Thursday Night - Old Time Radio

This week, we shall take another stroll down Memory Lane with our dear friend, Fred
Bertelsen. He shall begin his first in a series of crime fighters with two great
programs. Ellery Queen and the FBI in Peace and War. Santos Ortega, Carlton Young
and Larry Dobkin played Ellery queen over the great years of oldtime radio. >Let’s
take a look at Fred’s Press Release. >Press Release: This is the first episode I
have decided to call Crimefighters. Each episode of Crimefighters will consist of
a Cop show and a Private Eye type show. This first episode will feature an episode
of The FBI in Peace and War and an Episode of Ellery Queen. The FBI in Peace and
War was broadcast from Nov 25, 1944 through Sept 28, 1958 on CBS. Ellery Queen was
from June 18, 1939 to Sept 20, 1940 on CBS, Jan 10, 1942 to Dec 30, 1944, on NBC,
Jan 24, 1945 to April 16, 1947 on CBS,June 1 to Sept 21, 1947 on NBC, and Nov 27,
1947 to May 27, 1948 on ABC. Tonight our programs are The FBI in Peace and War, “The
Courier” from March 2, 1955 CBS and The Adventures of Ellery Queen, “The Singing
Rat” from January 7, 1943 NBC.

Matthew Bullis presented a number of short programs for those of us with short attention
spans. He will present such short programs as The Word Detective, The Unexpected,
and Superstition,. Why we think it is bad luck to open an umbrella in a house.

This week, we shall take a stroll down Memory Lane with Fred Bertelsen. This time
on Memory Lane we will first travel back to Springfield on December 20, 1948 where
we will pay a visit to that house on Maple Street. Yes it’s the Hendersons. You probably
remember them best as the Andersons, but this is the audition show and the characters
haven’t quite developed yet. Father Knows Best won’t premier for another 8 months.
Then we will go back a few more days to December 12th and drop in on the Nelsons
at 1847 Rogers Road. Harriet is worried about how her new drapes are going to look.
The boys come home and are worried about a math test David took in school and Ozzie
is worried about the car. Worry, worry, worry. This episode is titled Worrying About
Worrying.

We are delighted to welcome joe mackey an oldtime radio historian
who will take us through the month of April and tell us what happened in oldtime radio during that month.
Joy jackson will be conducting the interview with Mr. mackey.

Once again, we shall take a trip down memory Lane with Mr. Fred Bertelsen. This time,
as we continue our stroll down Memory Lane, we will turn back the clock to September
8, 1953 and we’ll listen to the CBS Tuesday Night Line-up beginning at 9:00 PM with
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar which was followed by 21st Precinct. Two very good shows,
but unfortunately these are AFRS Radio repeatsand there will be no wonderful commercials.
Johnny Dollar (John Lund) will explain Johnny’s expense account in relation to the
Lester Matson Matter the story of a plastics factory arson; while Capt. Kenelly (Everett
Sloan) deals with safe burglars in the police investigations in the 21st Precinct.

Mr. Rob Hancik of Bethlehem, Pa presented two great science fiction shows on Thursday
on Radio out of the Past. They are Space patrol with Commander Buzz Cory and Cadet
Happy and Space Cadet with Tom Corbett and his two buddies, Roger and Zastro.

Presenter Joy Jackson ofSeattle, Washington, an OTR fan for over 14 years and the
founder of the American Radio Theater which recreates many wonderful oldtime radio
programs. The shows are: A Shipment of Mute Fate from Escape, and The Trap from X
Minus One. One is adventure/suspense, the other is pure but funny science fiction.
A shipment of Mute Fate–a large deadly snake is being transported aboard a passenger
liner. Following a freak wave, the locked storage container is found smashed to smithereens.
But where is the snake? The trap–(from Science Fiction on Radio by James Widner
and Meade Frierson): “After finding a new type of trap on their doorstep, two hunters
try it out. They make a number of very strange catches.”

we welcomed Danny Goodwin, a noted expert on old-time radio commercials to our chat
room. Devon Wi lkins, a Canadian who is also a fan of OTR commercials, will conduct
a brief interview with Danny before throwing it open for questions from our participants.
Our ever-helpful Fred Bertelsen will also be on hand to play some of the commercials
referred to in our discussion. And now for some information on our guest of honor.
From the small mill town of Lincoln, Maine (about 50 miles north of Bangor), Danny
Goodwin would be considered among the first generation of the “New Generation” old
time radio fans. He didn’t have the opportunity to hear the radio programs firsthand
because he was born in 1954. Despite this minor problem, he would become a fan of
old time radio with the help of his mother, Kathryn B. Goodwin.
When Danny was about 11, his mother would tell him about the wonderful things she
heard on her radio. She also mentioned how much she loved the commercials for Lifebuoy
Health Soap— complete with the foghorn and “B.O.” sound effects. This was where
a small bud was beginning to blossom in young Danny’s head concerning the subject
of old time radio.
His interest would take on a new dimension when he heard his first old time radio
program on cassette tape in 1977. As time went on, he would collect more cassettes
of many different radio programs. In 1988, Danny combined his talent to program a
computer (in BASIC language) with the information he had on old time radio in magazines,
cassettes, and other radio books. He would begin his own personal research on radio
programming and radio advertising. The technology has changed since 1988, and he
has modernized his work with those changes. He has now accumulated over 60 binders
of information on different subjects of old time radio and radio advertising. Of
the different subjects, putting the radio jingles, sayings, and excerpts into print
is Danny’s personal favorite, because his mother loved the Lifebuoy commercials.
With his keen awareness of radio sponsors, Danny would develop himself into an expert
on radio advertising. His expertise would lead him to a nationwide audience of old
time radio fans. He took part in a panel discussion on radio commercials and advertising
at the 1992 Friends Of Old Time Radio convention in Newark, New Jersey with John
Rayburn and Dick Beals (a.k.a. “Speedy Alka Seltzer”). Today, Danny has dedicated
all his research on radio advertising to the memory of his mother.

Delma Bliss the hostess with the mostest of VIP’s Oldtime Radio hosted two programs
on the Radio out of the Past Oldtime Radio Audio Chat Room. Delma played Ray Bradbury’s
“The Screaming Woman,” and “The Big Grab,” of Dragnet fame.