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April 26, 2024
2 new products and 5 featured products from Radio Archives this week!
All new and featured products are discounted the first week.
Featured: previously released
Volume 4
"Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar", billed as the adventures of "America's action packed insurance investigator", debuted on CBS radio on February 11, 1949, featuring Charles Russell in the title role. It was typical radio fare for the time - basically just another slam-bang half-hour detective series - and, though consistently well written and acted, the series was never really unique or substantial enough to capture a large and enthusiastic audience. Over the next few years, several actors were assigned the title role - including Edmond O'Brien and John Lund - but, though the show was, at one point, sponsored by Wrigley's Gum, the network often simply carried it as a sustaining feature -- a creative time-filler for the enjoyment of a radio audience that was rapidly migrating to television.
In the fall of 1955, however, some surprising things happened to "Johnny Dollar". In a stroke of casting genius, long-time radio veteran Bob Bailey, fresh from the Mutual network detective series "Let George Do It," took over the title role. Director Jack Johnstone and writers John Dawson, Robert Ryf, and Les Crutchfield joined the production team. And, at the same time, CBS began experimenting with some of its longest-running radio series by offering them as quarter hour, five-a-week "strip" shows, running Monday through Friday. The result was a shot in the arm for "Johnny Dollar" - and a surprisingly fresh beginning for a show in a medium that was rapidly turning away from drama. It was obvious that actor Bob Bailey was born to play the role, bringing to his portrayal a realistic depth and likeability that had been lacking in earlier versions of the show. The newly expanded format gave the writers a chance to craft characters and develop the depth of the stories without the need to wrap up every loose end after 24 brief minutes of dialogue. And the subtle cliffhanging nature of the stories made radio's dwindling listening audience want to tune in day after day - something that, by 1955, was seldom happening with any shows outside the realm of the daily soap operas.
This fourth 10-CD Radio Archives collection features ten five-part stories first aired in the spring and summer of 1956. As you listen to Dollar as he painstakingly pursues each case to its conclusion, note the extensive research that has obviously gone into each script; the action always takes place in real locations, complete with real street names, and landmarks are frequently noted throughout the shows. Local stations that broadcast "Johnny Dollar" are often mentioned, as well as the actual names of their personnel -- an interesting and amusing way to sustain interest in the show among network radio affiliates that might (or might not) be willing to carry it at all. The sound patterns, the musical scores, and the realistic dialog paint such a true audio picture that you can't help being swept, chapter by chapter, into the adventure. And the performers, including such radio veterans as Virginia Gregg, Lawrence Dobkin, Eleanor Audley, Lurene Tuttle, Harry Bartell, Sam Edwards, Joseph Kearns, Marvin Miller, William Conrad, Jeanette Nolan, and Richard Crenna, demonstrate their diverse talents in a series of realistic and textured characterizations.
For long-time fans of "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar," these five-part adventures constitute the absolute pinnacle of the series' run -- and, in this fourth collection, Radio Archives is pleased to bring you another ten full weeks of these engrossing programs in excellent digital sound.
Featured: previously released
Volume 85
Radio Preservation has always been at the core of Radio Archives. This exciting series is derived from our massive collection of thirty thousand radio shows from 16" transcription discs.
This 20 hour collection includes shows from the classic days of Radio. You'll find rare and obscure as well as mainstream radio shows from the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s in the Radio Archives Treasures sets.
These shows have all been restored with state-of-the-art CEDAR technology - the audio processing system used by major recording companies to restore older recordings. We expect the shows to be the best sounding copies available anywhere. Radio Archives Treasures are restored to sparkling digital quality.
Volume 85 includes shows from these series.
You Bet Your Life, Unit 99, Forecast, Command Performance, The Henry Morgan Show, Biographies in Sound, Philco Radio Time, Hallmark Playhouse, Hear It Now, Lightning Jim, The College Quiz Bowl, The Palmolive Players, The Checkerboard Fun Fest, The C. P. MacGregor Show, and The Sons of the Pioneers Show.
Featured: previously released
The Frightened Fish
by Will Murray and Lester Dent writing as Kenneth Robeson
Read by Michael McConnohie
Early in 1949, Lester Dent wrote what proved to be his final Doc Savage novel, Up From Earth’s Center. It was a very strange tale in which Doc and his men descend into a cavern that seems to be an outpost of hell itself. To this day, many fans think that Lester ended his famous pulp series on a note of deliberate if unresolved fantasy. Not so. He had no idea he’d penned his final Doc.
A few months later, Dent pitched his editor, Daisy Bacon, a follow-up story. By return mail, she informed him that Doc Savage magazine had been suspended. Shortly after that, it was canceled. He never wrote this proposed tale.
Forty years later, when Bantam Books asked me to write new Doc Savage novels, I was ready. With the permission of Lester’s widow, Norma Dent, I had already turned that interesting premise into the short novel I called, The Frightened Fish.
