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Tired of Watching TV? Look What I found.
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to fly, other than in your dreams? Rodeo, New Mexico may be your answer.
The best time for journeying southwestern New Mexico is the late fall, winter and early spring. Lots of the little towns offer adventures to the traveler that are apparent from just looking at a map. Rodeo, NM is one of those places.
One day not long ago we decisive to take a drive and see what was new in Rodeo, NM. We’d heard there was a lot of new building going on. Rodeo is in regards to 100 miles west of Columbus on Highway 9 and a few miles north of Douglas, AZ.
When we got there, we drove to the south end of town, which didn’t take long, and worked our way back north. The Rodeo Grocery and Cafe was one of the original places and it was time for lunch: how convenient. The feed was good, the service friendly and after lunch we walked a half block north to an old church that is now The Chiricahua Gallery.
The gallery is an artist’s cooperative, with books to metalsmithing and pottery to perfumes. The lady volunteer told us with regards to another gallery and when we got there we found we’d met the owner, Roger McKasson, at a meeting a few years prior. Roger’s work includes paintings, sculpture and other art.
Next, we drove back north to check out the brand new Rodeo Natural Market that we’d passed on our way into town. The market is well stocked and we were astonished to find a natural feed market, that would rival one found in a major city, in Rodeo, NM a town of perhaps one hundred people.
The friend who’d primary told us in regards to the changes in Rodeo had likewise told us that John McAfee, of McAfee computer antivirus systems, was the person behind the building boom, old cars and sport flying. Maria, the market manager told us to be sure to check out the Sky Gypsy Cafe and airport where the light-sport aircraft, similar to but more prominent and more immediate than ultralights, and pilot’s school are located. You may check out the deviations amid light-sport aircraft and ultralights Wikipedia.
The Sky Gypsy Cafe turn off is easy to find, as their sign is painted on a restored 1940ish Ford panel truck. A half mile or so later we parked and walked into a building one wouldn’t suppose in the boot heel of New Mexico.
More than just a cafe in the middle of the desert, The Sky Gypsy Cafe has a cinemax theater where classics and instructional movies are shown, outside and inside dining areas, Internet connected computers, little sun-filled rooms with jigsaw puzzles on the tables and more. I suspect the entire building is set up for wireless Internet, since one man was sitting in the lounge with a booted up computer in his lap.
We talked with a writer, toured the hangars where the light sport aircraft (LSA) are kept, took pictures and got the low down on LSA’s from one of the LSA corroboration instructors.
Outside were restored Airstream trailers and vintage cars of the same year. We walked and talked and left for home before the incoming weather caught up with us. The day had been filled with new adventures and things to see and do. By the time we got home the sun was gone, the house was dark and our cat was waiting outside our front door.
Johnny Mcafee
Now long out of print, John Dunning’s Tune in Yesterday was the definitive one-volume reference on old-time radio broadcasting. Now, in On the Air, Dunning has altogether rethought this classic work, reorganizing the material and doubling it is coverage, to provide a richer and more informative account of radio’s golden age.
Here are a great deal of 1,500 radio shows staged in alphabetical order. The great programs of the ’30s, ’40s, and ’50s are all here–Amos ‘n’ Andy, Fibber McGee and Molly, The Lone Ranger, Major Bowes’ Original Amateur Hour, and The March of Time, to name only a few. For each, Dunning provides a finish broadcast history, with the timeslot, the network, and the name of the show’s advertisers. He also lists major cast members, announcers, producers, directors, writers, and sound effects people–even the show’s theme song. There are likewise umbrella entries, such as “News Broadcasts,” which features an engaging essay on radio news, with capsule biographies of major broadcasters, such as Lowell Thomas and Edward R. Murrow. Equally important, Dunning provides a arousing and attention holding account of each program, taking us behind the scenes to capture the feel of the performance, such as the ghastly sounds of Lights Out (a horror drama where heads rolled and bones crunched), and supplying engrossing biographies of the main persons involved in the show.
A fantasti read for everyone who loves old-time radio, On the Air is a will have to buy for all radio hobbyists and anybody mesmerized in 20th-century American history. It is an necessary reference work for libraries and radio stations.
