RIP OTR People blog

As much as I want to finish it, there is no way I can ever finish OTR People.  I will leave OTR People where it is but I have abandoned it forever.  (Besides, there is another website out there trying to do nearly the same thing as I was doing.)

While the other stuff on this blog is time-consuming, OTR People was really time-consuming. I remember working almost 7 hours one day on it - I had started on "BA_" and when I was finished I wasn't even half way finished with "BA_."

There's a lot of research involved and while I love doing it, I can't do it and do everything else on the blog too.

It will be replaced (in a different spot) with Say Hello to... . "Say Hello to" will be a spot where I stick tiny biographies and photos or links to photos and perhaps even a link to Casts (something I set up yesterday that doesn't require a blog on it's own.)  Most of the bios are already done as I swiped them from magazines.

These won't be bios of major stars like Jack Benny but of minor players or of people you probably haven't even heard of.

Despite the work involved in all of this (and other ideas I have that will perpetuate even more arms and legs (blogs all linked together) I do love doing this. But I have to be realistic. Doing OTR People would be a lifetime job and it would take my complete dedication and time to finish.

Anyway, it's all for the best. But I am sad to see it go...

©Jimbo 2010/2011

Major update at OTR Advertisements

I spent a good 4 hours or more working on OTR Advertisements yesterday.   I decided to seperate the advertisements by show and sponsor, rather than just by show.  Nowhere near being caught up, but maybe one day....  I really should spend most of today working on OTR People and I am determined to do so.

New appendages

There is a new appendage to this site (another work in progress - but it should be up-to-date within a couple of weeks or less) and that is, OTR Advertisements.

It's in the baby stages right now but all in good time.  You may have also seen (on the right side of this blog) OTR Photo (it's not really new and it's really just a supplement to OTR People. But it is handy if you want a large photograph of someone whose last name begins with "A or B" - more to come!)

I envision a site that incorporates all the sites plus there are 2 or 3 more additions to come - all in good time, I suppose.  As I told you before I am keen on making an advertising arm as well and a place for advertising premiums.  This is an ambitious plan I have and one that requires a lot of work on my part.  But once finished, it will BE THE PLACE for the OTR fan to go to find information.

You don't know it yet but OTR People is also about whole casts of radio programs as well.  And bands.  And singers.  And announcers.

I've also got something HUGE up my sleeve but I can't tell you what that is until after all the details are worked out.

If things come together like I hope and with a lot of hard work - the current OTR world will never be the same. 

Also, in addition to the Lum and Abner Dictionary (which is not really a part of the whole scheme, it's more of a pet project) there will be more fan-fun stuff like that in the future.

Plus I have to take care of the OTR Buffet blog!

Well, I better go, I have lots to do!

PS - OTR People is being updated most everyday now and as promised, I will be through with "B" before the week is out.

OTR Peeps

It's slow going but I am making some headway in the "B's" in OTR People.  I seriously can say that *I think* I will be through with the "B" section this week some time.

It's a time-consuming job and I wouldn't be surprised if it takes me the whole year to finish it.

I'm finished today but I'll be right back at it tomorrow.  Here's hoping you can get some use out of it sometime or another.

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.)

Note about OTR People

Yesterday, I began working on the "B's" for OTR People, the "who's who in otr" directory. 

The B's are available for viewing but realize that section is nowhere near completion.

Two additions were made o the "A's": I re-added the DigitalDeli links and where available, I added Golden Age of Radio interview links.  These are awesome.  I suggest you listen to each one and you are also welcome to download them as I have them hosted for just that purpose. 

The GAOR interviews will continue to be a part of OTR People.

I'm also thinking about re-naming OTR People to "Who's Who in OTR."

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!

"OTR People"

It's cold.  There's snow everywhere. It's time to sit back, relax and enjoy some easy time, with TV and some warm apple cid...

NOT!

It's time to keep plugging along. It's time to design some OTR things you can't find anywhere on the internet. It's time to combine things that already exist to make life a wee bit easier for all of my OTR pals. It's time to buckle down and work.

One of my new projects is this: OTR People. OTR People is a link list for OTR biographies. Right now, there is only the letter 'A' and it's only half-way done. There is going to be more links there and thus, more biography info.

Only one of the many things I plan completing in the next few months.

I'm working hard for you.

I know I ask and we all know you don't respond - but if you like these new things, or don't like them, I'd appreciate knowing one way or the other.