My CBSRMT Story - The Official Super-Thread

[Charlie]

Hi folks and welcome aboard.

I decided to start this forum after a previous forum that I participated in ceased working properly about 6 months ago.

There are also some Yahoo Groups devoted to CBSRMT but the advertisements and clumsy navigation there cause you to leave quickly. There are some really nice folks there though so I am not being critical.

Your participation here is welcome and together we can make this a fun place and some new friendships will be formed.

This thread will contain stories about how we all came to be here today - our love of CBSRMT and how it developed.

- Charlie

[Julie]

Hello! What a neat idea for a discussion forum! I recently "re-discovered'' Radio Mystery Theater while browsing the internet one night for Old Time Radio (I love Jack Benny!). I downloaded some episodes of Radio Mystery Theater and it brought back some wonderful memories! I remember listening to them when I was a child (also in Kansas - Smile)...we also listened to the old Inner Sanctum program as well. I don't have many episodes -- only about 100 or so, but I am enjoying the memories - and my son is hearing them for the first time!

Great idea for an interesting group, Charlie!

TTFN, Julie

[Ross]

Well, it was during our many family trips across the country in the 70's. My dad would always find a station with RMT for us to listen to while driving at night. Sometimes if we were lucky, we would get to listen to it three or four times!

That depended of course, on the broadcast schedule and radio propagation for that night. I listened to a lot of them that way as a kid.

Anyway, on Friday night sleep-overs, my friend's older brother would tune it in and we would listen to that plus the CBS/General Mills Radio Theater. He would tape them to listen to them later. That is where I got the idea.

The first episode I taped was A Holiday Visit. Taped it on a Radio Shack 90-minute tape I got for Christmas of 1980. I managed to tape about 60 episodes throughout the ensuing years (mostly on summer vacation), including a few with Tammy Grimes. I also wrangled my friends RMTs from him so they wouldn't get taped over.

Over the years due to the cheap tapes I used, there was some attrition. I eventually re-recorded and upgraded all of my originals that were in good shape to Maxell tapes in 1984 before they all got destroyed. I've listened to those ever since, and am getting ready to convert and remaster all of the ORIGINAL tapes to digital. Should be a real nice product when finished.

I sent a bunch of downloaded ones out to my sister and friends last year for Christmas. They were a huge hit!

RMT still is great entertainment. The adult themes and generally good acting makes it a great listen! And because of the sheer number of episodes, it makes trading and collecting them fun as well.

I hope that Hi Brown decides to re-release the ORIGINAL series (not the HB remakes) in some form in the future.

Ross

[WillKane]

my name is Scott and I am from Lancaster, South Carolina. I am married with no kids (yet). I will be 34 in January and I work for a textile magnet as an Inventory Clerk in distribution. I am a history major and love things of the past. Old things like movies, music, and radio. I remember as a kid lsitening to RMT out of a station in Cleveland I believe. I used to lie in bed and enjoy getting the wits scared out of me. Another fond memory is listening to old shows each Haloween on WBT in Charlotte. Especially War of the Worlds. To this day, I scan the radio dial each Haloween in search of old shows. Sadly, most stations dont play that type of stuff anymore, but thank goodness the Net has filled that void. I have about a dozen or so shows I downloaded from WinMx, and I listen when I get a chance.

[rspears]

My name is Randy Spears and, like a lot of you, remember listening to Radio Mystery Theater at night late a night as a kid. I'm 41 and thanks to the net, can re-experience those shows again.

I have a degree in filmmaking and now work in Distance Education for a major midwestern university, and even though I work mostly with video, I still love the spoken word.

It's funny because I suspected that my memories of the show might be colored by rose-colored nostalgia, but I have found the shows to be as enjoyable as I remember. Yes, some of the shows are weak, but some are gems. I've never regretted listened to one of them.

Enjoy Listening,
Randy

[thatsteveguy]

Hi,
well my name is Steve (age 37) and I live up near Ottawa, Canada, and I am a Course Administrator for our High Tech Crime branch at a Police College.
I hadn't thought about the show in years and it was only recently that I decided to see if I could find episodes on the net, and through my travels I eventually found this place and managed to find lots of files on Kazaa and stuff.
I can remember listening to Mystery Theater every night at 11:10 pm till midnight when it played on a local country station here. Sometimes I fell asleep but most times was too riveted by the episode (still remember one about a house buried underground that had a library and some books on the history of the earth?! anyone know the title off hand?)
but laying there in bed with your eyes closed you could practically 'see' the episodes as they happened.
I find that when talking to some people around here the show was something they listned to but had forgotten about because when I mention it I get an 'oh yeah I remember that show!' but when they find out I have episodes then of course they want some! lol.
It's nice to be able to take a break from the TV and just let the imagination rule the day.
Well look forward to this forum and hope to chat with all of ya.
chow
S

[Night Owl]

I can't remember the year that I first listened to RMT, all I know is that late one summer night in Schenectady, NY, I tuned my father's old radio--which I had recently placed on my night stand in my bedroom--to an AM station and caught the middle of an episode. I don't recall the name of the episode, but I remember it had something to do with plants. I was instantly hooked. I listened faithfully (particularly in the summertime since it aired at 11:07 pm) for a few years. One particularly poignant memory stems from the evening of January, 26 1977. The show was titled "The White Wolf". I was midway through when I noticed my bedroom window was flashing from a red light. I removed the headphones and rose from my bed to look out my window and see an ambulance outside. My father died that night.

I don't know what put the idea in my head, but in mid 2001 I was in a nostalgic mood and decided to do a search on the internet for RMT. I couldn't believe it, within 30 minutes I was listening to my first episode of Mystery Theater in almost 30 years, thanks to Bob Cook. Unfortunately, in early 2002 when I attempted to download more shows, Bob's site was shut down. Coming to grips with the transient nature of the internet, I was determined to download every episode I could find. Thanks to AudioGalaxy, and to a lesser extent Morpheous, I was able to obtain every episode of RMT.

Now, on an almost nightly basis, I lie in bed just as I did in the 70's listening to E.G. Marshall introducing me to yet another adventure into the macabre. Except now, instead of my father's old tube AM radio, I listen on my MP3 player.

[FlaJam]

My name is Mike, almost 41. live in Atlanta area & love CBSRMT.

It took me over a year to collect every CBSRMT show but it was worth the effort. All my shows were obtained through trading. I agree that anyone who sells these shows is not a true CBSRMT fan.

I listened to these shows from the time I was 12 til I was 20. I enjoyed them then & I enjoy them even more now. (My wife thinks I am partially crazy but my kids think they are cool!)

I am glad there is a decent forum for CBSRMT.

Happy Collecting!

[MysteryFan]

Hello Everyone!
I just wanted to say how glad I am that I found this site. I used to love staying up late and listening to CBSRMT when I was younger in Chicago, and I swear I felt the goosebumps return when I heard that squeaking door in the opening for the first time in probably 20+ years.
Jim

[maxwell]

Hi everyone --

Like most everyone else, I listened to RMT when it was originally on the air. At the time, I traveled extensively on business in the midwest. I took an AM radio that was good enough to get some of the clear channel stations that carried RMT (there was one in Tennessee that was the most reliable).

I've collected the whole set (which I would be happy to share via some means), but quite a few are of poor quality and pretty much unlistenable. I'm glad that there are some who are able to re-record the shows for better listening.

What's with all the Kansas people -- I'm one, too! :D

[rustyfoxx]

Hi Everyone,

I'm 32 married with one boy and one girl due in May. I also loved listening to CBSRMT when I was a child. I had one or two tapes of episodes and listened to them over and over after the show went off the air. My favorite episode is "The Dead You Can't Bury" (Episode 1079).

I work in television now as a graphic artist and enjoy collecting the stories on the web. I have around 800 and am willing to share with anyone, if there is a way.

Nice to meet you all and be part of this group.

-Rustyfoxx

[vgarci]

My name is Vince Garcia and I'm a married 39 year old with two daughters. I'm a native to the State of Wyoming and I currently reside in Cheyenne. By profession, I'm a structural engineer but for the last several years, I've led my organization's computer department.

I grew up in Casper, Wyoming and I loved listening to the CBSRMT with my three brothers. Unfortunately, I didn't realize what a gem it was at the time and consequently, I took the shows for granted. Chalk it up to the stupidity of youth, but I just didn't realize how fine the performers were. Just recently, I've thought about those old programs and thanks to Charlie, I now have a good number of shows to call my own.

[vgarci]

It's interesting to hear your stories and hope mine is of some interest to the group. I grew up in Casper, Wyoming (incidentally, Charlie, we had cable TV in 1963 - though the number of channels was vastly different than today) and I shared a small bedroom with my 3 brothers. We had two sets of bunkbeds in this small bedroom with very little room to walk. We must have discovered the CBSRMT programs sometime in 1974 or 1975 (I would have been 9 or 10 years old) and we became faithful listeners. Every weeknight at 10pm, we'd tune in and all chatter would stop so as not to miss the slightest nuance. Many of the programs scared me to death but the thrill was addictive and we couldn't get enough. As an 18 year old, one of my brothers was killed in a car wreck. I haven't told my two surviving brothers that I've found this sight. Instead, I hope to get a complete set of the programs and present them with a copy in the near future.

Vince

[STLAZARUS]

Ive been collecting cbsrmt ever since I found some posted on audio gallixie.. searching by a whim.
Listen to my first one downloaded brought back many memories.. from my childhood. It was 1974, and a hot but quiet summer night in Idaho where i was raised. It doesnt seem that long ago to me, even now thinking back to it. I can still smell the breeze that came threw my bedroom window, the sounds of crickets and such. I can still remember pushing my face against the windowscreen, and smelling the iron smell of the screen, with my hands placed on top of my grandparents antique radio, a philco floor model. I turned the radio on, listening to the familiar hum as it came to life, waiting for the sound to start.. while stairing at the glowing dial, almost hypnotic it was. And forty seconds later, i was roaming across the air waves, fascinated beyond measure, as only a small child can be. It was amazing to me, that when the night came down, i could listen to voices so far away, they would tell the time, and looking at my squirt soda clock, with its odd light, it would tell me that it was even a different time for that voice speaking in the distance. At some point I encountered the creacking door, and i was captivated every night there after. I enjoyed reading, and I always thought the Mystery Theater was so much like that, everyone listening, pictured what they heard a different way, yet it was all valid.
Many years have passed since then. My grandparents I loved so much at the time are long since gone. And so are the times I remember, the smell of the carnival in spring, the simple pleasure of being a child, and being captivated by a simple radio program.
I have a son now, he is the love of my life, and all of ten years old. When I look at him I wish that his time now could be as simple as mine was then, but I know that im from a different era, and things will never be so simple again. When I lay with him on the couch, and load up a Mystery Theater episode, he loves it. No puters, tv, or anything else. As we listen, I can smell the summer again, the summers of my youth so long ago. And when I look at my son, with out him catching me, I think in passing he might smell the same summer past also, and I squeeze him a little tighter, as a smile falls over my face. :D

[rosedb]

Hi Everyone,

Let me take a second and introduce myself. I am a long time CBSRMT fan. Used to listen as I went to sleep on Sunday nights and I had no idea that they were on more than once a week. I used to catch the broadcast from a station in San Francisco so sometime the reception wasn't always the best.