From Library JournalMystery writer and radio talk show host Dunning has expertly compiled and organized a massive amount of exploration info on hundreds of radio shows aired from the 1920s through the 1960s. The entries, listed alphabetically by show title, each integrate a treasure trove of information?broadcast dates, casts and personnel, anecdotes, particular analyses, and a elaborated overview of each show’s background, format, and content. Entries range from ordinary series such as Amos ‘n’ Andy and The Green Hornet to the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and the NBC University Theatre?everything from soaps, Westerns, and comedy to sports, drama, and documentaries. An broad bibliography and index heighten the book’s appeal. For those who once gathered around the console, the more than 700 pages of entries ought to provide a wondrous stroll down memory lane. Historians and researchers will likewise find this a valuable reference tool, supplying new discoveries and insights. For reference libraries with huge media collections.?Carol J. Binkowski, Bloomfield, NJ
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From BooklistAs he did in Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio (Prentice Hall, 1976), Dunning here provides a storehouse of selective information regarding the humans and programs of radio’s Golden Age (1930s, 1940s, 1950s). The storehouse, however, has been exhaustively remodeled and refurbished. The amount of material covered has been substantially expanded and it is formally presenting something conservatively reorganized. Some 1,500 radio shows, listed in alphabetical order, are described in concise articles linked with an broad scheme of cross-referencing. The cross-referencing is crucial, because somebody looking for Ozzie and Harriet or Sam Spade will need to recognise that both programs are listed in the main portion of the text beneath The Adventures of…. The articles vary in length, from the briefest of paragraphs (The Billie Burke Show and Linda’s First Love) to various pages (The Lone Ranger and The Mercury Theater of the Air). Each program entry comprises of title and broadcast history (including precise starting and ending dates, day and timeslot, network, announcer, sponsor, etc.). This is followed by an essay that oftentimes imparts all manner of detail, or, in the case of those short entries, a capsule description of the program. Although the majority of the articles are with regards to person programs, there are likewise a number of survey articles, such as sports broadcasts, concert broadcasts, and news broadcasts. Here, too, the cross-referencing is necessary in order to find info regarding a specific program that might fall beneath one of those categories and is not listed separately. There is an extensive bibliography, which will be of outstanding help to those wishing to pursue the subject further. In the electronically connected world of today, it is hard to imagine a time (not so long ago) when there was but one medium of electronic information. The rich detail in this solid work helps convey the flavor of that earlier time. Devotees of classic television shows may be amazed to find out that such programs as Father Knows Best, Our Miss Brooks, Queen for a Day, and Sky-King all started as radio programs. A worthy addition to most reference collections, this volume is an interesting portrait of a time when radio was more than background music or xenophobic talk shows. Another recent publication, the Historical Dictionary of American Radio [RBB Ag 98], covers a wider range of topics affiliated to radio but has far less coverage of person programs.
Review”A massive elaboration of the same author’s much-sought-after 1976 book “Tune in Yesterday.” Anyone with even a passing interest in old radio will find this long-awaited work fascinating; for devotees, it will be the new general reference. But even those unfamiliar with vintage radio could be captivated by this extraordinarily well-researched and interestingly written chronicle of a form of general culture whose golden age was richly diverse and all too brief.”–Los Angeles Daily News
“Written with wit and erudition…. This is the kind of book you hold in your lap and page through at leisure or dip into as if yo were casting a line into a placid and nostalgic stream.”–The Commercial Appeal
“A massive, 822-page volume that will have to stand as the all-time usual reference on radio…. Dunning’s book is also irrestistible, can’t put down reading, filled with arousing and attention holding facts and aweinspiring anecdotes. To call On the Air finish is to trade it short.”–San Diego Tribune
“Worth owning if you love old radio or are a severe historian of contemporary America.”–The Rocky Mountain News
“A warning to any old-time radio enthusiast: once you pick up this book, you won’t be capable to put it down. It’s not only the uttermost reference guide to radio’s golden age, it’s compulsively readable, too.”–Leonard Maltin
“John Dunning has compiled the extreme Radio-phile’s encyclopedia: a glorious goldmine of info on the ‘golden age’ of radio. I was there at the end of that era, both as a young radio actor and as the guy who substituted Jack Benny on CBS–making me the last network radio comedian in America. Many of the shows that influenced my sense of humor growing up–from Vic and Sade to Fred Allen–are written in regards to here in outstanding and loving detail, as is practically each show ever broadcast. A unfeigned and marvelous encyclopedia of radio.”–Stan Freberg
“John Dunning’s new work is the deepest and richest mine of selective information yet plumbed in the field of old time radio. It may well arrive at classic status not only for it is magnitude but for it is power to entertain through the vigor and acuity of it is assessments. It is the only encyclopedia I recognise that may be read for pleasure as well as information.”–Norman Corwin
“There are sure facets of earlier decades which are for the most part of interest only to specialists, but radio has been so primary in the context of usual communicating and cultural influence that not one thing less than a full-scale encyclopedic accounting was called for. John Dunning furnishes that.”–Steve Allen
“Dunning has expertly compiled and organized a massive amount of exploration info on hundreds of radio shows aired from the 1920s through the 1960s. The entries, listed alphabetically by show title, each integrate a treasure trove of information–broadcast dates, casts and personnel, anecdotes, particular analyses, and a elaborated overview of each show’s background, format, and content…. An extensive bibliography and index heighten the book’s appeal. For those who once assembled around the console, the more than 700 pages of entries ought to provide a fantasti stroll down memory lane. Historians and researchers will likewise find this a worthful reference tool, providing new discoveries and insights.”–Library Journal
“The rich detail in this solid work helps convey the flavor of that earlier time. A worthy addition to most reference collections, this volume is an interesting portrait of a time when radio was more than background music or xenophobic talk shows.”–Booklist
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Most helpful customer reviews
26 of 26 people found the following review helpful.
