Old Radio

On this day in 1918, Steve Dunne was born.

On this day in 1883, Francis X. Bushman was born.

On this day in 1949, Screen Directors' Playhouse made its radio debut.

On this day in 1926, George Burns & Gracie Allen were married.

On this day in 1916, Maxene Andrews was born. Maxene was the middle sister (and soprano) of the musical mid-century act: The Andrews Sisters .

January 1, 1927:  Graham McNamee presented the play by play on NBC for the Rose Bowl , broadcast for the first time on this day by a coast-to-coast network radio. NBC chose sports as their main program focus since they were the first network to broadcast the Rose Bowl across the country. Later on, several important sporting events were aired nationally by NBC, including the World Series, golf tournaments, and the Olympics in Los Angeles in 1932. McNamee was a pioneering broadcaster in American radio history. He broadcast many sporting events, including national and international competitions. He was not a sports expert, but he had an incredible affinity for conveying to audiences what he saw in great detail and with great enthusiasm.   Graham McNamee later broadcast the radio program Behind the Mike .

On this day in 1900, Agnes Moorehead was born.

On this day in 1902, J. Scott Smart (of The Fat Man fame) was born.

Here's a useful step by step tutorial from a blind old time radio listener on how to load MP3 old time radio shows onto an iPad: I have a number of old time radio show series on my ipad mini 4.  I like voice dream reader because it will remember where I left off in each series I listen to. If not in a ZIP archive format. You should compress the directory holding the mp3's files into a ZIP file. Connect the iOS device to your computer with a USB cable. Open the iTunes application and select the iOS device button at the right of the main window.  Select the "Apps" radio button on the main screen. At the bottom of the Apps screen is a section titled "File Sharing" with a column list of apps. One of those will be Voice Dream Reader app select it. Press the "Add…" button located in the bottom right of the screen. This will give you a dialog to select the ZIP file from step one. The zip will then be added to the app. Go to Voice Dream Reade

On this day in 1891, Fanny Brice was born.

Sept 2 1941, the radio program "The Great Gildersleeve," a spinoff from "Fibber McGee and Molly" starring Harold Peary , debuted on NBC.

On this day in 1916, Larry Thor was born.

Join us in celebrating the nativity of one of Old Time Radio's most beloved and recognizable character actors, Mr. Eddie Anderson . The actor so many of us love as Jack Benny 's sidekick Rochester was born on September 18, 1905. In a less enlightened time,  we might say that Eddie Anderson did very well for one of his races. It might even be said that Eddie would never have gone as far if not for his association with Jack Benny . To a certain extend both of these sentiments were true, but when we look at Eddie Anderson's achievements it becomes pretty obvious that Eddie would have found the opportunities and resources to do great things no matter what. Eddie was born into a show business family in Oakland. “Big Ed” Anderson was a minstrel performer and his wife Ella Mae was a tight rope performer until a fall put an end to her career. As a boy Eddie sold newspapers on the street corner. The newspaper boys believed that whoever would yell the loudest would get the mo