"GO BEARCATS" wrote in message
...
At 0400UCT here at my QTH in Cincinnati, first time I EVER heard Ed
'literally'
plead for donations. I was taping the show to let my Dad hear it and
hoping he
read my letter I sent out Saturday with some money.

But he didn't do the 'Amos & Andy' show itself tonight, he used their
voices to
ask for donations, I wonder how many (like he said) listen to the 12-14
minute
show every night and leave it to others to send in two or five bucks?


How many people are even casual listeners of the show? Maybe not many.
I've heard it a couple of times, and I haven't made the effort to remember
what time and day it's on. I don't see any reason to think the show is
popular.



He literally said it tonight. "No donations and the show will forever be
gone." He really means it too. It WILL be gone also because no one is
going to
acquire the original scripts (he won't sell em'~*he'd burn then first
IMO~* and
do the voices like he does.


The original show is gone. It wasn't recorded. If some guy wants to
recreate the show from the old scripts, that's nice but it's only a
recreation.

If he's go a public spirited interest in preserving what's left of the
original show, I'll suggest he should donate the scripts to a museum. Or he
could scan them and post them on the internet. If he scanned the scripts
using OCR, he could reduce the scans to text files and post them to one of
the old time radio groups.



It's pretty sad IMO, that show is a HUGE part of
Americana and just because cheap butts won't send it two dollars but
listen to
it, people like me aren't going to get to hear it anymore and I was just
getting into the characters and storyline.

If he takes it off the air due to those reasons, I can't do much, but I'll
never send another cent to ANY broadcaster anywhere. Let em' fend for
their
selves or shut up (like apparently everyone else is doing) because I'm not
giving you my money so you can hear for free...lol.


Everybody? What evidence is there that this show is popular with everybody?


These transmitters and
relays and stuff don't run for free, not including his time and
everything he
said tonight that goes into making ONE show.


He's hobby broadcasting. There's no reason to complain about the
difficulties of a hobby. He can drop hobby broadcasting and build his own
airplane or research the cooking utensils of the Civil War or learn all the
Asian languages.



I'll fire up my four scanners and transmitter and do my BCB dxing and
forget
shortwave and get my ticket.


That's the idea. Don't complain about your hobby, just do something else.



Just my take, was curious if anyone heard his pitiful characters begging
for
money, oh yeah, if you send in anything he said he will send you a color
(I
think) photograph of himself (Ed Bolton) behind the mic reading the
scripts.
I'm looking forward to getting mine, at least I'll have that to remind me
of
it.

Thoughts anyone on him asking for small donations like that?



He has every right to ask, and if he doesn't get enough, he should take the
hint and cover all his hobby expenses.

If he wants to share the history of these old scripts, he can scan them and
post them on the internet. This would cost very little.

If he wants to preserve the historical value of the scipts, he can donate
them to the Museum of Broadcasting.

Frank Dresser

How many people are even casual listeners of the show? Maybe not many.

You think? You might be right Frank. I wished I could help fund it on a larger
scale, kinda my 'good deed'.

I don't see any reason to think the show is
popular.

Well, that's opinion and we know......well you know. ;-) I don't know 'how'
popular it is 'now'.......it's just the fact that it was 'more' than just
popular back then.

The original show is gone. It wasn't recorded.

I know a guy who is about a four minute drive down the hill into the village
that has tapes(reels) of some of the shows and I heard enough to know it is
just about 'dead on'........I'll see what my Dad says when he hears it because
I've taped some of them for him. Seeing how it might go off forever, I might
go on and continue to tape them so at least I'll have a piece of it.

If some guy wants to
recreate the show from the old scripts, that's nice but it's only a
recreation.

If some guy wants to
recreate the show from the old scripts, that's nice but it's only a
recreation.

I know that Frank, if it was the actual reels themselves, he'd STILL be
begging because people (most of them) just don't care about the 'old days' or
"how things used to be." It wouldn't matter if it was original, but that's just
my guess and we know what that's worth. ;-)

If he's go a public spirited interest in preserving what's left of the
original show, I'll suggest he should donate the scripts to a museum. Or he
could scan them and post them on the internet. If he scanned the scripts
using OCR, he could reduce the scans to text files and post them t

o one of
the old time radio groups.

I might print out this post of yours, matter of fact Frank, I PROMISE, I will
print out what you said and send it to him and ask him also. Who knows? Maybe
he is a fraud and getting filthy stinkin' rich of it and crying wolf, you know?

Everybody? What evidence is there that this show is popular with everybody?

OK Frank. Since we are using 'exact' words, I will rephrase it. I've heard
what he says about the show and how all America (now I KNOW he didn't mean
literally EVERY person breathing oxygen in the USA in the 30's were listening
all at the same time to Amos&Andy...lol) but I know my grandparents did and my
dad and his brother did.

