Columbia Workshop vintage radio dramas for the downloading

Posted by Cory Doctorow, December 6, 2008 1:38 AM | permalink

The Internet Archive's public domain audio archive has dozens of vintage radio dramas from the Columbia Workshop -- everything from Shakespeare to Moby-Dick to "The History of the US Patent System".

Columbia Workshop at the Internet Archive, Columbia Workshop on Wikipedia (Thanks, Claude!)

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Older Berlin hacker con will use RFID badges to simulate life in a totalitarian panopticon

Newer Lard of the Rings and other "edible books"

Discussion

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#1 posted by chasie , December 6, 2008 7:58 AM

For people outside the U.S., network radio - comedy, drama, variety shows - has been gone since 1962, but what has been left behind is a real treasure. archive.org has just tons of shows.

If you like science fiction, listen to Dimension X. "Seinfeld" was kind of a TV version of Jack Benny's show (in my opinion). On Stage, Escape and Suspense are great dramas, and wonderful if you have a half-hour commute.

And Gunsmoke, for gosh sakes.

Or go listen to Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney, ya hipsters.

These shows used to be sold/traded by collectors on tapes mostly but the Internet has changed everything, and there's just a flood of stuff out there.

It's a form of entertainment America (but not the rest of the world, as I understand it) left for dead in about 15 years.

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#2 posted by AGF , December 6, 2008 7:59 AM

I love old radio drama. Thanks!

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#3 posted by Takuan , December 6, 2008 8:06 AM

http://www.archive.org/details/MindWebs-SciFi

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#4 posted by ZippySpincycle , December 6, 2008 8:58 AM

And before anyone dismisses "The History of the US Patent System," as a bad topic for a radio drama, let me just say that the sound effects are what make it work.

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#5 posted by Jeff , December 6, 2008 9:02 AM

Aw, Cory! How could you of all people overlook "Public Domain": "Fantasy of PD characters yearning for release from stories" from January 2, 1937.

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#6 posted by Roy Trumbull , December 6, 2008 5:11 PM

Some of it was great and some of it was as bad as TV is now.
Try and catch the Edger Bergen and Charlie McCarthy Show when W.C. Fields was a guest. Some of their banter was priceless.
Also Information Please and the Bing Crosby Show when Oscar Levant was on them. He was on a few Jack Parr TV shows. He was the fastest draw wit since Oscar Wilde.
He got the nickel tour of the house and grounds of what we'd call a McMansion. Finally his host asked, Well Oscar, what do you think?" His response was, "It's the sort of thing God would have done if he had the money."

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#7 posted by unsafe at any speed , December 8, 2008 3:29 PM

A good search word for archive.org is just "oldtime radio", it opens up a treasure trove of classic radio.