Radio Books

I am so grateful to have found a copy of the story of "Fibber McGee and Molly" (Jim and Marion Jordan) available in print. This book was published back in the '80s, and this copy was a used one that was, luckily for me, available through amazon.com! I was not content to merely listen to available recordings of the McGees, or to see them portrayed in film, I wanted to know more about the radio show and the protagonists themselves.
The book was not the best-edited or put-together book I have read, but the story is there, and I found it very interesting. My preference for biographies is that they be presented in chronological order, and the chapters tended to move back-and-forth through the time-line, but I had no trouble following the story. I found many typos in the text, and the illustrations, though many, were poorly reproduced, but every one is a treasure, nonetheless, to a lover of Old Time Radio. If you are the type of person who enjoys knowing the people behind the characters, I hope you are as lucky as I was to find a copy of this book. Although it was a used copy, to me it is a keeper!

Thank goodness that this book is out there so that people won't forget the great comedy team of Jim and Marion Jordan.

With plenty of pictures to put faces to names, the book thorougly recounts the lives of Fibber McGee and Molly and their supporting cast.

It's a quick and easy read, and a great peek inside the lives of one of the great comic duos.

Forget the fact that there is no other book on the subject, Stumpf's Heavenly Days is the most comprehensive work on this classic radio show. Half the book is pictures (yes, one on every other page), though the quality is sometimes less than wonderful. Anyone looking for a detailed log is going to be disappointed, but if you're seeking a historical account, richly detailed, this is exactly what you need. No wonder there's not been another book on Fibber. It's unnecessary.

While "Fibber McGee and Molly" is still beloved by fans of Old Time Radio, for the general public, the names mean nothing. Nor do most people know who Jim and Marian Jordon were.

But for the curious, those who want to know more about the show, this is the book to read. Not only because it is well-researched with interviews with Jim Jordon and others, but also it is full of photographs of Jim and Marian both before and during their years at 79 Wistful Vista.

Listeners to the show know it evolved over the years. The earliest episodes are almost unenjoyable and bear little resemblance to the show at its height. Why did the show evolve? Look here to find out. Favorite characters would come and go. But where do you turn to find out why? This book! And what was behind the "Fibber McGee's closet" routine? How and why did it come about? This will tell you why. How did the show handle the drafting of many of its most important stars during World War Two? Turn to these pages. Why did Johnson Wax end sponsorship? And why did the Jordans decide against playing the roles on television? This is the definitive book to answer those questions.
Easy-to-read type; single space, packs a lot of fact on the page.
This book is invaluable!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy has had numerous incarnations: novels, TV series, an ill fated stage play, a text based video game, a full length movie, and other obscure manifestations. However, the one that started it all was in fact the 1979 radio broadcast. The series is written for the ear, and no other performance is quite like the original. Any fan of the books should be glad to own the medium that started it all.

This 3 CD package contains the original six episodes--they call them "fits"--of the BBC Radio series broadcast in 1978. Each fit is approximately 30 minutes long. There are 7-13 tracks per fit, so that you can quickly and easily go forwards or backwards in any episode--as close to hyperdrive as your going to get. The sound quality is excellent.

As the title of my review indicates, my favorite version of The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is the radio version. The BBC Radio broadcasts were the first medium through which The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy was introduced to the world, with the books, TV series and film coming later. Peter Jones' performance as the Book is outstanding.

That being said, I think it beneficial to read the book (if you haven't already) prior to listening to the CD's, so that you know the basic story line. I say the basic story line, because the book and the radio version differ on occasions.

Listen to these CD's in your car, and you'll arrive at your destination before you really want to--who needs an Improbability Drive.

This is the original BBC radio series (I know I have an old cassette copy from the early 1908's). The radio series was first, then the book, then the TV series, and now the movie. In my opinion the radio series was the best. It has all of the great lines my friend love to quote. The actors are wonderful. The sound effects make you feel like you are right there with Arthur and Ford exploring the universe. Highly recommend it. Great way to pass the time while you are driving to work.

Of all the incarnations this story has gone through, I still believe that this original BBC radiophonic production is the best!

I bought this to get a copy of Keillor's incredible version of "The Raven". That, alone, is worth the price of this CD. The rest of the content is a nice bonus. This is very enjoyable to listen to while waiting for the next door bell on Halloween night.

