It's a 4-hour Holiday Spectacular (with pitching) tonight featuring JACK WEBB, JEAN SHEPHERD, IF FREEDOM FAILED, and BING CROSBY with FRED ALLEN tonight, Sunday May 28, from 7 to 11 pm EDT on THE GOLDEN AGE OF RADIO on WBAI-NY at 99.5 FM, and streaming live at wbai.org.

PAT NOVAK returns this week, right where we left off. From ABC on May 14, 1949 via the AFRS #14 “Geranium Plant.” Patsy gets $50 to deliver a plant, but treachery follows! With Raymond Burr as Inspector Hellman and Tudor Owen as Jocko Madigan. Written by Richard Breen, music by Basil Adlam, announcer George Fenneman, William P. Rousseau – producer & director.

For Memorial Day, a classic radio adaptation of “Johnny Got His Gun” by Dalton Trumbo, from ARCH OBOLER'S PLAYS. James Cagney stars as the legless, armless, blind, deaf and dumb war veteran. From NBC Blue on March 09, 1940 with Verna Felton. Adapted, produced, and directed by Arch Oboler, music by Gordon Jenkins.

JEAN SHPHERD LIVE AT THE VILLAGE LIMELIGHT from Saturday night, June 25, 1965. Shep tells about a leave from the army in NYC, then about trying to get some sleep on a freight train. This is another classic for Memorial Day!

On holidays, I take a perverse delight in presenting episodes of the Armed Forces Radio show IF FREEDOM FAILED. From c. May 19,1951 #7 “The Traitor” starring J Carroll Naish as Thomas Coster, based on true events concerning Traicho Kostov Djunev, head of the Bulgarian Communist Party. It seems he was too much of a Nationalist for the Russians! With Frank Richards as Borka, Stacy Harris as Burns, Doug Young, Lamont Johnson, Ralph Moody, Bill Bissell, Marty Warren, Herb Ellis, Frank Gerstle. Written by Robert C Vincent, p & d Will Scott. Announcer Sgt Lloyd Ayers.

By popular acclaim, the return of BING CROSBY on PHILCO RADIO TIME, his last show of the season from ABC on June 02, 1948. Bing and guest Fred Allen do the "Everett Crosby Story": "Forever Everett." With Joe Venuti, cartoonist Ham Fisher (Joe Palooka), The Skylarks, announcer Ken Carpenter, John Scott Trotter and His Orchestra.

Here are the premiums we are offering again for your pldeging pleasure:

Our brand new JEAN SHEPHERD offering – at least a dozen 2-hour Limelight shows from 1965 on two mp3 discs for a $65 pledge. For this project I have dug out my original source tapes and I have remastered them to digital for the first time ever! Product Code: OC1117-S17 on give2wbai.org.
Apr 03, 1965 Used Cars, Driving Own Car to the Prom, Great Generator Hunt
Apr 24, 1965 (a rerun-Shep in Australia) Star & Garter, Pursuit of Sin, Cave Diggers, Drive in Date, Company K Eggs
May 08, 1965 Mother's Day Show, Australia #1 - Shep in Australia
Jun 05, 1965 Graduation, Junior Class President, Date with Jeanette Dombrowki, Army Payday
Jun 26, 1965 Graduation Day
Jul 03, 1965 Dago Bomb That Struck Back
Jul 10, 1965 Be careful of the live wires!, VD Film, Trooptrain Ernie, Army Glasses
Jul 17, 1965 Baseball Stories, Great Ice Cream Riot, Moments of Fear, Weekend Pass Fistfight
Jul 31, 1965 Trivia, Fleishmann's Yeast
Aug 07, 1965 Fantasy vs Reality, Shirt Commercial, Army Casual Company
Aug 28, 1965 Building first radio with the Old Man, The Mets-The Lure of Defeat, Enlisting
Sept 04, 1965 Harold Dill, High School Bully, Tolls and Tipping
Depending on final length, we may be able to squeeze in one more show – the discs will be full!

Our other new premium is the JACK WEBB DVD for a $65 pledge. Includes Are These Our Children (4), Jack Webb Show (2), One Out Of Seven (4), Pat Novak For Hire (23), Suspense (7), Johnny Madero, Pier 23 (2), Escape (12), Jeff Regan (19), Michael Shayne (9), The Whistler (5), Pete Kelly's Blues (7), Misc shows and guest spots (5), and whatever space is left over will be filled with DRAGNET shows.

I'll also have the "30s & 40s, and Mutual Download" available again, for those who can't wait for production and disc-making and mailing. $75 and a valid email address needed to send you the password! "Mostly from Max's own tapes, a nice assortment of programs for the radio show collector. Formerly available on 2 mp3 discs and two DVDs, it's now ready to download." This contains all episodes of the Jack Webb series PAT NOVAK, JEFF REGAN, and PETE KELLY'S BLUES, and tons more! Product Code: DL0010 on give2wbai.org, our on line pledge site.

From the previous drive, you can still get Golden Age YUSA Volumes 5 & 6 – a 2-DVD set with all my Yesterday USA shows from December 2013 to the end of December 2016 – a total of 156 2-hour programs for a mere $100 pledge!! Wow, what a bargain!