This internship has been amazing. I never expected it to be as enjoyable and fascinating as it was. I learned more than I could ever hope to sum up in a single post, or even multiple posts for that matter. I have a new respect for old radio shows, for a whole culture for that matter. I’m at a loss to describe it all, so I won’t.
Throughout this blog, I’ve been referencing “Radio Ga-Ga” by Queen. This will make the 6th and final reference. I always thought I knew what the song was about; the transformation of the music industry caused by MTV. Queen was commenting on the moment when fans discovery of new rock stars no longer occurred while listening to the radio, but instead occurred while watching MTV. That was only a small part of what the song is about. It’s a love song to a dying medium. The song is about everything that used to be on the radio, but has now faded away. The song is hopeful that while a whole culture may be lost, it is not lost forever. Since I have been referencing lyrics from the song quite a bit, I decided to post all of them, as my final post. So here’s to adventure shows that had me on the edge of my seat, the great comedy teams that had me biting my lip to keep me from laughing, the noir dramas that thrilled me, and anything I forgot to mention.

“Radio Ga-Ga”
lyrics by Roger Taylor
I’d sit alone and watch your light
My only friend through teenage nights
And everything I had to know
I heard it on my radio
Radio.

You gave them all those old time stars
Through wars of worlds — invaded by Mars
You made ‘em laugh — you made ‘em cry
You made us feel like we could fly.

So don’t become some background noise
A backdrop for the girls and boys
Who just don’t know or just don’t care
And just complain when you’re not there
You had your time, you had the power
You’ve yet to have your finest hour
Radio.

All we hear is Radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is Radio ga ga
Radio blah blah
Radio what’s new?
Radio, someone still loves you!

We watch the shows — we watch the stars
On videos for hours and hours
We hardly need to use our ears
How music changes through the years.

Let’s hope you never leave old friend
Like all good things on you we depend
So stick around cos we might miss you
When we grow tired of all this visual
You had your time, you had the power
You’ve yet to have your finest hour
Radio — Radio.

All we hear is Radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is Radio ga ga
Radio goo goo
Radio ga ga
All we hear is Radio ga ga
Radio blah blah
Radio what’s new?
Radio, someone still loves you!

The two most memorable programs I digitized today were very different from each other. One was an episode of “Red Ryder.” I have grown up watching “A Christmas Story” on TBS, which broadcasts the movie for 24 hours straight, beginning at 8 PM on Christmas Eve. The plot of the movie, for those who cannot remember, is that all Ralphie wants for Christmas is a Red Ryder B.B Gun, despite all of the adults who say “No, you’ll shoot your eye out.” (Hence the title of this post.) I had always thought that “Red Ryder” was a made-up show; something designed to represent a particular type of action/adventure radio show, but no. Much to my shock today, I discovered that “Red Ryder” was an actual radio show. It seemed very similar to “The Lone Ranger,” western setting, Indian sidekicks, fighting the bad guys, and winning.

The other was the radio broadcast of the White House Christmas Tree Lighting on Christmas Eve, 1941. Pearl Harbor had happened two weeks before, yet despite that the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony still occurred. I’m sure there must have been discussions in the White House on whether or not they should go ahead with it. What made the program truly fascinating was that Winston Churchill was present as well. He had been meeting with FDR earlier in the week. It was inspirational to hear FDR reassure the public that it was okay to be happy and celebrate Christmas, and that children deserved joy, despite what had happened. What really left an impression was the crowd singing Christmas Carols at the end. I imagined people all over the country listening and singing along. It was a powerful mental image.

Today was my last day of my internship. There’s quite a bit I want to say about my internship, but I’ll save that for a post later in the week.

Queen really knew what they were talking about with this line. I digitized an episode of “Kay Kyser’s Kollege of Musical Knowledge” from 1941. The program was a game show, based on music. The show I listened to was broadcast from an army base.