I used to listen to the shows from Bob Cook's site, but when that got pulled I had sorta given up on hearing them. Imagine my surprise when I found Live 365 and then this site offering to share them. The Internet is a wonderful thing.

Look forward to sharing stories and show with everyone.

[CusBlues]

My name is Jeff. I am 41 and like many others, listened to the mystery theatre when I was a teenager. I lived in Marion, Indiana which is halfway between Fort Wayne and Indianapolis. I used to tape the episodes with a tape recorder and listen to them later. Remember those 45 minute tapes? You had to turn them over after act 2 to get act 3. I am now an Electrical Engineer at Raytheon in Fort Wayne, Indiana and my wife and I also own several investment properties (that's fancy talk for LANDLORD). One day the CBSRMT popped into my head and I felt an internet search coming on. Surprise, Surprise. I found a lot of information and navigated to Charlie's board. Although I hated computers in college, I really took to PCs after graduating and they have been one of my hobbies ever since. I also like Classic Rock music and in particular, The Rolling Stones and collect bootlegs. I have been downloading CBSRMT shows from WinMX and also recording them from Live 365. If I pry open my dusty wallet and subscribe to Streamload, I will take advantage of Charlie's great offer of shows. I only have around 25 shows right now, but if you would like to trade, I am certainly willing. I look forward to the discussions on this board so.....Until next time....Pleasant...Dreams....

[brian1984_2001]

I posted much of this earlier, not realizing this was here.

My name is Brian Schwartz and I grew up in Marietta, Ohio (First organized settlement in the Northwest Territory for you history buffs). I listened 1978 - 1980 and fell in love with the show and all things horror related.

I rediscovered the show via Napster a couple years ago. Now I've got them all! Use Streamload as much as you can and ask others to help you fill in the few holes you will have.

I'm a communications/media relations person for the port authority in Toledo, Ohio. (Got my fifteen seconds of fame on September 11). I am 36 years old, so I listened to the show through those awkward, early adolescent years and it was my secret passion. ( my friends would have harrassed me without mercy if they found out I was using AM radio for anything other than listening to sports.)

I listened to the show primarily 1978 - 1980. I've always been a fan of horror and sci-fi, and to me, as a kid back then, this show was just magic. I probably listened to my last show in late 1980, but thought about RMT over and over again for the last 22 years, always wondering whatever happened to it.

Thank God for Napster. I downloaded "Ghost Talk" and I almost cried hearing that creaking door for the first time in 22 years.

Since then, thanks to some persistence and the generosity of others, I've compiled a complete collection. It would be my pleasure helping others complete their collection. I make files available on a rotating basis on WinMX and Bearshare.

[axleone]

Hi Everyone!
My name is CRAIG BELLAMY. I live in Lynchburg VA. Was brought up in NYC area until moving south in 1980. I'm now 54 yeras old and have just discovered OTR quite by accident. Using WinMx to download music I started finding OTR files and have fallen in love. I'm driving my wife crazy. I have found my favorites are CBSRMT and SUSPENCE which has brought me to this great forum. I found Charlie's website to be such a wealth of help and info. So I'd like to send him a BIG THANKS. Hope to speak to you all someday and have a chat about CBSRMT.

[tammylynwilson]

I remember lying in bed with my grandma when I was a little girl and she would listen to the Mystery Theater programs. They scared me, but I loved the sound effects and the images they invoked in my mind. I have been a fan of scary stories since I can remember and am currently working on collecting local ghost stories for an anthology of sorts, along with helping a friend do a documentary on the same thing. Anyway - I have searched the net a few times and always came up with the stories on a CD for sale and that really wasn't what I was looking for. Anyway - I searched again this morning and found this site and I am so excited! The idea of making copies for gifts is a great idea!

[btreuhaft]

Hi Everyone,

I think this may be the best looking OTR/radio program site I've yet found. you guys really have your act together!

I have this sort of vague recollection of the CBSRMT...I think I used to listen to it with my dad in Wisconsin...I sort of rediscovered radio programs earlier this year indirectly...I pretty much live in Photoshop, and like a distraction while concentrating. Music gets old. I started listening to audio books while working, and that let me on a search for more and broader fare.

I'm particularly a mystery addict in the vein of Nero Wolfe (I have almost all the OTR recordings) and Agatha Christie.

:lol:

[Ethelmertz]

Hi ! another new member here. I used to listen to the CBSRMT in high school at night while trying to fall asleep. Kept me awake just waiting for the end of the story. I love them.

Ethelmertz

[Texas]

Hello, all.

I came to listen to these programs in my home town of Springfield, MO. I used to listen to them on KGBX-AM, as I recall. They carried them at 10:00 PM CST each night. I recall hearing the first one as I was crossing the Frisco (now Burlington Northern Santa Fe) main line railroad tracks by the Broadway street grain elevator (I know you're a train fan also, Charlie). Used to listen to them driving back from the house of my then-girlfriend (now wife :D ) after returning her home from a date. Sometimes I'd curl up at home and listen to them. (Believe it or not: "The Teddy Bear" and "The Hand" (in the listening log section) scared me very, very much just listening to them in that way, and I was in college by that time!)

[GreenPencil]

Radio Mystery Theater. I can't remember even my age when my dad suggested listening to it. Even he got the idea from someone else, I belive... or maybe he scanned the newspaper radio listings and thought we should listen.

Upon remembering my favorite episode (and my dad's favorite and sister's favorite as well!) (ps: my mom didn't care for them) A Holiday Visit, which was on Christmas December 25, 1980, I can now place my age: 9. My sister was 12.

All three of us would lay on the bed and listen in the dark at 11pm. Actually, the show would start at 11:07 promptly, after the news. Every Friday night. Often we would have two radios going, one on my side of my parent's bed and one on my sisters side where she was laying. A few times we used a coke-bottle radio, that looked just like a coke bottle! Considering it was the Christmas episode we listened to that night, I'm pretty sure the coke bottle radios were a present from that morning. I remember adjusting the volume on my radio so I would get a stero effect, that is turning my radio down while my sisters stayed at the same level. Naturally it didn't sound right for her, and she would start doing the same. Things got too quiet and we'd turn them back up, my dad determining when the were both at the same volume to keep us from fighting.

Probably more than half the time, we'd fall asleed during the second or third act. There are a few episodes I fell asleep on that, 23 years later, I am deperate to listen too (I should have a complete set coming in a week or so).

AND THEN IT HAPPENED!!!!

I was having trouble falling asleep on a school night, so I fiddled with the radio. Radio Mystery Theater was on, schoolnights too!

Is this a secret my father kept from me? Some secrets best lie buried, but the knowledge sprouted as it were from the dark depths.

I now played a game with myself every schoolnight: force myself to stay awake from bedtime (9 oclock? Unreasonable!) to 11. Then listen to the show on the coke-radio with the earphone jack. And listen I did, for two weeks straight. Interestingly the shows became quieter during the second week until I could barely hear it. Later I discovered that a huge plug of earwax was stuck in the earphone. I cleaned it out and all was fine, but perhaps that was best left unsaid.

The third week something strange happened. By this time I as approaching my birthday. A 10 year-old is aging and not as spry as a 9 year-old you know, and the late nights were beginning to get to me. It was with great dissappointment when I would wake up in the morning and discovering the wave of terror, not from lingering memories of the show, but upon finding that I slept through it. I would start falling near 10:45, then 10:30, and evenually it was tough to get to 9:45.

I don't recall what made us stop listening. Something may have come up one friday, and we got out of the habit.

I'm revisiting the old shows now. I discovered the amount of mp3 material for Old Time Radio while searching for old programs for my grandfather to listen to. That in turn sparked my old flame to listening to some old favorites. Sherlock Holmes, X-Minus One, Escape, and Chicken-Man (he's everywhere he's everywhere).

And now Radio Myster Theater. I'll soon, hopefully, have all 1400 episodes. Or is it 1401? Or 1425?

I pledge myself to listen to them only at night. Only after a day well spent, either a productive day at work or a fine day with the wife and kids. One a day, at night, for the next four years. I'll try to get the kids to listen with me, but they are too young at present. But when they do they will be in for a treat.

But not on schooldays, of course. My dad may have been right afterall.

[UNTIL NEXT TIME]

Hi- I was 11 when CBSRMT began on the airways. I love the show now, but back then I never heard an episode. What is interesting is my memory of the sound of the door and then the heavy, forboding music. Each night my mother would play the radio in her room as she tried to go to sleep. I was in the adjacent room, the lights out, and heard that door and music nightly. I remember thinking it was creepy. I grew up and never thought much of it as the years went on. About 4 yrs ago I obtained a computer and access to the internet. I discovered I liked old time radio ( we have not watched tv broadcasts for ten yr ) enough to want to start collecting it. Early in this process I downloaded CBSRMT's "The Onyx Eye", an decided to give it a listen. Well, I heard that door..and I tell you something clicked in me..some level of fascination. I listened to my first RMT episode at 35 and enjoyed it quite a bit. The rest is history...after listening to a few more it became my favorite show, and in many ways, very important to me. - UNTIL NEXT TIME

[KARAF]

Hi Everyone,

I'm Ken, 39 years old, in Colorado. Like many of you, I remember laying in bed next to my clock radio listening every week to CBSRMT. It was a wonderful feeling knowing that I was enjoying the radio much as my grandparents had done years before me.

Best memory? Listening to Sherlock Holmes mysterys. I'll never forget hearing the Hound of the Baskervilles. Also, Edgar Allen Poe readings were thrilling to hear.

Thanks all, I look forward to this community!

Ken

[tc_spacecadet]

Hello everyone. My name is Mike, and I am of that same age group also, 41 years old, and living in Tennessee. As a youngster growing up in central Illinois in the mid 70's, my introduction to the "macabre" came after I stumbled across a magazine advertisement for CBSRMT (I can still remember the cat from that ad). Being obviously intrigued, I tuned into the show later that evening on WBBM AM radio out of Chicago, and was hooked from the start -- most every night around bedtime, in the dark, listening with apprehension as E.G. Marshall's voice would narrate from the RCA clock radio next to the bed. You all know how the rest of it goes.

Soon after discovering this chilling entertainment, I of course had to share this excitement with my best friend, who became a huge CBSRMT fan also. Though we both now live in different states, we remain best friends still today, and occasionally reminisce about summer evenings spent long ago listening to many of those terrific shows.

I have found just a handful of programs via WinMX, but not much more. I will request shows in the Sharing/Trading forum. Many, many thanks for this website -- nicely done!
:D

[Whiskerz]

I have childhood memories of CBSRMT. Sunday nights were my time to enjoy this classic form of radio drama. Everytime I heard the opening music, and then E.G. Marshall's voice, I got goosebumps. I look back on those times very fondly, and now I want to be able to enjoy them again...this time with my children and wife.

