You have to be of a certain age to remember a time before there were television sets in every home in America and not the beloved radio. It is hard for my kids and grandkids to imagine a time when we sat around a floor model radio to listen to (not see) our nightly entertainment shows. Before it is much too late, let’s take a look at a few of the radio shows that provided us with nightly and weekly excitement.
1. Each week, our hero went to his closet to find something, always forgetting how over crammed it’s was with endless junk. When he opened the door, everything fell out with an endless roar of junk hitting the floor. What was this comedy classic?
2. Our hero and his trusty friend entered each week to the stirring music of Ferde Grofe’s “William Tell Overture.” What was this show?
3. He was the “All American Boy” and he attended Hudson High. Who was our college hero?
4. Jack Benny was a great radio star and was one of the rare ones who made a seamless transition to TV. Because of his unbelievable thrift, he drove a vehicle that was at least 50 years old that made a real racket on radio. What was the make of his car?
5. “Amos and Andy” was the most popular radio show of the early 1930s. Because of its popularity,, movie theaters would play it in theaters before the movie was played in an attempt to keep patrons from staying home. What mythical lodge were Amos and Andy members of?
6. “Christmas Story” has become one of the most popular movies shown every year at Yuletide. It captures the draw of old radio on families of that time. In the movie, the little boy desperately wants a BB gun for Christmas that is promoted by his radio hero. Who was that hero?