What came across was a sense of fun; the points were irrelevant, what mattered was having a good time and entertaining the audience. The host gave hints to the contests. The show also had dancing, and performances by singers of the day.

What I really liked was the show didn’t take itself too seriously. At one point, the host said to one of the contestants, “And now, for no reason, I’d like you to yodel.” One of the other segments I found humorous was when Kay Kyser had one of the contestants sing, but when he said beep, the contestant had to hum the song, until he said beep again, at which point, he had to resume singing. As you can imagine, by the end of the game, Kyser barely gave the contestant two seconds before making him go from humming to signing and back again.

I’m not sure if this was a typical show or not. It’s quite possible that it was sillier and had more non-competitive aspects that it normally would have because it was being done to entertain the troops stationed in San Diego.

Also, what I found odd were the ads for Lucky Strike. I’m not used to cigarette ads on the radio. It was a strong reminder that it was a different time. I love it. Each program is like a little time machine; it puts you back into a different era. Monday is my last day, and I’m really going to be sorry to see this internship end.

(In case you were counting, this title is the fifth reference to “Radio Ga-Ga” by Queen).

Ants. Killer ants that is. I digitized an episode of “Escape” entitled “Leinengen vs. The Ants.” It was an action/adventure show. The episode was about a plantation in the Amazon about to be over-run by flesh eating ants that destroy anything and everything in their path. Leinengen refused to leave his plantation, despite the warnings from the County Commissioner. Leinengen had many defenses, in order to protect his plantation involving water, ditches, and fire. I was totally engrossed in the story, literally on the edge of my seat, eager to find out what was going to happen next.

Listening to this episode helped me understand the Indiana Jones movies. I knew they were based on old adventure serials, but I did not fully understand what that meant until today. Having a basic understanding of a genre and listening to an example of it are two very different things. It was fascinating to actually experience the source material. I love my internship.

(For those loyal readers keeping track, this title is the fourth reference to “Radio Ga-Ga” by Queen).

I digitized an episode of “Burns and & Allen.” While I would like to be able to write about some grand realization, or some stunning historical insight, it is not going to happen. I was enjoying the show too much. The show was so funny. It was difficult to keep myself from laughing out loud. Gracie Allen has some of the funniest comedic dialogue I’ve ever heard. Some of the things she mispronounces and her misunderstandings are just priceless. She thought geometry was a language, and commented that Mickey Rooney was in with a bad crowd, because he stole every movie that he was in. George Burns managed to get in some amusing lines too. Most of the jokes were far from dated; the show earned its reputation as a comedy classic for a reason.

(For those of you keeping track, the title of my post is the third reference to “Radio Ga-Ga” by Queen).

George: “Say Goodnight, Gracie”
Gracie: “Goodnight Gracie”

The semester’s almost over, and I’m really busy with papers. I do not normally procrastinate, however, I was re-reading some of previous posts and I realized something. While I did keep my readers up to date on my search for my summer internship, I never mentioned how I ended up working at the library.

Last semester, in a class I was taking titled The History of American Popular Culture; we did a unit on radio. The professor mentioned that the library was looking for someone to digitize old radio shows. The only experience I had with radio shows was listening to them at the Museum of Television and Radio in California. I had a blast listening to “The Goon Show” and “Burns and Allen.”

Based on that experience, digitizing radio shows sounded interesting, so I went up to her after class and asked her for more details. She was more than happy to give me the contact details for the library archivist. I then made an appointment with the archivist. The meeting went well, and at the end of it we set up what I would be working on, and what my hours would be.

Lesson learned: Using professors as a resource and following up with something that sounds interesting is a good idea, because you never know where it might lead. The internship that I’m doing now helped me get my summer internship, and who knows where that might lead.

Joe Friday, he carries a badge. (Go ahead, hum the theme if you want to)

I digitized an episode of “Nightbeat” followed by an episode of “Dragnet.” While both are investigation dramas, I was struck by how bad “Dragnet” was.

