Hey everyone, the latest upload to the server at The Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy (SPERDVAC) got a plus this week from Max Schmid, host of The Golden Age of Radio on WBAI-FM in New York City. He highlighted our President Corey Harker’s digitizing of this lost series and the new availability of 160 episodes to SPERDVAC members. You can listen to and download the episode here - the reference to SPERDVAC and the show are about 1 hour in. And don’t forget to go to sperdvac-dot-com to join the organization with memberships starting at $20 if you’d like to hear more. https://wbai.org/archive/program/episode/?id=66681

Probably already delivered to members of the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy, it’s the July/August issue of Radiogram magazine! I'm a little behind schedule due to some travel but we wanted everyone to know a great new issue came out at the beginning of the month.

The cover story features Your’s Truly, Johnny Dollar, a profile of audio drama Troupe Tesla City Stories, Member Spotlight on Donnie Pitchford of the Lum and Abner Society, a profile of voice actress Tanja Milojevic, an interview with SPERDVAC’s John Tefteller and why we are naming our library after him, and an update on club business from President Corey Harker!

You can get a year’s worth of issues that great by signing up a SPERDVAC member at sperdvac.com/membership, with Silver Memberships starting at only $20/year!

Best,

Sean Dougherty
Membership Chair

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It’s Episode #11 of “Behind the Dial,” the podcast from Zach Eastman, VP of the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy that spotlights SPERDVAC’s interviews with the giants of classic radio - and he’s got another great one for you.

This week we return to November of 1993 for an hour of merriment and melody as we listen to a chat with singer & comic, Gisele MacKenzie!

Tune in today to hear about her early start in Canadian Radio, her time working with Jack Benny, her experience on the Hit Parade, and so much more!

This show was originally recorded at a SPERDVAC Meeting panel on November 13th, 1993. You can see it on YouTube with the link below or find it anywhere you listen to podcasts. 

And if you appreciate this and other efforts to preserve and celebrate classic radio, please consider a SPERDVAC membership, starting at $20/year, at sperdvac.com.

YouTube: https://youtu.be/v7L9UukP8TY

We have a real treat for you today, it’s a new 35-minute documentary on the career of Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy (SPERDVAC) Honorary Member Beverly Washburn, produced by Las Vegas-based streaming documentary service “GoldenNetwork.TV.” It has an extended modern interview with Beverly as well as clips from many, many TV programs and movies she made including several with Jack Benny, Jack Webb and others well known to SPERDVAC members and classic radio fans.

What’s extra cool is that the episode won two Telly Awards, for editing and general biography, selected from more than 13,000 global entries and among fellow winners such as PBS, NBC, Warner Brothers and Hearst Media. The Tellys are 47 years old, so it sounds like that counts.

You can watch the entire show here (and we note for Washburn completists that her horror classic “Spider Baby” is also streaming on the service).

Enjoy “America’s Sweetheart!” I’ve found it’s a little tricky to get the URL to default directly to the episode, but if you scroll down from the top of its home page to “Modern Documentaries,” you’ll find it.

https://www.goldenetwork.tv/?videoSlug=we%2Bwere%2Bthe%2Bfuture%2Bfred%2Bpeters%2Bapollo%2Bspace%2Bprogram%2B0f05bf

Hey everyone, it’s time for Behind the Dial, Episode #9, the podcast from Zach Eastman, vice president of the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy (SPERDVAC).

This week Zach invites you to listen, learn, and laugh along to the adventures of radio announcer extraordinaire & comedy legend, GEORGE FENNEMAN.

Tune in today to hear George's stories around his beginnings in San Francisco radio, his time on You Bet Your Life, and much much more.

PLUS: The Members in 1978 feed George Straight Man Lines and George becomes his old Boss.

This show was originally recorded at a SPERDVAC Meeting panel on March 11th 11th, 1978.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLhygKek5wM

https://preview.redd.it/oup28vb47j4h1.jpg?width=3181&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=490b416ddff7585391643d3cde5150cb705dd531

Hey everyone, it’s time for Behind the Dial, Episode #9, the podcast from Zach Eastman, vice president of the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy (SPERDVAC).

This week Zach invites you to listen, learn, and laugh along to the adventures of radio announcer extraordinaire & comedy legend, GEORGE FENNEMAN.

Tune in today to hear George's stories around his beginnings in San Francisco radio, his time on You Bet Your Life, and much much more.

PLUS: The Members in 1978 feed George Straight Man Lines and George becomes his old Boss.

This show was originally recorded at a SPERDVAC Meeting panel on March 11th 11th, 1978.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLhygKek5wM

https://preview.redd.it/tn00dtyl6j4h1.jpg?width=3181&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=3dcaf6d1da1a0bf89ec04befb543cc3df1e3e068

SPERDVAC, REPS and ACB Unite to Provide Live Streaming of Classic Radio Content

COSTA MESA, CA - May 24, 2026  –The major providers of classic radio streaming services are uniting to create a stronger, more varied product that brings the highest-quality programs from across a range of services to the internet.