Another great addition to the PHC collection. A collection of bits and skits from various halloween shows and a few that have nothing to do with halloween but they do have the feeling of the season. If you're not a PHC fan but are looking for another halloween cd to add to your collection this may not be the right cd for you. But, if you are a fan, then you will enjoy this collection that could have easily been a part of the PHC 'FALL' cd from the 'SEASONS' collection.

An especially welcome addition to my holiday listening collection. Good humor, music and stories. Well worth the money.

Garrison Keillor's "Horrors" is not only one of Keillor's great works of all time, but it is a marvelous take on Halloween itself. This cassette series has everything fans of Keillor could possibly want from brilliant, unique stories to sharp, witty skits to wonderfully appropriate music for Halloween. The best thing, in my opinion, on this series, however, is Keillor's unsurpassed reading of Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven". To sum up, this cassette series is enjoyable year around and is a must-buy for any fan of Garrison Keillor and "A Prarie Home Companion".

Carney is a former journalist who has worked in various aspects of communications for more than 20 years. His book is packed with information on approaching the media, developing and maintaining a relationship with it, handling interviews, analyzing the success of message delivery, lodging complaints and a whole lot more in between.

This is a book designed for people in the public,private and voluntary sector who know very little about the news media but need to know more if they are going to do their jobs properly. It contains lots of practical advice about how to approach reporters, turn events into a news story,navigate difficult interviews,and write grabby press releases.

Although Carney, a former journalist and now an experienced political staffer in the premier's office in Saskatchewan,he manages to avoid casting news media as puppets to be manipulated. Instead, he urges public relations practitioners to help the news media do their job rather than hinder them. Journalists wanting to
know more about the tricks of the trade used in the PR business will also find this interesting. G.S..

Recommendation: Definitely worth owning for all but the very experienced. The two chapters on handling interviews are touchstones to be read over and over, as are the concluding thoughts on professional development. Total beginners will want to supplement this volume with additional case studies showing the principles in action and material on the how-to of activities such as setting up a news conference venue or conducting a media drop.

In The News: The Practice Of Media Relations In Canada by experienced journalist and lecturer William Wray Carney is a solidly informative treatise about public relations with the media - in particular the Canadian media, but the vital advice and sound information, such as the principle of "Good Communications Cannot Override Bad Judgement" apply directly to public relations workers everywhere. Grounded solidly in research and personal experience, yet written in a straightforward, direct style particularly suitable for introducing novices to public relations while offering new tips, tricks, and techniques for veteran PR workers, In The News is a first-rate and highly recommended guidebook to the art, craft and science of media relations.

If I had been a shaker and a mover in some area of broadcasting, it might have beem hard for me to read Donna Halper's new book, "Invisible Stars"--without feeling some embarrassment. Her story is the story of women who succeeded in American broadcasting, many of whom succeed in spite of the fact of their gender. It seems that back in the 1920s when radio was considered a toy, women were quite welcome to announce, sing or play an instrument, become program directors, and even in rare cases, own a radio station. But when radio began to be commercially profitable, when more and more people had radios, when networks came into being, then women were not so welcome, especially in the ranks of management. By the decades, Halper takes us through the history of how women made their mark, or were denied even the opportunity of trying to do that. The struggle of women for recognition and equality in radio and television reads something like the struggle for the same things by black people and other minorities. One of the mysteries that Halper brings to our attention is the developments before, during, and after World War II. Before the War, women's place was in the home, being the dutiful wife, keeping house, cooking the meals, taking care of the kids. During the War, women were encouraged to take jobs in war manufacturing plants, AND to do all the traditional stuff. When, after the War, the men came back and wanted their jobs back, women were expected to go back to the kitchen and nursery. And the same thing happened in broadcasting. The sad thing is that even though some women in radio and television have made important gains, much of the picture of broadcasting in the 2000s is not much different from what it was in the 1950s. Halper has done an excellent job of research, witness her extensive bibliography, in this well-written account of women in American broadcasting. Let Halper have the last word: "Perhaps one day soon, the pioneering women of radio and television will be given the same respect for their accomplishments that society has accorded their male counterparts. I hope this book will contribute to the process and keep women of broadcasting from remaining invisible stars."

