Category Archives: true stories

Praying for a Free Press?

Posted on August 2, 2022 by Bob Stepno

“The Family Theater” was a classic old time radio show that ran from 1947 to 1957 with an unusual sponsor: Prayer. But it also found itself telling the stories of newspaper editors and reporters from time to time… So here … Continue reading →

Posted in Colonial America, courtroom, editors, historical figures, History, journalism, New York City, newspapers, political corruption, publishers, true stories, women | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

TV is news, and a risky business… Radio and newspapers say so

Posted on July 13, 2021 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Dragnet_Singles/Dragnet_51-08-09_113_The_Big_Screen.mp3 The Los Angeles Daily News is the real hero in this August 1951 “Dragnet” episode, The Big Screen, part of an Old Time Radio Researchers group collection at the Internet Archive… A reporter on the paper’s TV-radio beat has … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, columnists, newspapers, photographer, Police, reporters, reporting, television, true stories, undercover | Leave a comment

Military radio tells Stars & Stripes History

Posted on July 11, 2021 by Bob Stepno

Back in 1947, “The Voice of the Army” used radio-drama techniques to tell the history of the U.S. armed forces newspaper, Stars & Stripes, begun during World War I. https://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/U-V%20Series/Voice%20Of%20The%20Army/Voice%20Of%20The%20Army%20xx-xx-xx%20(363)%20The%20Stars%20and%20Stripes-A%20Newspaper.mp3 The radio show itself was a post-World War II Army … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, historical figures, journalism, newspapers, true stories, World War II | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

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