Yippee!/Argh! (Boring blog stuff)

I'm doing a bunch of research (as always) and guess what?  I found that the Billboard Radio Program Reviews were there all the time, I just had to skip to 1947 while Billboard turned their attention to television (again, I ask why?  A three year skip????)

This is both joyous news and it's also bad really news (for me.)

The 1942-1944 review blog as it is now constitutes hours and hours of work and research.  1947-1960 or 1961 will provide many more hours of work.

However, I have an idea that may not require so much work.  While the Billboard Review arm of this site gets very little attention, I suggest to you the finished product will prove invaluable.  But now, I must devise a different system as I can't continue to do everything I am doing without falling apart at the seams - it's just way too much work.

I am in the process still of obtaining advertisements from various newspapers but once finished, I will begin reworking the Billboard blog (perhaps, moving it to a new location and beginning from scratch - and creating a whole new system that will force me to only reproduce 50 reviews a day.  This will take a while but [deep breath] so does everything else I am doing.)

Actually, I am very happy to find the reviews, even though it may sound like I am not.  The reviews add an entirely new and important aspect to the overall theme of OTR WORLD (the eventual name of all of this when I finally start making decent headway in the project.)

As long as you people don't expect me to finish everything overnight (and I know you don't) then I suppose everything is fine.  It's just I drive myself very hard to finish incomplete things - so you can realize how I am literally driving myself crazy with this gigantic vision/OTR Monster I have created.  (Actually, OTR Monster - or something similar - might be a better name than OTR World.  I know no one will write to tell me, but if you have an idea for the name of the conglomeration of blogs, send them in.)
 

Blog stuff

It looks like I've run into another roadblock concerning the Billboard Magazine OTR Reviews.

I've had one pitfall after another and now (trying to do the year 1945) I find that every review in the magazine deals with the advent of televison (as did most of 1944.)

I went through every magazine in 1945 with no luck.  I've skipped ahead to other years and found that Billboard concentrated on reviewing televison shows (why?) with an occasional radio show thrown in for good measure.

Therefore, I have come to the conclusion and decision that I am finished with The Billboard Review blog -- with the exception that I will daily take a look at the reviews and use them for material for the blog and give my own review with it.

The Billboard OTR Review will remain in place for you to use but unless I find out where to begin again (or if they ever did) then I will resume.
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As you may have gathered, new additions for The Unfishal Lum and Abner Dictionary will now show up in this blog to entice you to go have a look for yourself.

The dictionary needs some re-working and soon I will re-do the dictionary where words are easier to find and I can add more photos.   I hope to get to that by this weekend.
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OTR People remains a work in progress.  I work a little on it everyday but I am so busy with this blog that I may only spend 30 minutes a day on the thing.  Rest assured I do make additions everyday.  There are a million bazillion photos I have that still need to be added (Google won't let you add more than 25 a day without making you put in a captcha, so this is slowing me down.)

This is real. These people are not actors.

Ever since I started compiling the Billboard Magazine OTR Review links, I have been intrigued by one program in particular: A.L. Alexander's Mediation Board.

I've been looking around for a copy of the program for a couple of weeks now and I just so happen to find one yesterday and as far as I know there's only one available.

I imagined the program to be something like tv's The People's Court. After listening to the show, that idea was pretty much dead on.

The mediators are a clergy, rabbi and some other religious guy.

The program available to me was a *humdinger* to say the least. A woman is mad at her "husband" of 24 years. He's mad as a hornet when she lets certain facts slip out and he walks out of the live mediation, only to come back into it screaming like a wild maniac. The station cuts off the microphones for 15 seconds or so until the hothead calms himself down (no doubt that in 2011, he'd been tasered or some nutjob would call Homeland Security on him.)

It's a very interesting case but it's embarrassing to me to hear such dirty laundry. There's nothing "dirty" or anything such as that but these people are real, with real emotions and for golly's sake, this was 1943. And it's very unusual radio!

The next case is about a man who can't get a job because he has a criminal record. There is obvious strain in his marriage and his wife is obviously having to carry the load. Their quandary is whether he should tell the truth when he applies for a job. He says he should, his wife says no, keep it quiet.

The mediators, of course, are quiet and respectful and dole out their advice and wisdom at the end of each segment.

I'd like to hear more of the series but it looks like there is only one available.

And now that I have ruined it for you, you can listen in to it, if you'd like:

06/28/43 A.L. Alexander's Mediation Board

Billboard '44 done

I didn't have to spend hardly any time finishing 1944 Billboard OTR Reviews.

I also found a couple of errors here and there and fixed those.  That place is a nightmare to keep up with.  There are already close to 1000 links already.

Good news/Bad news

Do you want the good news first or the bad news first?

Actually, the news is about OTR Billboard Reviews. It seems 1942 and 1943 was all about "catching up" on reviewing all the shows out there. And so there's good reason I had to do 500+ shows for 1942 and 400+ shows for 1943.

I didn't realize this. I was thinking, "Oh no, I'm going to have to link to 450 shows every time I finish a year over at Billboard!"

But alas, they covered all the shows (at least all the shows they wanted to) and I covered them. And it looks like 1944 (and on) will only be about new shows - maybe 25-50 a year.

So I suppose the bad news is the review blog will be much smaller than we (at least I) had imagined.

WHEW!

This will give me lots of time to work on OTR People, which is really a huge project.

Look for 1944's Billboard OTR Reviews in the next few days. I'll yell at you when it's finished.