Donna Halper's book Invisible Stars sheds daylight on the dim careers of American women in broadcasting. It's a lively book, and the women in it are a lively bunch: not only the expected announcers and managers, but station owners and transmitter engineers have braved minority odds to follow the muse of radio. Arranged by decades from the pioneering 20s through the era of big networks to the fragmented markets of the new millennium, Halper's book traces a good double handful of female achievers as their careers changed with the times.

Halper's own achievements are noteworthy, not just in radio but in writing. The book is intensively researched and lavish of detail, yet written in a bright, wry style that continually absorbs and entertains. It's a serious work, but an accessible one, and not for hyper-feminists only. Halper doesn't suffer anit-feminists gladly, but clearly shows that anti-feminists aren't all male. Her just exasperation at sweeping stereotypes is tempered with humor and an admirably balanced tone. She chronicles the unfairness these women faced in their careers and is never unfair herself: when there are extenuating or alternative explanations for blatantly sexist acts, she always takes the time to point them out.

Gender interaction in the 20th century workplace isn't simply a tale of oppressors and their victims, and Halper knows that. She charts the ambiguous, hypocritical and sometimes schizophrenic attitudes in the minds of both sexes, and uncovers their roots in recession and war, as well as in the less excusable manipulations of the media. The women in this book aren't pure rebels or pure conformists. They're competent people trying to do their jobs, though power-structures are rigid, privilege is stacked against them, and shifting media mantras about how women ought to behave this time hum obsessively in the background.

Invisible Stars, in short, is no partisan screed, but an honest examination of its topic. Rational readers of both genders can expect to learn a lot from it about the workings of radio and of reality.

Halper has finally given readers a book that highlights the formidable contributions of women in electronic media. The book is an important addition to the canon of broadcast history, and the author deserves credit for her thorough and ground-breaking research. The book is an enjoyable read and offers a wealth of information on how the so-called "ladies of the air" brought something of real substance and value to a hitherto male-dominated industry. It should be required reading for all student's of media as well as for those individuals who occupy executive and managerial positions in radio and television.

Donna Halper really knows her stuff, and she knows how to tell it in an interesting way. Everyone interested in how media affects us and society will be grateful for reading this. The struggles women had (and have) provide a significant glimpse into a world that is vital for us to understand. Highly recommended.

This is a quality product that can be enjoyed by children and adults who are listening with them. The attention to detail with history,creationism,science,biblical information and adventure was terrific. My 10 year old son loves to listen to the stories and can't wait to hear the next cd. There are four cd's with 3 adventures on each. Additionally, there is a resource book that can be used in conjunction with the cd's. Great for bible studies, home schoolers and even just for fun family activities. The price was a bargain for the product you receive.

My Children have the rest of the series and really enjoy them. Great stories and Biblical applications of Creation. Great entertainment for in the car. Makes them think. They might even ask some good questions. I love it!

My 9 yo son has loved the Jonathan Park audio series. He listens to them again and again. He just now old enough to be interested in the supplemental book that comes with it. These are a good and Godly form of educating children about creation. All entertainment is teaching something...I appreciate that these are furthering his biblical beliefs. Very well done and captivating. Kids as young as 7 or 8 will enjoy these audio adventures.

This is a wonderful part of a series that is exciting Fun ,thrilling and wholesome, packed with educational truth of history & Science.
Our whole family has enjoyed these from ages 5- 40+ parents. they are hard to stop once started.

I have been knitting most of my life, but would certainly not consider myself an expert! It was with some trepidation then that I decided to knit mittens for my sisters, aunts, nieces and other special friends for Christmas this past year. The instructions in the front of the book were excellent. With a little trial and error, I was able to master the basic mitten. The individual patterns are easy to follow and are stunning. I eventually completed 27 pairs of bright and colorful mittens. The recipients were amazed. I even included a little gift insert that I had crafted about the Komi people from reading the history at the beginning of the book. I am now working on my 28th pair...for myself! And I purchased an additional copy of the book to keep in reserve just in case it ever (heaven forbid!) goes out of print.

This is a wonderful book of mittens with intricate but easy to do patterns. Charlene's general mitten pattern in different sizes works out great and fits very well. The book is well thought out with a general introduction with information that relates to all the mittens and the separate patterns have their essential information. Her graphs are easy to read. There are a few goofs in the patterns like a wrong count/yarn for the pattern repeat, but you'd pick up on that right away checking count and yarn. Some of the shown gloves seem to be a previous version as they differ slightly from the actual pattern graph/position of the pattern on the glove. But I think that's a minor variation. The color photographs are gorgeous and make you want to knit just all of them.
I especially like the way the thumbs are worked, first of all with a pattern section on the thumb that is centered and looks very neat, then second, the way the thumb is finished is very fitting to the shape of a human thumb in a way that the reductions are only made on the "hand" side.
I am very very happy with this book and recommend it highly.

