January 16, 2015
A cowboy singer and actor, Roy Rogers was one of the most popular Western stars of the twentieth century. Appearing in over one hundred films beginning in 1935, as well as numerous television and radio appearances, he became known as the “King of the Cowboys”. A glamorized version of the archetypal cowboy, he was the embodiment of the all-American hero to many.
Living on a farm with no radio, Roy’s family had to make their own entertainment when he grew up. On Saturday nights, they treated neighbors to square dances at which Roy would sing, play mandolin and call the dances. He also learned to yodel.
Roy was often joined by his wife, Dale Evans, known as “the Queen of the West”, whom he met on the set of The Cowboy and the Senorita, in his productions, as well as his regular co-stars, his famous golden palomino Trigger, which was known for his ability to do tricks.
Roy Rogers’ radio show ran for nine years before moving to television in 1951. Originally having a western music and variety format, the show later introduced storylines involving outlaws, tall tales or cliffhangers involving a deed to a ranch, but no matter what the story, there was always time for a light-hearted song or two.
The Roy Rogers Show, sponsored over the years by Post Cereal’s, Goodyear Tires, Quaker Oats and others was transcribed as Roy's contractual obligations precluded him from performing live. Roy, put a clause into his 1940 contract with Republic Pictures that gave him the right to his likeness, voice and name for merchandising. This opened the door for Roy Rogers action figures, novels, play-sets, a comic strip, a long-running Dell comic book series, lunch-boxes, folding knifes, cookie jars, cap guns, watches, and much more. Eventually, Roy Rogers was second only to Walt Disney in the amount of items featuring his name.
Listen to the Sparkling Audio Quality in Radio Archives restoration of The Roy Rogers Show, Volume 1.
8 hours - $11.99 Download / $23.98 Audio CDs
Radio Archives has chosen the Broadway Records Auction company
to sell 9,000 of our transcription discs over the next several years.
By special arrangement with Marc Friend, the owner of Broadway Records, all the unsold transcription discs from the last auction will be listed exclusively on the Radio Archives website after the auction ends.
The discs will be sold on a first come basis for the minimum bid. The next auction starts on February 15th. If you would like to receive the next auction list by email, click here. broadwayrecords@gmail.com.
Special 50% discount Offer
It’s always exciting to hear a radio show you’ve never heard before -- but it’s particularly exciting to discover an entire radio series that hasn’t been heard since it was originally broadcast. That’s the case with The Old Gold Comedy Theatre, an NBC anthology series broadcast for a single season between 1944 and 1945. Hosted by comedy star Harold Lloyd and featuring some of the biggest names from film and radio, this half-hour series was preserved from 78 RPM discs by Richard Simonton and has now been digitally restored by Radio Archives.
Preston Sturges could afford to turn it down when offered the position of host and director of a proposed radio program. The Old Gold Comedy Theatre was intended as a lighter version ofThe Lux Radio Theatre, hosted by Hollywood pioneer, Cecil B. DeMille. The story goes that when Sturges declined the job, he nominated Harold Lloyd in his place.
Harold Lloyd had performed on the stage as a youth, then entered the motion picture business in about 1912, a year or two before even DeMille. By the mid-1920’s, he was the leading star of comedy films, surpassing all others in popularity and income. Some of his sound films were successful, but never approached the appeal of his greatest silents. While many film stars, such as Harold’s early leading lady, Bebe Daniels, were to become popular in radio, Harold’s only involvement had been as an investor in KMPC, along with Bing Crosby, Amos ’n Andy, and Paul Whiteman.
Specially priced until January 29th. 10 hours - $7.49 Download / $14.99 Audio CDs
Special 50% discount Offer
In 1980, a sort of perfect storm came together in terms of radio drama revival. Top talent of both the classic era of radio and modern entertainment worked hand in hand on Mutual Radio Theater, a multi genre show harkening back to classic anthologies of the past. Twenty fantastic episodes are collected in Mutual Radio Theater, Volume 4!
