Technology, Innovation & Telecomm

I read Dave Slusher’s post “Theatre of the Mind“. Turns out that I listen to a ton of old radio broadcast stuff that I’ve purchased on tape and CD, and more recently downloaded (legally!) from the Internet. My granddad was a big fan of both radio programming from WWII and big-band music from the same era. I guess I inherited the love of both. I’m not as big a fan of big band as he was, but I’m totally hooked on the radio serials.

Dave Slusher points out, rightly, that those kinds of things are great stages for your imagination. It’s so easy to get caught up in them and to “see” the drama as it unfolds before your — ears. It’s a great diversion for me in my morning and evening commute and there’s something really engaging about imagining the story as it plays out. It’s very much like reading for me. Another activity that I love, reading’s got all the same elements of imagination as radio does, using a different delivery mechanism.

I’m kinda partial to the mysteries, detective and the sci-fi stuff and I can tell you that I’ve spent far more money than I ever planned to on this material. I have a pretty fair collection of stuff that the Smithsonian/Radio Spirits has released. Too bad it’s still under copyright, because I think that everyone should take a listen. Some very famous people that you know from TV and movies got their start in radio. Folks like Orsen Wells, Bob Hope, & Vincent Price more are just some of the many examples.

For a gander at a nice compliation of radio material for free, check out Radio Lovers. It’s a wonderful site that contains tons of programs from varying genre’s. They’re MP3 formatted so they should play on virtually anything. The quality is sometimes not so hot, as the source material has aged badly, but I still highly recommend trying it out.

Perhaps I’ve become a bit of an old-fogey, but I can’t imagine (or can I?) a better or more enjoyable workout for the imagination than reading a book or listening to a radio program.

1. 
   Thud said...
   4:29 pm - April 21st, 2005

   Fantastic! I have a long plane ride soon — I was planning to drop a bundle at Audible first, but this might save me some cash. Thanks.

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