Many thanks,
Stacey

[Whiskerz]

My name is Stacey, and boy am I glad I found this place! I have amazing memories of the RMT program from my childhood (Calgary, Canada). I was telling my wife that I wanted to buy some Audiobooks on CD to use on long highway trips etc. When I started to think more about it, I thought that listening to the re-broadcasts of CBSRMT would be perfect! I did some searching online, (thank you GOOGLE.com!) and ended up here. :D

I can't wait to get a few episodes to start on!

Get used to the user name of Whiskerz....I'm going to be here for awhile!

Best Regards,
Stacey

[mr_generic]

Hi!

My name's Bob; I'm 36; I grew up near the seacoast of NH (yes, we have a seacoast ... only 18 miles of it, but it still counts!) :D

I remember many summer (and winter-weekends) nights sleeping over a friend's clubhouse (it had a wood stove) in his back yard. We would always listen to CBSRMT on WWNH AM 930 in Rochester, NH, and sometimes getting our socks scared off!

I only recorded two or three on tape, or at least I can only find two or three tapes! Believe it or not, I must have recorded over many other episodes! Ugh!

At any rate, I have collected almost all 1400 episodes. I only need about a dozen or two more.

Hope to hear from you all soon!
Cheers!
- Bob

[Dante101]

Hi everyone. My name is Dan. I used to work at Disneyland, but just quit a few months ago when my brother got me into doing graphic art work.

I'm 37 years old, and my brother and I loved listening to CBSRMT back in the 70s just as we were going to bed. Of course, sometimes we wouldn't make it all the way through a show before sleep caught up with us - but a lot of times we'd be hooked to that evening's story! It was pure magic!

I haven't heard the show since the early 80s, when I was clicking round the radio and was surprised the show was still on the air!

I'm looking forward to getting these episodes from some kind soul. I signed up for streamload - the 5,000 MB deal. I'll post in that request in the other board, I guess. I'm new to this board, and to streamload...

I belong to a Night Gallery email list, and we were talking about a recent episode rerun that aired on the Mystery Channel - an episode with EG Marshall. I remarked that it brought back memories of the CBSRMT, and someone told me the episodes were out there on the internet!

Fantastic!!!

[pat_newhouse]

Hi there you all from Texas. I remember growing up as a kid in Ohio and driving along with my Grandmother and listening to the CBS Radio Mystery Theather at night. I thought it was so spooky and very cool. Everytime I went to visit her, I would always try to find the show as I thought it was more enjoyable than music. I am so glad that there are so many fans just like me. I even found some shows on a website called Kaaza that you can download for free.

Thanks again,

Pat, from Dallas, Texas

[Texas]

I apologize, ya'll...I never made an introduction on this thread.

My name is Kurt, and I reside with my wife, daughter (who at 12 has become quite the RMT fan) and son in Bentonville, AR where we just moved last year after just over a decade in the Atlanta area. We're back close to family in our hometown of Springfield, MO again after I accepted a job as web developer and designer with my company, Brass Eagle (http://www.brasseagle.com).

My wife and I still own a business in the Atlanta area, Old Town Gifts and Collectibles (http://www.oldtowngifts.com). Wish I knew of some RMT gifts that we thought would be a hit with collectors and we'd put them out there.

BTW, I've also got some ties to the Great State, hence my monnicker. Gotta add my congrats in this post 2003-"March Madness" period to the University of Texas and Texas Tech men's and women's basketball teams (UT men, Final Four; UT women, playing tonight in Final Four; Tech men, 3rd place NIT; Tech women, Elite Eight.) I'll have to post my favorite episodes with a "Texas connection" (besides "The Great White Shark", which I've already reviewed) sometime in the future...

[NDTim]

Hi Charlie,

I would like to share how I became a RMT fan. It's amazing that I am going to have my 25th high school reunion this year and that is the time RMT came on the air. I was a freshman in '74 and would listen to RMT on a local AM radio station - WSBT AM in South Bend, Indiana. My parents didnt have to get on me to go to bed. I would often fall asleep to the theatre and sometimes didnt know how the story ended. Other times the story would be so great that I would try and tune in another station to listen to it again. I often would be able to tune in KMOX in St. Louis. The problem with that was I would have a hard time getting up for school the next morning.

Every Sunday in our paper, they would print the week's listing for RMT - what the title was, what the show was about, and who starred. I would cut those out every week and save them. I have quite a collection over the years, but as I got older, didnt think I needed them anymore and threw them out. I wish I still had those. It was funny when I saw that Fre Gwynne would star in some epidodes because in my mind all I could see was Herman Munster in that role.

I have been looking for a long time to try and capture some old programs and was sort of successful in downloading off of a site that shared music, etc. and got about 250 epidodes. I have burned a few for my kids and they now enjoy listening to the stories at night. My 2 youngest daughters say they like to use their imagination and they can see the story in their mind. We try once a week to turn off the TV and everyone listen to the stories. It is pretty neat to watch my 4 kids and even my wife take an interest in something that I hold so dear.

Charlie, I want to thank you. Thank you for the chance to remember, for the site and just the things you have done for me personally. It is so awesome to see there are other RMT freaks out there like myself and that we all have something in common across this great country of ours.

If anyone wants to e-mail me -please do, make sure you put RMT in the comment line so I don't think your message is spam.

Thanks for letting me share and please remember the men and women fighting in Iraq.

Until Next Time


Tim

[ctclemens]

I also grew up for a while in Ohio (1977-1980, near Dayton, age 11) listening to RMT with a small transistor radio tucked under my pillow on a hot summer night with the big floor fans whirring in the hallway--and would would often lapse into (and sometimes out of) dreams mingled with the actual broadcast.

I'm so grateful (in advance) to everyone involved in this web project. I was so put off by trying to swap cassettes, and was delighted to find that someone had finally begun to use the internet. And even though it's required by law, I think it's great that there is a community gathered around any topic of interest purely for enjoyment, with no money involved.

[abysynth]

I remember laying in the backseat of our car at night as my parents were driving through the mountains on our many trips from Florida to Indiana and I have distinct memories of hearing this program. Some nights, it was just too eerie to imagine. The dark silence of the car, an occasional street light passing through the darkness. And if I was lucky, it was a stormy night. We did these trips a few times a year from age 4 to 7. I have looked for years to find these and tonight I stumbled across your site by mistake. Imagine!

[arend1701]

Of my first memories of listening to CBS RMT occurred in the summer of 1974. I was ten, my parents were on the verge of divorce as my dad moved out of town to take a job in Syracuse. Being the youngest of four and a bit of a night owl, I love to stay up late. Of course during school days, that was not permitted. But as summer vacation came, my mom relaxed and let me stay up to wee hours of 11:00pm. One night, with nothing (and I mean nothing) was on TV, I turned the radio on and scanned through the AM dial. I stopped at WWSW at 10:07pm and heard a strange sound. It was like a door, a creaky door being opened and at the time the sound of a hell hound wailing. Then a thunderous cello sounded and voice beckoned me to come in and be welcomed. From that moment on, my life was changed.

For every night that summer, I sat on the floor and listened to a scratchy and sometiems inaudible broadcast of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. (AM radio during a summer storm is not condusive to listening) I was thrilled and amazed to every broadcast I could hear. The two episodes that stayed in my mind from that summer were "The Canterville Ghost" and "Ghost At High Noon". As summer came to a close, I knew that I would have to go to bed early again. When school started, I would sneak a portable radio under the covers and listen with the volume down low. Sometimes it would work, sometimes my older brother would bust me. (Days I wish I was an only child! smile.gif ) Over the next few years, I listened when I could and then, when I remembered it was on. Sad to say, I lost track after 1980 and was surprised in 1982 when E.G. Marshall had handed the show over to Tammy Grimes. I listen for a few weeks, but it was not the same. I was 18 by then and the shows seem to have lost the impact it did in 1974. When the show ended, I found out too late. Funny, kids think that it would last forever and if did not, it would never come back.

My life went on and it was not until 1989 that I just happen to again spin the dial on AM radio when I found it again. WABC NYC was airing the shows. By then my access to recording technology had improved and I managed to record eight episodes, including my two favorites, "The Canterville Ghost" and "Ghost At High Noon". I was elated! I was at a very low point in my life and this was some comfort. I asked around if there was any production house selling copies of these treasures, but there were none. Again, RMT was gone. However, I knew that someday I would find it again.

In 2002, I found the sites on the internet that had groups dedicated to CBS Radio Mystery Theater. I made contact and after few months, I managed to assemble my own collection with help from generous individuals. It still amazes me that I get a small chill when listening to them again. I've just celebrated my 39 birthday, but I feel young again thanks to the creativity of men and women who still make the theater of imagination a place for me to dream and enjoy.

Matt

[NYRob]

Hello,
I am a new member and am thrilled there is a venue like this for fans of this wonderful show. Years ago when I first discovered the web, I typed in to my search "CBS Radio Mystery Theater" and nothing came up. And catalogues of old time radio shows, hopeful to see anything about this show, but, nothing. And now, typing it in again on the web years later, and finding quite a number of web sites! Fantastic!
I was in high school when I first discovered this show on AM1500 in Washington, DC (born there, raised in Virginia) and listening to the all-news station one night, and on comes "CBS Radio Mystery Theater" and I was HOOKED. Up until then, I was unfamiliar with "old time" radio, and from then on, I became fascinated with radio shows. I have always loved performers like Jack Benny, Burns and Allen, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, etc., so of course, this was a marriage made in heaven. Don't get me wrong, I loved TV growing up, but loved that I could close my eyes, and hear these wonderful broadcasts, and like reading, imagine the whole production in my mind.
I got creative and taped a few of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater shows with my pretty shoddy cassette recorder. The first one I taped, and still a sentimental favorite of mine, was "Die! You're on Magic Camera". Loved it. A few nights later, the reception wasn't as good, but I taped it anyway. The show was "Hurricane", and with all the "snow" and interference, it really added to this creepy episode! I only ended up taping about 12 of them --- I cherish those tapes very much. And with those commercials, mostly Sugar Free Diet 7-Up and Budweiser (still love that jingle), only adds to the charm.
So, I'm glad to be here --- go CBS Radio Mystery Theater!

I've been working in theater since graduating college (I'm 41), and have had the honor to work with and meet some wonderfu people in this business. And I have to say, one of the most exciting experiences for me in meeting celebrities was when I got the chance (on several occasions, actually) of meeting none other than E.G. Marshall --- what a thrill! The first time I met him was at an Opening Nite party for a show (don't remember which one) which was where I got to chat with him the longest (the second time was literally a handshake at a benefit honoring a producer. Naturally at these gatherings, the talk generally centers around theater. Fine for me, but no way, there's E.G. Marshall, I want to chat with him about CBS Radio Mystery Theater! So of course I mustered up some courage and went up to him and thanked him so much for giving me such pleasure for so many years with The CBS Radio Mystery Theater. He was genuinely touched, very gracious, and actually a bit surprised too --- I think he was used to everone mentioning any number of his plays, movies or TV shows in his long and distinguished career -- that the CBS Radio Mystery Theater would be the one I singled out, I know he liked that! I know he took great pride in his involvement with this show. To be honest, I would have loved nothing more than to sit down with him for hours discussing many aspects of the show, but you know at these gatherings after a few moments of their time, you feel obliged not to take up too much of their time. I was/am such a fan of the show, I must admit, while talking with him I was VERY tempted to say, "Please say 'Welcome to the fear you can hear'" or "Would you mind terribly saying the word 'macabre'"! I might have been pushing the envelope there, but you know, I'm sure he would have indulged me!
I feel so honored to have a chance to shake his hand and speak with him for a few moments and really thank him for all the joy and pleasure he has given me and so many, many others!!!

