Long before we had television, ipods, internet, videos on demand and online games, there was the radio!

Radio broadcasts began in the early 1900s but peaked in popularity between the 1920s to the 1950s. By the time 1935 rolled around, it was estimated that a staggering twenty-two million American homes had a radio. Even during the depression families would give up many luxuries but would not do without their beloved radios as it was a life line to news and entertainment. These were not small boxes that we see today but rather large pieces of furniture that the family would gather around.

During that period, radio was programmed live complete with sound effects made with house hold items. Family and friends would gather after dinner to be thoroughly entertained by many different genres of stories, comedy, crime stories, adventure, westerns and even sci-fi. The radio was a new and exciting invention that gripped the imagination of a nation. It was also the birth of the soap operas that the ladies would listen to in the afternoons and later continued when television became the next great thing.

Radio broadcasts were so much a part of the daily American life that it had a tremendous amount of influence with its listeners and could make the general public run out to by whatever the sponsors were selling. It also created wide spread panic when Orson Wells story “The War of the Worlds” was broadcast live where the public believed they were being attacked by alien beings.

Many of the stories used in the live shows were actually pulp fiction books that were so popular in the 30s, 40s and 50s. Characters came to life in a whole new way on the radio waves, characters like, Sherlock Holmes, Perry Mason, Superman, Buck Rogers, Hop-a-long Cassidy, The Avengers etc. These characters and many more still have the ability to entertain us in movies, TV and in audio books.

Radio was to the public what television is today, a medium that was never before experienced until this century.

It seemed for awhile that the flavor of old time radio was forever lost with the advent of television and movie screens. Fortunately for us that is no longer the case. The flavor of the golden age of radio has been experienced a revival largely due to the expansion of the internet and the efforts of groups like The Golden Age Theatre in Hollywood which provides live shows where actors retell stories in the same flavor of old time radio. It’s a refreshing change from just looking at pictures on a small screen.

Audio books are also becoming a lot more popular in our fast paced hectic lives as we now can slip a CD in the car to listen to a story on the commute to work or download a story to an ipod or mp3 player.

Old time radio had the ability to capture the attention of a nation and like a classic old novel, reliving these great stories from the golden age of pulp fiction and radio is easier than ever.

Author Bio: Fred Duckworth is a passionate advocate of lifelong learning through audiobook and ebook collections. Sample a free story from one of many well known authors by clicking here for a Free eBook or audiobook download.

Category: Entertainment
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