Please be patient with us as we build you a great site!
We are in the process of a major overhaul of the OTTRpedia website. This overhaul includes the addition of many new features including an Episodes section and the Radio Diary. In addition, there are many programs for which data has not yet been added. If you have information about any program or person that is listed on this site, please share it with us and the users of this site. Send a note to the editors by using the Contact the Editors link at the bottom of any page. In particular, if you have any notes on an episode that you have listened to, please share that info.
This site is dedicated to the people of OTR (Old Time Radio): the actors, announcers, musicians, writers, directors, producers, sound people, etc. who provided entertainment, news, sports, information, etc. from the late 1920's through the 1950's and then into 1970's. This first generation of radio figures both conveyed and helped to shape a culture which experienced such historic developments as the Great Depression, World War II, and eventually television in every home and artificial satellites orbiting the Earth. They were the voices in everyone's living room, sometimes reporting the news of an often troubled world and sometimes providing comic, dramatic and musical diversions from it.
It is our goal to develop a comprehensive research database where the user can either find basic information or references for more detailed information about these people and the radio programs in which they worked, thus providing an easy access to scholars and others interested in this period of history. It is NOT our goal to be an encyclopedia for OTR! To write an article for an encyclopedia requires a lot more expertise than just listing the sources for such an article. There are many journals, like the Old Radio Times, which are better vehicles for such articles. In addition, why should we duplicate the many fine encyclopedia and encyclopedia-type works that already exist?
The information on these pages comes from a variety of sources and is being compiled by members of OTRR (Old Time Radio Researchers Group). These sources are listed under the References & Links tab for the webpages of both people and programs.
We are well aware that various sources provide conflicting information. If you see information that is incorrect and/or incomplete, we encourage you to send us the correct information using the form that is accessible from any of the pages for the people and programs. Just click on the item Contact the Editors that is near the bottom of the page.
For more details on the Mission of OTRRpedia, click here.
How to get started:
Information on this site can be accessed in four ways:
- Programs - you can enter the name of the program in the search box above or by looking for the title of the program in the Index of Programs at the bottom of this page. Programs are listed by the first letter of their title but after ignoring the words 'the', 'a' and 'an.'
- People - you can search the Index of People at the bottom of this page. People are listed by the first letter of their last name. We hope to have the search box implemented for people soon.
- Episodes - you can enter the name of the episode in the search box above. Since the names of episodes contain many similar words, the number of results of such a search can be quite large. Consequently, we have limited the results to at most 100 entries. If you know the name of the program from which the episode comes, then you can obtain the information by first going to the program and then clicking on the Episodes tag.
- Dates - you can enter the date on the page that is accessible from the Radio
Diary listed below.
A very special thank you to Nick Palmer who shared his graphic designing skills with OTRRpedia in the latest revision of this website!