I am currently out on the road (music director for "Elaine Stritch at Liberty") until early August 2003 and believe it or not, without a computer! (My laptop died earlier this year). I will however from time to time use a friend's or go to an Internet Cafe whenever I can!
While here in LA with the show, I do have more access to a computer so I am anxious to hear the "Show Of The Week"'s and post my thoughts.
As I mentioned before, I have not heard CBS RMT for years and years--- and to be able to hear them again... wow, it makes me so excited.

Rob.

[JRS80219]

I first caught the fever when I was a kid with my GE pocket transistor radio rubberbanded to the board at the top of my bed.

Sneaking every chance I could to listen to the show after 'lights out'.

As a younger adult I was painting alone in my first house and at midnight CBSRMT came on KOA here in Denver. The show was so scary that I had to call my wife at our apartment and have her talk me off the ceiling!

None the less, I'm hoping to get a lot of good quality mp3's

[Gorloth]

Hi,
I'm a new member "Gorloth" Yes a strange name perhaps a bit on the Mid'evil Macabre side. (sound of door squeaking) This is actually my Quake Arena name. I'm a professional Photographer/Photoshop/Digital imaging specialist. That's just my side business. I'm formally trained in Metrology. "The science of Measurement" (not weather...thats meteorolgy) I've worked in the West Indies, Thailand, Saudia Arabia, Northern Greenland and now find myself here in Fort Wayne, Indiana working at ITT Aerospace. I enjoy history and traveling to far away places and having adventures. I'm single and my many years of working overseas have afforded me the oppertunity of visiting and living in exotic places. I've always been interested in the CBS Mystery Radio Theater. Ever since I first heard it in my High School days I knew it was something special. A certain something that "takes you there" Anyways I'm glad to be aboard and have already downloaded some really good stuff so far. yeah cable modem. Now onto the first Act...

[dnagle]

Hello, I'm dnagle aka Dan. Never dreamed there was RMT stuff like this on the Web! Like many other fans ... started listening as a teenager in the '70's, had to turn the radio down so parents wouldn't know I was up late. Listened in Madison, WI to WBBM-Chicago, it came in a little weak and crackly which only added to the atmosphere. Thought of taping shows at the time but ... so many shows over almost 10 years, never thought it necessary. Interested in collecting some favorite episodes and in any thoughts other fans have about the series. Great to know there is a following. Other media interests include OTR, film (esp. serials), cult TV classics, books (esp. history) and most music.

[stovey]

Hello,

My name is Stephen. I am from Dublin, Ohio. I remember listening to RMT over 30 years ago when I was growing up. There wasn't a station near me broadcasting it. I would listen to it when visiting my grandparents and, occasionally, when the conditions were right, I could hear it on a station in a city 300 miles from where I lived. The static added to the atmosphere of the show. I have never forgotten RMT. It is great to know RMT lives on through sites like this and that there are so many fans of RMT. Thank you.

Stephen

[stevebeck]

Hi, My name is Steve and I used to listen to all of these mystery theatres when I was in high school. Two years ago I downloaded a little over a hundred of them when napster was being run. Now I share the ones I do have with my friends here at work, and we need some different ones to listen too. I hope to download all I can because Ive even tried to get my kids interested in the old stories and also the old news items that are sometimes attatched.

[bwonka]

Like many people, my earliest memories of cbsrmt are of listening in the car at night as a kid. My parents must have already been fans for awhile, because I remember them saying things like "These shows are different from the old ones - you used to hear every footstep and door creak, and now you don't hear as much of that." I was a little disappointed that I'd never be able to hear the old ones, but I thought the "new" ones were pretty cool anyway.

I started trying to tape them around 1978, with the usual kid-amateur setup of a microphone next to the radio speaker. I only recorded a dozen or so, but my favorite of them was "The House on Chimney Pot Lane" (780428). By the time I recorded that one I had a system down, where I would physically tape the microphone near the radio speaker with masking tape, and then leave the room and close the door, coming back in time to turn the 30-minute tape over at the break between acts 2 and 3 (I couldn't always listen during the broadcast for some reason - that's partly why I taped them). But when I returned at the end of the show this time, I found that someone had come into the room and [i:31a921a637]turned off the radio[/i:31a921a637] during act 3! I was horrified to find that right at the climax of the show, the last three minutes, where everything is about 10 seconds from being resolved, the heroes are about to live or die by the skin of their teeth, the audio ends! Talk about a cliffhanger... But even without an ending, it was my favorite show. (Maybe it was [i:31a921a637]because[/i:31a921a637] there was no ending - when I finally heard a rerun of the show later, the ending was less exciting than I had imagined it would be! But it still remains my favorite of those I've ever heard, and it has inspired me to put a photo mural on a wall in my house someday.)

Other episodes that I have brief memory clips of (but no clue about the title or rest of the plot) are 1) there's a room full of people working on abacuses, and when the hero goes into the room you hear them all clicking in the background; and 2) an episode where an alien brings a black bag full of pills labeled with diseases - people think they are cures for the disease but they turn out to cause the disease instead.

Anyway, I'm glad to be able to listen to the old shows now, and to see if the sound effects are any different than the later ones, and I'm looking forward to listening to all of the episodes to relive the ones that I vaguely remember bits of.

[Michael]

My name is Michael, I grew up in Youngstown, OH listening to E.G. on WKBN-570. I like most of the group here, will be celebreting the 40th in october. My daughter is 10 years old and enjoys the program almost as much as my sister and I did when we were younger. Her favorite episodes are Ghost Story and The Witches Almanac

My mom and dad introduced us to the program during the first year it aired, I was the only one that stayed with until it went off the air during my freshman year of college. I used to love listening on camping trips. Last weekend I was sitting on my deck listening to Blizzard of Terror It was a moonless night and my skin started crawling and suddenly I was 12 years old again and everything seemed possible.

I have about 450 episodes right now and I currently working on completing 1974.

Its great to be among kindered spirits.

Michael

[hamlet2003]

I remember listening to CBSRMT at night when I was in grade school. My twin brother and I, we shared a bedroom, and we would turn on the radio at 10pm every night when we went to bed. We would listen to the stories in the dark and often I would fall asleep without hearing the end of the show. I taped a few episodes but most of the recordings degraded and I threw them away. THen, just a few years ago my brother and I started scouring the internet for anything about our fav old radio show and couldn't beleive how many people like us were out there, searching for a piece of CBSRMT nostalgia from childhood. I now have most of the episodes on cd and just like as a kid, I often listen to them when I go to sleep at night (much to the chagrin of my spouse!)

[blwest]

Hello to everyone on this forum. My name is Bradley Lee West, from Roseboro, Sampson Co., North Carolina. I am 41 years old. I have just recently gotten into this Old Time Radio thing. First it was Hopalong Cassidy radio shows, then I stumbled across this site that I haven,t heard of since my days in the hospital.
Way back in 1975 up to 1982 at Duke Hospital in Durham, NC., I had to have some surgeries and on my bedside I had a radio that I came across my first CBSRMT, I vaguely remember it being about a devil that would come down the chimney at night and a man wanted his friend to watch it happen. I may be wrong because it was along time ago. But I liked what few episodes I ever got to heard. They were on AM station. There were a few times at home late at night I could catch a show but there were a lot of static in it.
I found Vince who helped me get this collection of the series and I'd like to thank him very much for this. There are a few episodes that I can't get a complete episode for, if anyone can help me get them complete, I'd appreciate it. #295 Can you Trust your Husband, #575 Tomorrows Murder, #764 The Laughing Maiden, #1090 Let George Do It, #1284 The Good Ship Aud, and #1300 The Heart Of Boadicea.
Thank You
Bradley

[wtdiv]

Hello to all you Mystery Theater fans! My name is Bill and I reside in Lake Tahoe California where I am a music educator, teacher and vocal coach. I teach music to students in the local schools from third grade all the way up through high school. I am also the director of Sierra Academy of Music, a growing conservatory of the arts.

I first heard the Mystery Theater on my way back from a skiing trip when I was in high school in the early 70's. I lost touch with it for a few years but then tuned in to 1070 KNX AM, Los Angeles, California at 9 p.m. each night of the week and listened for years until the show went off the air - taping many shows onto cassette. At one time, I had over 200 shows taped. Tragically, most of my tapes were destroyed when a storage unit was flooded.

For many years, I wanted to find the Mystery Theater again. It wasn't until the advent of the Internet that I felt that I had hope. When Bob Cook's site opened up, I was able to download many shows. I had only a dial up connection then. Now I have a broadband connection and I look forward to exploring this forum and finding a way to continue downloading shows.

I have very fond memories of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater. I would very often listen in the dark, outside of my house on balmy summer nights and cold, clammy winter nights as well. The Mystery Theater was a friend on a lonely night. Often I would listen to my tapes while driving on long trips or at night when I couldn't sleep.

I am glad to find a community of listeners that appreciate that old 44+ minute radio show. My father was involved in the entertainment business during the "radio age" so I heard about all the radio shows while growing up. The Mystery Theater was my generation's "old radio" show with a modern edge.

I enjoyed it very much and continue to enjoy it when I can.

Thanks,
Bill

[Ang]

My sister and I found RMT in gradeschool living in Oklahoma. It was only aired late on schoolnights, so we listened our week of Christmas vacation. I remember laying in the dark and listening to the chilling tales and sometimes the neighbor kids would come and listen to our taped version. We only have one episode on tape. (It is old and nearly inaudible now). We listened to it so much over the years we can recite it now...we still quote it and laugh!
Some 20 years later I was talking to my boyfriend about it, and I discovered he listened to the show in Maryland with a flashlight under his covers in bed! He was the only other person I knew that listened. It is so much fun to find fellow fans (who remember childhood nostalgia too).

This is the best CBSRMT site! It is so user friendly, and well put together. I loved reading the posts and hearing about others' memories of CBSRMT. I love to settle in and listen to the show, and I even love to hear the old commercials too! OTR is great because you use your imagination more than watching TV...everyone has their own visions, characters and scenes of each episode. Reading makes me fall asleep, so listening to these stories is perfect for me.

Ang

[mamawen]

Hello everyone!
I am a childhood fan with sketchy memories...however, my favorite memory is that my dad would let my sister and I fall asleep in my parent's bed the night Mystery Theatre aired.

My dad now has to have surgery and will be home for an extended period of time...he means the world to me but he is computer challenged and far away from me.

