Tag: OTRcat.com

Spooky Tunes for a Swinging Halloween

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As of now, we’re all spooks all the time here at Cladrite Radio. We’re playing nothing but songs about murder and mayhem, ghosts and goblins, but the ghoulish fun ends soon, so listen while you can.

Speaking of Halloween on the radio, OTRCat.com, purveyors of old-time radio programs, are offering an assortment of spooky shows free of charge (they offer many more collections of shows that you can pay for, if you’re so inclined). The free shows run the gamut from adventure to mystery, horror—even comedy.

Here’s a sample program, an episode of Inner Sanctum starring none other than Boris Karloff.

Inner Sanctum: “Wailing Wall” (first aired November 6, 1945; 27 min, 7 sec.)

Make Mine Swinging—and Spooky

cladriteLeave a comment

As of now, we’re all spooks all the time here at Cladrite Radio. We’re playing nothing but songs about murder and mayhem, ghosts and goblins, but the ghoulish fun ends soon, so listen while you can.

Speaking of Halloween on the radio, OTRCat.com, purveyors of old-time radio programs, are offering an assortment of spooky shows free of charge (they offer many more collections of shows that you can pay for, if you’re so inclined). The free shows run the gamut from adventure to mystery, horror—even comedy.

Here’s a sample program, an episode of Inner Sanctum starring none other than Boris Karloff.

Inner Sanctum: “Wailing Wall” (first aired November 6, 1945; 27 min, 7 sec.)

An OTR Thanksgiving

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As we’ve stated in this space before, we have nothing whatsoever to do with OTRCat.com, purveyors of audio collections of old-time radio programs. We don’t benefit in any way from offering plugs for them.

But we enjoy listening to old radio programs and we like it that, when major holidays roll around, the good folks at OTRCat make it a practice to offer a round-up of timely broadcasts for the streaming (or, if you prefer, the downloading), absolutely free.

This week, as you might guess, they’ve got a line-up of shows with a Thanksgiving theme, and the range of genres and decades is impressive. You can catch everything from comedies (Burns and Allen, Jack Benny) to westerns (Gunsmoke—and from 1958, if you can believe it. It’s easy to forget radio drams were still airing that late), musical programs (Command Performance, featuring Dinah Shore) and even hardboiled detective shows (The Adventures of Sam Spade).

Speaking of The Adventures of Sam Spade, we’re sharing that one below, just to whet your appetite, so to speak—but we strongly recommend you head over to OTRCat.com to see the entire line-up. And why not consider making a purchase of one of their entertaining collections of OTR programs while you’re at it? They couldn’t be more affordable, and they make great holiday gifts for those vintage-minded individuals on your gift list.

The Adventures of Sam Spade: “The Terrified Turkey Caper” (11/24/1950; 28:20)

Another OTR Christmas

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We figure most folks will find themselves in one of two camps over the next few days.

The first group will be those who got a bit of a jump on their seasonal activities. They’ve purchased and wrapped all their gifts, mailed their cards, gotten the grocery shopping completed for any holiday meals they’re to prepare, so now they spend the next few days relaxing and savoring the festive mood that surrounds us.

The second group, bless their hearts, have accomplished few to none of the above-cited tasks, and will be frantic and out of breath for the next 72 hours or so as they fight the crowds to squeeze in some last-minute shopping; sign, stamp, and lick, and mail their cards, and drive all over town from grocery store to understocked grocery store looking for all the ingredients required for the holiday meal they’re expected to whip up.

To the second group, we say, “Good luck and Godspeed—we don’t envy you.” Because, the rigors of a little holiday travel aside, we’ve completed our own seasonal tasks and intend to relax and enjoy ourselves through the weekend.

One way we in the first camp might pass the time is with some Christmas-themed old-time radio programs from the good folks at OTRcat.com. They traffic in reasonably priced collections of classic radio shows from the Cladrite Era, but for the next few days, you can listen to a full dozen holiday programs for free.

A number of genres are featured: mystery-horror, variety shows, dramas, cop shows, private eye programs, and comedies, among others.

We’re sharing below an episode of the “Lights Out” program entitled “Uninhabited” that originally aired on December 22, 1937, in which, as the folks at OTRcat describe it, “a French, Australian, and African-American soldier find themselves traveling on a train on Christmas Eve 1918.” But if the likes of “The Jack Benny Show,” “The Great Gildersleeve,” or “Dragnet” are more to your liking, you’ll find those streaming at OTRcat.com.

Lights Out: “Uninhabited” (30:04)

We think you’ll find the offerings at OTRcat well worth your consideration, and at these prices—free!—they certainly can’t be beat. So put your feet up and relax—you’ve earned it!—as you enjoy some Christmas entertainment from the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s—when you’re not listening to Cladrite Radio, that is.

(P.S. We have absolutely no connection to OTRcat.com. We just like old-time radio, and we appreciate any outfit that’s willing to share samples of their wares gratis.)

Thrills and chills, at no cost to you

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Halloween is upon us, a time when we’re reminded that sometimes less is more, that suggestion can sometimes be more effective than graphic representation.

Which is why we appreciate that the good folks over at OTRcat.com are again offering free streams and downloads of a handful of old-time radio programs, each with a Halloween theme. No graphic violence or gore for us, please. We prefer to shudder in our seat due to a sense of creeping dread rather than leap out of it in reaction to some shocking bit of cinematic violence.

Here are horror and mystery programs—Inner Sanctum, Quiet Please, and Suspense, among others—and even an episode of the popular comedy show The Great Gildersleeve.

And if you find listening to these few frightening offerings whets your appetite for more, now’s the time to take the leap, as the folks at OTRcat are offering their collections of scary programs at 20% off. We’re not certain just how long the savings will last, so hurry over.

We’ll share with you one of our favorites among the programs available at the site, an episode of The Whistler, a series that ran from 1942 until 1955 and was adapted into a movie series starring Richard Dix.

The Whistler: “Death Comes at Midnight” (October 18, 1942)

As we’ve said before, we have nothing whatsoever to do with OTRcat.com; we certainly don’t make a dime from promoting the site and its wares. We just like their product and the fact that they’re willing to occasionally give away some of what they’re selling. Anyone who introduces more people to old-time radio is okay in our book.