Handbook of Old-Time Radio
In a recent article inReference Services Review, Eleanor Block, head of Ohio State's Journalism Library, points out that the experts do not agree on dates for the golden age of radio. She adopts as a definition, "from the beginnings of broadcasting through 1960." More importantly, she critiques the three radio reference books (now out of print) that old-time radio (OTR) buffs have found most useful: Buxton and Owen'sThe Big Broadcast, 1920-1950(Viking, 1972), Dunning'sTune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925-1976(Prentice-Hall, 1976), and Terrace'sRadio's Golden Years: The Encyclopedia of Radio Programs 1930-1960(A. S. Barnes, 1981). Buxton and Owen is particularly useful for its inclusion of information about producers, directors, writers, and music directors and its photographs of performers. Dunning includes only dramatic, comedy, and variety programs and provides extensive critical comments as well as photos of performers. Terrace is useful for its inclusion of sponsor name, announcer's opening lines, and nearly 100 photographs.The range of material covered by theHandbook of Old-Time Radio--capitalizing on more than 12 years of research, including using the NBC archives at the Library of Congress--means that this volume supplements (but does not supplant) the three titles previously cited. This volume covers from 1926 (when NBC was incorporated) to 1962. It consists of three parts. The first, a brief history of networks and broadcasting, is unique--nothing like it is found in the other three books. Part 2, a unique tabulation, consists of category logs listing more than 4,500 programs organized by program type (e.g., comedy, soap operas, quiz and audience participation, news, sports, religious, and, unique to this volume, armed forces and foreign broadcasting). Each category log is arranged in three columns: program title, network, and number of episodes available. The third part, "Program Descriptive Log," briefly describes more than 2,000 of the better-known programs, providing for each such information as the year of first and last show, performers, length of program, and story line. The handbook concludes with directory information (public collections, OTR fan clubs, dealers); a selected, annotated bibliography; a performer/name index; and a program index.These four sources differ in the amount and variety of information given and its presentation, as examination of them for their treatment of such favorites as "Fibber McGee and Molly" and "Bell Telephone Hour" will quickly show. Public and academic libraries and old-time radio buffs will enrich their radio-history collections with the comprehensiveHandbook of Old-Time Radio.