It would mean the WORLD to me if someone could tell me how to acquire a CD version...
THANKS
Wendy

[CBSRMTFAN]

Unlike many of you, I came across CSB Radio Mystery Theater while in graduate school just a few years ago. A local radio station in Cincinnati carries the series each weekday at 9pm and I quickly became hooked. I was able to download many episodes from Bob Cook's wonderful site but ever since he shutdown I've been "lost". I am very happy to have stumbled into this forum and think I may have a new home.

Over the past few years I've been successful in converting my wife and each night we listen to an OTR program while laying in bed before drifting off to sleep. (I purchased a product made by U.S. Robotics a couple of years ago that wirelessly transmits the show from my PC to any radio tuned into 88.7 within the house. I don't know if they still make it but I'd be happy to discuss this with any of you if you're interested).

I look forward to discussing the program of the week and getting to know each of you better. I also created a streamload account and my username is CBSRMTFAN. If you would be so kind as to let me browse some files I would be forever in your debt. I am missing most of 1982.

Thanks again for this wonderful forum!

[whoopus]

I started listening to CBS Mystery Theater while I was in High School. I want to say latter part 74-75. I remember that I would have my pup tent in the backyard and listening in Dallas Tx (Wish I can remember the station). Loved it. Sound effects great (Of what can remember) and yes sometimes was hard to go asleep OUTSIDE. Some nights I had to go in the hose and sleep due to wild immagination after listening show.


Kinda embaressed to say that......Oh well

Sleep tight
Peter

[geospart]

Hello all, my name is George and I am a NY Yankee dropped in the South (Charlotte) to work in this ever changing IT world. I am not exactly sure when I started listening when I was around 12 maybe a hair earlier. I listened on my Panasonic Ball On Chain Radio in a dark stairwell in my house. I believe it was 7pm on WOR out of NYC. I taped a lot of them back then mostly off mic until I gerry rigged a patch cord and made cleaner recordings. Thanks to someone (Charlie D.) who sent me an e-mail about this group after seeing one of my posts on another newsgroup, I am here.
On entering the site I was very impressed on the layout of this site for the newsgroup. I enjoy reading about other peoples experiences with CBSRMT and OTR in general.
Both me and a friend (from NY) have been tag team collecting the episodes for the last few years and we now have all of them and we are still collecting because people are converting more and more tapes over, some replacing shows that had bad or questionable audio quality. After all when I taped mine I used what any twelve year old could afford the 1.29 three pack of 90s that Radio Shack had, or whatever was the cheapest in the electronic section in Caldors. Well thats my story ...

George (aka: Spart)

[brookstl]

Hi everyone, I'm Theresa - I stumbled upon this site doing a google search during another night at the computer downloading CBSRMT from Kazaa and WinMX. Like a lot of you, I remember listening to CBSRMT while I was supposed to be sleeping. I listened in Duluth MN - I was 14 when it went of the air in 1982. I'm not sure what made me look for CBSRMT on WinMX one day a few months ago but now I'm hooked all over again. I've already downloaded over 1100 files in about 2 months. I try to listen to a show 3 to 4 times a week - usually a lot more on the weekends. I'm anxious to try out steamload and finish off my collection! I'm glad to find this site!!!

Theresa

[geospart]

It is funny what pictures your mind puts to the words as they are spoken, faces put to the voices and objects put to the sounds. It is amazing how the mind can assemble all this in a format that scares the body to jump or to set a series of chills that flows through the spine.
I recall my ritual of sitting in a dark stairwell with one small window for a light with my radio freshly and carefully tuned to WOR, awaiting the news to end and the creaking door to open, allowing my mind to enter another mystery, with E.G Marshall verbally guiding me into the story.
There where times when my parents where not home that I would listen on my dads hi-fi in the living room with all the lights out and being the show started at 7pm it would start to get dark out as well. I sometimes on commercials needed to go to the rest room or kitchen but found myself paralyzed in fear from leaving the safe chair I was in to go through a dark hallway.
I was always amazed of the effect that these shows had on me, and even after the fear and scares, I would tune back in for more. My parents on occasion would listen to the shows as well and after the show ended they would share stories of the old radio programs that they listened as kids in the 30's and 40's. I remember being amazed that they had no TV to watch, but just a nightly ritual of radio listening. Television was something my dad saw at the worlds fair in 1939 as an exhibition.
All this is what got me into radio, I took tons of communications (audio production was one of my favorites) courses in College, I developed a love to collect and fix old radios in my teens that continues to this day, I started listening to Short-Wave at the age of 12 because I wanted to see what else was out there. All these interests I credit CBS Radio Mystery Theater peaking and helping along. Well that's my story somewhat, my CBSRMT testimonial/story/experience (pick and circle one).

[dkesti]

I'm introducing myself here. I used to listen to RMT in the 70s in Portland. I loved turning all the lights out and lighting a candle and listening to the show. I was happy to find the shows to download off the Web, but I was only able to listen to a few before that shut down. So here I am - hoping to find more shows to listen to and people to meet.

[ronster]

I grew up in Los Angeles and CBSRMT on KNX was what got me into bed at a reasonable hour for many years!

I live just outside NYC now, and a few years ago I actually spoke in person with Himan Brown about making recordings of the show available. In the past decade or so he'd really been opposed to the idea for various reasons, but he seemed to be warming to the idea. I see he at least has a website now and is collecting data on what shows people would like to see published.

It's great to find a forum of others who share a love of CBSRMT. I'm looking forward to signing up with Streamload and downloading some episodes. My oldest son is nine now and is absolutely going to love them!

[shinobi1064]

Hi, My mane is Joe. I,m a medical practicioner and very fond of the old Mystery Theater CBS radio shows. It brings back a flood of memories of my little brother and I cowering under the covers listening to the creaking door. I would love to introduce this old classic to my kids.


Thanks :D

[Gmonster]

What a great group!!

I started listening to CBS RMT while stationed in Washington D.C. in the late 70's. I would turn the radio on (a Heathkit I built which made listening to these stories much more enjoyable), turn the lights out, and enjoy. I actually looked forward to going to bed.

I'm now looking forward to bedtime with my Sony Clie, playing these stories on a memory stick, and relaxing.

I look forward to a long relationship with my newfound, unknown, friends in this forum.

Mark

[MikeH]

Hello everyone,

I am 43 and from my review of the other posts I believe anything I will be adding will be “preaching to the choir”. I began listening to CBSRMT when it first aired on WTNT-AM 1270 in Tallahassee, Florida. I would listen tothe radio while doing my homework and then to bed. This station played ball games (Braves), news and Vegas style (“Mob Hits”) music. My parents were children of the depression and were always telling me of these great old radio shows with colorful characters, stories, sound effects, blah, blah, blah... all so boring to a 1970's teenager. Then one night the local announcer introduced the CBSRMT as something new – I call my father to show him that a “talkie” show was coming on and as he sat at the foot of my bed we listened together. I was hooked at the opening of the “door” and could not believe anyone could get a trumpet to make that sound.

I listened every night after that. With the show airing five nights a week, some shows were better than others – the good ones kept me wide awake to the end – the others - I would fall asleep to only to be reawakened at the closing of the “door” and sign off by EG Marshall. I became a fan of Mason Adams and his distinctive voice. I impressed my English teachers with my unusual grasp of Edgar Allan Poe tales as most were adapted at one time or another.

At first I listened on an old 1940's AM/FM/Phonograph I got from a man whose grass I regularly mowed. Then a resistor or something in the old radio melted and almost burned the house down so I had to rely on a GE AM only bedside radio. The static, crackles of distant summer lightning, and the incessant bleeding of other stations signals made it sound like the whole world was listening and I was one in a crowded theater – a clear FM station would not have been the same.

Mike H.

[smalheisers]

Hi - my name is Irwin. My wife and I live in a small town in the south of Israel - Mitzpe Ramon. Its population is 5000. We are in the middle of the Negev desert; Jordan is about 15 miles to the east; the Egyptian border is 20 miles to the west; Saudi Arabia is about 50 miles to the south-east. The closest big city is Beer Sheva, 50 miles north, where we do our major shopping.

We moved to Israel in 1985, after I retired from my professional career as a psychologist. Back then, without the internet, we suffered an acute sense of isolation. However, all that has changed with new computers and a high speed DSL line.

I came across the CBSRMT site as a result of downloading music from Kaaza. It never occurred to me that I could download OTR programs too. When I discovered that by accident, I quickly sought out CBSRMT files and have been happily downloading them. Unfortately, the quality of many is not very good. I hope to do better via this site.

The CBSRMT is, in my opinion, one of the major achievements in the history of radio. How they were able to produce the series at such a high level of competence is, indeed, a mystery to me.

[mhigley]

I started listening to CBSRMT at 12 years of age in 1976. After a long day riding my bike, exploring the woods in back of my house and listening to the new Rush or Eagles (or whatever) album at one of my friends houses, I would come home and Mom and me would listen to CBSRMT. My Dad worked nights so Mom and I would sit up and have long talks and listen to the radio. Those were great times and I have never forgotten them. In 1998 I got my first computer and I looked up the shows on the net and was so happy to find them again. I soon learned how to download the shows and then later I got a MP3 player and was able to take them to bed again. Sadly my mother passed a few years ago but she is always with me when the door starts to creek.

Mark From Kansas

[Tinathread]

Hi all, this is Tina from Albuquerque, 38 years old, more of an OTR fan as a teenager and young adult than now.... but thanks to the Internet (and a long Labor Day weekend at home), I got back into it suddenly! I've spent the day listening to some old tapes I found in the garage and I feel like it's 1979 all over again.

I can't get that commercial out of my head!
"It's the first Chevy of the 80s
The first Chevy of its kind
It's a new Chevy kind of compact
This could be the car you had in mind... Chevy Citation"

Anyway, my favorite show -- which I finally found online tonight and relistened to -- was called "The Glass Bubble." I must have recorded it on tape back in my high school days, because I could recite every word by heart. (Yes, it scared my boyfriend a little!)

I'm trying to recall the title of a show I vaguely remember, and all I can remember is the locale: Oak Ridge. Can anyone help me out?

Looking forward to more reminiscing....
Tina (now in Albuquerque)

[amorea]

Well, I've finally found a place where I can share my comfort zone with RMT. I remember as a kid taking long trips to grandma's house in dad's yellow station wagon. At nihgt on the way home, he used to let us kids put down the seat and lay down in the back. While we lay there watching the glow of the lights in the reflection from the rear glass, dad put on RMT and eventually RAT. While my siblings slept, I lay there with anticipation for what would happen next. It was sort of my introduction to the grown-up world as it was the first "real" programming I payed attention to aside from childrens.
I never really gave the show much thought as I grew older until I happened across a couple of files on Kazaa about a year ago. After listening, I was hooked all over again. I'm just now starting to actually download the shows and I hope with the help of other fans and Streamload, I can have a complete collection sometime soon.

[fill_hendrie]

:D Hi, I'm Phil from Pennsylvania. I always listened to CBSRMT when I was younger and loved it. I was so sad when it was taken off the local radio and thought I would never hear that squeeking door again. I was shocked to stumble onto this website and amazed to hear some of the old shows again !!! Thank you for making this GREAT site.

