Category Archives: radio

Radio Christmas in Connecticut

Posted on December 21, 2011 by Bob Stepno

It isn’t quite Christmas, and I’m far from Connecticut. (Yes, Santa, I’m in Virginia.) And the Martha Stewart or Gladys Taber style feel-good food-and-home magazine feature writing celebrated in the 1945 film “Christmas in Connecticut” doesn’t really match my “Newspaper … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, ethics, journalism, movies, radio, women | Leave a comment

Read Along with Hildy & Walter

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Bob Stepno

Thanks to the Internet Movie Script DataBase, I’ve added a text excerpt of Hildy Johnson’s passionate second thoughts about journalists to my page of links to “His Girl Friday” and “The Front Page” radio incarnations, just in time for my fall … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, Hildy Johnson, movies, radio, reporters, romance, women | Leave a comment

Postmodern radio with Wendy Warren and the News

Posted on August 27, 2011 by Bob Stepno

When I wrote the original version of this page, I’d only heard this one 1949 episode of “Wendy Warren and the News,” but it captured the series’ unique style. Wendy Warren was a fictional noontime newscaster who shared the opening … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 1950s, journalism, radio, reporters, true stories | 6 Comments

National Radio Day!

Posted on August 20, 2011 by Bob Stepno

While this site, blog, podcast etc. is mostly about radio of the past, I just noticed that this Saturday is National Radio Day… a good reminder to visit TODAY’s radio news broadcasters and programmers who value the storytelling power of … Continue reading →

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Sabra Cravat, Frontier Editor

Posted on May 17, 2011 by Bob Stepno

In both versions of the movie “Cimarron,” the visual spectacle of the 1889 Oklahoma Land Rush may have stolen the show. But in two radio adaptations, the story all belonged to Irene Dunne‘s portrayal of Sabra Cravat, frontier wife, mother … Continue reading →

Posted in 19th century, adaptations, cavalcade, editors, Hallmark, journalism, movies, newspapers, radio, women | Leave a comment

Publisher dares to report

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Bob Stepno

http://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/G%20Series/Green%20Hornet,%20The/Green%20Hornet%2040-06-05%20(0448)%20Murder%20Seeks%20Its%20Victim%20(aka-Crandall%20And%20The%20Murder%20Ring).mp3 Britt Reid didn’t follow a traditional publisher’s job description, and I’m not just talking about his moonlighting as a masked crime fighter for more than 1,000 radio episodes in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, each one with a newsboy … Continue reading →

Posted in competition, ethics, GreenHornet, j-heroes, newspapers, publishers, radio, sensationalism, women | Leave a comment

Getting off the ground at The Daily Planet

Posted on January 27, 2011 by Bob Stepno

This is the first in what I hope will be a once or twice a week podcast of oldtime radio programs featuring fictional (or dramatized) newspaper reporters and editors. As a logical place to start, I’m sure the first fictional … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, j-heroes, newspapers, radio, Superman | Leave a comment

The Hornet’s nest was a newspaper

Posted on January 26, 2011 by Bob Stepno

Britt Reid, daring young publisher… Long before Seth Rogen put on a green mask for his 2011 film, “The Green Hornet” was one of the 1930s-1950s radio series that inspired me to start paying attention to how newspaper reporters and … Continue reading →

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Stay tuned!

Posted on December 17, 2010 by Bob Stepno

Journalism today needs heroes. For inspiration — or at least food for thought about what might make a journalist “a hero” — this site explores radio’s portrayals of “ladies and gentlemen of the press” starting back in the 1930s, when … Continue reading →

Posted in j-heroes, journalism, movies, newspapers, podcast, radio, teaching | Leave a comment