37. I would like to find recordings of [fill in rare OTR show name]. I have seen the show mentioned in Jay Hickerson's book, but haven't seen the show in any of the paper or on-line catalogs. How do I get this show?
Description
This article is from the Old Time Radio FAQ, by Lou Genco webmaster@old-time.com with numerous contributions by others.
37. I would like to find recordings of [fill in rare OTR show name]. I have seen the show mentioned in Jay Hickerson's book, but haven't seen the show in any of the paper or on-line catalogs. How do I get this show?
Jack French, an expert on old-time radio and editor of Radio
Recall, gives us this information:
There's good news and bad news....the good news is if
Jay's compendium says they are in circulation, somebody
has them. The bad news is there is no guarantee you'll
find them. Let's start at the beginning. If they're in
Jay's book, and there is either the initials of a
dealer, log preparer, or collector with that entry, the
assumption is that person has some or maybe most. If the
entry is devoid of such, we push on. Few dealers list
rare shows in catalogs since so few people want to buy
them. Generally the catalog represents a small part of a
dealer's or collector's total holdings. There are at
least forty OTR dealers in the country so you can
contact each one with a specific inquiry. Most
collectors belong to at least one OTR club. There are
about 20 clubs. Most will publish your request in their
newsletter for little or no cost. Most of the members of
OTR clubs are not on-line so this is the only way to
reach them. There are over 25 state and college archives
that may have the shows. Most have no catalog but will
answer any reasonable inquiry. Contact them all. All of
the contact addresses for OTR clubs, pubs, dealers, and
archives are contained in NARA OTR Source List. Contact
me separately if you're interested in this low-cost
research aid.
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