Radio Archive CC

[Eric P]

This is a torrent site i just found today.

It's dedicated to radio drama productions, usually of the bbc

http://radioarchive.cc/

if you have a long commute or want something interesting to listen to while you work out, this may fit the bill

lots of really neat stuff here.

[TVC15]

Anything you'd recommend?

[Eric P]

i've JUST discovered it so my initial torrents aren't done downloading

i'm pulling the Childhood's End, Our Man in Havana (Graham Green spy comedy)

from previous experience, i can suggest The Goon Show, The Code of the Woosters, The Chief Inspector Dover series (Dover and The Claret Tappers is quite good), The Dirk Gentley's Holistic Detective Agency series is good (surprisingly so)


then there's some really interesting looking stuff under documentary (the bay city rollers' story?  wow)

[TVC15]

The Lives of Harry Lime and The Shadow with Orson Welles!

[Eric P]

oh, NICE i missed those

there's rather a lot of neat stuff here

will make commutes much more exciting

[Eel O'Brian]

Thanks for the link.  I love OTR, radio was so much cooler than TV can ever be.

TVC and Eric, you should check out the Suspense radio shows if you ever get the chance.  High-quality production values, with lots of film actors and directors throughout the anthology's 20-year radio run.  The very first episode was an adaptation of The Lodger by Alfred Hitchcock.  Great show.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspense_(radio_program)

[Eric P]

yeah, i was heavily into suspense for a long time thanks largely to Bill Cosby's routine about sneaking and listening to these radio shows (his parody of the Chicken Heart Which Ate Chicago is so excellent).

there were a number of science fiction shows which did the same thing.  sci-fi.com had "seeing ear theater" where they commissioned new works and streamed several old ones as well.  lots of really great stuff there.

googling to see if i could find it, i located this http://tenwatts.blogspot.com/  It's an Arcane Radio Trivia blog

neat

[Eel O'Brian]

I love Lights Out! (where the Chicken Heart story comes form) and Inner Sanctum (I love E.C. comics, but their horror stuff is almost a direct ripoff of Inner Sanctum).  There aren't a whole lot of surviving episodes of either of those shows, though.   I think I have the complete run of Suspense.

[Eric P]

I think I have the complete run of Suspense.

o rly?

is this something commercially available or should i hunt torrent sites?

[Eel O'Brian]

I think I have the complete run of Suspense.

o rly?

is this something commercially available or should i hunt torrent sites?

I get my OTR from Newsgroups.  People used to post floods of old shows, but lately those types of floods have slowed.  Let me check what I have (now that I think about it I might be missing a couple of years, but I know it's nearly complete), and if you want, you can PM me your address and I'll send you the run on DVD no charge.  I am fairly trustworthy depending on who you ask (haha, I think demi can vouch for your address being safe with me).

Just keep in mind that a lot of old radio shows are mislabeled on the .mp3 tags, and the bitrate/quality varies wildly.  There might be a few dupes in there.

EDIT:  there are collections of Suspense available on CD/Tape (Radio Spirits does some), but the prices are usually outrageous for small sets of what is a PD show, and the quality is no better than what you can download.

[huckleberry]

The Shadow rocks!!


More than a few years ago I was working second shift at a job in Cincinnati and would listen to the Shadow every morning while drinking coffee.  Orson Wells was the narrator for only a little while but the show was great without him as well.

[Eric P]

i'd agree with that.  a drama teacher introduced me to the shadow and by extension orson welles at a young age which stuck with me

[Eel O'Brian]

yeah, i like the shadow show.  it's quite a bit different than the pulp stories.

[Flannel Boy]

I used to listen to these shows all the time when I was younger. A few Toronto talk stations used to air them. I think 640 aired them during 10:00. I believe a station out of Hamilton still plays them at 1:00 AM.

X minus 1, Inner Sanctum, and Suspense are great. The Shadow isn't that great. Jack Benny and Lone Ranger are terrible.

[demi]

What did you think of Sofa of Time, Eel? Did you hear it all?

[Eel O'Brian]

It's pretty good so far.  I'm listening to it a little at the time in my off-work hours, as it's a show that needs closer attention to catch everything being said, so I can't listen at work.  I think I'm going to start over from the beginning and listen to the whole thing at once when I have a free day to devote to it.  It has excellent production values, I feel like I'm sitting right there.