Old Time Radio USA 2.0

It's been over a year since my last blog post. I know long, drawn out posts don't usually get read, so I hope that you will take a couple of minutes to read this as you'll want to know how this affects you! Simply put in a sentence, 2.0 is a new experience for the listener both on the listening AND visual side. 2.0 has two parts to it. Let's examine both.....

The listening side. For many years, just like other internet streaming otr stations, the content streaming comes from the internet and from a multitude of different sources. From reel to reel transfers to cassette deck to a microphone sitting in front of a speaker.... and so on and so on. Your audio quality is going to vary greatly from loudness to muffled sounds. I will be honest with you, quite a few that i stream today have those very same issues. A lot of times I can't stand to listen to my own station because the audio quality is absolutely horrible!! I can't imagine what you, my loyal listeners think! This is where 2.0 comes in. I will be stripping all of those garbled, horrible sounding shows. Gone!! DELETE! Only to replace them with great sounding shows, not only in quality but in loudness! I will be, on a more continuous basis, adding new shows monthly to the daily rotation. New radio shows to keep it fresh. What does this mean for you, the listener?  Great sounding old time radio shows that you can listen to and to be able to hear and understand what you're listening to. It equals a great listening experience for you.... the listener. That's part 1. Part 2?

The visual side. The visual side simply means that there will be a brand new website. Brand new!! Built from the ground up! This website will be appealing to the eyes as well as stunning to mobile devices. The website is still being built and testing is still being done. You'll be able to enjoy my website from any device whether it's your PC, laptop, iPad, Android tablet and any smartphone! You'll also be able to listen to either Old Time Radio USA or Suspense Radio USA directly from my website on any device! You'll be able to take Old Time Radio USA's new great sounding station where ever you go!

So, THAT in a nutshell is Old Time Radio USA 2.0! I hope you're looking forward to this as much as I am. I've put a lot of effort and time into both to make it a great experience all the way around! It has always been my pleasure to bring you the best in old time radio since 1999. 20 years is certainly a long time! I hope that I can continue to bring you many more!

Here's to 20 years of streaming old time radio all over the world!

Barry

Old Time Radio USA!

Welcome To The NEW Old Time Radio USA!

Hello again everyone! It's been around Thanksgiving of last year since you've heard from me, and that may be a good thing, who knows! But LOTS of big happenings going on inside Camp Old Time Radio USA so lets get right to it!

First off.... the BIG news! After years of this questioning, Old Time Radio USA has OFFICIALLY switched it's format to a 24/7 format of old time radio shows!  Yes! You read it correctly! Old Time Radio USA is now officially a 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year old time radio station. This has obviously been a long time coming! So you can expect more new old time radio shows being added in the weeks and months to come! This has been requested many times over the years. So, the next question on everyone's mind is "what will happen with the seasonal stream that begins every Thanksgiving eve night?" The answer is very simple. It will continue. For the simple fact of this being a 24/7 station. Old Time Radio USA 24/7 kicked off with a Thanksgiving marathon. That will not change. I will keep to the same scheduled programming through the holidays as I always have. The Thanksgiving Celebration marathon will continue to kick off Thanksgiving eve night. December 7th, the Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day marathon will continue as it always have. Also, an Old Time Radio Christmas marathon will continue as well.

Now, in connection with the above topic comes our New Years eve marathon. If you remember last year, I mentioned on The Behind The Mike Show, that last year was the last year for my annual "Suspense-full" marathon. Because, I have launched a brand new station (or stream) of 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year of Suspense! It's SUSPENSE Radio365! More on that in my next topic of discussion. But what WILL replace the Suspense new years eve marathon? You can expect later this year for new years eve, a 48 hour marathon of...... The Whistler! That's right! The Whistler will take the 48 hour new years eve marathon time slot from now on, starting this year!

So, as stated above, SUSPENSE Radio365 is Old Time Radio USA's new station. All known available episodes are played in chronological order of air date. There are way over 900 episodes in this playlist, which equals over 2 weeks of episodes without repeat (other than episodes that are repeats in the series). What you will not here in the daily playlist are the Christmas episodes. I will be saving those for my special Suspense Christmas marathon later this year. More to come later on that, but if you need your Suspense fix, my station will just be the thing you need! You can listen to SUSPENSE Radio365 by clicking here! http://www.oldtimeradiousa.com/suspense-radio365/ 


I will try to write on a more constant or regular basis from here on out. I have some more ideas with this new 24/7 format so be on the lookout in the near future for another blog entry!

That's all I have for now everyone! Thanks for reading this and until next time, this is Barry Slinker saying goodbye for now!

-B

Old Time Radio USA "24/7" Returns!

Hello everyone! Long time no see! A couple of things to talk about in this, first blog of the "season". First, I want to thank each and everyone of you for making Old Time Radio USA and "24/7" a yearly success! 