There are a few mitten knitting books on the market; Latvian Mittens (Upitis) featuring the intricate, fine gauge knitting from that Baltic land; Magnificent Mittens by Zilboorg--colorful Turkish patterns and gauntlets in her original and very colorful style. So how many MORE mitten books do we need--being as we all wear far few mittens than, say, socks?

I was not, therefore, immediately interested in this book. But, wait, who are the Komi people and what kind of knitting do they do? it turns out the Komi are a Finno-Ugric group who are ethnically related to the Estonians and Finns. Like the Baltic Estonians, they use the angular, diagonal patterns found in Estonia and Latvia, as well as in Lithuania and parts of Russia. The mittens here are colorful, with eye-catching use of all-over designs and mixed "septentary" smaller bands that make for very attractive hand coverings.

But not only mittens--author Schurch includes a lovely pattern for long stockings which could be used for cross-country skiing, and two very nice hats--a Komi fez with tassels and a sort of stocking cap.

If you like color pattern knitting, this book is a valuable idea resource. If you like knitting mittens, of course you will like it even better. But even if hats and socks are really your favorites, (they are for me) this book has a great deal to offer in novel patterns and colorways. I like it a lot.

Ms. Schurch,
Thank you for taking your time, researching and writing such a detailed book on little known ethnic art of Komi people in Russia. The designs are very practical, colorful, and easy to make. Besides, saving a perishing heritage of knowledge of small nation in our mass-production age, is a noble cause. When this knowledge is gone, it will be gone forever.
Thanks again.
adriana

As he did with Houdini, Poe and Cotton Mather, Silverman peels away the tired skin of his subjects and reveals a person hitherto unknown to history. Never one to catalog facts, Silverman redefines not only the person but the era in which he lived. Morse's Calvinism, his passionate pro-slavery views, and his profound frustrations can be comprehended only in the context of his age, which Silverman portrays through dazzling research and exquisite prose. Harrowing Nineteenth Century sea voyages and the Puritan's love/hate relationship with Rome provide two of the many fascinating vignettes that invigorate this portrait.
Once again, Kenneth Silverman has proven himself the Dean of American biographers.

Basically I agree with the reviews of Deborah Taylor, Charles De Fanti, Jr. and Matthew Wall. I had no idea that Morse was an accomplished painter and introduced daguerreotype photography to the USA and taught Matthew Brady. Thanks to Hollywood, I had no idea that one of the best features of the Morse telegraph system was automatic recording of the dot and dash signals, so no operator had to be present when they arrived. Or that he was involved with the trans-Atlantic cables. Or that he finally threw himself on the mercy of European governments in which the Morse telegraph system was being used and asked for an indemnity, one-time, saying he would be satisfied with whatever it was ($2 million in today's money).

We were never exposed to Morse's pro-slavery bible-based views, or his campaign support for General George McClellan in 1864 against Lincoln. The idea that English abolitionists were planted or encouraged to go to the USA to weaken us was there.

Silverman has provided a good index and astounding documentation of sources. Those of you who have looked at my other reviews and seen lists of errors will be impressed that I did not find a single one in this wonderfully readable book. My only wish is that there were a few more details of the telegraph devices. And why no table of the Morse code? No matter: this is one of the best books I have ever read on any topic.

I picked up this book on a whim, and found myself agog at Morse's veritable precognition about the telecommunication industry. I was quite unable to put the book down. This man may be long dead, but his ideas about leasing the right to use his telegraph, rather than opting to sell telegraph devices one-by-one, was a brilliant marketing decision on a par with today's great master's of business. The book is well-written and full of surprises, including what business decisions NOT to make. This is a great read for anyone who a)is in marketing; b) is in telecommunication; or c)mistrusts the Patent Office!

SFB Morse is hardly a forgotten figure in history, but neither does he have the stature of an Edison in terms of the industrial development. As Lightning Man ably describes, the telegraph itself was more an invention of an amalgamation of a variety of predecessor developments in science and technology. Morse deserves ample credit for putting the pieces together and, more importantly, having the drive and acumen to evolve the invention into a successful business model, which was the key for its transformative effect on world technology. Yet his life, before the appearance of this excellent biography, seems shrouded in the myth of the lone inventor.

