Category Archives: true stories

News that depended on people

Posted on March 8, 2021 by Bob Stepno

… and people depending on a newspaper On International Women’s Day in a pandemic year, I’m listening to a radio play about a woman reporter on a medical story, Dorothy Patterson of the Paterson, N.J., Morning Call. While most episodes … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, children, Drama, local news, newspaper crusades, newspaper readers, The Big Story, true stories, women | Leave a comment

Black Journalists Mattered, 1944

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Bob Stepno

“New World A-Coming” was a New York radio station WMCA series begun during World War II, based on a book by the same name by journalist Roi Ottley, exploring issues of patriotism and racial prejudice in the United States… including … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, civil rights, Drama, historical figures, journalism, Race, racial justice, reporters, stereotypes, true stories, World War II | Leave a comment

Woman with a Mission, Ida B. Wells

Posted on May 17, 2018 by Bob Stepno

[Ida B. Wells portrait from the collection of the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, via Google Arts and Culture] Her New York Times obituary — 87 years after her death — called Ida B. Wells (1862-1931) “one of the nation’s most … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, civil rights, journalism, newspaper crusades, Race, true stories, women | Leave a comment

Mann of the Press at Bay

Posted on March 17, 2018 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Suspense_Singles_By_Year_1952/Suspense_521124_488_Man_Alive_128-44_28478_29m41s.mp3 From November 1952, this is no Thanksgiving story… A San Francisco newspaper columnist gets involved with bad Italian accents, puns on his name (“Mann”), a picture postcard and a mystery. Supposedly based on a true story, this episode of … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, adventure, suspense, true stories, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Strawberry Shortcake at War

Posted on September 6, 2017 by Bob Stepno

Alas, the liberation story shown in this Google newspaper archive clip never made it to the radio, as far as I know, but it hints at the first-person style of husband-and-wife United Press correspondents Reynolds and Eleanor Packard. The “Soldiers of the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, foreign correspondents, reporting, Soldiers of the Press, true stories, United Press, Walter Cronkite, World War II | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Custer’s stand in the Pacific: An injured Soldier of the Press

Posted on June 15, 2015 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Soldiers_Of_The_Press_Singles/SoldiersOfThePress42-11-30004JoeJamesCuster-WithBattleFleet.mp3 This episode of the United Press World War II radio series Soldiers of the Press covers reporter Joe James Custer’s service from Pearl Harbor through the sinking of a U.S. Navy cruiser he was assigned to in the Solomon Islands … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, Soldiers of the Press, true stories, United Press, World War II | Leave a comment

Covering a war, start to finish, with a Soldier of the Press

Posted on February 20, 2014 by Bob Stepno

by Bob Stepno The Old Time Radio Researchers Group collection of the United Press radio drama “Soldiers of the Press” at the Internet Archive contains fewer than half the episodes of this World War II series, but so far the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, foreign correspondents, Soldiers of the Press, true stories, United Press, World War II | Leave a comment

Happy Birthday, Mr. Pulitzer

Posted on April 10, 2013 by Bob Stepno

Publisher Joseph Pulitzer — of the New York World and St. Louis Post-Dispatch — was born on April 10 (in 1847), which is as good an excuse as any to offer two versions of his biography as presented to radio … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 19th century, editors, New York City, newspaper crusades, publishers, Pulitzer Prize, true stories | Leave a comment

Radioplays and women in journalism

Posted on March 8, 2013 by Bob Stepno

Happy International Women’s Day! For some crime-solving by a non-fictional woman journalist, see last year’s International Women’s Day episode of JHeroes. This year, we’ll start with fiction and get back to reality — including women war correspondents —  before the … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, 19th century, adaptations, cavalcade, GreenHornet, historical figures, Lois Lane, true stories, women, World War II | Leave a comment

Doctor still thinks reporter is crazy

Posted on December 1, 2012 by Bob Stepno

Half-way into this half-hour broadcast of The March of Time, February 3, 1938, we get to hear a newspaper reporter sign himself into a mental hospital as a patient — only to have trouble getting out. Stories about New York’s … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, New York City, newspapers, radio, reporting, The March of Time, true stories, undercover | Leave a comment