Recollections at 30

If only the radio could talk... If only it could tell you some of the things it has broadcast during the past thirty years... If anyone had all of this information, the entertainment, the lessons learned. What he could do with it...

To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the company, in 1956, NBC created a series of shows called Recollections at 30, using a vast number of their archival network radio recordings, and assembling them into forty, twenty-five minute shows. 

There were the good things, and the bad things. Information and mis-information. Drama, and melodrama. Questions and answers. Comedy and tragedy. War and peace. Music and madness. 

I added the first of the series - the Audition show - to RUSC this week, and there are forty more shows to add over the coming weeks. Some of these shows followed a theme, such as the shows The Crash of the Hindenburg, The Big Bands, and Abraham Lincoln. Others concentrated on popular radio programs, such as Truth or Consequences, and Lights Out. People were also honored, like Judy Garland, and Irving Berlin.

I recall one of these broadcasts being about King George VI and Queen Elizabeth's visit to the United States in 1939 - the first reigning British monarch to visit America - after King Edward VIII abdicated the throne. In light of their daughter, Queen Elizabeth II's recent passing, perhaps these might be compelling listening for anyone interested in the history of the monarchy and the British Crown.

I found the whole series absolutely fascinating, and I'm sure you'll enjoy reliving the radio events of the past too.

Happy listening my friends,