What's truly fascinating about his story and this book is the tale of the transition from the idea of the lone individual genius to the research lab, the difference between a great idea and a useful product, the move from progress being measured by the fevered work of a single man to the joint efforts of the company and the corporation. The story is one of a transformation of a culture, but which stays firmly focussed on its subject, Mr. Morse, in telling the tale.

Morse's "early" years as a painter are covered extremely well, and while the transition between his career as a painter to one as an inventor may seem bizarre and abrupt to the modern conception, Silverman illuminates this strange career change in the light of the times. Morse himself was a bridge between early American puritanism and a more modern philosophy that was to come. His philosophy of human nature and of himself had all the prejudice, bravado, arrogance, hypocrisy, idealism, greed, and Calvinist self-loathing that made the first half of the 19th century such a dynamic period. That Morse had to travel abroad to study fine art painting, a field considered by many Americans of the time to be vile and barely a craft, and sought the approval of the Academy of the day in Europe also neatly encapsulates the love-hate relationship of the period with European culture and learning. (Morse's own tortured schizophrenia on European political institutions is a subtheme: he is quick to criticize the European political systems of the day in his younger years, and all too eager to accept the emoluments and honors of royalty in his later ones.) The treatment of Morse's early years and his relationship with his then-even-more famous geographer father is done very deftly, without resorting to facile Freudian psychobabble, as we see Morse attempting to simultaneously win parental approval, find his own way in the world, make a name for himself, and try to see his own importance.

There's an American tragedy within Morse's life story as well, in the way he bitterly fought -- perhaps too hard in some ways -- to get the sole credit for inventing the telegraph that he is popularly (and inaccurately) given in the one-line biographical entries of modern histories. This fight was done partly for ego and celebrity, and partly to protect his patents and late fortune. It's a sad and cautionary tale how Morse was never able to settle into any kind of self-satisfaction as he became obsessed with his own legacy.

Morse was an American original, and there's a fascinating pull to the story of a man never happy with himself despite having reached conventional success in two quite different professions.

While this book has a large section geared towards actors and that aspect of the industry, it also has other sections that talk about various aspects of producing a movie including script and sound effects. I was generally pleased to purchase this for my ten yr old to get a grip on what was involved in actually making a movie. It is fun and easy to follow.

My 5 year old son is a model and has begun auditioning for commercials. This book has been great to read together to learn terminology that is used in the business and to understand the entire process and how everything fits together and relates in the business. It's a great book for anyone new to the acting business.

This book tells you how movies are made. It is a great book to read if you are a beginning actor/actress. It is very interesting. I highly recomend this book for kids.

This book has everything you ever wanted to know about auditons, agents, filming and effects. You follow Johnny as he is cast in the movie "The Mists of Time".

Don't even pick up this book unless you have a few hours to spare. It's fascinating, and it covers much more than radio. When you look up one of your favorite personalities, you're likely to find out things you never knew, then on the same page, you'll spot someone you didn't even know was ever on the radio...and it keeps going from there. Love the pictures and the "gossipy" inside stuff too. I've never seen a book like this before. Now I wonder why every city doesn't have one.

Don Barrett has proven again why he is the choice for LA RADIO PEOPLE....A must read whether you are in the loop or for all you ever wanted to know and thought you did, but there's never a dull moment. What a tribute to all LA RADIO PEOPLE.

As a broadcaster, LA Radio People is the best book I've seen covering the air talent of Los Angeles. Great job by Don Barrett

If you've ever spent time trapped amongst LA's freeways, waiting for the latest traffic report....lounged alongside the Pacific beachs of LA county beaches grooving the scenery and top 40 radio...or dialed around late at night from wherever you live and caught some of those long distance LA Radio waves...this book is for you,

Don has done the radio buffs of the world a tremendous service in compiling this, a first of its' kind volume of the who's who of LA Radio.

The book is filled with pictures, detailed biographical information and its own Top 10 LA Radio Personalty ranking.

If you love radio like I do, you'll want to snap up a copy of LA Radio People. It's fun, informative and filled with scintillating details about the men and women who make up the wall of sound that is LA Radio.