The Soundscape series is a happy side effect from the research phase of the When Radio Ruled Historical Documentary Podcasts.

The creation of the historical documentaries begins with research. In my collection of Old Time Radio Shows I have hundreds of hours of recordings from 1938. I arranged all these radio shows by order of date broadcast and then listened to them one by one until I had listened to the entire year January 1 to December 31. As I go through the listening process I take the most interesting, entertaining, or informative clips and assemble them onto a “Best Of” clip reel from which I will select the Old Time Radio excerpts to include in the historical documentaries.

The script isn’t written at this point, so these clip reels contain much more material than can possibly be used in the finished documentary. The 1938 clip reel was almost 36 hours long. I used less than 3 hours in the final documentaries.

But these best of reels are so much fun to listen to! A whole year condensed into a day and a half! It seems a great waste to not share these selected clip with fellow Old Time Radio enthusiasts, thus the Soundscape series of When Radio Ruled was born.

So here is the first hour of the newest clip reel, excerpts from old time radio shows broadcast January 1 to January 5 1938 .

Featuring:

Georgie Jessel

Norma Talmadge

Man Mountain Dean

Josephine Starr

Don Wilson

Jack Benny

Phil Harris and His Orchestra

Kenny Baker

Mary Livingston

Andy Devine

Eddie Rochester Anderson

Don Ameche

Charley McCarthy

Edgar Bergen

Dorothy Lamour

Margot

Eddie Cantor

Deanna Durbin

Selected Songs Include:

Getting Some Fun Out of Life – Cast of the Georgie Jessel Show

I want a gay cabellaro – unidentified female vocalist

Rolling Plains – Kenny Baker

I want a new romance – Dorothy Lamour

In the still of the night – Deanna Durbin

Click Here to Hear When Radio Ruled Soundscape 1938 part 1