I have been listening to some old-time radio of late, although it’s been of a British nature—ever since I stumbled across my cache of radio Britcoms my interest in listening to more has been piqued, and so I skated on over to BBC7. It’s a satellite radio network that features radio comedy, drama and other audio goodies; so not only can you listen to classics like Dad’s Army, Steptoe & Son, Hancock’s Half Hour, The Goon Show and Round the Horne, but they feature fairly recently radio Beeb offerings as well. Best of all, they have a week’s backlog of programs so if your schedule doesn’t quite mesh with theirs, you can listen at a more convenient time.

Some of the programs I’ve sampled are extremely good; one in particular is Educating Archie, which stars ventriloquist Peter Brough and his dummy Archie Andrews (no, not the one of “Relax, Archie…relax!” fame) in what is essentially a British version of Edgar Bergen & Charlie McCarthy. Brough and his wooden imp were BBC Radio stars beginning in 1944, and their show had a healthy run from 1948 to 1960—Brough retired in 1961 after the death of his father, and took over the family’s textile and menswear business. What makes Educating Archie of interest (apart from the Bergen-McCarthy comparison) is the program’s young female vocalist, a 13-year-old Julie Andrews. (Whatever became of her, anyway?) Another one I enjoyed is Ray’s a Laugh (1949-61), an entertaining sitcom spotlighting the talents of comedian Ted Ray—and featuring a supporting player named Peter Sellers. Good stuff over there at BBC7—check it out when you get the chance.

While I’m thinking about it, if you haven’t gotten a gander at the latest SPERDVAC Radiogram, you are missing one heck of an article on Gunsmoke written by the one-and-only Stewart Wright. Stewart’s piece is an exhaustively researched work that confronts the myth that many of the Gunsmoke shows that were repeated were not in fact rebroadcasts, but new renditions of earlier scripts, often featuring small dialogue changes and different performers, etc. This well-written article is only one of many reasons why you should join SPERDVAC, if you haven’t already. Stewart is one of the denizens that frequents IRC’s #oldradio chat on Thursday nights at 8pm EST—which has only recently been rejoined by its founder, Lois Culver, who’s back and as joyful as ever.
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