The Golden Age of Broadcasting
Materials and other resources
Presentation:
The Web:
Archives and General Information
- Archive.org – Digital library of cultural artifacts including Web sites, print, images, sound, video, and so on. Grand Ole Opry Shows (beginning 1939) is worth a listen. Also, here are a few hits from the 30’s that can be found there:
- Georgia (On My Mind) (1930) – Hoagy Carmichael
- Minnie the Moocher (1931) – Cab Calloway
- All of Me (1932) – Louis Armstrong
- Night and Day (1932) – Fred Astaire
- Stormy Weather (1933) – Ethel Waters
- Stompin’ at the Savoy (1934) – Chick Webb
- Truckin’ (1935) – Fats Waller
- Summertime (1936) – Billie Holiday
- Pennies from Heaven (1936) – Bing Crosby
- Sing, Sing, Sing (1937) – Benny Goodman
- Begin the Beguine (1938) – Artie Shaw
- Over the Rainbow (1939) – Judy Garland
- Google Patents – Ever want to look up a patent filing? All you need is the patent number.
- Library of Congress – A good place to start for information about aspects of American life, culture and history. the History of the Cylinder Phonograph is very interesting. Or try “Inventing Entertainment: Articles and Essays.” Everything Edison.
- picryl.com – Public Domain media search engine. Requires establishing an account, but very useful for finding PD images.
- Wikipedia.org – The Free Encyclopedia. It is always surprising what I find in this amazing resource. Try 1930s American Radio Programs
Recording Artists
- Top 60 Pop Song Chart for 1930 – Searchable by year starting in 1900
- Music Played in the 1930’s Music Styles, Bands And Artists during From the 20s
- Bing Crosby –
- King of Jazz (movie, 1930) – Paul Whiteman’s band in a full-length, early Technicolor film. Crosby is featured twice with “The Rhythm Boys.”
- 15 minutes with Bing Crosby – Crosby’s first radio series from 1931 – Wikipedia
- AFRS GI Journal, October 9, 1943 – Archive.org – Armed Forces Radio Service WWII recording with Crosby as MC of the “GI Journal.” There are other interesting AFRS WWII recordings on this page as well.
- AFRS-V-Disc-4 Bing Crosby White Christmas
- Bing Crosby and Magnetic Recording – Engineering and Technology History Wiki
- Les Paul
- Paul’s Official Web Site –
- Les Paul’s Journey to His New Sound – tribute on his son’s (Gene Paul) YouTube channel. There are other videos as well.
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- The search for the New Sound – Wisconsin Public Radio
- Frank Sinatra
- large collections of 78 recordings — mostly the 1940’s
- You Go To My Head (1946)
- Three Coins in the Fountain (1954)
- large collections of 78 recordings — mostly the 1940’s
Golden Age Radio Gems on Archive.org
- Abbot and Costello – 1942-1948
- Lux Radio Theatre – Digitally restored collection of the 1930’s-era radio show – 1936-1955
- New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes – 1939-1946 – Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce
- The Shadow – 1937-1954
- War of the Worlds – (October 30, 1938) Original Mercury Theater broadcast of Orson Welles’ Science Fiction classic. There are other Sci-Fi Radio programs in this collection also.
WWII Era – Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS)
- V-Disc Definition – Wikipedia
- “V-Discs” – Description of the Glenn Miller Archive – University of Colorado Boulder
- Selections from AFRS and V-Discs on Archive.org