When Radio Ruled #145 - Spooky Scary Chilling Halloween 2025
Release Date: 10/23/2025
When Radio Ruled #166 - SoundScape 1940 part 3
beforetv's podcast
Curated clips of live broadcasts from popular radio shows of the day. January 11 – January 18, 1940 A tapestry of History through the eyes of people as they lived it, reported by radio. This episode brings the comedy chemistry of Orson Welles and Loretta Young, Indian Summer from Connee Boswell, Funny Violin from Jack Benny, Come with us to January 1940 for some Old Time Radio listening pleasure! In today’s SoundScape: Theodora Goes Wild! Stand Still and Dance!! The Miss Vine Street Election!!! I was a Caboose in Union Pacific!!!! Little does he Know that...
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When Radio Ruled #165 - SoundScape 1940 part 2
beforetv's podcast
January 7 – January 9, 1940 This episode delivers some serious propaganda from Father Coughlin, some serious acting from Jack Benny, some serious forgiveness from Spencer Tracy and some serious entertainment from the theater of the mind! Hop into your time machine join the rest of us back in January 1940 for some listening pleasure! In today’s SoundScape: Jack Benny Wins a 50 dollar Bet! Barbara Stanwyck at the Wiltshire Bowl! Tipping is UnAmerican! Prognosis Negative! Fibber and Molly see Gone with the Wind! And More!! Featuring: Don Wilson Jack...
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When Radio Ruled #164 - SoundScape 1940 part 1 January 2-7, 1940
beforetv's podcast
Curated clips of live broadcasts from popular radio shows of the day. January 02 – January 7, 1940 This episode features lots and lots of great music, mostly the legendary Glen Miller but we also get to hear from Gene Autry, Connee Boswell, as well as an unlikely Duet featuring Wallace Beery and Charlie McCarthy. A tapestry of History through the eyes of people as they lived it, reported by radio. In today’s SoundScape: Fibber Builds a Doghouse! Glen Miller Live from the Café Rouge! Charlie McCarthy goes to Sea! And More!! Featuring: Fibber McGee and Molly Glen Miller and his...
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When Radio Ruled #163 - The Great Crossover 1940 Orson Welles & Jack Benny
beforetv's podcast
Ask anybody you know to name old time radio stars. Jack Benny and Orson Welles will lead the list. Their names are still well known when time has brought obscurity to other old time radio stars. More than just radio actors, Jack and Orson defined the art form and set standards of quality that everybody else tried to live up to. Orson Welles is known best for his “War of the Worlds” broadcast that panicked a nation and illustrated the great power of theater for the ears. Jack Benny was the greatest comedian on Radio, and part of the fabric of American culture for decades. In 1940...
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When Radio Ruled #162 - SoundScape 1939 part 31
beforetv's podcast
Curated clips of live broadcasts from popular radio shows of the day. December 24 – December 31, 1939 The Holiday Season 1939, Christmas Eve to New Years Eve. A tapestry of History through the eyes of people as they lived it, reported by radio. In today’s SoundScape: When Ma knits She’s Nuts! Some Day you’ll find your Bluebird!! Crack-Shot Higgins Goes Hunting!!! And More!! Featuring: Eddie “Rochester” Anderson Jack Benny Mary Livingstone Dennis Day Don Wilson Phil Harris Andy Devine Shirley Temple Nelson Eddy Orson Welles Cecil B DeMille Fred Allen ...
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When Radio Ruled #161 - Swinging the 1930s on Old Time Radio
beforetv's podcast
The very best Swing Bands at peak of their skill and Creativity playing live for our entertainment. Innovative use of instruments and musical arrangement that extend the boundaries of musical theory. Structured arrangements that made room for improvisation. The very best musicians in America playing the best they ever played. Featuring: Paul Whiteman Louis Armstrong Tommy Dorsey Artie Shaw Duke Ellington Benny Goodman And more!
