I only recently learned that those Steve Ditko Mysterious Traveler comic books were based upon a radio show of the same name that ran over ten years.
I remember when I was younger, back in the 1970s, I used to listen to Alfred Hitchcock radio stories, and I enjoyed those. And, over the years, I would catch occasional radio episodes of shows like Little Orphan Annie, the Blue Beetle, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and even the Fantastic Four (with Bill Murray voicing Johnny Storm).
But it's really these spooky, crime, sci-fi, and supernatural shows that I like best, the ones with twist endings like the ones found in the comic books like Amazing Adventure, Monsters on the Prowl, Tales of the Mysterious Traveler, etc.
My dad is a big fan of these, and used to buy them on CD to reminisce. He gave me a gigantic set of science fiction theater, which had a really creepy installment of Rad Bradbury's Marian Chronicles as a serial.
Another source for old time radio is a syndicated radio series,"When Radio Was" which airs vintage radio shows such as Jack Benny,The Shadow,etc.It's put out by Radio Spirits,which archives them on their website and sells them on CD.
There was a science fiction radio show in the '50s,"X-Minus-One",that featured adaptaions of stories by Bradbury,Heinlein,and other sci-fi greats.My favorite was "Tunnel Under The World";heard that on a car radio late at night---made quite an impression.
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AMC had a very interesting series about a TV radio station circa 1942, "Remember WENN." I wish they'd released that on series on DVD. Apparently they have plans to. Pity. It was quite good.
Here. Someone took one of the Fantastic Four radio shows (added panels from the comics it was based upon), and overlaid the radio program, and put it on YouTube:
There's a free iPhone app called Vintage Radio Lite that has a ton of free shows (about 1,800, they claim). For a price, you can get the version that features some 38,000 shows. I've also got a free app that features all 106 episodes of the Have Gun Will Travel radio show. I think it's also available as a free podcast. (No, it's not Richard Boone.)
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As a kid I used to spend summers up in Minnesota at either the family lake place or the family farm. Neither place had a television. But, they both had radios and I remember LOVING The Inner Sanctum with E.G Marshall. Back at home my dad loved to play old radio shows for my sister and I. I really enjoyed Fibber McGee and Molly. I also remember actually sending in cereal box tops to get a collection of Superman radio shows on LP. Loved those, too.
Anyway, I love radio shows and would put them on my Ipod if given the chance.
Here. Someone took one of the Fantastic Four radio shows (added panels from the comics it was based upon), and overlaid the radio program, and put it on YouTube:
There is a free Android app called Old Time Radio which has thousands of programs. I've used it to listen to the old Superman show and a few comedies. It's pretty fun. It's interesting to me how much more attention people used to have to pay to their entertainment, whether radio programs or silent films. I have difficulty following things sometimes.
Seeing Jeff post here just got me thinking that it would be fun if someone had turned the Carl Barks Uncle Scrooge and Donald Duck comics into radio dramas.
I'm serious. Hopefully they would have played down the funny duck voices.
About 80% of the Mysterious Traveler shows so far have been okay (listenable?), but a few of them have been quite well done and written. They are almost all straight crime dramas, though, not much for supernatural or sci-fi elements.
I've been reading a little about the two main writers, Robert Arthur and David Kogan. The show looks like it was pulled because these two authors were both active members of The Radio Writers' Guild. The House Commitee on Un-American Activities (HUAC) had "determined" that The Radio Writers' Guild was a Communist front group.
Robert Arthur also wrote the Three Investigators books. I've read some of those.
Robert Arthur wrote for Alfred Hitchcock and got permission to use his name on all sorts of anthologies, like Alfred Hitchcock's Ghostly Gallery and Alfred Hitchcock's Sinister Spies. Arthur always included one of his own stories in each anthology. They were usually great fun.
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