January 24, 2020
Six new products from Radio Archives this week!
All new Digital Download products are discounted 50% and the Audio CD versions are discounted 25% the first week.
Volume 2
If you’re a fan of modern day television, it will come as no surprise to you that the reality shows are very popular. Whether you cast your votes for the latest “American Idol,” Dancing with the Stars, or spend your free time hooting at this week’s collection of shirtless, shiftless, beer-swilling lowlife on “Cops”, you know that - for better or worse - reality shows are here to stay.
You may, however, be surprised to find that the notion of network reality programming is really nothing new -- in fact, the concept actually dates back as far as 1954, when “Night Watch” debuted on CBS Radio.
Beginning on April 5, 1954 and running for about a year, “Night Watch” was the first program to bring “live” and authentic police drama to the air. A fascinating combination of “Dragnet” and “Cops” with just a hint of “This is Your FBI” thrown in for public service purposes, each week official police recorder Donn Reed accompanied Officer Ron Perkins on the night watch in Culver City, California. Traveling in an unmarked car through the nighttime streets, Reed used a heavy battery-powered reel-to-reel tape recorder, complete with a microphone cleverly concealed inside the casing of a flashlight, to accompany Perkins and his fellow officers on real police calls. These were authentic, unscripted, and unrehearsed adventures, with no actors, no expectations, and nothing planned in advance. At the end of each show, Police Chief W. N. Hildebrand would give listeners the updates on what happened to the citizens involved in each incident and encourage the public to aid the police in doing their work.
Heard today, “Night Watch” remains a vivid and frequently riveting example of just how innovative radio could be when used creatively. Were it being produced today, the producers of “Night Watch” would be using tiny and almost weightless digital recorders and editing software -- but, in 1954, tape recording (not to mention tape editing) was still in its infancy, with Reed forced to lug sixty-plus pounds of technology to every crime scene and change tape reels on a regular basis. Likewise, what would be considered acceptable dialogue for a network broadcast was far more restricted in 1954 than we’d find on TV today, so the tape editing (accomplished with little more than a razor blade and a splicing block) had to be extensive and extremely selective, while still retaining the basic content and flavor of the incident and the chronology of the developing story. Given all of the limitations of 1950s technology, plus the unpredictable nature of the criminal events that were the basis for the series, the audio quality of the broadcasts and engrossing nature of the events being covered remain truly surprising -- and truly great radio.
But make no mistake: even though more than sixty years has passed since “Night Watch” first aired, the series is definitely not suitable for family listening. The individual incidents recorded range from an investigation of two small children left in a cold parked car while their parents spend hours drinking in a local tavern to the often harrowing attempts by police to save the life of a man slashed almost to death with a razor. Reed’s quiet ongoing narration of the cases as they develop makes for a real-life version of the kind of flat no-nonsense narration that made Jack Webb’s “Dragnet” so memorable -- and it makes the shows even more gripping to hear today.
The twenty broadcasts contained in this collection have been taken from the highest quality source recordings known to exist for this series - in fact, these newly restored broadcasts have the best audio quality of any “Night Watch” programs ever released. We know that these unique, unusual, and rare documentary shows will make an excellent and welcome addition to your radio show library.
10 hours - $14.99 MP3 / $29.98 Audio CDs
The House of Murders
by Robert Wallace
Forged in war, The Phantom Detective wages a one-man battle on crime! Solving impossible mysteries and delivering his own justice, he is the underworld’s masked nightmare!
Death stalks menacingly through a mysterious mansion of ghastly, blood-curdling horrors as crime takes its grim toll. Armed with a razor-sharp intellect, a well-trained body, and most of all a desire to crush criminals wherever they may be, The Phantom Detective walks into a horror house, one that not even he may survive!