Phil

[newzoo]

Hello all,
I grew up in Dayton Ohio And my best friend whit who's dad was a weatherman at WHIO TV. Told us the station had a new radio series called mystery theater. At exactly 11:06 The show would start and we listened like kids who lived in the early days of radio. He taped a boatload but through the years they were lost or taped over. I listened through the years and as I got older I drifted away from listening.Especially after Tammy Grimes took over. Just didn't seem the same without EG.Marshall.I am so glad that everyone else was not like us. My hand goes out to all who preserved these kilobytes of gold.

[koutnik]

Hello all.
I remember listening to RMT while living in Nebraska. My wife and I would depart Omaha and travel northwest to go visit my parent's. We would always tune in and listen to the stories while driving in the night. Can't remember the radio station's call sign, but I still can hear EG Marshall's "Until next time - Pleasant Dreams" like it was yesterday.

Jeff
Thank you!

[Sam Dann's imagination]

Hi....
One of the greatest things about the internet imo is the finding of groups for any topic in which one has an interest. The hours of wonder I had as a teen - listening to CBSRMT while lying in bed.... I can't wait to experience it again.

Thanks in advance to all here for making this discussion group avaiable to we fans!

[dave]

hi i'm dave

my story sounds the same as many of yours. i'm 39 to be 40 and over the hill october 7. i remember staying up past my bedtime listening to cbsrmt on my brand new transistor radio with the special ear piece. i uesd to be scared silly when the creaking door would open and that music would start. who wrote that music any way? i can't remember many of the plots. one had something to do with a husband pulling his wife's teeth out after she died while he was sleeping! another one had something to do with a team of ghost hunters or brosdcasters exploring an old castle or cave-tunnel complex and the people start to disappear one by one! i wish i could sit in front of my radio with my wife and children and enjoy a night of good radio shows. tv is such a vast wastland.

another radio show my sister and i listened to was the doctor demento show. i can still remember spam spam spam and shaving cream. one other radio show i only slightly remember is PROBE. par research organization for something earth. my dad told me about that one. he sometimes listened to cbsrmt with me.

this is a great website! vince said he sent all the episodes to my streamload account. i can hardly wait to go there! my deepest thanks. i've been looking for cbsrmt since 1989.

dave from waukesha wisconsin

[Badmude]

Hey Everybody..I was just cruising the net here at work...(SHHHH.. ) and I happened upon your forum...very slick!

I, like most of you, used to listen to CBSRMT when I was younger....at night with my headphones.....I really missed it after it went off the air.

I was really excited when I got into the P2P scene and started downloading a bunch of the episodes....it was great! But I only have about a hundred.....and now I see I can get more from this site!

I am excited!

Thanks!

[The1Oxman]

Ive been a mystery theater fan since it first aired in 74.

My great grandmother used to watch me on the weekends at her house and every night (rerun or not) I was there listening :D .

My name is Rick And I'm from the subs of Detroit.

I signed up a long time ago, but was unsure how talk on the forums.

Thanks everyone
Rick

[lorimae]

hey y'all !! it is so great to have found this site!! i was just reading the the posts y'all wrote... i came upon cbsrmt by accident, just flipping thru the radio stations... {i lived in new jersey until may '76 then moved to tx}i was grounded for some reason and not allowed to watch tv , so, sitting in my room alone, i turned on my little transistor radio- it was baby blue and a panasonic?- cant remember if it was cbs or wabc that i caught the program on, but it was just starting so i dont even know the name of the episode, but the point is that i absolutely love to get scared{sick huh?} by these kind of stories, ... monster stories, mysteries, thrillers,sci fi...i love to read all kinds of things, so you can just imagine the pictures i got into my head by HEARING these stories... i always was into plays, old movies, radio dramas, etc.. so of course this was right up my alley !!! i have 5 brothers and sisters that never got into this with me{and i'm a twin} so it was something i had all to myself!! when we moved to d/fw area in tx i never was able to pick up the show again.. when i got my computer 1 1/2 yrs ago, i thought i would see if the were any sites devoted to this subject i found one then lost the web address.. so just recently decided to look again, and here i am!! this is gonna be so great !! just getting shows downloaded to start my collection , and i am so thrilled to get to relive the experience again !! i'll be talking to y'all again soon !! lori

[glitterbug]

Hello everyone. I first experienced RMT at the tender age of 16. My mom used to like to listen to the radio before she fell asleep (dad worked nights). One night I went into her bedroom to talk to her before I too hit the hay and heard the wonderful sound effect of someone knocking on a door and then the creak of it opening. I was hooked right then and there. I asked my mom what she was listening to and she explained it was CBSRMT. I crawled up next to her and snuggled up close just like I used to when I was very little. I fell asleep before the show ended and slept all night with my mom.
What an experience. I remembered my mom and grandpa talking about otr shows, but had never experienced one until that night. Brings back great memories. I can remember laying with my head on her shoulder and feeling her warmth. I spent many happy nights bonding with my mom over RMT. I'm so glad I did because I lost her 2 short years later.
Darn, now I tearing up.

[jerzedevil1]

I loved reading these stories. I'm 33 and listened in the 80's from WCAU in Philadelphia. I used a free TIME magazine giveaway walkman. I lived in a large,old, victorian house. I would be all alone with my trusty beagle, Rocky, in my bed listening. Talk about scared! I also liked listning to the late night talk radio guys from the area. Philly broadcasters Bernie Herman and Irv Homer. I would get freaked out by CBSRMT and then listen to some guy bash Regan or Mayor Rizzo. I'm glad to meet all of you.

[RickRx]

Greetings. My college roomate and I listened to CBSRMT religously while attending to our studies each evening. We were engineering majors in Texas (1974-1979) and didn't own a TV or have time to watch one. But each night we would turn up the volume when the sound of that creaking door came on. If one of us happened to be asleep, it was our signal to wake up, listen in, and return to our studies. Toward the end of the show, we enjoyed trying to unravel the mystery.

Good memories. He now works for HP in Boise (I am a medical college professor in NY). If I am lucky enough to receive these before the holidays, I'll burn them to DVD and give them to him as a gift. That would be great. A huge thank you.

cheers,

Rick

[zontor]

I was about nine years old....

Every now and then my parents would have us get in our pajamas, hop in the old '68 Chevy station wagon, and we'd all go to a drive in movie just outside of the small town of Berne IN. My brothers and I would lay on the hood of the car with our backs to the windshield (cars were made out of thick metal then) and watch the movie.

On the way home from a movie my dad turned on the radio just in time for me to hear the creaking door. I don't remember the episode but I was intrigued by the drama that unfolded through the car radio speaker (WOWO radio?????).

I had a refurbished Craig cassette recorder and some cheap K-mart 90 minute tapes & began to record episodes when I had the cassettes to do so. I found that if I cut the commercials I could fit two episodes on each 90 minute tape. [side note here: oddly enough I now consider the newcasts and commercials an added treat...anyone remember Porcelana? Age spots just fade, fade, fade....or the denture cream commercials?] I was also dissatisfied with the sound quality so I modified my clock radio so I could switch the signal from the speaker to the aux. jack on the recorder and listen through the monitor. Sound quality vastly improved!

A year or two later life got quite a bit more difficult. In many cases the only way I could get through the day was to find something to look forward to and 'reward' myself. CBSRMT was one of those things. When I couldn't get CBSRMT or it went off the air, I played a few of my favorite episodes.

Ultimately I discovered OTR and began a small collection but will always have a fondness for this program - it, in a way, helped me get through some very tough times.

__________________________________

I'm now a computer geek (programmer) and seem to be in somewhat of a renaissance period of my life. I wanted more OTR & CBSRMT and began my search on eBay. I found one auction for CBSRMT but didn't bid for whatever reason and then it seemed that CBSRMT shows were no longer up for bid (copyright issues? dunno....). I collected a few OTR shows and put this show out of my mind until a few days ago.

Google, wonderful Google, this wasn't the first listing that came up on my search but it was by far the best. I'm grateful that someone has preserved this legacy (and not even trying to make a profit!).

In any case, that is my story....It's good to have found a piece of warmth and home again.....

[BN]

I began listening as a teenager (I'm 39 now) to WWJ in Detroit in the mid 70's at 11:07pm. I always had the show in the back of my mind until a couple of years ago while driving at work I came across the new version on NPR. Sadly after getting hooked again it went off the air after a couple weeks. I started searching the internet and found several sources to hear the show. And now it is my main hobby. I have two boys 10 and 12 who I turn it on for every night to put them to sleep. Usually I'll take a pillow in and lay on the floor and listen. Trouble is the same as when I was young, I usually fall asleep and don't hear many episodes all the way through....

[ferson]

Hello, my name is Jerry Ferson. I work as an audio engineer. I used to lessen to CBSRMT with my Grandfather when I was younger. I have been collecting Old time radio show for a while now. I have only been collecting CBSRMT for a few months. I truly enjoy them. I collect shows like Supper Man, The Jack Benny Show, Weird Circle, and many more.

This is the first time I have joined forum. I hope to enjoy being here.

[sbailey85]

i really dont remember hwo i got hooked on OTR.. it was about 6 months ago. But out of all the programs i sampled through downloading on the internet i totally fell in love with CBSRMT. Ive got alot of my stuff off of newsgroups.. well i just would like to say i love CBSRMT.. Charlie.. im originally from maine.. what part are you from.. i lived in gardiner about 5 minutes away from augusta.. ive made it a nightly ritual to listen to a CBSRMT prog before i go to bed.. theres been numerous nights where ive stayed up hours upon hours listening to them ...

Sean

[tcraw]

I can't remember the first time I heard the show. Seems like it must have been aroound '76 or '77, but I remember hoping that it would go on forever. I always liked the stories, and sometime around '79 or '80 the Sears show started coming on too.

Plays and movies were always okay, but I guess I always liked books better. Something about having to work a little harder to create my own pictures to go with the story - it 's more satisfying. And that's how it is with the RMT. You have the story, but it isn't just handed to you visually.

My Grandmother had several LPs of The Shadow radio programs. Same attraction fort me there, including the commercials. Somebody here mentioned Porcelana-Yes! I remember it! With the older shows out there I can be reminded of when cigarettes were good for you, too.

Seems like (I mentioned this someplace else on the forum site, probably the wrong place-bear with me, I'll get the hang of it) I just turned around twice and here I am in the middle of life. Kids, mortgage, college to pay for. It was magic just the other day when I found this forum. The memories of those good times listening to RMT with friends or by myself in my bed just before going to sleep all came back in a very pleasant flood.

I still read a lot and write a lot, fiction, not plays, but fiction nonetheless. Think I'll hang out here awhile.

Matt

[mattdon]

Hi all,

I want to thank Charlie for this site; what a great idea.

My quick story of how I discovered RMT is probably similar to a lot of others out there. I was about 10 years old in the mid-seventies and growing up in Erie, PA. With 4 tv channels to choose from I found myself searching the AM dial one evening to see if I could find some radio theater like my parents used to listen to.

I struck gold with a CBS RMT broadcast out of Youngsville, OH. I was an avid listener for years (even did the transister radio under the pillow trick so my parents wouldn't know I was up at 11:00PM!).

