...impressive reference to the Golden Age of radio...It is intended for both the casual listener to programs from radio's Golden Age as well as the serious hobbyist or researcher....Collectors will find highly useful descriptions...importance of Handbook ...cannot be overstated. A tremendous body of research, it belongs in every collector's library.
Recommended for interested readers, form the hobbyist to the researcher.
American Reference Books Annual
...an invaluable listing of all the famous old shows, with information on what's available today on tape and how to order...
...a handy reference for the OTR fan.
...a carefully indexed guide...Libraries with full collections on broadcasting should consider this volume.... and hard-core collectors should have one on their shelves. This is a classic labor of love and pulls a good deal of information together in one place.
Communication Booknotes Quarterly
The Handbook stands as the most useful, authoritative general source about old radio programs.
...an excellent old time radio 'Bible'...a solid piece of scholarship...Serious hobbyists and researchers will find it invaluable....a browser's delight....Anyone with an appreciation for nostalgia will thoroughly enjoy Swartz and Reinehr's book.
...the best old-time radio book published since 1976.... this is definitely a book all OTR buffs can use...
...the most comprehensive volume currently available on the subject...
Information on the production and airing of these shows has previously been widely scattered and often accessible, but the Handbook ... brings it all home in one volume... remarkably comprehensive...easy-to-use...
...very adequately provides the needed information, including number of programs available for each performer, to make delightful browsing for any and all people...
Journal of American Culture
This book intends to provide scholars and hobbyists a comprehensive, one-volume guide to OTR....a worthy addition to any library with an interest in popular culture, popular entertainment, or mass media and broadcasting.
...a good one-stop source for information about Old-Time Radio....covers so much more information in a single, usable source that public and academic libraries with an interest in Old-Time Radio, broadcasting, popular culture, or history will find this a welcome addition.
It is worth the price because it is so complete....recommend it highly for the serious OTR fan.
This book intends to provide scholars and hobbyists a comprehensive, one-volume guide to OTR....a worthy addition to any library with an interest in popular culture, popular entertainment, or mass media and broadcasting.
This book intends to provide scholars and hobbyists a comprehensive, one-volume guide to OTR....a worthy addition to any library with an interest in popular culture, popular entertainment, or mass media and broadcasting.
Public and academic libraries and old-time radio buffs will enrich their radio-history collections with the comprehensive Handbook of Old-Time Radio
...very adequately provides the needed information, including number of programs available for each performer, to make delightful browsing for any and all people...
The Journal of American Culture
Recommended for interested readers, form the hobbyist to the researcher.
American Reference Books Annual (ARBA)
...a carefully indexed guide...Libraries with full collections on broadcasting should consider this volume.... and hard-core collectors should have one on their shelves. This is a classic labor of love and pulls a good deal of information together in one place.
...very adequately provides the needed information, including number of programs available for each performer, to make delightful browsing for any and all people...
Journal Of American Culture
For both casual listeners to programs from radio's Golden Age and serious hobbyists or researchers, the Handbook includes a descriptive log of some 2,000 programs, with casts, announcers, network, length of program, duration of appearance, availability, and, where appropriate, story lines; categorized logs of some 4,500 programs, organized by type of program; chapters covering each type of program, with historical information and guidelines for research; descriptions of the better known premiums offered; a history of the networks; and a chapter on resources available for those interested in acquiring old-time programs, reference material, or memorabilia. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
In a recent article in "Reference 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's "The Big Broadcast, 1920-1950" (Viking, 1972), Dunning's "Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, 1925-1976" (Prentice-Hall, 1976), and Terrace's "Radio'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 the "Handbook 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 comprehensive "Handbook of Old-Time Radio".