As you know "24/7" is a seasonal stream that begins every Thanksgiving eve night, continues throughout the holidays and runs til the end of January. Kicking off the seasonal stream is a marathon of Thanksgiving episodes, followed by 24 hours of Pear Harbor Remembrance on December 7th. Great Christmas shows returns the week of Christmas as Old Time Radio USA extends it's Christmas marathon for a full week this season! Starting @ 6am ET Monday, December 21st, the "24/7" playlist changes to all Christmas episodes until Monday, December 28th @ 6am ET. Then the focus shifts to New Years Eve as Old Time Radio USA's "Suspense-ful" Marathon returns with a 6am ET start! So gather around the computer or media device and enjoy your favorite old time radio shows 24 hours a day, 7 days a week this holiday season!

Probably the biggest news is yet to come later this month. As talked about for many weeks now, Old Time Radio USA will be making a major announcement on the Behind The Mike Show, Sunday night @ 8pm ET at this location "Behind The Mike Show". This is a MAJOR announcement that you will NOT want to miss! When the show's host, Joel Michalec, was asked if having Old Time Radio USA on his show the Sunday before Thanksgiving was a yearly tradition for the show, he said "Absolutely. The aspirations of what Barry does as far as his passion for old time radio mirrors my own. Therefore it is a pleasure to have created this opportunity to discuss our mutual love of OTR and thus it has become synonymous with our Thanksgiving week show. It is because of these culmination of events that it feels like a tradition and one that we are ever too happy to celebrate." He absolutely correct! Not only has it become a tradition for the Behind The Mike Show but it's also become a tradition for myself and Old Time Radio USA! Thanks so much Joel for the opportunity to be on your show! So mark your calendar to join us on the Behind Mike Show Sunday night @ 8pm ET as we talk old time radio, "24/7", and our MAJOR announcement!


As always.... I'm looking forward to another great season of old time radio!

And until then..... I will see you..... "on the air"!

-Barry

The 24/7 Season Coming To An End Soon

Hello again everyone. I hope this finds you in good spirits after the holidays. This a blog entry that I always hate having to type this time of year. While Old Time Radio USA's 24/7 launch was successful as it is every season, it's also be a successful run thus far. But, as always, the season will be coming to an end and it's time for me to look ahead to the "off-season" programming. 

For the new listeners that just recently came aboard within the past month or two, I do have a blog entry that explains in detail why only a seasonal 24/7 old time radio show stream. That can be found here!

Now, this is where this blog entry comes into play. To announce a formal schedule of what you can expect to hear Starting 12am ET February 1st. At the time, Old Time Radio USA will end it's "24/7" stream of old time radio shows and switch back to it's "off-season" scheduling of mostly big band music 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Last year I implemented the Classic Radio Hour, 60 minutes of radio shows every night. I'm going to put that on the shelf for a while and introduce something else instead. A radio series that most otr
aficionados would agree that is part of the "old time radio" generation. Some do not. So.... starting February 1st, I want you to put your hands in the air and give a BIG Old Time Radio USA round of applause and welcome aboard... 

The CBS Radio Mystery Theater!  

Yes, that's right, The CBS Radio Mystery Theater returns to Old Time Radio USA in the off-season. Now, while it was aired in the off-season starting the latter half of 2014, it was only aired on weekends. Starting February, it will be aired every night! That's right!! Sunday through Saturday, every night with 2 time slots to cover the Eastern/Central time zones and the other to cover the Mountain/Pacific time zones. It will be aired Sunday through Saturday 9pm ET and Midnight ET. As stated, both times are Eastern which will bring the midnight airing to 10pm MT and 9pm PT. Also, I will also repeat, from last year, special all day airings old time radio during certain days of the year. I will repeat the all day airing of D-Day in June, a 24 hour airing of The War of the Worlds on October 30th,  followed by my Halloween special the next day and then the return of 24/7 in November. I'm adding a 4th of July broadcast this year and possibly others this year. 

So to summarize. Old Time Radio USA returns to off-season programming starting 12am ET February 1st. The main programming will be classic big band music from the days of old time radio. Also, introducing The CBS Radio Mystery Theater nightly @ 9pm ET and repeating at 12am ET. Plus several all day broadcasts throughout the off-season. 

Here's to another successful year of old time radio. Thanks goes out  to you for your continued support and listenership. Thanks again everyone, and I'll see you on the net!

-B

Why Only A Seasonal Stream?

Hello everyone. I've decided to write up a blog entry on a detailed reason of why Old Time Radio USA 24/7 stream is only seasonal. 

