DAN O’DAY TALKS ABOUT RADIO

Straight talk about radio programming, radio advertising, radio production...Well, you get the idea.

Saturday, January 17, 2009

THE SHADOW


Orson Wells, The Shadow

In my January 7 posting, I mentioned the classic radio drama, The Shadow. I'm guessing most radio people today never actually have heard it, so here's an episode. Yes, it's a bit preachy. But dramatic nonetheless.

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16 Comments:

Blogger Paul said...

In broadcasting school, we had to do a version of a Shadow episode. I'm glad we did. I also got to hear some Shadow shows on XM's Old Time Radio channel.

Lamont Cranston lives!

January 17, 2009 at 7:42 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The period when Orson Welles starred is about the slickest of that series, don't you think?

January 17, 2009 at 8:36 AM  
Blogger Dan O’Day said...

@ Jim: Believe it or not, I'm too young to know.

January 17, 2009 at 8:38 AM  
Blogger Jim said...

For those that don't know there is quite a cottage industry selling Old Time Radio shows. Just Google it and you can get a wealth of old radio from the 20's right up to relatively modern day from various sources. The programs range from shows like "The Shadow" to music/variety programming ala Fred Allen and Jack Benny. Although I am addicted to detective series the most interesting program I found was "Jubilee" a program made especially for Black service members that featured big named acts of the day.

January 17, 2009 at 12:26 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love the Harry Lime shows too......also on the Archive dot org is Richard Diamond Private Investigator....Dick Powell played him....he sings in every episode...most of which were written and directed by Blake Edwards! Also Vincent Price as "The Saint" and "Suspense" are way cool too. But Richard Diamond had the swagger and swing, very cool character.

January 17, 2009 at 1:49 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Ah, who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men. I was listening to this stuff when I was fourteen. :)

January 17, 2009 at 1:51 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

D'oh!

January 17, 2009 at 1:54 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Speaking of which, the house is getting cold again ... dang it, I seem to have lost the phone number to my Blue Coal dealer.

January 17, 2009 at 1:55 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

LOL...Russell, on target. The original sponsor of the show. Of course, Dan wouldn't know that either...being as young as he is.

January 17, 2009 at 1:57 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Jim, I'm a young sprite of 44 (give or take). OTR is timeless and knows no age group. Thank the good Lord for all the transcription disc recordings that allow us to enjoy these old shows today ..... for Sirius channel 118 .... and for my wife. I knew I'd found my true north when I didn't have to explain Jack Benny to her. (no sooner than I went into the basic framework of JB's chararcter, she cut me off with an imitation of Rochester!)

January 17, 2009 at 1:59 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Dan: Familiar with the "The Lives Harry Lime" radio show with Orson Welles? Wonderful.

January 17, 2009 at 2:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Love the Harry Lime shows too......also on the Archive dot org is Richard Diamond Private Investigator....Dick Powell played him....he sings in every episode...most of which were written and directed by Blake Edwards! Also Vincent Price as "The Saint" and "Suspense" are way cool too. But Richard Diamond had the swagger and swing, very cool character.

January 17, 2009 at 2:01 PM  
Blogger Bill DaButler said...

Dan,

I'm 35 years-old, and I've heard the shadow! I actually ordered a few tapes of the show when I was a teen through the mail! I also have copies of "1985," & "Buck Rogers,"kicking around here somewhere. They made a terrible movie from the Shadow a few years back with Alec Baldwin, effectively killing the franchise.

January 17, 2009 at 2:30 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Fortunately there are societies that transfer this stuff are out to preserve it.

I have a small collection of 16 inch discs and the turntable with a 16 inch tonearm to play them with. unfortunately, some of the free downloads have been dubbed from discs then go through a few generations on tape, so when they're encoded to mp3, it's so so. the discs can give very good fidelity if recorded well.

Being in canada, there's nothing anywhere near the syndication juggernaut that the US put out from NBC, CBS, World, and Lang Worth to name a few. It was mostly locally produced shows and few of them actually were cut to a disc, or it was done nationally by the CBC, and those vaults are locked tight.

I do have a series with stars from hollywood talking to canada about buying war bonds...hosted by yet to be hollywood star Lorne Greene. I send a cassette to leonard maltin of ET fame years ago, and got a very appreciative letter on ET stationary back.

January 17, 2009 at 6:07 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I collect old radio programs and The Shadow was one of the first ones I got !! It sounds corny by today's standards, but there's a magic to radio back then that's very rarely duplicated anymore.

January 17, 2009 at 8:05 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I had a boxed album set as a kid and in modern times got the series on tape. Incredible. Forerunner of X-men, Batman and a host of others.

January 17, 2009 at 8:10 PM  

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