This post was written by Matt Barton, curator, Recorded Sound Section. Born in the early 1920s, Bob Elliot (1923-2016) and Ray Goulding (1922 – 1990), better known as “Bob and Ray,” never knew a world without radio, and reveled in the medium from early childhood. They became professional announcers while still in their teens, eventually …
This blog post was written by Matt Barton, curator of the Recorded Sound Section. On September 18, 2009, The Guiding Light ended a television run that began June 30, 1952, and a broadcast history that began on radio on January 25, 1937. The show’s run covered 72 Thanksgivings in all, but as we’ll see, the …
This blog post was written by Matt Barton, curator of the Recorded Sound Section. Rex Stout (1886-1975) remains well known as the creator of Nero Wolfe, the blunt, erudite and mostly housebound detective with a passion for orchids and fine food. Stout wrote thirty-three novels and forty-one novellas from 1934 to 1975 detailing the exploits …
This blog post was written by Matt Barton, curator of the Recorded Sound Section. When The Mystery Chef and his eponymous radio program first appeared on NBC’s Boston affiliate WBZ in May of 1930, they were an almost immediate hit, and were soon being heard nationally over the network. The Great Depression was hitting hard …
This blog post was written by Matt Barton, curator of the Recorded Sound Section. Margaret Rupli (also known as Margaret Rupli Woodward, 1910 – 2012), a native of Washington, DC, had a long and distinguished career in public service. Her career as a war correspondent for NBC radio was much shorter, lasting only from January …
This guest post was written by Michelle Dubert-Bellrichard, Archivist, National Audio-Visual Conservation Center. Phillips H. Lord was a pioneer in radio during its golden age. He produced radio and, eventually, television shows that captured real, American characters, but he would dramatize ordinary people — treating them like heroes. For example, Lord’s radio programs like Sky …
This post was written by Matt Barton, curator of the Recorded Sound Section. The Big Band era and the Golden Age of Old Time Radio were long past in the summer of 1956, when NBC Bandstand hit the airwaves. Live performances by the great dance orchestras had been a staple of network radio in the 1930s …
Today’s post is by Harrison Behl, Reference Librarian at the Recorded Sound Research Center. Shortly after the formation of the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division in 1978, one of our first reference librarians, James Smart, compiled a listing of the radio broadcast recordings the Library had acquired to that point. Covering the years …
This is a guest post was written by Harrison Behl, reference librarian in the Recorded Sound Section. As we celebrate and commemorate the achievements of the US space program in bringing a human to the moon with the successful mission of Apollo 11, a curious turn of events in recording provides an interesting way of …