Thanks again,

Matt
Fairfax, VA

[mllprncss]

Hello Everyone!

I just found this website and I'm very happy to see so many folks who were and are fans of CBSRMT.

I started listening to RMT at about 13 years old. I remember that, for years, it came on at 9pm every night of the week and it was the last thing I did before going to bed for the night. I was allowed to listen since, as my mom put it, if E.G. Marshall hosted this program, it probably was really great. E.G. Marshall was her guy, you see.

I enjoyed the marvelous storytelling for so many years through my formative years and I'm happy to be able to share that with so many other very intelligent fans!! :D

[RWalker650]

I used to work at a Radio Shack in Southern Indiana in the late 70's/early 80's...and would listen to RMT on WHAS when they ran it at 9pm, right after I closed the store and would drive an hour home.

The Sears Radio Theater was added in the time slot, but I've always had a soft spot for the CBS RMT. Even tho it was 'new' radio drama, it always was neat to hear the old type radio productions being used.

I'm glad I found this site, as I've been looking for some time to try and figure out how to get copies of the shows...ain't the web wonderful!

[phil]

Hello everyone.I my name is Phil.I'm 40 years of age and have been a fan of RMT since I was 13.I first came across the program while AM surfing one night.It was broadcast on 1180 WHAM out of Rochester.I was hooked immediatly.I stopped listening when I turned 18.Then when I hooked I to the internet a few years ago I was pleased to find I could listen to these shows again.Good to come across others who share my love for RTM.All the best!

[eqeta]

Well I never imagined this group existed. While a boy in Iowa in 1975 I received a small cassette recorder for Christmas and immediately began recording Mystery Theater with a microphone next to the radio. These tapes, many now pretty dinged up, still exist and from time to time I pull them out. Recently, I was surfing the web and found a Sherlock Holmes episode to download to my PPC. Boy did the memories begin to surface. Lying in bed in my dark bedroom, listening to the "fear you can hear, terror that makes your skin crawl (pregnant pause) as with maggots." I would love to revisit the episodes I knew and the many I missed. The more the merrier!

What a wonderful site to have found!

E-qe-ta

[tapvc]

I am so excited to have found this forum. Like many others, I listened to CBS Radio Mystery Theater as a kid. I grew up in the Washington, D.C. suburbs, and when I was seven years old, I received a clock radio for Christmas. From that point on, I became a dedicated listener of CBSRMT as well as Washington Capitals hockey games. Unfortunately, I usually fell asleep during Act III or the third period. As the years went by, I completely forgot about Mystery Theater until quite recently when my memory was randomly triggered. I searched the net and was delighted to find this site. I got an incredible rush of memories when I listened to the introductory spooky door creaking, scary music, and E.G. Marshall's voice. I can hardly wait to hear more. I now have a six year old son who is also going to love listening to these old stories (if he doesn't get too scared). I would greatly appreciate a download of any available CBSRMT shows.

Eric

[Bionaut]

Wow! I can't believe it. I had no idea this site existed for CBS RMT. I was at work (I am a supervisor at a bookstore) and I ran across some radio shows we carry (the standard stuff like Sherlock Holmes, the Hornet, old stuff, etc) when fond memories of Mystery theatre enveloped me and I was determined to see if anyone else on the net remembered the show. To my great surprise I found this site. Like many others here, I grew up listening to this show, hoping my parents would not catch me while at the same time scaring myself silly listening to the various tales spun to me at ten pm on a local station here in town (600 AM).

To the people who run this site and to those that make the programs available here, you have my heartfelt thanks; you have allowed me to open a portal into my childhood.

[Chris Conlon]

Everyone here seems to remember their initial discovery of CBSRMT, or the heyday of their listening in the '70s...I wonder if anybody recalls the very *last* time they heard an original-run CBSRMT?

I do. I don't remember the specific episode, but I know exactly when and where I was when I heard it. This would have been in Southern California, in 1982. I would have been 19. My buddy Mike and I were making a trek in his 1961 Econoline van from Central California, where we both lived, down to Los Angeles, to see the Who on their "farewell" tour (they're still saying "farewell" today!). About halfway there, somewhere along the Southern California Coast on Highway 101, the old van emitted a terrible rasping sound and abruptly stopped running. We pulled to the side of the road and, mechanical incompetents that we were, had no idea what was wrong. It was the late afternoon, with the concert a few hours off. My buddy hiked to a pay phone (in the days long, long before cell phones) and called a mechanic, described the problem, and was told that he probably needed such-and-such a part--which could almost certainly only be had from a junkyard. By the time he returned, darkness lay upon the land. Theoretically we could have tried hitchhiking to L.A.--we might still have had time to make the concert. But neither of us had the guts. We were small-town kids and were running into some very strange people out there on the highway! For safety's sake we reluctantly we gave up our dream of seeing the Who live and instead pushed the van to the nearby parking lot of a little store where we bought a few things to eat--candy bars, Cokes, that kind of thing--and returned to bed down in the van for the night (we had sleeping bags--we'd planned to spend the night parked somewhere in L.A. after the concert and head home in the morning).

We were feeling pretty disconsolate about the whole affair when it occurred to me that at 9:06 p.m. the CBSRMT would come on--at least I thought it would. I'd always heard it from an L.A.-based station. I hadn't heard it in several years, though, and thought of it as something of a leftover from my childhood. But we turned on the radio, draining some of the vehicle's battery, and did indeed sit there together, listening to a CBSRMT in the darkness of that van, the sounds of traffic passing by outside. I remember being surprised that E.G. Marshall was no longer the host; it was a Tammy Grimes episode. It didn't sound "right" to me, somehow. But we listened.

The next day we hitchhiked to a junkyard and...Well, that's another story. Little did I know, though, that it would be 20 years before I would hear the CBSRMT again.

I wonder if anyone else has any "last listening" memories?

[mys42]

I too listened to those scary stories when I about 10 and was camping with my family. I remember getting so angry with myself when I fell asleep before they ended. I would pester my dad the next morning to tell me the rest of the story. I've always wondered what happened to them. I can't wait to share them with my dad.

Sheryl

[alicem]

I started watching RMT at 7 PM in Albany. I used to darken the room to enhance the gloomyness so that the shows would seem even more erie.

I taped some of the shows with a hand cassett recorder so that I could watch them again. I know that some of the shows aren't the greatest, but I used to listen to channels from all over NY and the reception was really horrible at times. I was so happy that there are others who used to listen as kids to, I'm dating myself.

I also joined in the recent Distro and am going to start and listen to them on my computer at work.

Alice

[samward54]

I had just moved temporarily from Columbus to Dayton Ohio where I was enrolled in a broadcasting school for four months. I am totally blind and was quite familiar with old time radio shows like the Shadow, Suspense, Inner Sanctom, I Love A Mystery, The Mysterious Traveler, the Hermit's Cave, The Whistler etc. TV programs were always quite frustrating during long passages of music and noises of people moving around, but I couldn't always tell what was going on and my mom didn't want to have to stop and explain things to me. But these old time radio programs were just perfect for a blind person to be able to follow with no problem at all. Old time radio was really made for us. A good friend of mine who attended the same school for the blind that I graduated from in Connecticut sent me a reel of tape containing a personal spoken letter, and on one of the four tracks of that tape, was the CBS Mystery Theater episode Time And Again. That's all it took. I was hooked. I just couldn't believe that in the 1970's, somebody who I later learned was Hyman Brown was actually reviving the old time radio art form from the so-called "Golden Age Of Radio." This made me very happy indeed. In Dayton, I had to get up so early for school that I couldn't catch the CBS-RMT programs at night, but just as soon as I moved back to Columbus Ohio I started listening to the program on our local CBS affiliate, WBNS in Columbus. I never recorded the shows however, because WBNS was at 1460 and there was a fair amount of interference on the signal in some parts of Columbus, and I am a real perfectionist when it comes to recording. This is also why I didn't opt to record the shows from some of the clear channel stations, (No, not the company. This was the 70's remember) like WBBM Chicago, WOR in New York, WHAS in Louisville, WWWE in Cleveland and WCAU in Philadelphia. I just didn't want the sound of signals fading in and out in my recordings. So I didn't record them but even then I knew of people that did, and I think the fact that the Internet has made so many of these shows available as MP3 files is absolutely tremendous. One CBS-RMT program that absolutely captivated me at the time was about a man who finds himself in the home of a young woman who seems to have a whole lot of items from the 1920's perfectly preserved. The house has a beautiful garden out front. At first he thinks it's a museum but what he doesn't realize is that he's somehow gone back to the year 1921. They listen to 20's music and fall in love, but then her old boyfriend Jamie comes back to her from the war, and the other fellow named Eric shoots him. But when he decides he better turn himself into the sheriff, he is back in the present. His sister and brother-in-law show him the old house which is delapitated and falling apart, and the garden is all over grown with weeds. The woman is very old now, but she seems to remember Eric, especially a little poem that he had written to her as far as he's concerned just ten minutes ago. But when he reads the paper that he wrote it on now, it is all yellow and faded. For 30 years, I wished somehow that I could figure out the name of this episode and thanks to the net I have unearthed this mystery in my life. It's called A Bride For Death. When I told people about this show, I thought it had been aired in November of 1974. Well, I was close. It actually aired on December 4th of that year. So that's my story about the CBS-RMT, an incredibly wonderful, scarey and spine tingling radio series indeed.


Sam Ward

Georgetown Ontario Canada

[Biff418]

I can remember listening to RMT back in the 70's. While driving to Colorado, my sister played an audio book and it brought back many memories. I have begun to search the Internet for as many of the RMT shows I can find and would love to share/exchange as many as possible.

I played an episode for my daughter and she loved it and has requested I get more episodes.

Thanks.

Tod (Biff418)

[IcecubeRyder]

I used to sleep over at my grandma's when I was a kid.
She lived right next to the NATO Airforce base in Keflavik, Iceland
Every weekday night I tuned in to the AFRadio station to listen to CBSRMT, The Whistler and other shows.

I've been hooked ever since

[spumwuzzle]

Hello,

My love of CBSRMT began in my bedroom at night listening to WHUT in Anderson, Indiana.

Anyone who doesn't understand a fascination with OTR has never spent an hour with the covers pulled over their head listening to a story about a clock that gives the owner an extra hour at midnight each night, while time freezes for everyone else... only the clock requires blood to run...

We had an old mantle clock that had been my Great Grandfathers, and it was YEARS before I would touch that clock again!

I have inherited that clock, and I cannot wind it without thinking of that CBSRMT episode.

I have a few episodes that I downloaded from a fellow in Utah?, i think, but the site is no loger up.

Thanks so much for this service that you provide.

Mark
(spumwuzzle)

[momodoro]

We lived in Utah and my father was a pilot with Western Airlines and commuted to Denver to take his flights. As we would take him to and pick him up from the Salt Lake airport, we would always tune in to RMT. I loved every minute of it. Even when we weren't shuttling dad, I would listen most every night in my room. When we moved from Utah in 1979 I lost contact with the theater and just recently, on a whim, Googled it and just look what I have found! I often have talked with my children about it and can't wait to share it with them and get them hooked! :D

[Vergergc]

Friends,

I joined in mid-November, and it's been so crazy I never got my intro submitted.... I've already been in touch with some members directly, and posted on other parts of this great forum. I appreciate the kindness and support everyone has offered.

