I am in the same location that I am each day about this time, in the kitchen preparing dinner for my family. As usual, my radio is on to a talk station, since I prefer to listen to someone's ideas rather than some disc jockey's selection of music that they like to hear. However, the inane conversation today is simply too much, and the frequent commercials certainly do not help my mood. My daughter is on the Internet in the next room, working on an assignment about historical events of the World War II era. She turns up the volume on the computer, in for me to hear the voice of Walter Winchell reporting. She found an Internet set for free old time radio shows, and this show had an interruption for news about the war. We found the program so interesting that we ordered the audio book form of the program. After supper we spent more time looking up locations for other free old time radio shows, and found a host of websites with programs and information. Since I spend a great deal of time in my car, I ordered a few audio books of several of the most interesting sounding programs.

Many of the actors in these shows are names that I had heard of, but have never actually seen in a movie. One of my favorite free old time radio show sites will occasionally play a Sherlock Holmes story with Basil Rathbone, and he does a magnificent job with the character. One of the most surprising things about listening to these shows is how much better the story is. Allowing my imagination to fill in the details about the setting and how the characters look give a level of interest in the story that cannot be matched by any movie. I have several of these Sherlock Holmes stories in audio book form for my car, and listen to these frequently as I commute to work. I suppose that I could even listen to free old time radio shows over the Internet in my car, if I ever get that high tech. I seriously doubt that, and think I will stay with listening to an audio book in my car.

One of my very free old time radio show sites is the one that contains most of the Orson Welles radio programs from his Mercury Theatre days. The man had a magnificent voice, and a sense for drama and storytelling that is unmatched. I listen to a few of these so often that I would wear out the audio book, if that were possible. Most people have heard of his work, at least through the effect that his War of the Worlds broadcast had on the nation. Produced as a false "newscast" on October 30th of 1939, it sounded as if Martians had landed in the swamps of New Jersey and had successfully taken over most of New Jersey and New York City in just a few days. Many people that originally heard this old time radio show really assumed that an invasion had happened, and fled their homes by the thousands. The audio book form of this story, when listened to quietly in the evening, gives the same feeling of fascination and dread that the original broadcast must have done. This is only one bit of the vast entertainment history that can be found on the Internet when listening to free old time radio shows.

Talking Book Store make it easy to discover the fascinating world of the spoken word and Old Time Radio Shows can be downloaded without subscriptions at the site.