 Definitive and a pleasure to read
By Craig Clarke
This review is going to be formatted differently than usual. Right off, I’m just going to start by saying that every old-time radio fan reading this needs to just stop reading right now and buy a copy of On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. John Dunning definitive encyclopedia of the golden age (and then some) of radio needs to be on the shelf of anyone who dares to call himself a fan.
Building from his earlier work, Tune in Yesterday, John Dunning (a long-time fan of radio himself) has written the encyclopedia of radio. I didn’t have my copy for a long time and had no idea what I was missing. You’ll not only be graced with full schedules and showtimes, but also the history of each show, sometimes with memorable quotes from favorite episodes.
The index alone is worth the price of the book, with actors cross-referenced to shows you didn’t even know they appeared in. The bold page numbers steer the reader to the featured articles, but reading all the related articles is fun, too. Heck, even just browsing can while away hours of your time, as each show entry will remind you of another that you just have to look up. While looking up one show, the eye crosses the title of another on the page heading and, bang, you’re away and have forgotten what you took the book down off the shelf for to begin with. In this way, you’ll learn the names of favorite character actors whose voices you recognize from different shows, but whose name escape your memory (Frank Lovejoy and Elliott Lewis leap to my mind). Then, you can look them up in the index and discover more of their work for you to seek out.
Of course, even with a book this size, not all of the shows are going to have exhaustive articles, but Dunning has done as much as one man possibly can. He has compiled obscurities lovingly, interviewed living cast and crew members for memories, sought out archival copies of long-thought-lost shows, and researched like a madman to bring us On the Air. There is not likely to be another encyclopedia of radio that is so much fun to read. In this way, it equates the Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock and Roll for sheer browsability.
I’ve read the Lackwanna book (The Encyclopedia of American Radio), and it’s okay if you’re on a budget or are interested in modern radio (which I’m not), but On the Air is the one that really gives you your money’s worth, even though it costs considerably more. You’ll be better off saving your money and buying this solid work than wasting less of it on an error-ridden lesser one. Also pick up Dunning’s radio novel, Two O’Clock, Eastern Wartime, for a terrific read that is also a behind-the-scenes look at World War II-era radio.
14 of 15 people found the following review helpful.
Most useful as an educational tool too
By F. Behrens
The great value of this book as a “good read” or as an aid to sorting one’s collection of old time radio recordings is covered very well by other reviewers on this site. I want to point out its use as an educational tool. Social Studies classes are all too often made boring by reliance on textbooks (which are either outdated or too politically correct to be of any use) or on films and tapes, which are better but still pretty factual (whatever the bias) and dull to many students. I have always in my classes used the music of the period to liven things up a bit; but what about using radio broadcasts? Each one of them is a reflection of the people and events that shaped these shows and so many of them are available on tapes and CDs from such catalogues as Radio Spirits. is a fantastic resource manual for a teacher who wants to see what is appropriate for any particular class and to provide the background information for the students. Oxford University Press might want to consider this angle in their advertizing. But even all this aside, it does make for some fascinating reading!
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful.
The Definitive Book on Old-Time Radio
By A
John’s 1976 “Tune In Yesterday” is a classic. “On The Air” is more than just a revision of his earlier book. Some 1,500 radio shows presented in alphabetical order. There is extensive information on each show’s length of run, cast, writers, and directors. A comprehensive bibliography of Old-Time Radio (OTR) literature is included.
What really sets this book apart from other OTR books is John’s insightful writing about the shows; he writes from the heart and with passion. John is an acknowledged expert on OTR; he had OTR shows on various stations in Denver, CO for over 20 years. John is also a best-selling author – his two novels on, cop-turned rare book seller/detective, Cliff Janeway are very readable.
If I could only buy one OTR book, this one is it!
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