On Monday, January 21, 1946, at 8:30pm ABC radio broadcast the following words for the first time.

There he goes, into that drugstore. He’s stepping on the scales. Weight: 239 pounds. Fortune: Danger. Who is it? THE FAT MAN!

It wasn’t until 1974 that I found a Fat Man record, with two 20 minute episodes, in a closeout bin at the Korvettes Department store and I first heard those words. Although Korvettes is from a bygone era the Fat Man lives on.

If you’re old enough like I am to remember Saturday morning shows like Sky King, and Cisco Kid, then you may already know these programs started out as radio programs. In fact most of the first shows on early TV were transplants from radio. TV has certainly moved on to other kinds of shows but if you want to hear those old radio shows then you need to know that broadcasting of these shows continues. They are no longer sent out on the airwaves but on the backs of electrons streamed to your computer through the internet. As an example Canyon Oaks Radio airs OTR programs 24 hours a day that not only include programs I have already mentioned but also music and variety programs originally aired on radio.

Want to hear Jack Benny or Red Skelton? Or how about The Green Hornet? They are available all for a simple search using Google. If you are interested in the history of certain characters then you may know of the connection The Green Hornet has to The Lone Ranger. But do you know why The Lone Ranger has a sidekick named Tonto? Besides the steady course of westerns, detectives and variety shows there were true stories, soaps, yes even soaps, and science fiction . Two of my favorites science fiction radio programs are Buck Rogers and X Minus One; they were the dreams of every young boy in their day; and pleasantly enough the stuff of my dreams now.

Here’s another quote that many over the age of 70 might remember: “Who knows…what evil…lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows.”

Well, I gotta go sit in front of the radio, computer, I think I hear the William Tell Overture playing . . . .