UPGRADED JULY 16, 2025
The 60th anniversary year of Theatre 5 began on August 3, 2024. To celebrate the revival of interest and and appreciation of the series, there is a brand new set with even more upgrades to the series. The upgraded set is now available in lossless FLAC and 128kps mp3s. These upgrades are possible because of the pioneer collector reels that Old Time Radio Researchers acquired from the Florida and California collections, and the diligent work of the OTRR tape transfer volunteers. The initial anniversary set was a major step forward in quality and documentation for this series. This revision is even better, with upgrades of many episodes that have been in poor sound for decades.
Hear audio clips from a handful of episodes that were upgraded for the initial anniversary set. These six clips at the following link show the significant difference between commonly circulating files and the initial anniversary compilation of Theatre 5 recordings. Go to this page at the Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/T5-60th-AnnivSet-UpgradeClips , click the play button, and hear the difference! Total time for the 6 clips is just under 3 minutes.
THE BIGGEST UPGRADES in the initial anniversary set were in recordings after episode 70. The first 70 episodes have always been the most difficult to upgrade. This revision has significant upgrades to 30 of them! As with the initial 60th anniversary release, recordings are noticeably quieter and with better range than what was circulating in past decades. The set also includes additional versions of three episodes.
These were the four worst recordings from the initial set, and now look at them!
640909 028 The Decoration was a D+ quality recording, and is now rated A
640911 030 To Whom It May Concern was a D- quality recording, and is now rated A-
640917 034 The Understudy was a D+ quality recording, and is now rated A
641127 085 The Lesson was an F- quality recording, and is now rated A-
There are two .zip files. The FLAC file is 12.5 GB. The 128kps mp3 file is 5.6GB. The files can be found at the cloud services listed below.
MediaFire https://www.mediafire.com/folder/g2so84gzyi4hh/Theatre_5_-_60th_Anniversary_UPGRADED_Set
Filen https://drive.filen.io/f/3f4af4b1-9c5f-48d2-bee3-5a2c99c0fc6c#HniIztqOcCCuN5bxmTUQjFChIOwpSr3e
The set is also at the Internet Archive. Since their DDoS attack last year, their servers and software were upgraded, and service is much faster and more reliable. Go to https://archive.org/details/T5ProjectUPDATE07112025
STREAM by clicking on the file name of any program and it will start playing. It will continue to play the next file, and the next, as long as you stay on the page until you hit stop or close the page.
Download the FLACs as a .zip file https://archive.org/compress/T5ProjectUPDATE07112025/formats=FLAC&file=/T5ProjectUPDATE07112025.zip
Download the 128kps mp3s as a .zip file https://archive.org/compress/T5ProjectUPDATE07112025/formats=VBR%20MP3&file=/T5ProjectUPDATE07112025.zip
FOR DOWNLOADING INDIVIDUAL EPISODES AT THE INTERNET ARCHIVE, click "SHOW ALL" under "DOWNLOAD OPTIONS" and a page will open that will list all of the individual files. Download an individual file by right-clicking on the file name and selecting "save link as."
Download it (or read it) at the Internet Archive
https://archive.org/details/theatre-5-60th-anniversary-log-07-16-2025
IT IS ALSO AVAILABLE AT THE DOWNLOAD LINKS ABOVE at MEGA, Filen, and MediaFire.
The PDF document is more than 100 pages long. Below is a list of the chapters and the page numbers at which they appear
PANEL DISCUSSION Nostalgia streaming channel YesterdayUSA hosted a discussion about the series on August 10, 2024 that included collectors Walden Hughes, John Gassman, and Larry Gassman about the Theatre 5 60th anniversary https://archive.org/details/YUSA2024-08-10_T5
35 EPISODE MARATHON Stay Tuned America hosted a 35-episode marathon on August 4, 2024 with special introductions for each episode https://archive.org/details/t5marathon-08042024
PRESENTATION A Zoom presentation was made at the Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound (REPS) meeting of March 22, 2024; audio and slides of the presentation can be found at https://archive.org/details/T5REPS20240322