How I Halloween | #4 - Radio

Halloween OTR

As I said before, Holidays can be a good time to look back or in this case listen back. The term "Old Time Radio" doesn't always sound encouraging to people used to looking for 'what's new' or ' the latest thing'. If your feeling like that I'd ask you to try one episode of one show. You might find that it's not as archaic as you expect, you might even like it.

I find myself forgetting how long ago these things where made.  A joke is still a joke and a scare is still a scare. They can be a dated and and sometimes cheesy but,  they can also be "damn good".

Spooky Series

 They aren't specifically Halloween, but they fit the general theme of Horror & Paranormal. These shows (to me) are the sort of things where you skim through the episode list and try one that looks interesting. The only one I'm working through episode by episode is nightfall. Instead of me giving descriptions for these you can follow the link and get a description there & if you like it the episodes are there to download.

1) Nightfall
2) Lights Out

3) Suspense
4) The Shadow
5) The Weird Circle

Halloween Episodes of Popular  Shows

Just like TV today the popular Radio shows of the past liked to do holiday themed episodes.

Right-click on the links below an download them directly from here.

1) Fibber McGee & Molly
• 1953-10-30 Trick Or Treating With Teeny •

2) The Great Gildersleeve
• 1943 Halloween Party • 1947 Halloween Party  • 1951 Halloween Party- Lost Boy •

3) Jack Benny
• Costume Party (1938) • Party at Jack's (1939) •  Trick or Treating (1948) •

4) Baby Snooks
• Halloween Joke (1946) •

5) The Life of Riley
• Haunted House (1944) •

6) Father Knows Best
• Spooky Cemetery (1950) • Halloween Party at Home (1953) •

7) Ozzie & Harriot
• Haunted House (1948) •

Halloween-ish  episodes of anthology series. AKA: random episodes of random shows.

1) Don't tell me about Halloween - Obligatory Halloween Witch.
2) The Legend of Sleepy Hollow - One of my favourite versions.
3) The Dunwich Horror - Nothing like a little lovecraft.
4) On a Country Road - Stuck on a deserted road while a murderous lunatic is loose.
4) Dracula - Wouldn't be Halloween with out a Vampire.

*  * * Bonus * * * Bonus * * * Bonus * * *

What Do Aliens have to do with Halloween?

In the couch gag for 'treehouse of horror X' Lisa asks "What do aliens have to do with Halloween?". The answer; War of the worlds. HG Wells, Orson Welles & the (then) new medium of radio all combine to indelibly imprint aliens onto Halloween.

You can find the original Welles version here & the Episode of Charlie McCarthy (#19 in the list) that ran opposite on another channel.

Here you'll find  a 6 part Radio Doc about the original, reactions and a series of remakes that started in 1968, the 50th anniversary of the Ors0n Wells version.

The first time I heard one of these WKBW remakes (1973 version) I was hooked.  The story is reworked to take place in & around Buffalo. Like the original it starts off slowly as a story in the regular (& real) news report, and it grows and grows and they follow the 'news story'. I think it's the nostalgia that gets me hooked the most. The show is well made but,  hearing about places that are only minutes away, from regular DJ's and news people (hooray for Irv Wienstien!) that I heard as kid is really too cool.

1968 is WKBW's 30th anniversary Adaptation of the Orson Welles version.
         Like the original, it caused some concerns when broadcast that became a legend itself.
1971 is a slightly reworked version following the same basic format as 1968.
The 1973 Edition is in many ways my favourite. It has the whole of the Halloween night broadcast in multiple files starting with W.O.T.W. then moving on other stories or "radio dramas" and finishing with some "docu-drama" pieces on Halloween themes.  It has all the commercials, bumpers, station ids etc.  There is something about the whole package and the flow of the programming that really gets me. As cheesy as some of it is, I love it.

Apparently there is a poorly regarded 1975 version that I can't find and a 30th anniversary 1998 version* made by another station under the same ownership group.
I haven't been able to find either version so far. If anyone knows where I can find Please let me know. Even if they aren't that good I'd still like to have the whole set.

*30th anniversary of the 1968 version that was a 30th anniversary of the "Original" 1938 version, isn't that sort of a 60th anniversary version?

That's a lot of Radio for you. I hope you've found something you like and I hope you'll be back in a few days for the next batch of Halloween treats.
Local Events around Halloween is what's planned for next time.