The Mutual Radio Theater aired every weeknight on hundreds of Mutual stations from March to December 1980. Each program written specifically for radio included scripts penned by such radio legends as Arch Oboler, Norman Corwin, and Elliot Lewis. These scribes brought their formidable talents to bear on this kaleidoscopic show by providing solid scripts for every genre the show represented five nights a week. The writing blended well with the work of modern storytellers to make Mutual Radio Theater an instant classic.
And the stories themselves ranged the genre gambit. Each night’s program featured a particular genre and was hosted by a different notable performer. Lorne Greene hosted Western Night on Monday. Andy Griffith followed on Tuesday with Comedy Night. Wednesday Night was Mystery Night hosted by Vincent Price. Love & Hate took center stage on Thursday, hosted by Cicely Tyson. Friday Night was Adventure Night with Leonard Nimoy as host.
Mutual Radio Theater, Volume 4 is a 20 CD set of programs as they originally aired, complete and uncut, with original commercials, and produced in full stereo-high fidelity! Comedy, mystery, adventure, romance, and horror. All can be found in Mutual Radio Theater, Volume 4 from Radio Archives!
Specially priced until January 29th. 20 hours - $15.99 Download / $29.99 Audio CDs
Secret Agent "X" is now a Monthly Audiobook!
Will Murray's Pulp Classics #68
Read by Milton Bagby. Liner Notes by Will Murray
A nameless mystery man with a wartime past, backed by a shadowy group of powerful philanthropists, Secret Agent “X” took on the toughest assignments of the dirty thirties. Operating out of the half-haunted Montgomery Mansion, “X” was also known as the Man of a Thousand Faces. A past master of disguise, he infiltrated the Underworld to crush crime in all of its hideous manifestations.
No one knew who Secret Agent “X “really was. Not his readers. Not his editors. Not even his writer, conceivably. To this day, eighty years later, his true identity is still a deep mystery. That’s keeping a secret!
Every hero needed something to distinguish himself from his rivals. The Shadow could blend into the shadows. Doc Savage was a superman. The Spider shot first and asked no questions later. Every one of them was a consummate quick-change artist. In that respect, “X” would be no different.
For Secret Agent “X”, it was decreed that he would pit himself against villains who were maestros of unbridled horror. Melodrama was the rule of the day. But the unknown “X” plunged into maelstroms of raw bloodlust undreamed of by The Shadow and Doc Savage. His foes were truly depraved. Terrorists. Torturers. Kidnappers. Stranglers. Arsonists. These were the types of tabloid master criminals our nameless hero hunted.
Before long, The Spider started going up against foes as a maniacal as the ones “X” vanquished every month. But the Man of a Thousand Faces first blazed that terrible trail.
Writer Paul Chadwick communicated the essence of the new series with the horrific titles of his novels. The Death-Torch Terror stands out as an early example of the fearful proceedings.
In this thrilling tale, a series of bank robberies are marked by a trail of incinerated corpses. What sinister weapon has been fielded that reduces living flesh and bone to charred husks? When New York’s police commissioner is abducted by the murderous gang, the Man of Mystery and Destiny dons his warpaint and takes up the trail. But will the fires of doom engulf “X”, too?
The Death-Torch Terror is read in fearful intonations by Milton Bagby.
5 hours - $9.99 Download / $19.98 Audio CDs
EXCITING ANNOUNCEMENT!
Eight new Doc Savage audiobooks coming!
Will Murray, author of Altus Press’ Wild Adventures of Doc Savage novel series, and Radio Archives have just finalized an agreement to record the eight Doc Savage novels that Will has written since 2011. The first book to be recorded will be The Desert Demons, set for release in 2015, followed by Horror in Gold.
“With the recent audio release of The Whistling Wraith, the last of my 1990s-era Doc novels,” explained Murray, “it was inevitable that we turn our attention to my Wild Adventures series. I’m happy to report that all participants, including top Hollywood voice actor Michael McConnohie and acclaimed cover artist Joe DeVito, have agreed to work together with Tom Brown to make this second group of stories available to audiobook listeners.”
Tom Brown added: “Doc Savage is our most popular audiobook series and we are thrilled to add eight new audiobooks to the eight that we have done in the last four years.”
