I've been thinking about getting into transmitting AM around the house but not so much for music as I still have a local station that plays 50s, 60s and 70s stuff (albeit interspersed with ads for funeral plans, retirement villages, DIY will kits and the like, LOL!) and then it struck me that old time radio serials would be the perfect thing as source material for that transmitter.

For my sins, I was sent to boarding school from age 12 to 15 and the dormitory masters usually played the radio for an hour or so after lights out. Most of them tuned to stations that played their own preferences in music which was definitely not the Beatles! -- more like "easy listening" stuff which to teenagers was pure hell.

However, one dorm master was very different: He'd record radio serials during the day from an old console tube set onto a Grundig reel-to-reel deck like this one:



.. and after lights out he'd play an episode from a different serial each night back through the radio. We loved those serials!

So, I now plan to go to the library and look up the newspapers from 1963 and get the names of the serials that were on air at the time and then see if I can find them on CD or for downloading.

I see there are numerous sites dedicated to Old Time Radio that list various serials, so looks like I'll be busy.

Archive.org is a good starting place for free OTR if you know the name of the shows you are interested in. http://otrplus.com/ is a good forum for OTR shows as well. Lots of interesting stuff being passed around there.

I have over 100 meg of old shows that I broadcast to the neighborhood through a Talking House AM transmitter and a CCrane FM transmitter. Part 15 doesn't let you use much power, but it is more than enough to reach from one end of the house to the other, and cover the yard while you are at it.

Thanks for that link.

It's amazing just how many shows and episodes have been made available digitally.

Just discovered that the library where all of the newspapers I need to research are on microfilm is closed for renovations until mid September, so I'll have to wait.

Search for ' JJ's radio logs ' . You might find what you'r looking for there. ..... Gregg

Right now I'm listening to Jeff Regan, Private Investigator.

Bob Merritt's station.

http://radio.bobmerritt.com/

Computer sound output to SSTRAN, listening on a Philco 60 on the other side of the room. Also a Crosley ColoRadio is turned on in the kitchen.

Great stuff, especially the dramatic organ.

Reminds me, the library refurb is finished so I can now go research the 1963 program guides.

That's mostly what I do with my antique radios, since there is only one local AM station I can pick up with an indoor antenna that plays anything I like to listen to. I especially enjoy listening to Orson Welles' 1939 broadcast of "War of the Worlds" on my 1936 Air King 21 "Premier", using an AES transmitter and a cheap MP3-capable portable CD player. I wonder if the original owners listened to that broadcast when it first came on the air?

That's one thing I love about old radios - they're time machines for the imagination. You get to wondering what the original owners - and subsequent owners - listened to on the old sets during their original useful lifetime, before newer technology, FM, and parts scarcity relegated them to forgotten corners, dusty attics, dank basements, and drafty barns.

I like to listen to the old Phil Marlow radio shows from the internet via an SSTrans into my old consoles.

Once you use a transmitter you'll never go back to scanning your radio dial again. I plug in my transmitter to the headphone jack of my computer and between You-Tube for music and the OTR sites, I have an endless supply of entertainment to my old sets.
I enjoy shows like "Suspense" the most. They were so well written. Hearing these shows through a classic old set makes a great lost time/art come to back life. I think it's a rare treat!

Since I do not have a computer upstairs where I have my AM transmitter stationed, I normally use a Califone CD dual cassette boombox as the audio source.

Yesterday, I tried to plug in my Califone boom box into the downstairs computer headphone jack, and attempted to record (on cassette) some on line "The Shadow" radio shows. Well, that didn't fathom well as the resulting audio was poor.

Then I connected my Norelco Type EL3528A 7" Reel to Reel Tape Recorder into the downstairs computer headphone jack, and the results were spectacular. I had several spare 7" reels of tape to use, and that worked out well. Now I have several "The Shadow" radio shows recorded on 7" reels. Whenever I want to transmit "The Shadow" programs downstairs, I just connect the Norelco Type EL3528A Reel to Reel to my AM transmitter.

I know that "The Shadow" is available on CD's, but I had several 7" tape reels that were just collecting dust in the closet. So I decided to put these tape reels to some use, and save some money buying CD's.

I've had both an AM and FM transmitter going for 12+ years continous now. I have a webserver in my basement, and I just let it run winamp loaded with radio shows and music, and connected to the transmitters. About 10,000 items total, so there is a good variety. I love it. No better radio station ever made. Over the years I've even bought Peltor electronic ear muffs with the built-in radio so I can listen while I'm mowing and sawing etc. When I go out on the deck, I can take a trans-oceanic with me. I will never give it up. They will have to pry my cold dead fingers from transmitters...

Garret