OTR is short for 'Old Time Radio', and in the USA cover
the period from the 1930s to the 1960s when radio was one of the most popular
entertainment medium which people listened to when they got home from work or
over the weekends.
When television sets became cheaper and were more
accessible to the public in the 1960s, radio dramas, comedies and entertainment
were consigned to people's memories.
Since then, radio drama in the USA has made a comeback,
albeit with limited success. The term 'New Time Radio' refers to networked radio
drama shows that were produced in the decades since the 60s.
In the United Kingdom things did not turn out the same
way, despite television taking off in a similar vein to it's popularity in the
USA, radio shows still continued, and do continue to this day.
In the USA, most commercial releases of radio shows on
compact audio cassette and compact disc has been through the company Radio
Spirits, as they purchased the rights to many of the shows some time ago.
Below is a listing of some of my favourite radio shows
currently available:
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Bob Hope - Legends of Radio - Bob Hope was one of the first comedians to
make full use of the radio medium. This collection presents many of the
popular shows. |
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Old-time Radio Science Fiction - some excellent shows here, X Minus One, Suspense, Dimension X and of course the world famous War of the Worlds broadcast by Orson Welles... |
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| Radio Comedy Classics
- a selection of classic shows from American radio of the 1930s and
1940s including Bob Hope, Jack Benny and many others. |
 
|
The Shadow - one of the
greatest radio shows in the 1930s and 1940s was The Shadow. Some of the best
episodes starred a young Orson Welles, but Bret Morrison and others also
contributed excellent episodes of the show. To find out more about The Shadow,
click here.
| The Ultimate Sherlock Holmes
- a great collection of episodes from the classic radio series that have
appeared in the USA and England over the years, it includes episodes
featuring Basil Rathbone, Tom Conway, Carlton Hobbs, John Gielgud and
others. |
 
|
Superman - before the
character gained popularity in the movie serials and television series, the
character gained the greatest success with the general public on the radio.
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Superman on the Radio- a five CD set of the first 27 Superman radio shows broadcast in the 1940s. Six hours in total |
|
Stars of Suspense - one the longest running shows in the USA, this
collection of 30 CDs includes some of the best episodes from the series. |
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|
War of the Worlds - this is the famous broadcast of Orson Welles'
Mercury Theatre, which caused panic when it was originally broadcast. |
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Paul Temple - created by Francis Durbridge. This
British detective first appeared on BBC radio in the 1930s in "Send for Paul
Temple" (in 1938), and his final story on radio was in 1968 with "Paul Temple
and the Alex Affair". The character has also appeared on television, in film and
in novels. All of the shows listed below are from the BBC radio shows of the
1950s and 1960s. All of the items below are from Amazon UK.