When I've mentioned it to the old timers that sit down here on the benches by
the Ohio River (and I HAVE asked).....there were five or six guys and every one
of them laughed and smiled except one guy and he acted like he never smiled for
anything to begin with.

I just know from the facts that the show DID air during the Depression Era and
it was one thing that could be counted on during a time that MANY lives changed
dramatically for the bad. The old guy right down the hill I talked about that
has reels of the show has said basically word for word what Ed Bolton has said.

Who knows? Maybe coincidence and they both listened to the show. Ed said he
was five when he started listening in 32, or that he remembers being five when
he did, so that'd make him what? I'd say he is in his mid 70's. My dear old
friend dowwn the hill (with the Hammarlund that I posted about in here the
FIRST time I saw one and I said I was gonna get one) I KNOW Homer is in his
upper 70's or early 80's.

He's hobby broadcasting.

Absolutely Frank. I 'suppose' he feels he's doing something 'nice' when things
WERE nice. It more than likely just doesn't mean as much to people of today.
The older folks that listened back then, either don't have a shortwave or are
dead. Because I have a feeling those guys that hang out down on the river
bank, if they could listen to that show (minus the one guy) I betcha they
would.

And NO I'm not giving them a radio to hear it either...lol.

That's the idea. Don't complain about your hobby, just do something else.

I'm not complaining about MY hobby, I know what you mean though.

If he wants to share the history of these old scripts, he can scan them and
post them on the internet. This would cost very little.

If he wants to preserve the historical value of the scipts, he can donate
them to the Museum of Broadcasting.

If he wants to share the history of these old scripts, he can scan them and
post them on the internet. This would cost very little.

If he wants to preserve the historical value of the scipts, he can donate
them to the Museum of Broadcasting.

Like I said Frank, as soon as I get done typing the last letter to this and hit
send and then 'OK'......I will print this out and explain to him about this
thread. Heck, I don't even know if he knows about computers or what a thread
is, so I'll explain it to him.

Good post. But TOO long. ;-P
**I'll add though, I'm almost afraid he'd read it on the air and say "OK Frank,
bye!" Then pull the plug....lol....then I wouldn't get to hear it every night
because of YOU Frank.

~*~*Monitoring The AirWaves~*~
*****GO BEARCATS*****
Hammarlund HQ129X /Heathkit Q Multiplier
Hammarlund HQ140X
Multiple GE P-780's(GREAT BCB Radios)
RCA Victor *Strato- World*
RCA Victor RJC77W-K(Walnut Grain)
1942 Zenith Wave Magnet 6G 601M
Cathedral/ Ross#2311/Rhapsody-MultiBand
DX100/394/398/399/402
OMGS Transistor Eight/Realistic 12-1451
Henry Kloss Model One/Bell+Howell
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Alpha Delta DX Sloper 57ft.
600ft. 12AWG. (non-terminated)
120ft. 12 AWG Sloper
2 Radio Shack Loop Antennas
Radio Shack Amplified Antenna
30X30 DiamondLoop(six section 830pf Cap)
* Diamond Loop mounted to Lazy Susan TurnTable*
*21/2X2ft.FiveSpoked~Penta-Loop~PancakeLoop*

if it was the actual reels themselves, he'd STILL be
begging because people (most of them) just don't care about the 'old days' or
"how things used to be."

I can ceratinly appreciate the desire to keep this kind of program going, hobby
or not. But I think the above may be overstating things quite a bit. Surely
MOST people are NOT dedicated shortwave program listeners, so they are entirely
unaware of this situation. It's quite common among domestic broadcasters on
SW... lack of interest, lack of funding/sponsorship, facilities, airtime, etc.
But there is a VERY large number of people from all walks of life who are
dearly devoted to old time radio programs, and the market of records, tapes,
CDs, MP3 CD-ROMs, etc., is enormous for those of us who enjoy those classic
shows. I personally own over 500 hours worth of old time radio shows, from Amos
n' Andy and Jack Benny to Lights Out, The Great Gildersleeve, etc., on CDs,
tapes, and CD-ROMs. My collection grows every few weeks...
People DO care deeply about maintaining and archiving this classic
programming, and in fact pay millions of dollars each year collectively for the
priveledge of owning OTR collections on CDs and tapes. They care about the old
days quite a lot, I can assure you. Try a search for old time radio catalogues,
you'll find a lot of hits.
And don't forget, Stan Freberg's "When Radio Was" is a syndicated OTR tribute
show, playing all the greats from the Golden Age of Radio that runs on quite a
few AM stations nationwide, and has for many years. KNX-1070AM in Los Angeles
has been running their 'Drama Hour' (featuring the classic comedy, drama,
western and suspense shows from yesteryear) for at least 25 years now.
Now, if this fellow is having trouble keeping his own dramatizations on the
air, it's sad, but let's face it, shortwave is not FM music or AM
sports/talkradio when it comes to listenership numbers. You might see thousands
or tens of thousands offering donations if he were on some regionally popular
station on mainstream FM or AM.
But the lack of funds or interest has NOTHING to do with complacency among the
average listener. It's just lack of exposure and stats.
Linus

But I think the above may be overstating things quite a bit.