From 1976-1980 I worked at WIBW-AM in Topeka, KS., as the 3rd shift radio engineer. My first task of the night was to take the feed from CBS live (or to tape if we delayed due to Royals baseball) and get it on the air at 23:06, right after the network news ended. Unfortunately, at times I really had other work to do, and couldn't be totally absorbed into these nightly tales.

Too bad it wasn't as easy then to conveniently make excellent recordings as we can today. But, thanks to Charlie, we are all able to fully enjoy this wonderful series 30 years after it all began.

Thanks for all the energy and time this Internet community makes available routinely. :D

[thinman]

In 1976 we ( Chris and I ) spent a year camping and traveling the country following the Bicentenial Train around the country. At night, Mystery Theater was an all important time. We would sometimes listen to same program 2 or 3 times on different stations. I think we were born a century too late. Radio programs like MT should be brought back.
Once again, we are traveling and camping and now are fulltime RV'ers and searching for ways to listen to MT. :D

[Dan]

Wow this is such a great site! It's cool that there's so much interest and activity over something that hasn't existed for 20 years. I've been reading through the posts on this thread and am amazed at how similar everyone's story is!

Like so many have said, I used to listen back in the 70's with my dad. I'm sure most of you are familiar with the show The Wonder Years? Well that's how my dad was/is....just like Jack Arnold in the show. He worked. He came home beat (probably hated his job), ate dinner, watched a little TV with the family (assuming all the homework was done) until we kids were sent off to bed. He isn't the most affectionate or nurturing person, you could say, but there were a few things that he and I actually did together when I was growing up, you know, as a one-on-one father-son thing that are very memorable. Listening to CBSMT was one of them.

I don't exactly remember why, but on certain nights he'd have to pick me up in Boston and drive me home to the 'burbs...it must have been some sports team I was on. But we'd always listen to CBSMT during the drive. I couldn't wait to hear that creepy music and the creeeaak. And like some of you have said...those family driving trips were a windfall of E.G. Marshall. But we'd listen together and then talk about it during commercial break. It's a good memory.

The funny thing is, as much as I throughly enjoyed the broadcasts, I can't remember the stories very much. Just bits and pieces...a "scene" here or there.

Anyway, my dad is getting on in years and can't move around very easily. I had looked at online stores for CBSMT CD's but never found them. I googled 'Mystery Theater' and this board and a couple people selling CDs popped up. But I'd like to try and get some of the recordings and go listen with my dad...as well as my own kid who's now old enough to appreciate the stories.

[Dave D]

Hello everyone! My name is Dave and I am really excited to have found this site! I listened to Mystery Theater in the mid 70's and loved it! I was given a small transistor radio as a gift from my parents. I can fondly remember being in my bunk bed with my brother, and having this small radio on the night stand or under my pillow as I listened to Mystery Theater. I believe it was carried on WKOP AM Radio in Binghamton NY. I have told my wife, who is an Italian Immigrant about MT and she is very interested in it. I had no Idea there was ANY way of obtainig copies of it to listen to!!! I really think my 3 kids would enjoy the programs as much as I did. I'm very happy to find people still keeping Old time Radio alive and going....

I don't have a streamload account YET, but will soon, and hope some of you fine people can reunite me with my Myster Theater again!

Thanks: Dave D

[Fizzlestix]

i don't think i ever logged into this thread before... fantastic stories! mine is pretty basic, but here goes. sorry for the long wind... ;)

when i was very young, my folks got a new clock for their bedroom and were ready to toss out their old, monster clock radio they had used prior.

i claimed it and placed it beside my bed. i recall one night just turning the dial looking for anything to listen to besides music... i loved the news and talk radio as a kid. still do.

anyhow, i stumbled across an RMT show one night at the tail end, so i missed what happened. but i was intrigued. they announced the "next time..." preview, and i anxiously tuned in next time to hear the program. it was so incredibly exciting, i couldn't wait.

the first full program i tuned into was The Last Days of Pompeii, the five-part series. i was simply blown away. i'd never heard theatrical radio before and was hooked instantly.

unfortunately, i was young and fell asleep before a lot of shows thereafter. and the nights i stayed up for, i recall i could never find that station again. the experience was short, but severely impactful.

then, 30 years or so later, i came across a single mp3 file on the internet called, Occurrence At Owl Creek. i was brought right back to those years as a kid and began searching for more of these mysterious files...

that led me to this site, streamload, and so on.

every single night, now, when i go to bed, i pop a single earbud from my ipod into my "up" ear (up from the pillow) and tune into another episode. i've been doing that since i joined this group.

and i still love it as much as the day i discovered it. one of the greatest treasures of my entire life.

thanks for letting me ramble! hehe

[Iceberg]

I was 15 and working on my Grandfolks' farm in north central Kansas during the summers. Lot of late nights in the fields, so I tuned the tractor's or combine's radio to WIBW in Topeka just for something to listen to. And at 10:06 P.M. every night E.G. Marshall's voice came on to welcome the listener to this evening's "adventure in the macabre". The first time I listened, I was hooked. If the day's work was done at 10:00, I'd be in bed with the radio going in my ear -- I couldn't miss an episode.

I don't now recall many (hardly any, really) of the episodes to which I listened back then; hearing them again now for the first time in over twenty -- in some cases, over thirty -- years brings back some of my fondest memories from some of the happiest days of my life. I do remember not ever really being frightened by any of the episodes, but being entertained by the voice characterizations and sound effects.

Some of the scripts were real barkers, of course. The writers couldn't pull off a dramatic coup every time. Still, they were worth listening to, I thought, for the aforementioned production qualities and performances. Pity the format has died, probably never to return to the airwaves. I remember thinking, back when RMT signed off for the final time, how much I was going to miss it; I was in college by then, but still listening occasionally.

Now, twenty-some years later I come back to CBSRMT somewhat tangentially through another fan's love of old-time radio theater, specifically James Lileks. He's made mention, off and on, of CBS Suspense! Theater which predated RMT. It got me thinking again, as I occasionally did, about RMT and whether or not any of the old episodes could be found. I Googled it up, and Voila!, here I am.

Many thanks to all for providing the discussion, the forum, and the reference source!

'Berg

[dnagle]

Regarding 'Berg's comment about the dramatic radio format being gone from the airwaves, probably forever...
...probably right ... but I first got into the genre as a kid, through cassette tapes of The Shadow from the local public library. I read The Great Radio Heroes (by Jim Harmon) and other books on OTR, and was struck by two things: the great love the authors had for radio, and the fact that radio had been 'written on the wind' and was gone forever. For a brief spell in the 70's there was a show (The Sounds of Yesteryear) out of Milwaukee, and a few Goon Shows. Once these were off the air, I wrote off OTR (the library tapes long exhausted) and figured it was gone for good. Imagine my feelings, several years later, when I stumbled across RMT one night and was to enjoy hundreds of shows over the next few years. (I got the same feelings when I stumbled across this web site).
So, "Who Knows?"

[Crash_0verride]

Hello,

My name is Bill. I came upon CBSRMT (via computer) a few years ago when SCOUR was all the rage. I downloaded a few episodes to see if they were what I remembered as a kid when my uncle and myself would listen to them. Sure enough they were indeed what I remembered. I've been hooked ever since.

I like alot of the other shows out there, but RMT is my all time favorite. Perhaps because I like E.G. Marshall as well, perhaps not. One thing is for sure, the stories are always interesting and well acted!

Bill

[Miss B.]

It all began in junior high. I used to come home from school, close my room door and crash on the bed. Well, one day I decided to "surf" the AM dial. And to my surprise I heard E.G. Marshall (I'm a huge old time movie fan as well and knew the voice instantly). There was this weird clarinent playing in the background (I think it's a clarinet?) Anyway, it sounded cool and then I heard characters talking. I couldn't believe it because I was following the story just fine and my imagination kicked in to follow the story. I still remember the first time I heard the show. It was starring Marian Seldes and she was a cornstarch killer. Awsome actress! Anyway, the show came on every day in the early evenings (I live in Fresno, Ca). I immediately started taping them and would edit them so the commercials wouldn't be recorded. In hindsight, I wish I had kept the commercials because they are very entertaining. Unfortunately, I don't recall whatever happened to my taped recordings (lots of moving as a kid). So when I happened upon this site and discovered the trading option, I felt I had just won the lottery (ok, this sounds awfully dramatic, but you fellow fans know exactly what I mean by this). I know I am a bit wordy here, but I wanted to share my discovery of this wonderful program and how I became a lifelong fan!

[Skip]

I have been a long-time fan of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, since I was a teenager in the '70s. Our local CBS affiliate in Memphis had a contest to herald the return of radio mystery drama. They requested that listeners who enjoyed OTR programming write a letter to the station to say whey they did and why they were glad it was back.

My late mother, an office occupations instructor in vocational education, wrote her letter to WREC Radio. Hers was one of those selected to be read on the air, and she won a replica Philco Cathedral Radio.

My parents and I tuned in that first night to hear "The Old Ones Are Hard To Kill," and continued tuning in for hundreds of nights following until the last episode aired.

My parents gave me a love for OTR, not to mention an appetite for collecting antique radios. It's still a happy addiction today. The prize radio, though a bit long in the tooth, still has a place of prominence in my living room, atop the spinet piano.

I thank Himan Brown for the "gift" he gave a 13-year-old teenager in 1974.

skip

[miata1999]

Briefly stated, I used to listen to KMOX driving home after a date in the 70's.... trying to make it home before the midnight curfew. Sometimes the show was more intense than I could stand, so there are several episodes that I never finished. It was fun to listen to the programs with my date when time permitted - it certainly kept us close together during the drive. I plan to share the experience with my son... if they don't scare him as much as they did me. This website is a wonderful discovery.

[Radar696]

Here's my story.

It all started with a set of records my mother ordered from Reader's Digest when I was about 7 or 8 yrs old. The records were full of big band music that I mother has always liked and with this set came a bonus record full of little bits of history from the golden days of radio.

I have been hooked on OTR ever since.

Radar

[Enik]

I was introduced to RMT a couple of months ago, when I was searching usenet for some audiobooks for my Dad. He likes to listen to them in the car during his long interstate drives, they help to keep him awake. One day, it hit me... if he likes audiobooks, he would probably love old radio shows too! Especially mysteries, dramas, and sci-fi, since that's what interests him. I have enjoyed a few old radio shows in the past 10 years or so, but they were always comedic or light in nature. So I really had no experience with the darker radio genres.

I checked out some OTR newsgroups, and while perusing the posts, I stumbled upon some stuff that I thought he might like to give a try... the Shadow, Space Patrol, and a few others, including one that I downloaded just because it had "mystery" in the name... yep, CBS RMT. I also saw that it was from 1974, and I figured that he'd get a kick out of hearing s