Old Time Radio USA, just recently (last year actually), went to a 365 day a year station when normally it's not. The station would always return Thanksgiving eve night and end just after the new year. The reason for that is, it takes a lot of time, and resources to maintain a 365 day a year old time radio show station. When I first started Old Time Radio USA back in 1999 (under the name WOTR Indianapolis), it was a 365 day a year station, but with the advent of broadband internet back in those days, internet radio stations of all kinds exploded on the scene. Old time radio show stations were no exception. Nowadays, most are ran by retired individuals with plenty of time or individuals that run it as a source of income. Or, it's a station that has multiple individuals that do different functions. One might be in charge of programming while another person is in charge of the social media aspect of it, while another is in charge of the website and so on and so on. But for me... I'm a one man show. I'm in charge of the website, the social media accounts, the programming, tech support, webmaster, etc. I'm everything. One person running the whole show so to speak. 

I'm not retired or use this as a source of income. Nor do I have any other assistance with this station. I have a full time job that takes priority obviously but I run Old Time Radio USA as a hobby for the love of old time radio and the love of trying to get it out to as many people as possible. So when internet stations exploded on the scene in the early 2000's, I was unable to compete with them at the time, so I scaled back my station to just seasonal starting around the Christmas time frame with Christmas radio shows. It then expanded from there starting around Thanksgiving to just after the new year and then expanding even further to the end of January. Starting last year, I decided to keep the station on the air all the time broadcasting big band music, otr clips, etc. 

While resources are no longer an issue, time is. I mean if I really tried, I could pull off a 365 old time radio show station. But over the years, faithful listeners to this station have come to accept, appreciate, expect and look forward to the seasonal return. I've been doing this seasonal thing for so long, I, along with others, now associate the seasonal stream with the holidays. When Thanksgiving is right around the corner, so is Old Time Radio USA 24/7. It is now officially part of the listener's holiday season that shouldn't be altered. So instead of taking the station off the air completely which would include internet addresses that's linked to TuneIn.com and iTunes Radio, the station is kept on the air 365 days a year with big band music mostly in the off-season, with nightly radio shows, keeping it on the air for 24/7 to return. 

I hope that helps explains why only a seasonal stream of 24/7 old time radio shows. In summary, it is mostly a time constraint along with it being a tradition to return.

Cheers everyone!

-B

24/7 Is A GO!

Greetings from the early morning hours here at Old Time Radio USA. For those of you that have been listening to this station over the years, you have become accustomed to the tradition of having your favorite old time radio shows heard around the clock this time of year. Some of you even use wireless internet streaming hardware in your bedrooms to fall asleep listening to my station, and for that, I think is truly awesome and am forever grateful. But NOW.... I can officially announce that the formalities are just about out of the way and we're almost set to go here at DJ Control. November's month long stretch of work is finally about to pay off.

This coming Saturday will end the Classic Radio Hour for 2014. I will be taking that extra time and going over final preparations to make sure everything goes off without a hitch. I've decided to not return Sunday Spotlight to the lineup this time around as I felt it didn't add much to 24/7 experience like I hoped it would. That was one of those "trial and error" experiences. But there is something I am implementing this season, it's called "Vault Classics". Tune in to the Behind The Mike Show this Sunday evening (November 23rd @ 8pm ET) to learn more about that! Check out my web page at www.oldtimeradiousa.com for a link to listen LIVE this Sunday! Hope you're able to listen!

So, in closing, I hope that you use Old Time Radio USA 24/7 during your Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years festivities, and all times in between! To get you familiarized, here's what you can expect on opening day. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

November 26th.... Thanksgiving eve.....

6am ET - Annual, traditional opener with Christmas music
6pm ET - 24/7 Intro begins with a live opening monologue from myself

6:05 ET - 24/7 kicks of w/36 hour Thanksgiving Celebration with
              The Lux Radio Theater's "A Miracle on 34th Street"


-Barry

A Note From The Station Owner

Friends, I do apologize for the issues as of late with my station. I'm working on getting it more stable. I am looking at a new hosting provider currently so hopefully by the weekend, station responsibilities will be transferred over. The transfer should be transparent to you, the listener. 

It's a shame because I've been with this provider for a number of years now and they have been pretty good to me throughout this entire time but here recently, things have occurred that, I feel, have caused me listener damage. So I am taking this time to chose carefully, but at the same time, a choice that won't damage my wallet too much. Hopefully then, I can start rebuilding listeners again and listener confidence again. Listeners have come to expect the Classic Radio Hour every night, and it's my responsibility to ensure that the Classic Radio Hours airs every night. But, first things first and that is to secure a new hosting provider on the SHOUTcast Radio Network. 

The hosting provider that I'm currently eyeing appears to provide a free Android app with it's hosting service, which is awesome. Unfortunately no iPhone app but I can work on that down the road. But as always, I thank you so much for listening, and just as much, I thank you for your patience while this transition from current to new provider takes place.

At the present time, their technical support staff is working on my stream. So my stream may be up and down over the next day or 2 so there will be hiccups during the next 24 - 48 hours. But this is in preparation for Old Time Radio USA's "24/7" stream coming this Thanksgiving!

Thank you for your patience and your continued support!

Barry Slinker

Station Owner