SCARE THROUGH THE AIRWAVES...

Before there was TV, Video, and DVD, there was Radio!  People actually huddled around the gigantic radio (some were the size of the “ancient” console TVs) listening to their favorite radio show.  Casting the visuals within their neurons.  Hard to imagine huh?  I thought so too so long ago.  Until I had an enlightening experience with the interesting realm known as “Old Time Radio”…

 I actually got into the OTR (Old Time Radio) phenomenon by accident.  About twenty years ago, I was visiting a friend who was living in a small town in Arkansas, a 45-minute drive from where I used to live.  We had such a good time fishing, barbecuing, jaw-flapping, and stuff that I let the time and the Sun slip by.  Before I knew it, it was past midnight when I got into my Monte Carlo to head back home.  The radio portion of my radio-cassette stereo was not working and to make things worse, I did not bring any cassette tapes (this is right before the CD era) to listen to on my lonely ride home in the deserted, dark country roads. 

My friend, hearing me mumbling under my breath about the situation, tossed a cassette to me.  It was a cassette on an Old Time Radio show called “House On Cypress Canyon” from the Suspense series.  My mumbles climbed a pitch higher and I told him that I did not want to listen to some show from an era when my Dad was knee-high to a grasshopper.  But he persuaded me to take it along and since I did not have much of a choice anyway, I reluctantly cranked my ignition and inserted the tape into my car stereo as I looked towards the dark road ahead.

 Now mind you… this is a well-seasoned but still functional 1978 Monte Carlo I was driving… the size of a little boat… and I had cranked up the volume to keep myself from falling asleep at the wheel.  To tell you the truth, I didn’t have to…  I am still getting goosebumps as I write this note as I recall the feeling I had listening to “House On Cypress Canyon”.  Without revealing much of the story, let me just say it is about werewolves…  The story, the sound effects, the actors, the loud back speakers of my Monte Carlo, the dark road in front of me made the whole experience chilling.  I recall feeling my heart thumps finally slowing down when the tale finally ended.

Listen to “House On Cypress Canyon” here…

Then I flipped to the other side of the tape…

Bad move…

Little did I realize that I was in for the thrill and chill ride all over again!  This time it was a tale named “Four fingers and a thumb” from the Witch’s Tale series.  You guessed it… it is a tale about a severed hand crawling around…  It spooked me so much that I kept looking into my rearview mirror to check if there was any movement from my backseats!

I actually drove around the town for about 15 minutes before I pulled into my driveway just so I could finish that tale!  I was hooked!  I never, in my wildest imagination, thought that old time radio shows can be that captivating.

Listen to “Four Fingers and a Thumb” here…

Thus started my venture into the wonderful world of OTR collection.  First with horror, suspense, and sci-fi shows and eventually into the other genres.   I have collected tens of thousands of shows from the various genres and series over the years.

Well… it’s time for another radio show.  But first, I have to check under the bed.  There is a lot of room for a severed hand to hide down there…