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When Radio Ruled #160 - SoundScape 1939 part 30 December 10-21, 1939
beforetv's podcast
Curated clips of live broadcasts from popular radio shows of the day. December 3 – December 10, 1939 A tapestry of History through the eyes of people as they lived it, reported by radio. In today’s SoundScape: Smoking is good for the Nerves! It is so near Christmas!! Robert Armbruster plays a good milking tempo!!! Charlie McCarthy, Detective!!! And More!! Featuring: Cecil B. DeMille Cary Grant Carol Lombard Kay Francis Fibber McGee and Molly Edward Arnold Connee Boswell The Shadow Don Ameche Charlie McCarthy Edgar Bergen Mortimer Snerd Dorothy Lamour Geraldine...
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When Radio Ruled #159 - SoundScape 1939 part 29
beforetv's podcast
Curated clips of live broadcasts from popular radio shows of the day. December 3 – December 10, 1939 A tapestry of History through the eyes of people as they lived it, reported by radio. In today’s SoundScape: Murder on the Gridiron! Buttering Jack up for Christmas Presents!! Broadcast from Bergen’s Hospital Bedside!!! And More!! Featuring: Jack Benny Don Wilson Mary Livingston Phil Harris Dennis Day Orson Welles Fibber McGee and Molly Harlow Wilcox Edward Arnold Connee Boswell Baby Snooks Hanley Stafford Rudy Vallee Dorothy Lamour Charlie McCarthy Edgar Bergen Vera Vague And...
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When Radio Ruled #158 - SoundScape 1939 part 28 November 26-December 3, 1939
beforetv's podcast
Curated clips of live broadcasts from popular radio shows of the day. November 26 – December 3, 1939 A tapestry of History through the eyes of people as they lived it, reported by radio. In today’s SoundScape: Thanksgiving is more than Just Turkeys! Someday We’ll Be Very Proud of Our Son! McCarthy and Doogan Christmas Shoppers! A Reunion of the Old Blarney! And More!! Featuring: Rudy Valee Charlie McCarthy Edgar Bergen Donald Dixon Dorothy Lamour Loretta Young Orson Welles Fay Bainter Nan Sunderland Fibber McGee and Molly Connee...
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When Radio Ruled #157 - SoundScape 1939 part 27 November 19-26,1939
beforetv's podcast
Curated clips of live broadcasts from popular radio shows of the day. November 19 – November 26, 1939 A tapestry of History through the eyes of people as they lived it, reported by radio. In today’s SoundScape: In today’s SoundScape: Mary’s Thanksgiving Poem Jack’s Turkey is an Ostrich! The Deacon chisels for a living!! Remember Abe Lincoln this Thanksgiving!!! And More!! Featuring: Jack Benny Don Wilson Dennis Day Mary Livingstone Phil Harris Eddie “Rochester” Anderson Cecil B. DeMille James Hilton Lawrence Olivier Edna Best Fibber McGee and Molly ...
info_outlineAt Halloween the thin boundary between living and dead dissolves so that ghosts, goblins, and the sins we thought long buried come back to feast on our fright filled souls.
Day of the dead, all souls day, two thousand years ago the Pagen Celts called it Samhin, we call it Halloween. The time when ghosts, ghouls, and costumed children all wander the streets looking for their favorite tasty treats. The children want candy, the others from beyond the grave want to feed on your sweet, sweet, sinful soul.
The earliest peoples knew this, huddled around the first campfires now lost in memory the shamans told of ghosts and the risen dead shambling across the earth to restore cosmic justice through black magic, revenge, and terror.
Tales of horror and supernatural evil are as old as mankind, spoken tales of terror and vengeance from beyond the grave are older than memory but never go out of style.
A fact that made the Horror Genre a natural part of Old Time Radio.
Scary shows were perfect for dramatic radio. Arguments can be made that the situation comedy and variety show genres were better suited for television. But horror shows peaked with radio, nothing being scarier than those fears we carry with us in our imaginations. A theater of the mind permits our own deepest fears to chill us to the bone.
Halloween 2025 Features:
The Witches Tale
Lights Out
The Whistler
With Special Appearances by Orson Welles and Agnes Moorehead
Boo!!!