Will Murray's Pulp Classics #69
Read by Michael C. Gwynne. Liner Notes by Will Murray
Ever since Sax Rohmer conceived Dr. Fu Manchu, thriller writers have attempted to emulate his sinister appeal. No class of authors vied to out-villain Rohmer more than the pulp writers of the 1930s. The very best of these imitations was the work of top pulpateer Donald E. Keyhoe, later to make headlines as the retired Air Force officer who claimed that flying saucers were real.
Dr. Yen Sin lasted only three issues in 1936, but Keyhoe’s short-lived trilogy was a memorable attempt to give the “Yellow Peril” theme a mature and suspenseful treatment. The premise is a familiar one—a sinister Chinese super-scientist out to conquer the world. Pitted against him is the Q-Group, headed by State Department operative Michael Traile, who because of a childhood accident cannot sleep. Instead, he employs Yoga as a substitute. Under Traile are a host of secret agents, chief of whom is Eric Gordon of the F. B. I., who reports personally to Director John Glover—actually J. Edgar Hoover. Adding a dash of feminine mystique is Sin’s mysterious cohort, Sonya Damatri, while Eric Gordon’s girlfriend, Iris Vaughan, furnishes the series’ love interest.
Beginning with The Mystery of The Dragon’s Shadow and continuing through The Mystery of the Golden Skull and The Mystery of the Singing Mummies, the running battle between Dr. Yen Sin and his sleepless nemesis is a riveting roller-coaster ride of exotic torture, diabolic doom devices and sudden death that rages from Washington, D. C. to San Francisco! One wishes that Popular Publications had seen fit to publish the promised fourth installment, The Mystery of the Faceless Men…This series was that good!
Here is the third thrilling struggle between Traile and Dr. Sin. The Mystery of the Singing Mummies is narrated with breathless urgency by Michael C. Gwynne. Foggy San Francisco is the new battleground. Egyptian mysticism blended with super-scientific terror is the threat as Dr. Sin unleashes the latest diabolic weapon in his awesome arsenal. And caught in the middle—F.B.I. agent Eric Gordon and Dr. Sin’s beautiful pawn, Sonya Damatri.
Also included are a pair of Chinatown chillers by Alden H. Norton and Frank Gruber, “The Seventh Sleeping Brother” and “The Choking Chalice.”
6 hours - $11.99 Download / $23.98 Audio CDs
Robert Weinberg Presents
by Mort Castle
Read by Milton Bagby. Liner Notes by Robert Weinberg
Meet Michael Louden. He’s a nice guy, the friendly neighbor who attends PTA meetings and sells peanuts for the Kiwanis Club. Mike always has a friendly hello when you pass him mowing the lawn. He has a great sense of humor and is always quick with a joke or funny story. Mike’s married with a cute wife and two wonderful kids. Yet, somehow, there’s something beneath that pleasant exterior, that calm demeanor that sets your nerves on fire. Something about Mike Louden isn’t right.
Mike Louden is a Stranger. It’s a name he’s given himself and others like him. Because he knows that modern society is filled with people like him — Strangers who do not fit into the restrictive boundaries of normal social behavior. For deep down, far beneath the surface of pleasant, ordinary Michael Louden is another person — a homicidal maniac who schemes to murder everyone he knows. He’s death given human form, a monster who’s keeping close watch on his friends and family, just waiting for them to make a single mistake, a foolish misstep. That’s when he will strike; killing, murdering, slaughtering. The day of the Stranger is coming, coming faster than anyone can imagine. Millions upon millions of them will rise up, howling at the moon, and drowning the ordinary people of the world in rivers of blood! It’s coming soon, and nothing can stop it.
Mort Castle is a master of the written word. He’s particularly well known as an author of creepy stories. This is the second of his classic horror novels to be adapted by Radio Archives, the first being Cursed Be the Child, published in 2014.
