"The Big Broadcast" Live Sunday 3/14 7-11pm est

WAMU ^ | 3/14/10 | Ed Walker

[Vision]

It's Sunday night again friends. Warm up the tubes for another 4 hours of classic radio programs.

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[Vision]

"The Big Broadcast is a Sunday night tradition for families throughout the WAMU listening area. Each week, Big Broadcast host Ed Walker offers listeners priceless recordings of popular radio programs from the '30s, '40s and '50s. Priceless, especially, for a man whose first sentence as a child was, 'Turn the radio on.' "

[Vision]

Happy Sunday Night. Classic Radio Time.

St. Patrick's Day Show

[Vision]

• 07:00 p.m. Johnny Dollar
  10/29-30/56 Silent Queen Matter Pts. 1-2(Sus.)(CBS)(27:26)
• 07:30 p.m. Dragnet
  08/10/54 #260 Big Wish (AFRS)(24:36)
• 08:00 p.m. Gunsmoke
  07/17/60 #432 Busted-up Guns (CBS)(22:38)
• 08:30 p.m. Burns & Allen
  03/17/41 Gracie in the St. Patrick's Day Parade (Spam)(CBS)(29:24)
• 09:00 p.m. Recollections at 30
  03/19/57 St. Patrick's Day Show (sus.)(NBC)(24:12)
• 09:30 p.m. Beat the Band
  03/17/40 St. Patrick's Day Show (Kix)(NBC)(26:24)
• 10:00 p.m. Town Hall Tonight
  03/17/37 St. Patrick's Day Show (Ipana/Sal Hepatica)(NBC)(59:30)

[jimfree]

Thanks for the reminder. Watching a dopey dragon movie right now. Will fire up the FM receiver shortly.

[Vision]

The Pacific starts on HBO tonight at nine. Am DVD-Ring it.

Do you want on the ping list?

[Viking2002]

Evening, Vision. Flood waters lapping at your door yet?

[Vision]

Hey Viking, well things are damp around here. Not sure how much more water the ground can take; lots of pooling. How’s things down south?

[Mr. Lucky]

Johnny Dollar? Isn't 7 o'clock Sunday night the exclusive property of Jack Benny?

[Vision]

Nope. 7pm has been JD for a while. JB shows up from time to time from 8-10pm.

Let me know if you want on the ping list.

[Mr. Lucky]

Jack Benny occupied that slot for 23 years, from 1932 to 1955 as I recall.

[Viking2002]

Well, we're pretty saturated, and quite a bit of low-lying pasture has been getting inundated every time a system pulls through, but we don't have to deal with the melting snow pack up yonder. Here's a few shots from outside Cumberland - 'Coney, Hyndman, and Ellerslie:

The toll bridge at Oldtown and the low-water bridge at Little Orleans are both closed again - underwater. If you've ever been through The Narrows on 36 heading to Corriganville, you'll know the old bridge by the train trestle crossing Will's Creek into Locust Grove. It's underwater, too. (BTW - after the flood of '96, Locust Grove no longer officially exists on any map.) Most of the cars in Motor City were moved up to the local mall as a precaution. Employees were told to take their PC's home with them. Back in '96, they found new cars from the dealer lots buried in the mud several miles downstream. Employees working at Super Shoes didn't know what was going on until they felt water around their ankles, and had to hop up on their checkout counters. They were rescued by folks in jon boats, poling their way in through the front doors. Looks like it might be a repeat of it this year at the moment.

[HokieMom]

Thanks for the reminder ping. The Dragnet episode was an interesting glimpse of the past and addiction. I've especially enjoyed the addition of Irish music tonight.

[Vision]

Yikes. The brunt of the storm must have been regional. We’ve been rained on but it’s nowhere near that bad in the baltimore metro area.

[Vision]

I take it you’re there?

[Vision]

Hello, it’s a nice change up.