Oftentimes, readers of Pulp magazines in their Golden Age of publication read the wild, over the top stories for one reason - escape. Looking to get out of the humdrum of Depression or War era America, fans of all ages marveled to the adventures of larger than life heroes and insane villains. The Phantom Detective both met this qualification to be a Pulp Hero, but also stood out in his own unique way as a relatable character. Though born into wealth, Richard Curtis Van Loan became a self-made man when he decided to become The Phantom Detective. Undertaking to train himself in every aspect of crimefighting, including disguises and escape techniques, Van Loan crafted his own destiny. He also did this without a super scientist father, a likely mystical training in a far-off land, or any other such devices. Granted, he had wealth that many of his readers did not have at his disposal, but still, Van Loan was in many ways a regular joe who saw a need and came up with a very unique way of helping fill it. Yes, he is introduced in the earliest stories as a world renowned detective, but later tales fill out how he came to be such, why law enforcement around the world respects a masked man so much, something that many of his counterparts before, during, and after his series did not enjoy.
‘The House of Murders’ was originally published in the February 1935 issue of The Phantom Detective Magazine and is read with pulse pounding intensity by award winning voice actor Milton Bagby.
5 hours - $9.99 MP3 / $19.98 Audio CDs
When Satan Came to Town
by Prentice Winchell writing as Grant Stockbridge
Read by Nick Santa Maria
As if he did not have enough death and danger threatening every moment because of his dual identity as the Spider — that great crime-crusader hunted and hated by police and underworld alike — Richard Wentworth now took on a third role. And this was just as deadly a character part to play. As Case Brent, ex-inmate of Alcatraz, Wentworth tricked The Conqueror, and stood alone in the path of this master-madman’s hordes from hell as they attempted to riot and slaughter their bloody way through the whole of America — to the Capital!
A deeply religious man, Norvell W. Page began infusing his latter Spider stories with undercurrents of a strange spiritual quest. A Tibetan monk became a recurring character, issuing prophecies. Psychic phenomenon became a constant theme. Jesus was often evoked.
The Spider magazine folded with the December, 1943 issue, battered and bloodied by the onslaught of the new comic book superheroes, wartime paper shortages which led to wholesale cancellations of pulp magazines, and the tragic death of Norvell W. Page’s first wife, Audrey. He coped by abandoning fiction altogether and becoming a writer for the Office of War Information, later working for various Washingtonian entities. He died in 1961, never imagining that the Spider would birth a weird posterity.
Nick Santa Maria reads When Satan Came to Town with the crackling intensity you have come to expect of his superb talent. Originally published in The Spider magazine, December, 1943.
5 hours - $9.99 MP3 / $19.98 Audio CDs
Volume 13
by I.A. Watson, S. Subramanian, Fred Adams Jr. and Dexter Fabi
Read by Roberto Scarlato
Cases Most Bizarre
In their recorded exploits, Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson faced all kinds of mysteries; from the mundane to the most foul and insidious. They solved riddles involving blackmail, thievery and murder — each with the same devotion to serving justice no matter the outcome.
In this latest collection of the bestselling series, Holmes and Watson will deal with three women all claiming to be the heir to a fortune, the brother of an old foe seeking revenge and a severed head sent to their apartment at 221B Baker Street.
Writers I.A. Watson, S. Subramanian, Fred Adams Jr. and Dexter Fabi have created thrilling new adventures that will challenge the detective duo in the most bizarre ways ever imagined.
Read by Roberto Scarlato.
Table of Contents:
The Woman Who Collected Queen Victoria
by I.A. Watson
The Problem at Farnaham
by S. Subramanian
The Affair of the Drunken Sexton
by Fred Adams Jr.