Castle, who was born in 1946, has over 350 short stories and a dozen hardcovers to his credit. He’s also a prolific contributor to comic books. Mort served as editor for Writing Horror, published by the Horror Writers Association, which contains material by Stephen King, Robert Weinberg, Harlan Ellison, David Morrell, and Joyce Carol Oates. Castle’s work has been nominated four times for the Bram Stoker Award in Short Fiction, given by the Horror Writers Association.
Mort has worked as a professional musician, a standup comedian, a stage hypnotist, a high school English teacher, and a magazine and comic book editor. He currently serves as writer-in-residence for three Chicago area high schools and teaches “Researching and Writing Historical Fiction” and “The Story in Graphic Form” at Columbia College in Chicago. Read by Milton Bagby.
8 hours - Only $15.99 Download / $31.98 Audio CDs
Join Will Murray, Robert Weinberg, Radio Archives, the Authors and Voice Actors discussing all the new audiobooks. Take a look and leave a comment.
New Will Murray's Pulp Classics eBooks
The best of timeless Pulp now available as cutting edge eBooks! Will Murray's Pulp Classics brings the greatest heroes, awesome action, and two fisted thrills to your eReader! Presenting Pulp Icons such as the Spider, G-8 and His Battle Aces, Operator #5 as well as wonderfully obscure characters like the Octopus and Captain Satan. Will Murray's Pulp Classics brings you the best of yesterday's Pulp today!
“I’m going blind... I can’t see!” From all along the Yank front those reports came in — pitiful reports from troops sent up to stage a victory drive — troops that now fought on — grimly, hopelessly. And G-8, watching from the air, vowed grimly to avenge their slaughter, to track this horror scourge to its source and bust it wide open with crimson lead! G-8 and his Battle Aces rode the nostalgia boom ten years after World War I ended. These high-flying exploits were tall tales of a World War that might have been, featuring monster bats, German zombies, wolf-men, harpies, Martians, and even tentacled floating monsters. Most of these monstrosities were the work of Germany’s seemingly endless supply of mad scientists, chief of whom was G-8’s recurring Nemesis, Herr Doktor Krueger. G-8 battled Germany’s Halloween shock troops for over a decade, not ceasing until the magazine folded in the middle of World War II. G-8 and his Battle Aces return in vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. $2.99.
Dusty Ayres and his Battle Birds ##31 July-Aug 1935 The Tesla Raiders
This is the twelfth and final issue in the Dusty Ayres series. “Special emergency report from the Atlanta, Georgia, area. The 25th air concentration depot was completely destroyed fifteen minutes ago... All communication cut off... No details available...” Dusty Ayres heard this report grimly. He knew it meant that Fire-Eyes had caught America unprepared, had struck where he was least expected. How could we parry this new blow? How could our nation, tricked and worn out with war, outwit the Blacks in their most gigantic attempt to conquer the western world? Captain Dusty Ayres, ace pilot for the U.S. Air Defense flies in the Silver Flash, an advanced craft of his own design. With his two pals Curly Brooks and Biff Bolton, they battle some of the most diabolical mad scientists and their weirdest inventions. These exciting stories took over the Battle Birds magazine from June 1934 through the July/August issue of 1935, changing the magazine name to Dusty Ayres and his Battle Birds. And now Dusty Ayres and his Battle Birds is back, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. $2.99.
This is the twelfth and final issue in the Dusty Ayres series. “Special emergency report from the Atlanta, Georgia, area. The 25th air concentration depot was completely destroyed fifteen minutes ago... All communication cut off... No details available...” Dusty Ayres heard this report grimly. He knew it meant that Fire-Eyes had caught America unprepared, had struck where he was least expected. How could we parry this new blow? How could our nation, tricked and worn out with war, outwit the Blacks in their most gigantic attempt to conquer the western world? Captain Dusty Ayres, ace pilot for the U.S. Air Defense flies in the Silver Flash, an advanced craft of his own design. With his two pals Curly Brooks and Biff Bolton, they battle some of the most diabolical mad scientists and their weirdest inventions. These exciting stories took over the Battle Birds magazine from June 1934 through the July/August issue of 1935, changing the magazine name to Dusty Ayres and his Battle Birds. And now Dusty Ayres and his Battle Birds is back, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. $2.99.
