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The Guiding Light

This blog post was written by Matt Barton, curator of the Recorded Sound Section. On September 18, 2009, The Guiding Light ended a television run that began June 30, 1952, and a broadcast history that began on radio on January 25, 1937.  The show’s run covered 72 Thanksgivings in all, but as we’ll see, the […]

Rex Stout on the Air

This blog post was written by Matt Barton, curator of the Recorded Sound Section. Rex Stout (1886-1975) remains well known as the creator of Nero Wolfe, the blunt, erudite and mostly housebound detective with a passion for orchids and fine food. Stout wrote thirty-three novels and forty-one novellas from 1934 to 1975 detailing the exploits […]

This is a Mark Goodson-Bill Todman Production

This blog post was written by Andrea Leigh, head of the Moving Image Processing Unit. As popular game show host Bob Barker once quipped, “We play games at home, we play games at parties, we go to clubs and play games. Americans love games.”  Americans began listening to game shows on the radio and that excitement […]

Tuning in the March on Washington

This blog post was written by Matt Barton, curator of the Recorded Sound Section. For decades, the “March on Washington” has been represented in the media and collective memory chiefly by Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, which has been seen and heard an incalculable number of times since he […]

Sousa and the Talking Machine

This blog post was written by David Sager, research assistant at the Recorded Sound Research Center. John Philip Sousa (1854-1932), the American composer and bandleader, who was known as “The March King,” was a profoundly talented and accomplished man. His musical compositions went beyond marches and included operettas, waltzes, and songs. He also wrote several […]

VE Day – Take One

This blog post was written by Matt Barton, curator of the Recorded Sound Section. The Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) and other radio networks all covered the last hours of World War II in Europe in depth, and these recordings are preserved in the Library of Congress, where they are available for listening in the Recorded Sound […]