The Second Adventure of the Empty House
by S. Subramanian
The Adventure of the Severed Heads
by Dexter Fabi
8 hours - $15.99 MP3 / $31.98 Audio CDs
Radio Archives Pulp Classics
The House Of Murders - February 1935
Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
The Phantom Detective! The name alone conjures up action and adventure. From the same publisher that brought you The Black Bat, Captain Danger, The Crimson Mask and The Green Ghost came one of pulpdom’s best-known detectives. Scourge of the underworld, The Phantom, as he was called, aided the Law with his sweetheart Muriel Havens. His first adventure was published in February 1933 and they continued for 170 thrilling exploits until the Summer 1953 issue. The Phantom Detective returns in these vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
Table of Contents:
A Full Book-Length Novel
The House Of Murders
by Robert Wallace
Death stalks menacingly through a mysterious mansion of ghastly, blood-curdling horrors as crime takes its grim toll.
Masked Faces — Gripping Short Story
by Norman A. Daniels
On the exciting trail of a desperate hold-up gang!
Baffling Bluff — Gripping Short Story
by Alfred I. Tooke
The Osborne murder was a mighty strange case
Death, The Champ — Gripping Short Story
by George McNeil
Reis wasn’t the type to stage a crooked scrap, but —
Death Arrow — Gripping Short Story
by Ray Cummings
John Vance, filled with greed, plans a perfect crime
The Phantom Speaks — A Department
Radio Archives Pulp Classics line of eBooks are of the highest quality and feature the great Pulp Fiction stories of the 1930s-1950s. All eBooks produced by Radio Archives are available in ePub and Mobi formats for the ultimate in compatibility. If you have a Kindle, the Mobi version is what you want. If you have an iPad/iPhone, Android, or Nook, then the ePub version is what you want.
$3.99
Radio Archives Pulp Classics
Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
In the late 1930s, the "Golden Age of Science Fiction" began, and Thrilling Wonder Stories played a large part in its explosive growth. It began in 1936, after combining Science Wonder Stories and Air Wonder Stories into a single magazine. Along with its sister publication Startling Stories, Thrilling Wonder Stories featured some of the brightest names in science fiction. Edmond Hamilton, who went on to create Captain Future, cut his teeth writing for Thrilling Wonder Stories. Eando Binder, creator of robot Adam Link, was regularly featured in the magazine. Other writers included Frederick Arnold Kummer, Arthur Leo Zagat, Murray Leinster, A.E. van Vogt, James Blish, Ray Bradbury and John W. Campbell. Thrilling Wonder Stories returns in vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
Table of Contents:
Dream-Dust from Mars — Complete Novelette
by Manly Wade Wellman
Zones Of Space — Complete Novelette
by Max C. Sheridan
Life Eternal — Complete Novelette
by Eando Binder
We, The Invisible — Complete Novelette
by Frank Belknap Long, Jr
Via Asteroid — Thrilling Short Story
by Gordon A. Giles
The Changer Of History — Thrilling Short Story
by Alexander Samalman
Alchemy Of Outer Space — Thrilling Short Story
by D.L. James
Giant And Dwarf Stars — Special Article
by Sir James Jeans
Scientifacts — Special Feature
by J.B. Walter
The Story Behind The Story — Feature
Scientibook Reviews — Review
A New Book on Atom-Smashing — Feature
Science Questions And Answers — Feature
Science Fiction League — Feature
Forecast For The Next Issue — Feature
The Reader Speaks — Feature
Radio Archives Pulp Classics line of eBooks are of the highest quality and feature the great Pulp Fiction stories of the 1930s-1950s. All eBooks produced by Radio Archives are available in ePub and Mobi formats for the ultimate in compatibility. If you have a Kindle, the Mobi version is what you want. If you have an iPad/iPhone, Android, or Nook, then the ePub version is what you want.
Comments From Our Customers!
Jeff Thomason writes:
Great shows! Excellent quality! I love the Whistler, and these are some of the best episodes of the series, especially Small Town Girl, Uncle Ben’s Widow, Letter from Yesterday, and Cover Up. The quality couldn’t be better.
Jim S writes:
Sunglasses After Dark by Nancy A Collins. A New Way To Experience An Exceptional Novel This is a great format for an old favorite. It’s almost completely unabridged, and the choice of narrator is inspired. Highly recommended!
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