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
Friday, January 9, 2015
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
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
Friday, November 21, 2014
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.....
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
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
The Lux Radio Theater's "A Miracle on 34th Street"
-Barry
Monday, September 22, 2014
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
Saturday, August 30, 2014
Old Time Radio USA ATTACKED!
A good Saturday morning to everyone. Hope everyone is anticipating a nice, long 3 day weekend. I just wanted to give some kind of an update on the status of Old Time Radio USA. My station has been attacked by, what they call, a DDoS or a Distributed Denial of Service. In simple verbiage, its when a hacker sends tons of packets of information to your server making it slow or just downright inoperable. In the rarity of things, its happened 3 times over a 4 day period. Normally a website is just attacked once, but I've been hit 3 times now in a 4 day period.
I have been moved to a different server, verifying all playlists are intact and functional before I start updating and providing my shortened URL links. So I am hoping that this will be the last of the attacks. But, I have no way of knowing at the present time whether this was a personal attack against Old Time Radio USA or whether it was just a series random attacks. Only time will tell. But at they say, the show must go on, and it will. I have a backup stream initiated @ http://wotr.caster.fm for the time being with a limited hodgepodge playlist old time radio information just to keep the station on the air for our nightly Classic Radio Hour.
Once I'm satisfied with everything set up the way I would like on the new server, playlists, schedules, etc... then I'll get this back up on Roku, Apple iTunes Radio, TuneIn.com. Updating the Roku channel will be quick and instant. iTunes Radio and Tunein.com will not. These 2, I will have to send emails out to their tech support with the new updated server information. These 2 are slow to react on a normal basis but with it now being a 3 day holiday weekend, will probably take that much longer.
So that is where Old Time Radio USA stands at the moment. If you're a follower on Facebook, Twitter or Google+, I post regular updates there so keep monitor those social media outlets for the latest info and updated links to take you back to where you've listened before.
Folks, we are less than 90 days away. 88 days from writing of this until the return of Old Time Radio USA's 24/7 stream!! More details to come on that, but first things first.
Have a great weekend everyone and keep monitor Old Time Radio USA's Facebook page, Twitter feed and Google+ for the latest info this weekend!
Have a great holiday weekend!
Barry Slinker
Old Time Radio USA Station Owner
Saturday, July 12, 2014
A Few Updates
Hello everyone, it's been a while since I've written in this blog but I have implemented a few changes. I've updated the website with a new look, I'm also added some old time radio series to the daily playlist such as the Frankenstein 13 part series, The Dr. Jeckyll and Mr. Hyde 52 part series. Two Superman series, along with numerous 5 Minute Mysteries episodes. That, along with old time music, big band, etc gives daily playlist a little more back bone. I also don't want to forget the nightly Classic Radio Hour.
As of this writing, we're 136 days away from the seasonal return of Old Time Radio USA "24/7".
Thanks so much for your support of the years as this will be year number 14 for me.
Thanks for listening! Long live old time radio!
-B
Friday, March 21, 2014
New Addtions To Old Time Radio USA
Hello to all old time radio listeners. I haven't really talked much about it but Old Time Radio USA has a new podcast then went live back in February called the Classic Radio Hour. The Classic Radio Hour is my podcast produced and released 3 times a week, Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. You'll hear everything from comedy to sci-fi, westerns to adventures. If there is old time radio series that you would like to hear as part of the Classic Radio Hour podcast let me know by email at barry@oldtimeradiousa.com. I'm always adding little things to the podcast to make it enjoyable to listen to. Please, if you have any suggestions, let me know. There are several ways to listen to the Classic Radio Hour, you can listen via iTunes, or the podcast page of my website at http://www.oldtimeradiousa.com/podcast/ or the TalkShoe website at http://tiny.cc/crh
Next up is my nightly broadcasts of old time radio shows. While I do continue my seasonal 24/7 stream from November thru January, I do have nightly scheduled old time radio shows that air Sundays through Saturday starting @ 9pm ET. Also in the nightly schedule is some contemporary radio dramas featuring Suspense from Blue Hours Production, The Twilight Zone and the Star Wars Radio Dramas. The following is the nightly old time radio schedule.
-B
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