Expanding on Dent’s idea, I turned this concept into a far-ranging adventure that began in New York City with sightings of mysterious people inexplicably terrified by images of ordinary fish, and brings the Man of Bronze to New England, where all sea life has mysteriously disappeared from Massachusetts coastal waters. The trail ultimately takes Doc by submarine to Occupied Japan, and an incredible showdown with a foe from his past, who was believed to have perished in the 1945 novel, The Screaming Man.
This is a story of the early Cold War, and a sequel to Lester’s 1948 masterpiece, The Red Spider, in which a more mature and emotionally sophisticated Man of Bronze tackles an international threat which resonates with today's ecologically-challenged headlines. Characters from his past reappear, and Doc Savage is tested in ways never before imagined.
Michael McConnohie masterfully brings this gripping tale to life, adding depths of emotional complexity that will make The Frightened Fish and its shattering climax live long in your memory.
5 hours - MP3 regular price $9.99
Featured: previously released
Satan's Murder Machines
by Norvell W. Page writing as Grant Stockbridge
Read by Nick Santa Maria
How could a lone man, ceaselessly hunted by the law and a deadly under-world alike, hope to save the terrified city from the Iron Man — a super-being whose cohorts were giant, unconquerable robots of steel! Read how the Master of Men rose up to crush the invincible killers who dealt destruction at every step. Another dramatic, pulse-quickening Spider novel!
For two years, Norvell W. Page and his understudy, Wayne Rogers, alternated on writing the Spider novels. This was after Page came back from a hiatus in the middle of 1937. Some would say he returned with a vengeance, taking the insane plots of the stories to brand new heights of madness.
By 1939, Richard Wentworth had been operating as the Spider for nearly six harrowing years. He had been through everything a good pulp hero could expect to face. Malevolent master villains. Sinister Asian world conquerors. Mad scientists more diabolical than anything conceived before that point. And of course since the Spider was a wanted criminal, endless police officials, uniformed cops, homicide detectives and other officers of the law had been pursuing him with single-minded fervor.
A mere mortal would have succumbed back in 1933. Not the indomitable Richard Wentworth. He seemed to thrive on conditions of continuous peril. Yes, he did put down his mask and guns a time or two, vowing never to become the dreaded Spider again. But the call to battle always made his blood sing, and inevitably the Master of Men returned to battle the underworld in another blazing exploit.
Nick Santa Maria reads Satan's Murder Machines with the crackling intensity you have come to expect of his superb talent. Originally published in The Spider magazine, December, 1939.
 New eBook
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.
Ki-Gor, son of the jungle! Orphaned son of missionary Robert Kilgour, raised in the jungle, he grew to a six foot bronzed-skin giant who ruled the jungles. Joined by Helen Vaughn, his fiance and later wife, Timbo George, the Masai chief, and N'Geeso, the chief of a Pygmy tribe, this band of adventurers roam the wilds of Africa in a series of pulp magazine stories that began in 1939 and ended with the last published story in 1954. Now, Ki-Gor is back, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
 New eBook
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.
During the science-fiction boom of the 1930s, there were over a dozen pulp magazines dedicated to the subject. Analog, Startling Stories, Amazing Stories, Planet Stories, Captain Future and Super Science Stories were just a few. In 1929, Hugo Gernsback founded the magazine which would eventually, after several name changes, become Thrilling Wonder Stories. Until it folded in 1955, it published ground-breaking science fiction from some of the genre's brightest stars. Thrilling Wonder Stories returns in these vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
Featured eBook
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. As a special bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of eBooks.
Another epic exploit of America’s best-loved pulp-fiction character of the 1930s and 1940s: The Spider — Master of Men! Richard Wentworth — the dread Spider, nemesis of the Underworld, lone wolf anti-crime crusader who always fights in that grim no-man’s land between Law and lawless — returns in vintage pulp tales of the Spider, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
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. New Kindle's use ePub. If you have an iPad/iPhone, Android, or Nook, then the ePub version is what you want.
The Bargain Basement is where you find all the discounted Audio CDs including everything featured in this newsletter.
Comments From Our Customers!
Penny from Santa Ana writes:
The Johnny Dollar series was recommended by a friend many years ago so it was in the back of my mind for ages. I got the first season for my dad when he was ill and stuck in bed for a while, then my family got the fourth season for a road trip. We'll keep filling in the rest of the series over time. It's so much fun! As customers of Radio Archives for about seven years we have nothing but praise for our experiences with them -- love being able to find old time radio shows so easily!
Charles Wullenjohn Writes:
Sounding clear, sharp and crisp is what it's all about in terms of enjoying an old radio show. That, of course, and a well written, involving story. Radio Archives has consistently provided an excellent product in the past and this volume is no exception. And "Yours Truly Johnny Dollar" is consistently a great program. All in all, I'm very happy repeat customer.
If you'd like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email to [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you!
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Audio CD ordering information
We offer Audio CDs of all of our Old Time Radio sets and Pulp Audiobooks. To order click here for the Audio CD Order Form or by voicemail at 800-886-0551. All discounted Audio CDs are in the Bargain Basement.
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