RESOURCES FOR THE METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON OLD TIME RADIO CLUB, AUGUST 12, 2022
Download the presentation slides
PDF click here
View the August 12, 2022 presentation at YouTube
Click on the image for the video to play. It is extracted from the Metropolitan Washington Old Time Radio Club meeting.
The full MWOTRC meeting can be enjoyed at https://youtu.be/VNrzsn_XlP4. It includes their usual discussion and playing of a 15 minute classic program, their quiz, the presentation, and the quiz results. Prior to the quiz results was a discussion of the legacy of the late Jay Hickerson and his leadership of the Friends of Old Time Radio conventions.
More details at the website The Stories Behind "The Big Story"
This project started at Cobalt Club with a posting by Matthew Nunes... and it grew from there. Piercing the veil of TBS' "authentic fictionalization" to find the original news events has been a wonderful challenge. Of the 50 surviving episodes, only two have been impenetrable. That is, so far. The others will be found!
This site has not been updated for a few months, but it has brief summaries of the episode's true events of most of the circulating episodes
https://sites.google.com/view/thestoriesbehindthebigstory/
It is hoped that it will be updated soon... and turns into a book about the series
The two episodes that continue to elude us:
1947-10-01 (027) Counterfeit Coins; reporter is Jack Adams, Los Angeles Examiner; the story was also dramatized on The Fourth Estate audition
1950-11-08 (189) Bobby Sox Hustling, Girl Gangs and Vice; the reporter is Paul Schoenstein of the New York Journal-American
The Big Story Collection at The Internet Archive
Circulating episodes of The Big Story and the Feature Assignment audition for streaming or download CLICK HERE
Audition of The Fourth Estate for streaming or download CLICK HERE
The Big Story on Television
These videos are available on YouTube; the Rex Newman episode is noted for its James Dean appearance.
The Big Story in Peabody collection at U of Georgia
The broadcast can be viewed at https://kaltura.uga.edu/media/t/1_un545ztn
The program was broadcast on December 26, 1952 and features New York World Telegram reporter Ed Mowery making an appearance with the man he helped free from jail, Louis Hoffner. He was imprisoned unjustly for 12 years. Mowery wrote numerous stories about Hoffner, and he was eventually released. Mowery's efforts were recognized with a Pulitzer Prize.
The video is watermarked and must be viewed on their Walter J. Brown Media Archives site.
University of Georgia has many classic radio era holdings
One of the most interesting collections is the papers of Allen Sloane, writer of many episodes of The Big Story and numerous other series. CLICK HERE
Bob Stepno's Newspaper Heroes on the Air website https://jheroes.com/
Bob was a reporter for The Hartford Courant, taught journalism, and is "one of us" classic radio enthusiasts
The Jay A. Hickerson Memorial Collection and related sites
Jay's obituary and tribute wall https://www.beyersfuneralhome.com/obituaries/Jay-Hickerson/#!/Obituary
The celebration of life will be on November 5, 2022 at 4pm at Legacy in Leesburg, FL (5400 Legacy Boulevard, Leesburg, FL 34748)
December 2021 interview about the FOTR conventions with Sean Dougherty, Stu Weiss, and Joe Webb hosted by Walden Hughes and Larry Gassman (2 hours)
https://archive.org/details/10thannivlastFOTRA memorial site is being developed at the Internet Archive. CLICK HERE to see what is available so far.
The site will have Jay's newsletter Hello Again and his Ultimate History of Network Radio Programming and Guide to all Circulating Shows available to all.
There will be pages created for each of the FOTR conventions where documents, audio and video recordings, and photos will be available.Jay had a very large collection of radio performer photographs; these have not been fully cataloged and need to be scanned.
IF YOU CAN ASSIST IN THIS IMPORTANT INITIATIVE TO PRESERVE THE CLASSIC RADIO HOBBY'S HISTORY AND MEMORIALIZE JAY'S MANY CONTRIBUTIONS, PLEASE CONTACT US AT suspenseotr@gmail.com
Other classic radio items of interest
Missing Gunsmoke episode "The Ride Back"
Learn the amazing history of Gunsmoke's tenth episode and how the script became a 1957 motion picture https://sites.google.com/view/therideback/home
Suspense 80th anniversary events
Anniversary site https://sites.google.com/view/suspense80th/home
Fury and Sound, the craziest episode of the series... that was actually a roast of producer William Spier! https://archive.org/details/suspense-fs
CLICK HERE to read about the strange and entertaining history of this episode on a special websiteSuspense marathon https://archive.org/details/80thAnnivSuspenseMarathon
12 hours of top Suspense episodes with introductions by Joe Webb and international entertainer and impressionist Keith Scott of AustraliaSuspense episodes introduced by Joe Webb on the Radio Talking Book Service https://archive.org/details/Suspense80RTBS
Recreation of a missing Suspense episode, "Rope" to be released on August 21 by Sole Twin Audio. Will post the link on the anniversary page when it is available.
REPS will present a missing Suspense, "Deadline," at their convention in October
Theater Five research continues
An episode is still posted every day until all episodes are posted by the end of October at the blog page https://theaterfive.blogspot.com/
Only 76 more to go! (unless any of the 4 missing episodes are found!)Project page https://sites.google.com/view/t5-project
A draft log is now available... can you help proofread it? CLICK HERE (Note - please do not distribute - we will make available to all when ready
The Whistler
A draft updated log is now available CLICK HERE -- please limit distribution -- many new details and documentation about the Pacific, Chicago, and Household Finance series, and has been updated with new recording discoveries