[Viking2002]

No, I've just always kept abreast of what's going on up in the ol' birthplace via the local online paper, and via e-mail from family. My mother is a widowed retiree with a bad hip and showing the occasional gear-slippage of very early stage, Alzheimer's-related memory and cognitive function loss, and my airhead of a sister split up with her husband and moved back in w/Mommy - toting my 7 year old niece and my 2 year old nephew behind her. (She doesn't need the full-time job of daycare supervisor, but I take comfort that she's not living in the house alone.) They're all ensconced up on a ridge outside of town, so it would have to be a flood that would make Noah soil his shorts over for it to affect them. But, she stays active in the church and the community, and there are times when I have to firmly-but-gently tell her that something is a bad idea. And she'll by-and-large listen to me. I lived down here in this rathole when I lost my father, and they had him packed in a can and under a stone marker in the vet's cemetery before I even had a chance to say goodbye, and that's always stuck in my craw. Just don't want to see that happen again without having some sort of say - or closure. My other sister and brother-in-law are fine folks, but live in Pittsburgh, and are too preoccupied with their own lives to pitch in sometimes. I've found myself taking vacation time just to make sure little things back at the homestead are resolved, because I know that when I'm done, it's no longer an issue. My wife's extended brood usually occupies most of her time, too often at our expense, so no help there.

Sorry to ramble. Sometimes it's like being a lone eagle sitting high on a branch, and swooping in when something is awry. But a man's gotta do something for his own blood, even if he's a half a continent away.

[steelyourfaith]

March 14, 2010 (WARNING: Contains Spoilers)

• 07:00 p.m. Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
  10/29-30/56 Silent Queen Matter Pts. 1-2(Sus.)(CBS)(27:26) Bob Bailey, Paula Winslowe (Twila James), Virginia Gregg (Mavis Gail), Vic Perrin (Vic Carson), Paul Dubov (Sergeant McKay), Frank Gerstle (Frank Jessup), John Dehner (Milo Martin), Lawrence Dobkin, Chester Stratton ; Writer - Adrian Gendot ; Producer/Director - Jack Johnstone ; Musical Supervisor - Amerigo Marino ; Announcer - Roy Rowan ; Expense Account Total = $436.25 ; The last of the 5 _Part series for Johnny Dollar. : "A body suddenly rises from the grave to take the spotlight from a Hollywood star." Vic Carson, State Unity Life, Hartford, calls Johnny about the murder of 56 year old Penny Arcade owner Bernard "Barney" Slade at the Ocean Park Amusement Zone. The beneficiary of his $25,000 insurance policy is former silent movie star Mavis Gail. Dollar travels to Ocean Park, California, and the Fun Zone. He talks to a blonde female employee at the change desk, Twila James, and then confers with Sergeant McKay who is at Slade's living quarters. This is where the murder was committed. Photos of Mavis Gail on the wall have been marked with a large red question mark. Some clean spots on the wall define where other pictures have been removed. McKay is looking for an acquaintance of Slade's named "The Preacher". Mavis Gail told McKay that she never heard of Slade. Dollar goes to Slade's funeral in Venice. The funeral parlor manager, Mort, says that Mavis Gail has not appeared, and he has never heard of The Preacher. However, Mavis shows up in her big, blue Cadillac from her Bellaire home. Upon reaching the casket she faints. When she revives she identifies Slade as her husband, Tom Sanford, a small time actor who was murdered 27 years ago with a shotgun blast on a hunting trip with four men in the Sierras. Sergeant McKay returns Johnny's call, at which time he learns about Tom Sanford. At the mortuary, Dollar is approached by Frank Jessup, from the ball throwing Mermaid booth at the pier. He says that Twila has worked for Barney for about five years. From McKay, Johnny learns that the marriage was tempestuous. Dollar wonders why Tom planted his identification on the man that tried to kill him and then assumed another identity. Short, round Milo Martin, an actor's agent on the Sunset Strip, was one of the men on the hunting trip. Johnny tracks him down to a location shoot for a cowboy movie. He says that Mavis was in love Tom. He says that others on the hunting trip were silent film director Jarvis Pocket, actor George Shelton, and cameraman Francis Trevellion. Back at his hotel, McKay calls Dollar to say that a witness has identified Mavis as having been hanging around the Penny Arcade two nights before the Slade murder. (to be continued ...)

