Mystery Play Internet Radio

Old Time Radio Lives Here!

Mystery Play Internet Radio has been broadcasting old-time radio on the internet for 22 years. MPIR has evolved from simple playlists of mp3 formatted radio plays to sophisticated live stream programming to net casting on various listening devices. Clyde J. Kell the owner and operator of Mystery Play Internet Radio has only one purpose and passion. To enable as many people as possible from all over the world to listen and share old-time radio. My creativity now extends to creating visual art in acrylic, oil, watercolor, and pen and ink illustrations.

What's Playing

July 22, 2014  /  Clyde Kell

A brief synopsis of what's playing on Mystery Play Internet Radio.

Bold Venture was a syndicated radio series starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall that aired from 1951 to 1952. Salty seadog Slate Shannon (Bogart) owns a Cuban hotel sheltering an assortment of treasure hunters, revolutionaries and other shady characters. With his sidekick and ward, the sultry Sailor Duval (Bacall), tagging along, he encounters modern-day pirates and other tough situations while navigating the waters around Havana. Aboard his boat, the Bold Venture, Slate and Sailor experience "adventure, intrigue, mystery and romance in the sultry settings of tropical Havana and the mysterious islands of the Caribbean."

Crime Does Not Pay was an anthology radio crime drama series based on MGM's short film series which began in 1935 with Crime Does Not Pay: Buried Loot. The shows were transcribed at MGM's New York station, WMGM.

X Minus One aired on NBC from 24 April 55 until 9 January 58 for a total of 124 episodes.  The series was an extension of Dimension X which aired on NBC from 1950-51. The first fifteen scripts used for X Minus One were scripts used in the airing of Dimension X; however, it soon found its own little niche. The stories for the show came from two of the most popular science fiction magazines at the time; Astounding and Galaxy. Adaptations of these stories were performed by Ernest Kinoy and George Lefferts. They even wrote a few original stories of their own. The writers of the magazine stories were not well known then but now are the giants of today. These stories came from the minds of Ray Bradbury, Isaac Asimov, and Poul Anderson to name a few.

Escape was radio's leading anthology series of high-adventure radio dramas, airing on CBS from July 7, 1947 to September 25, 1954.  Escape enthralled many listeners during its seven-year run. The series' well-remembered opening combined Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain with this introduction, as intoned by Paul Frees and William Conrad:

"Tired of the everyday grind? Ever dream of a life of romantic adventure? Want to get away from it all? We offer you... Escape!"

Following the opening theme, a second announcer (usually Roy Rowan) would add: "Escape! Designed to free you from the four walls of today for a half-hour of high adventure!"

Dragnet, the brainchild of Jack Webb, may very well be the most well-remembered, and the best, radio police drama series. From September, 1949 through February 1957, Dragnet's 30 minute shows, broadcast on NBC, brought to radio true police stories in a low-key, documentary style.

The origins of Dragnet can be traced to a semi-documentary film, "He Walked by Night" from 1948, in which Webb had a small role. Both employed the same Los Angeles Police Department technical adviser, used actual police cases and presented the case in "just the facts" manner that became a hallmark of the show.

Comment
tags / streaming, radio, oldtimeradio, otr, mystery, drama, crime, kids