That's why I said "most of them."

I personally own over 500 hours worth of old time radio shows, from Amos
n' Andy and Jack Benny to Lights Out, The Great Gildersleeve, etc.

WOW!! How old are you may I ask? I'm 38, I never heard of the last two you
listed.

People DO care deeply about maintaining and archiving this classic
programming, and in fact pay millions of dollars each year collectively for
the
priveledge of owning OTR collections on CDs and tapes

Well, that's great to hear then, I stand corrected. I guess he's just the one
having the problem then. ;-)

I have two cds called (I think) "We Interrupt This Broadcast".......it was
in/came with a big book I bought, really takes you back in time.

Good post Linus, did you send him anything. ;-) Just curious.

~*~*Monitoring The AirWaves~*~
*****GO BEARCATS*****
Hammarlund HQ129X /Heathkit Q Multiplier
Hammarlund HQ140X
Multiple GE P-780's(GREAT BCB Radios)
RCA Victor *Strato- World*
RCA Victor RJC77W-K(Walnut Grain)
1942 Zenith Wave Magnet 6G 601M
Cathedral/ Ross#2311/Rhapsody-MultiBand
DX100/394/398/399/402
OMGS Transistor Eight/Realistic 12-1451
Henry Kloss Model One/Bell+Howell
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Alpha Delta DX Sloper 57ft.
600ft. 12AWG. (non-terminated)
120ft. 12 AWG Sloper
2 Radio Shack Loop Antennas
Radio Shack Amplified Antenna
30X30 DiamondLoop(six section 830pf Cap)
* Diamond Loop mounted to Lazy Susan TurnTable*
*21/2X2ft.FiveSpoked~Penta-Loop~PancakeLoop*

WOW!! How old are you may I ask? I'm 38, I never heard of the last two you
listed.


I'm heading into 36, but I suppose I've been into OTR since I was 7 years old,
when I saw a TV movie called 'The Night America Panicked' (or The Night That
Panicked America) about the Orson Welles 'War of the Worlds' Broadcast of Oct.
30, 1938. The movie killed me, so my dad bought me an album of the original
broadcast. After that, I tried to listen to any OTR I could find on radio
(there was a lot more back then, but there's still some out there even now, see
my last post)... and slowly amassed a collection since then.
Lights Out was a show that was very popular, created by a great writer named
Arch Oboler. It was an anthology show, different stories every night with a
horror/suspense theme. One of the truly creepy shows from the Golden Age. The
Great Gildersleeve was a very popular comedy as well, a spin-off of the
more-well-known Fibber McGee and Molly program.

Well, that's great to hear then, I stand corrected. I guess he's just the one
having the problem then. ;-)

Hehehe, naw, you know what I'm saying. He's not 'the one' having the problem',
but the problem has less to do with people not caring then with people not
knowing in the first place. And he's not alone in the hunt for funds on
domestic SW, that's for sure.

did you send him anything. ;-) Just curious.

My $10 went out a few weeks ago. I have no problem sending what I can to
someone whose hobbies and interests jibe with mine and whose 'mission' (talk
about 'overstating things', hahah) is something I believe in, or can at least
appreciate. He does what he does pretty well, and it's nice to have that kind
of thing on SW to break up the ranting and raving of crackpots that teem and
multiply like bacteria in a petri dish.
Linus

My $10 went out a few weeks ago. I have no problem sending what I can to
someone whose hobbies and interests jibe with mine and whose 'mission' (talk
about 'overstating things', hahah) is something I believe in, or can at least
appreciate. He does what he does

pretty well, and it's nice to have that kind
of thing on SW to break up the ranting and raving of crackpots that teem and
multiply like bacteria in a petri dish.
Linus

There you go Linus. I know he'll appreciate it. :-)

My $10 went out a few weeks ago. I have no problem sending what I can to
someone whose hobbies and interests jibe with mine and whose 'mission' (talk
about 'overstating things', hahah) is something I believe in, or can at least
appreciate. He does what he does

pretty well, and it's nice to have that kind
of thing on SW to break up the ranting and raving of crackpots that teem and
multiply like bacteria in a petri dish.
Linus

There you go Linus. I know he'll appreciate it. :-)


Has Mr. Bolton ever considered just plain selling recordings of the
shows he's already done?

I listen from time to time and he usually puts the squeeze on at the
end of the show. I can never understand why he begs for handouts
instead of just putting 50 episodes in mp3 on a CD and selling them
for $25.

--
Col. I.P. Yurin
Commissariat of Internal Security

Stakhanovite
Order of Lenin (1937)
Hero of Socialist Labor (1939)