• 07:30 p.m. Dragnet
  08/10/54Big Wish (AFRS)(24:36) #260 John Colter, a teenager hooked on heroin, walks into the police station and asks for help. Jack Webb, Ben Alexander, George Fenneman (announcer). 25:47. Audio condition: Excellent. Complete. juvenile Drug Ring Supplying Teens

• 08:00 p.m. Gunsmoke
  7/17/60 "Busted-up Guns" (CBS)(22:38) Program #432 William Conrad (Matt Dillon), Parley Baer (Chester Proudfoot), Howard McNear (Doc Adams), Georgia Ellis (Kitty Russell), Ralph Moody, Vic Perrin, Virginia Christine (Gladys) ; Produicer/Director - Norman Macdonnell ; Writer - Kathleen Hite ; Editorial Supervision - John Meston ; Music Composed and Conducted - Rex Koury ; Announcer - George Walsh ; Matt and Chester decide to visit their friends Whip and Gladys on the Sioux reservation. Whip is the Indian agent for the government and has always been good to his charges. When Matt and Chester arrive they are greeted by Bi Feather who insists on searching their packs. Matt is confused by the strange behavior of the Indians. When he finally encounters Whip and Gladys, Matt learns that the Indians are being deprived of their hunting ground, rations, and their guns. Unsatisfied with the answers he gets from Whip and Gladys, Matt is determined to learn what is at the bottom of the trouble. The Indian agent on the Sioux reservation has gone off the deep end, is drunk and determined to keep guns away from the Indians.

• 08:30 p.m. Burns & Allen 03/17/41 Gracie in the St. Patrick's Day Parade (Spam)(CBS)(29:24) "Gracie and the St. Patrick’s Day Parade" George Burns, Gracie Allen ; Music - Artie Shaw and His Orchestra, The Smoothies ; Announcer - Jimmy Wallington ; Sponsor - Hormel & Spam (1940) ; The broadcast originates from New York City. George tries to break up the "romance" between Gracie and Artie Shaw.

• 09:00 p.m. Recollections at 30
  03/19/57 "St. Patrick's Day Show" (sus.)(NBC)(24:12) Sustaining. The program has a St. Patrick's Day theme. Rudy Vallee (1938), John McCormack (1938), Beatrice Lillie (1935), The Silver Masked Tenor (1926), the arrival of the swallows at Capistrano, Paderewski's first radio appearance (September 25, 1938) on "The Magic Key," Morton Downey (1938). This program also known as "Recollections." Beatrice Lillie, John McCormack, Morton Downey (guest), Ignace Paderewski, Rudy Vallee, The Silver Masked Tenor (Joseph White). 25 minutes. Audio condition: Very good. Complete.

• 09:30 p.m. Beat the Band
  03/17/40 St. "Patrick's Day Show" (Kix)(NBC)(26:24) "Wearin' Of The Green." A St. Patrick's Day program. Ted Weems and His Orchestra, Garry Moore (host), Elmo Tanner, Parker Gibbs, Red Ingle, Perry Como, Fort Pearson (announcer), Marvel Maxwell, Orm Downes, Country Washburne. 29:36. Audio condition: Very good to excellent. Complete

• 10:00 p.m. Town Hall Tonight
  03/17/37 "St. Patrick's Day Show" (Ipana/Sal Hepatica)(NBC)(59:30) . Sponsored by: Ipana, Sal Hepatica. The first tune is, "Swing High, Swing Low." Town Hall News Of The Week, The Mighty Allen Art Players do a hillbilly drama. Town Hall Varieties: Professor Quigley tries to escape from a packing case once again. Adrian O'Brien, an Irish tenor sings. Martin Burns and The Irish Blackbirds, Maria and Julia Dougherty (from Bayonne, New Jersey) dance an Irish jig to the tune of "The Cow That Ate The Blanket." Fred Allen, Harry Von Zell (announcer), Peter Van Steeden and His Orchestra, Portland Hoffa, The Town Hall Quartet, Adrian O'Brien, Martin Burns and The Irish Blackbirds, Maria Dougherty (dancer), Julia Dougherty (dancer).

[BluesDuke]

Jack Benny occupied that slot for 23 years, from 1932 to 1955 as I recall.

He actually held it through 1958, notwithstanding that CBS used the spot for the last two years to play repeats of vintages under the Best of Benny rubric . . .