Old Time Radio Fans / Jean Shepherd
 

If there are any OTR fans out there, you can find hundreds (thousands?) of old radio shows on YouTube. Just type in OLD TIME RADIO and search.
Inner Sanctum, Jack Benny, Dragnet, The Aldrich Family... lots more.

If there are any fans of Jean Shepherd (the WOR radio guy) there are also a handful of his radio shows (as well as some of his TV programs).

I enjoy SCTV and that kind of humor. When I think about it, it's The Bob and Ray Show. Listening to their Radio show is better in a way. You need to use your imagination about the set and how the characters look. They could take you anyplace. I wonder how much of their work was improvised?

I didn't care for the radio sitcoms nearly as much, Jack Benny or Burns and Allen. The situation was fairly predictable but with Bob and Ray I could never predict what would happen next. And they never seemed to make each other laugh and break character.

They would close with "remember to write if you get work" and something about hanging by your thumbs.

Remember The House of Toast....would you like your toast buttered on the near side or the far side? I just loved Bob and Ray!

Thanks
 

Thanks for the info. My radio days really only go to pbs and the old lake wobegon times that are rebroadcast on the internet with the original host Garrison Keillor (sp).

I do. That was one of my favorite series of theirs. I even remember the jingle.
"The house of toast, gives you the most, and try out fruit drinks".

I am a big time Jean Shepherd fan. Used to listen to his radio show on WOR every night in bed. Went to live concerts twice. Still have a copy of In God We Trust All Others Pay Cash. And I watch A Christmas Story every year on TBS (I think I could almost recite it now).

Every night at 10. Were you living in NY at the time or did it carry down to Georgia? I read all his books too... still have "Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories." A few years ago there was a fan web site that would mail you hundreds of his shows on MP3. The deal was that you would just copy them and send them back.
There is a Jean Shepherd site flicklives.com which has lots of info and 300+ shows available for listening.
I missed the "golden age of radio" by just a few years. I do remember as a very small child listening to something called (I think) "The Witches Tale." Scared the daylights out of me.

I lived in northern New Jersey then, so WOR was a local station.