Hodge-podging again

Just letting you know, I am still working on the 'A' section of OTR People. OTR People is going to take a while to finish because there are so many people in radio and I'm adding every bit I can to make the site just the kind of site we all need.  It takes time to find photos (and I am finding a lot of never-heard-of-these-people photos daily.)

While not a beautiful nor crystal-clear shot, photos like this are proving to be invaluable to my OTR People project

I haven't started to work on the 1944 Billboard OTR Reviews yet but I can almost guarantee that will be up and done before the end of this week.

I heard a really good show last night.  It was The Case of the Sailor's Family, a 21st Precinct show.  One of the better shows I have ever heard on radio.  It's about a sailor who comes home on an unexpected leave to Brooklyn, only to find his apartment building is burned and his wife and kid are missing.

As you probably know, I have started the new year with March of Old Time.  If you can think of any way to spice it up, please send in a suggestion.

Speaking of which, any comments you have are welcomed.  There is no "captcha", you can post anonymously as well.  There's no excuse not to write in and tell me how bad this blog is.  :)  I also would love for you to vote in the polls.

Billboard '43 up

Just finished Billboard reviews for 1943.

I'm working hard on OTR People but that's going to be a huge project; I really don't want to half-way do it, I want it done right.  A look over there will show you there are additions being added daily.

Hodge-podging [#4]

I think I'm pretty much done with the "A's" now over at OTR People.  I have added a few new links (including bios from the LA Times where available), YouTube and some others that I deemed necessary.

There is also my undocumented photo page that is connected to OTR People.  You won't find anything there but photos and it is updated as a parallel to OTR People.  It, like everything around here right now, is a work in progress.

There is a reason I called this place "The OTR Buffet" and that is, I plan on filling your plates with tons of information.

Yesterday I mentioned a "bonanza" find and that's just what it is.  You should see the number of articles a day go back up - depending on how much ime I spend blogging each day.  OTR People, Billboard OTR Reviews and future projects I have planned will take up a great deal of time and research.  I'm not putting a time table on anything but I plan on working on each current  project at least 16 hours a week. The Lum and Abner Dictionary is a daily project but it takes very little time to do.

Another project I have in mind is put together pages for every show I can find (little-known Billboard shows included) that will include advertisements and give-aways from the show's sponsors.  It will also contain photos of the show's stars/co-stars and links to their online radio logs.

This will be something different and unique to the OTR community.  I may start that tomorrow or I may start that a year from now but it's in the plans.

Another project idea is a "connections" database where we all connect the OTR performers together.  I imagine many nexus-like graphics where we can visually associate performers with their shows and other performers.  This will be major accomplishment but I plan on asking all of you to help by inputting your own connections and I will bring it all together.  It will be something we can all take credit for and be proud of because there wil be nothing like it. 

I have no idea when this will begin but with the new year approaching, it's time to start planning ahead and making plans.

There are other ideas I have but obviously I can't do everything at once. I am one man and everything takes research and work. Hang in there with me, tell a friend about the site and enjoy some OTR!

1942 Billboard Review Magazine Index finally done

The first one was hard.  Blood, sweat and tears.  The next 19 will be easier.

Billboard reviews, "missing" links, etc.

So...yesterday I had finished the research and was right in the middle of posting the blog for the Billboard reviews.  Imagaine now, I am posting all the new radio shows for 1942.  I haven't counted them but there are probably more than 100.

And Google stops me short by telling me I may be spamming.  Then Google tells me I have fill out a "capcha" for the remaining 50+ entries.

Ummm no.

So...now I have to go to Plan B. Plan B will require me to do this and that and the other but what I will do is make .pdf files and have them hosted. It won't be near as cool or easy or (insert adjective here) but sometimes you just have to follow Big Brother.

It will probably be done before January 1 but that's the new date I'm shooting for. It could be done before Christmas - but don't count on it.

And just think, after I finish 1942, I only have to do 18 or 19 more years!

Also, I had tempted you all by saying there were going to be a lot of additions to the links section - well I got sidetracked and have failed to add but only a few. In time, it will be done. I apologize.

Another thing of note; you can see I have run through over 200 posts in just over two weeks. While there is more news out there, I have depleted the easy-to-find news. Don't expect 15-20 posts a day anymore... expect 5-8, maybe.

Also, I am running very low on advertisements. There are some still around, but it's a matter of finding them. I dare say I have already provided more OTR advertisements than you will find anywhere on the internet.

I still have quite a few photos to "dump" and will do so as the days go by.

My peripheral OTR blog project

I am working on a very important project; it may or may not be something any of us actually use with any frequency - but I see it as something historical that can be used in relation to OTR.

I found that Billboard magazine is online in Google Books. Billboard, at least from 1942 on, reviewed radio shows; from what I can gather, every show (not every individual episodes, but the show itself.)

Realize, there are hundreds, maybe thousands of shows out there. Many that aren't even listed in exhaustive books; but they probably show up in Billboard.

At least 90% of the shows are ones I have never even heard of - this pushes me even harder to do this project because these shows need a "voice." While most of the shows I have seen so far are of the musical or variety, they still are important as far as radio history goes.

I am cataloging these reviews -- rather linking to the Billboard/Google page.

It would not surprise me that if by next week, I will have decided to show you the extension site to this and the Lum and Abner Dictionary.

Old radio will die if not for projects such as these. While OTR becomes less important to future generations, it remains an important part of our history, I feel. We should all do something to preserve history, since it seems our history is being swept under the rug a little every day.