Randy Stone, who has the night beat for a newspaper in Chicago, has flair. He’s like a character out of an old noir film. Stone has great one-liners, sarcastic comebacks, and is just cool. In the episode I did today, Stone met a secretary at a bar, and then convinced him to tell her what was wrong, and why she kept using a pay phone to call someone. I won’t go into a detailed plot summary, because I have papers I should be working on, but to give you a quick idea of how cool the show is, the episode had a love triangle, and a suicide attempt, which he tried to stop. I was on the edge of my seat.

And now for something completely different.

Sgt. Joe Friday is so boring. He’s monotone and about as exciting as dry toast. “Dragnet” as a show is mind-numbingly slow. “Just the Facts” is one of the most quoted lines for a reason-that’s all the show is. It’s about as exciting as reading a police file. The actors sound like they are reading off of a script. I cannot believe it made the leap from radio to television, and stayed on as long as it did.

Based on my early frustrations, I never thought I would reach a point when working with reel to reel would be easy. Just when I thought I had a handle on it, I would find something else that could go wrong. However, today I did not need any help, which I feel is a huge accomplishment. Any problems that I encountered, I fixed on my own.

Despite this feeling of accomplishment, I also had an experience which an only be described as one of the moments where you go “Duh!” I wanted to smack myself on the forehead for being so stupid, but I’m getting ahead of myself.

I was digitizing an episode of “Fibber McGee & Molly,” from the 1940’s. The McGees’ are having a fish dinner. All of their neighbors and friends are there, and they are waiting for the fish to arrive. I’m sitting there listening to this show thinking, why are they waiting for the fish to arrive? It finally dawned on me that the episode was from the 1940’s, which meant that refrigerators were still uncommon, and that fish would have to be bought or delivered fresh. I couldn’t believe how long it took me to put two and two together. The answer was so obvious, I wanted to laugh at how long it took me to figure it out. It’s funny how much of what my generation takes for granted is so new, relatively speaking. Doing this project has really given me an interesting insight into previous decades.

Truer words were never spoken, based on what I worked on today. I digitized a fascinating old relic titled “Halls of Ivy.” For the first time, I actually snickered while I was listening to the program. It was so cheesy and corny. The show takes place at Ivy College, in Ivy USA. The focus of the show is the president of the college and his wife.

The episode I listened dealt with the father of one of the students, and his father the reverend. The father was upset that his son wants to be a composer instead of become a reverend, like every other male in the blood line. I was expecting to hear the father and son discuss the issue, but no. Instead there was this random flashback to the courtship of the president and his wife, which had nothing to do the main-plot of the episode. The father-son issue was resolved out of earshot of the listener, during a car-ride we never hear, and the solution was just presented to the audience. What we did get to hear is an incredibly cheesy gospel song about calling the man upstairs.

However, the closing theme was breathtaking; I listened to it multiple times. It pinpointed the radio show at a specific moment in time, the early 1950’s. The theme sounded like one of the old pre-rock male vocal groups, such as The Letterman or The Four Freshman. The radio show represents a very important historical moment. The youth market was not yet recognized. While the story is about older adolescents, the focus is on the adults. The central characters are the president and his wife, not the college students. Also, it is so close to following the format of a sitcom, but does not. It’s almost like there working out the formula, but just hadn’t quite figured it out yet. Also the show is very much part of the pre-rock era, but so close to the rock era you can practically taste what’s coming.

P.S: I realize this the second reference to “Radio Ga Ga,” but it is an underrated Queen song, and so fitting for my project

I digitized four reels of a speech given by Hitler. There was an English translation given by the United States correspondent. The speech was given in 1939, shortly after the invasion of Poland. I wondered what it must have been like for the people who had to translate the speech, and for the person who had to read the English translation over the air. I had only heard Hitler ranting and raving in short news clips, but in the speech, he began in very measured, almost calm tones, and eventually reached an angry strident crescendo. So far, it has been the most odd experience I had digitizing something. I can’t quite put it into words.