YUSA Red, the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy, (SPERDVAC), the Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound (REPS) and the American Council of the Blind are uniting to run the “Classic Radio Network,” which is in transition at this time with the current YUSA Red network.

“We want to give the listeners something different to listen to. You hear a lot of similar content from other online radio stations,” said SPERDVAC President Corey Harker. “It gives us an opportunity to have enough programming to not bore the listener. And having four stations broadcasting the same content didn’t make a lot of sense.”

The evening show/programming including a nightly live call-in show that allows fans to speak directly to surviving classic-era professionals, their family members and historians, will still be on but enhanced with syndication content, including the return of NBC News Radio at the top of the hour along with syndicated radio program “When Radio Was,” and Don Corey’s classic “Radio Revisited.”

The programming will be curated using content from the SPERDVAC and REPS libraries as well as long-time classic radio dealer Ted Davenport’s library - the most high quality files.

“We expect to offer world premieres of shows we discover that aren’t in circulation, including those from SPERDVAC’s acquisitions that we are even now cataloging and converting to digital format,” said Harker.

The schedule will be final shortly and the leaders expect themed blocks of programming such as crime, drama, comedy and variety, in a set rotation. They also expect to add vignettes like “radio on this day,” as well as provide a platform on which our contributing organizations can fundraise to sustain and expand the hobby of classic radio.

“This is a joint venture and every group will be equally involved in bringing the united network to life and we’re excited about the potential for a new, stronger, more varied service for classic radio fans,” said Walden Hughes, president of REPS. “It’s very significant that we provide a means to bring back classic radio to the American Council of the Blind’s ACB3 network on Live365 after they needed to suspend it 18 months ago.”

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The Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy (SPERDVAC), is the largest group of classic radio fans, founded in 1974 to preserve the memory of the golden age of radio as well as promote modern audio drama via performances, preservation and access to classic programs. 

The mission of the Radio Enthusiasts of Puget Sound (REPS) is to collect, preserve, and celebrate historic radio content from the earliest days of radio right up until the early 1960’s (a period often referred to as the Golden Age of Radio ) . We also aim to encourage contemporary audio theater, as well as to educate, inform, and entertain the public through our libraries, public programs, events, performances, publications and online resources. Please join us, and explore a whole new world of entertainment.

The ACB Media Network, a project of the American Council of the Blind, streams via the internet, up-to-date and relevant information worldwide for persons who are blind or who have low vision, provides programming produced by blind programmers, and a platform on which blind musicians and artists express their talents. In addition, we distribute thousands of podcasts available for listening on multiple players and through the use of the ACB Media Network web site.

Ted Davenport’s online store for classic radio can be found at radiomemories.com.

As a follow-up to The Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy’s 12-hour salute to the recently departed CBS News Radio that streamed originally on Yesterday USA Old Time Radio Network and other services on Friday May 22, here is a link to stream or download the source files in case you didn’t get a chance to listen live.

The link is outside SPERDVAC's member paywall so anyone can enjoy it - but hey, if you’re not a member, it’s pretty easy to find the sign-up page from there and join for the low, low price of $20 for a Silver membership. You can also join our mailing as a free member, where you don’t get access to Radiogram or our script and audio libraries - but do get announcements when we release audio restorations or do public recreations.

Files include:

1. Our Profile of “CBS at 50”
2. Our Douglas Edwards interview - about 45 minutes
3. Bob Trout introduces an hour of D Day programming, which includes a tour of the CBS news room. 
4. Bob Trout interview setting up the end of WWII followed by an hour of that coverage. 
5. Memorial for Edward R Murrow from 1965, which runs 42 minutes
6. Norman Corwin interview where he introduces the We Hold These Truths broadcast program.
7. We play the “On a Note of Triump”h documentary from NPR followed by the original “On a note of Triumph program.”
8. Himan Brown talking about his career from his apartment including CBS Mystery Theater, plus radio actor Ralph Bell. 
9. CBS Sunday segment on the closing of the network. 
   12.  CBS podcast concerning the closure of the network, 29 minutes

We had tried to post a promotion for the original livestream here but it was flagged by the moderators as spam and blocked, which made us sad but not defeated as we try once again to share this great content with the classic radio community on Reddit.

https://sperdvac.com/farewell-to-cbs-radio/

In the mail this week to members of the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy (SPERDVAC) is the May/June 2026 issue of Radiogram Magazine!

We’ve got a cover story on radio monologist Jean Shepherd, a feature on The Hoot Owls, a pioneering variety program, Dr. Joe Webb on the end of CBS Radio, a SPERDVAC Member Spotlight on Kathryn Fuller-Seeley of the Buck Benny host of Jack Benny Show - OTR Podcast, an interview with the creators of Sherlock & Co., a modern audio drama based on Conan Doyle’s immortal character, and an update on club business from President Corey Harker.

A little something for everyone who came up with the tiny sum of $20 for an annual Silver SPERDVAC membership at www.sperdvac.com!

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