The Good Old Days of Radio Show

John Tefteller and radio historian Dr. Joe Webb are back with another “lost and found” classic: a 1948 episode of The Adventures of Sam Spade. This one was missing for decades until it turned up on an Armed Forces Radio Service transcription disc, and it’s based on Dashiell Hammett’s short story The House in Turk Street. John and Dr. Webb dig into the behind-the-scenes history, from the show’s production quirks and cast lineup to H...

Our pulp escapade into the imagination of Carlton E. Morse continues today with chapter five of Adventures by Morse. Captain Friday and the rest of the expedition wake up as prisoners inside a forgotten Cambodian temple, hauled there by a roaming bandit caravan and at the mercy of the jungle. What follows is a run of vanishing companions, hidden trap doors, and underground passages crawling with things you definitely don’t want to ...

Today we're following up on our commitment to finish the 15-episode run of The Stan Freberg Show. This episode is basically roasting its own cancellation. In the process, Freberg gives an early demonstration of what a brilliant mind he had for creative advertising with wonderfully ridiculous fake ads for “Instant Freberg.” They also do a hardboiled detective spoof called “Sam Spelade.” John wraps things ...

On this episode of The Good Old Days of Radio Show, we plunge deeper into The Cobra King Strikes Back as our jungle adventure continues. After being ambushed at the ruins of Angkor Thom, the ancient walled city in Cambodia that once served as the heart of the Khmer Empire, the team finds itself swept away by a massive caravan into the remote wilderness. Held in stone chambers deep in the jungle, the group must battle fear, fatigue ...

We’re back with part two of John Tefteller’s conversation with Bob Lynes and Barbara Sunday, the dynamic duo behind the long-running Los Angeles radio show Don’t Touch That Dial. This time, they touch on the golden age of radio’s big revival during the ’70s through ’90s. Bobb and Barbara share stories from those early preservation days, the tricky business of royalties and archives, and what it was like to meet the original writers...

It's part 3 of our 10-part adventure expedition today. Last time, the jungle made it clear that nowhere was safe, not even a locked hotel room. A deadly warning sends the group deeper into French Indochina, toward the towering ruins of Angkor Wat. An archaeologist vanishes, strange allies appear, and rumors of an emerald idol hint at forces powerful enough to ignite a rebellion.

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Today John Tefteller sits down with Bobb Lynes and Barbara Sunday, the hosts of the classic Los Angeles radio show Don’t Touch That Dial. They share stories from their decades in broadcasting and their work with SPERDVAC. Bob talks about growing up glued to the radio and how that passion led him to collect and share vintage programs, while Barbara recalls how she went from listener to co-host. You’ll also hear a clip from one of th...

Our 10-part Carlton E. Morse adventure radio serial continues. Last time, we left our heroes with an escaped prisoner, a vanished girl, and a death chant echoing through the ship. This week, The Cobra King Strikes Back dives even deeper into danger as Dr. Howard Carter and Captain Friday push into the jungles of Cambodia in search of a lost city. Hang on, these radio serials are a bit like salty potato chips: once you start, it's h...

Today’s episode digs into one of the most exciting parts of vintage radio: finding lost recordings. Host John Tefteller is joined by Dr. Joe Webb to talk about how shockingly few recordings from radio’s golden age still exist. But every once in a while, a rare survivor turns up, like today’s episode of The Adventures of Sam Spade from 1947, “The Yule Log Caper,” found on an Armed Forces Radio Service transcription disc. They talk a...

Happy 2026 from The Good Old Days of Radio Show! Today we are launching a 10-week 1944 pure pulp adventure serial The Cobra King Strikes Back, created by master of the cliffhanger, Carlton E. Morse. Set against the exotic backdrop of a voyage to Cambodia, the story brings together two very different missions aboard the same steamship. An archaeological expedition led by Dr. Carter is hunting for a legendary lost city, while Captain...

This week we bring in the New Year, and appropriate with the theme we have a New Year's fantasy from The Columbia Workshop originally broadcast back in 1941. A group of unborn children peer down at the world through a hole in the sky and decide they want no part of it. War, injustice, and cruelty have convinced them to go on strike, refusing to be born at all. Their solution: one baby, Johnny, enters the world with the ability to n...

Merry Christmas Day, everyone! Today we're presenting one of the most unusual Christmas broadcasts ever aired: Norman Corwin’s 1942 CBS play, The Plot to Overthrow Christmas. Told as a darkly comic rhyming fantasy, the story opens in Hades, where history’s greatest villains plot to wipe out Christmas once and for all. Their scheme sends Nero himself to the North Pole with orders to eliminate Santa Claus, but what follows is an unex...

1949 Christmas Cheers everyone! No, this is not the same Jack Benny Show we brought you a couple of weeks ago. It's still 1949, though, and Jack Benny did a second Christmas show that year that doesn't take place at the department store! Celebration is in the air (and so are sparks) when Jack Benny and the gang attempt to decorate the Christmas tree, triggering a series of electrical mishaps. It’s a perfect snapshot of Golden Age r...

Christmas is still coming, and this episode brings us a 1948 episode from Duffy’s Tavern. Anyone familiar with this series will know its sharp wit, wordplay, and often world-weary cynical dialogue. But this show is a surprising change from its usual format. Archie is in peak “bah, humbug” mode when a soft-spoken stranger walks into the tavern claiming he’s come all the way from Bethlehem. What follows is a surprising, almost magica...

In this episode, we’re heading back to 1944 for a frantic, festive, and very Abbott-and-Costello-style take on Christmas shopping. Sponsored at the time by Camel Cigarettes, this broadcast is packed with the duo’s trademark rapid-fire banter and wild misunderstandings. Between the slapstick wordplay, the show offers a fascinating snapshot of the era: wartime cigarette ads. A lively mix of comedy, history, and holiday chaos.

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Today we're bringing you the first in a series of interviews John did with personalities who were instrumental in the great old time radio revival of the 1970s and beyond. John sat down with Harvey Tow (better known to L.A. radio fans as Cousin Zeno) for a look back at his decades in vintage radio. Harvey talks about getting his start as a collector in the mid-’60s, hosting on stations like KCSN Northridge through the ’70s and ’80s...

In today’s episode, we’re unwrapping a classic from Fibber McGee and Molly, originally aired December 21st, 1948. The fun kicks off when Fibber finds a mysterious card signed “Love, Elizabeth,” and immediately jumps to all the wrong conclusions. The truth, of course, is far more innocent. It’s a charming slice of holiday mischief, complete with those wonderfully earnest Johnson’s Glo-Coat ads. We also talk about how this script lat...

Today’s show takes us to Christmas 1947 for a warm-hearted episode of Family Theater called “Substitute Santa.” We’re back to packed department stores, a frazzled manager scrambling to find someone — anyone — to fill in as Santa, and an owner who’s way more worried about a $4,000 mink coat giveaway than spreading holiday cheer. The star is character actor Frank McHugh, and the show is hosted by Ray Milland. And because this is fami...

On today’s episode, we’re rolling back to December 18, 1949, for the traditional The Jack Benny Christmas Show. It’s Christmas week on CBS, the stores are packed, and Jack and Mary are just trying to finish their shopping without losing their minds. Naturally, that means running into every character in Benny’s universe; Rochester, Phil Harris, Dennis Day, and a few crazy store clerks. The whole thing is sprinkled with Lucky Strike ...