Six Horror Stories 99 cent eBook Singles
Each 99 cent eBook Single contains a single short story, one of the many tales selected from the pages of Horror Stories. These short stories are not included in any of our other eBooks. Horror Stories! The dark companion to Dime Mystery Magazine. Created to showcase stories too horrible for Terror Tales. The third of the triumvirate of fear pulps. This brand of fiction came to be called Weird Menace. The mystery-and-menace formula proved so successful that publisher Popular Publications produced Dime Mystery Magazine, Terror Tales and Horror Stories. These three dominated the Weird Menace genre all through the 1930s. Blurbed as “mystery-horror” stories instead of “mystery-terror,” Horror Stories was formulated differently that its companion titles. Damn the plot. Pour on the menace! This ebook contains a classic story from the pages of Horror Stories magazine, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format. $0.99.
All eBooks produced by Radio Archives are available in ePub, Mobi, and PDF formats for the ultimate in compatibility. When you upgrade to a new eReader, you can transfer your eBooks to your new device without the need to purchase anything new.
by Will Murray and Lester Dent, writing as Kenneth Robeson, cover illustration by Joe DeVito
When William Harper Littlejohn unearths a shadowy figure transfixed in ice, the renowned archeologist understands that he has made the most momentous discovery of his brilliant career. For inscribed over the frozen form is this chilling warning:
“IF I STILL LIVED, MANKIND WOULD TREMBLE!”
Who is this monster? Why does his name strike terror into the hearts of brave men? Can even Doc Savage control him once he breaks free of his icy tomb?
From the Gobi Desert to war-torn Free China, the Man of Bronze and his fighting crew battle a threat so terrifying that it could change the course of human history…. Softcover $24.95
The Shadow proves that "crime does not pay" in two rare mysteries by Walter B. Gibson writing as "Maxwell Grant" from the first and final years of The Shadow Magazine. First, secrets from the Dark Avenger's wartime activities behind Russian lines are revisited as The Shadow confronts "The Red Menace" of a masked revolutionary whose political machinations threaten the Free World. Then, "The Black Circle" is the secret token behind society robberies directed by The Voice in the penultimate Shadow pulp novel! This instant collector's item showcases both classic color pulp covers by Jerome and George Rozen and the original interior illustrations by Tom Lovell and Paul Orban, with original commentary by popular culture historian Will Murray. Double Novel Reprint $14.95
The Pulps' most bloodthirsty crimebuster wages his deadly war on crime in two action-packed 1935 thrillers by Norvell Page that foreshadowed a classic Spider-Man storyline. First, ruthless racketeers destroy bridges and skyscrapers, slaughtering thousands of innocents! Can the Spider unmask "The City Destroyer" before more lives are sacrificed by this murderous maniac? Then, thousands of women are hideously scarred by tainted cosmetics while American families are poisoned at their supper tables! Only Richard Wentworth can stop the deadly carnage and bring an end to the vicious plots of "The Pain Emperor." This double novel pulp reprint features the original color covers by John Newton Howitt, John Fleming Gould's classic interior illustrations and historical commentary by Will Murray. Double Novel Reprint $14.95
The last few Spider and Terror Tales Replicas are reduced in price and are in the Bargain Basement.
Comments From Our Customers!
Steve Wilhelmsson writes:
I really appreciate your efforts to get shows from the original transcription disks and release them in the best quality possible. You are helping to keep OTR alive and accessible to the majority of people alive today who weren’t around during the golden age of radio.
I really appreciate your efforts to get shows from the original transcription disks and release them in the best quality possible. You are helping to keep OTR alive and accessible to the majority of people alive today who weren’t around during the golden age of radio.
Ernst Spellmeyer writes:
"Happy New Year!" Thank you for your promptness in sending me the order which I received yesterday. The sound quality of Father Knows Best vol 2 and Have Gun, Will Travel vol 6 are just wonderful! I really appreciate your efforts and the hard work of your company. I hope that 2015 is the year all your "Dreams Come True".
If you'd like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email to Service@RadioArchives.com. We'd love to hear from you!
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