength at its lowest ebb -- MIDNIGHT! When the graves gape open and death strikes!" Listeners 
perked their ears from 1946 to 1947. After a period of rest, the show resumed again in 1950 to tell 
grave stories of death death DEATH!
 
 
The Mercury Theatre company was founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and John Houseman. After a 
string of live theatrical productions, in 1938 the Mercury Theatre progressed into their best-known period as The 
Mercury Theatre on the Air, a radio series that included one of the most notable and infamous radio broadcasts of all 
time, The War of the Worlds, broadcast on October 30, 1938. The Mercury Theatre on the Air produced live radio
 dramas in 1938-1940 and again briefly in 1946.
 
Victor Borge used physical and visual elements in his live and televised performances. He would play a strange-sounding 
piano tune from sheet music, looking increasingly confused; turning the sheet upside down, he would then play the 
actual tune, flashing a joyful smile of accomplishment to the audience (he had, at first, been literally playing the actual 
tune upside down). Among Borge's other famous routines is the "Phonetic Punctuation" routine, in which he recites a 
story, with full punctuation (comma, period, exclamation mark, etc.) as exaggerated onomatopoeic sounds. Another is his 
"Inflationary Language", where he incremented numbers embedded in words, whether they are visible or not
 
 
In 1922, businessman Paul Parrot sold his shoe business "Poll Parrot Shoes" to the International Shoe Company, which 
was already selling Red Goose and Weatherbird shoes. The shoes were designed for children and so sponsoring a children's
 radio show seemed like a good idea. In 1937, they launched a syndicated children's serial named "Cruise of the Poll Parrot". 
The show was sold in thirteen segment blocks, and three complete blocks exist today. The shows exponentially boosted 
shoe sales, helping International compete against the leader in children's shoes: Buster Brown. The main character for 
the show was a 24 year old man from St. Louis, Missouri, named Marvin Miller. This was some of his first radio work. He
 was the voice for the main character, Captain Roy Dalton, the Master of the ship Poll Parrot, and also the voice 
of the parrot that was the pet of the Captain.
 
 
Incredible But True series consisted of 15 minute shows, similar in format to Ripley's Believe It Or Not that had aired from 1
930 to 1948. It was hosted/narrated by Ken Nordine and was produced by Unusual Features Syndicate. This syndicated 
series was heard on the Mutual network during 1950 and 1951 on various days and at various times.
 
 
 
THERE ARE 60-70 SHOWS ON 1 CD, APPROXIMATELY 30 HOURS PLAY TIME. BECAUSE THEY ARE IN MP3 FORMAT, THEY WILL 
PLAY ON ANY COMPUTER AND SOME CD PLAYERS THAT ARE MARKED PLAYS  MP3s.  YOU CAN ALSO COPY THE FILES 
TO YOUR IPOD OR OTHER MP3 PLAYER. 
 
FILES ON THESE CD’S ARE IN MP3 FORMAT AND WILL NOT PLAY IN MOST CAR CD PLAYERS.
 
IF YOU HAVE THE SOFTWARE, YOU CAN EASILY BURN THE FILES TO OTHER CD’s SO YOU CAN PLAY ON YOUR CAR SYSTEM.  
Maximum 2 hours of audio on each of these CD’s.
 
CHECK MY STORE FOR OTHER CD SETS TO PLAY IN YOUR CAR STEREO. REMEMBER, IT IS POSSIBLE TO PUT UP TO TWO HOURS OF AUDIO ON THESE CD’S.