Himan Brown interview (2006)

[omr]

Here is a Himan Brown interview from April 2006.

http://www.hear2.com/2006/04/back_in_time_wi.html

Use the streaming player controls shown beneath the blog entry.
Or use the provided link to the MP3 file.

(Also, scroll down the page to read several comments posted by listeners.)

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See my other post for an interesting 1999 interview with Gordon Gould:
http://www.cbsrmt.info/macabre/showthread.php?p=33708#post33708
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[vinnyv07]

Very interesting interview. I know that this interview is from 2006 but I'm wondering if Mr. Brown knows that both XM and Sirius radio have Old Time Radio stations that broadcast all great shows from the past and present. I just became a lifetime sub to Sirius radio and was disappointed to learn that their Old Time Radio station did not air CBSRMT. They do air The Shadow and Superman and also new Twilight Zone radio dramas. But I feel that any station that broadcasts radio shows and dramas should have clearly one of the best shows ever to be produced on the radio. I have been in touch with Sirius to express my concern, but they have not replied back to me. Anyone know if Mr. Brown has an opinion about allowing sat radio to broadcast his shows. It seems to me that his main concern during the interview was that nobody wants to broadcast the shows anymore. I would be very shocked if both XM and Sirius weren't interested.

[Executive]

Vinnie makes a very good point, because Channel 118 on Sirius is Radio Classics, which has also had the radio versions of GUNSMOKE, The Jack Benny Program, Burns & Allen, The Life of Riley and other great old radio shows -- many of which also made the transition to television.

It's unfortunate that there never was a TV version of CBS Radio Mystery Theater and that Himan Brown hates television so much. (When I'm at home I mostly watch TV. The radio shows I mostly enjoy at work and on the road.)

A few of Himan's complaints in his 2006 interview don't carry much weight. For one thing, in my opinion TV is better than radio. Granted that one can't use one's imagination as much watching television, but TV memories (regardless of the type of show) are much more solidified than radio ones and stay with you for many years to come. It isn't always easy to follow certain radio dramas, yet even a bad TV script is less convoluted when you can see what's happening rather than being given a mere verbal description of an acton scene on radio. Motion pictures are also more effective when the artist can more successfully convey his or her vision of the story.

Himan also states that people aren't always home to catch the next episode of their favorite TV show. Well....excuse me, but surely that can also apply to radio drama as well! ;) He did some Mystery Theater 5-parters and also theme weeks to celebrate the show's anniversaries every January. Besides....doesn't the old man know that DVDs enable TV fans to buy entire seasons (and in some cases entire series) in one shot? He's understandably upset that some individuals are illegally selling CDs of his old shows online. That is his only valid complaint, and one that I agree with.

But is it not true that Himan Brown had some involvement in the 1954 Inner Sanctum TV series? And was it the failure of that early video version that turned him against television...or was it Tanya Roberts turning the 1991 version into a sex-charged drama that offended him?

Finally, Brown insults Howard Stern (a 30 year veteran of radio) and Stern's fan base, by stating that it's all "gossip" and "smut". Well, it's much more than those things -- it's an entire format called Talk Radio that he despises. It's also a COMEDY show, and Brown made no acknowledgement of appreciating radio comedy -- past or present. Even Stern has done wild parodies / sketches of old TV shows on radio for many years, and when he came to satellite last year he and some of the guys on the show and their wives did their own radio sitcom as a show within a show called "Really Really Desperate Housewives". Like it or hate it, creativity is not completely dead in radio. :)

This guy is dead wrong about Stern fans not also being fans of radio drama. I've enjoyed both, and in fact it was my losing my satellite radio's ability to pick up the Sirius signal when I moved to where I now am last July that was the second thing that prompted me to get into classic radio. Of course that brings me back to Radio Classics 118, where I first heard old-time radio in January 2006. Ironically I became a Sirius subscriber the month before in preparation of Howard Stern starting in that medium and within a month I was taking my receiver and antenna to work. Eventually I bought an I-Pod for the sake of convenience.

[Charlie]

Executive, the man has a right to his opinions. I think Stern is garbage and I wouldn't listen to it if you paid me. You want to listen to it, fine. If that is Himan Brown's opinion, that's his opinion and he is entitled to it the same as I am.

Charlie

[Executive]

I approach Stern and CBSRMT the same as anything else I listen to or watch: Some shows are great, some are fair to good, and others are downright horrible. Talk radio succeeds or fails due to the comraderie of the regulars and their interaction with the host, the comedy bits, celebrity guests, and so on. The Howard Stern show is no exception in that regard. It's not all garbage. It just happens to be one of the bolder and edgier modern radio shows, which it has been since Howard Stern became a star in the early 1980s. If I don't like a particular segment, I would tune out and come back later on. Now I can't get the Sirius signal anyway, so I haven't been able to hear his show in almost a year. I will again eventually and / or if I can find somewhere on the Internet to download segments of the Stern show. Until then I'm pre-occupied with completing my listening of CBSRMT, Nightfall, and some other old radio shows.

Of course Brown is entitled to his opinions, but there are many out there would disagree with him. Many years ago the radio market changed as it has because of television. When people come home after a hard day, they switch on the TV.....not the radio (which they hear enough of in the workplace). The reason I can enjoy these old radio shows at work is because I keep conversation with my fellow employees to a minimum. Otherwise, important plot points in a story would be easily missed. :)

[vinnyv07]

I like listening to Stern but I feel that everyone has an opinion and that's fine. What isn't fine is that there are two sat companies both with old time radio stations that do not broadcast what is believed to be (by me at least) one of the best radio dramas in radio history. Lets get RMT back on the airwaves here. XM and Sirius have bothered to put the effort into creating and airing old time classics ....why not CBSRMT?

[Charlie]

Vinny,

I don't think it is available to them to broadcast.

Charlie

[vinnyv07]

You are correct ....neither Sirius nor Xm has the rights to broadcast CBSRMT. I think they are missing the boat on not having the rights to such a great radio drama.

I wrote to Mark Ramsey and he replied back to me....

"I think his concern is that nobody wants to pay for anything. And he doesn’t want to give it away for nothing.

Those channels use content corralled by Radio Spirits, and for the most part RS didn’t pay squat for the content. Those channels are essentially advertiser showcases."

Mark Ramsey

President

So I guess my question has been answered.

[Charlie]

I'm not sure I understand that. In any event, I don't have XM or Sirius so it is not something I know about.

Charlie

[Darkshadows222]

I have XM and I do like XM Radio Classics 164 but the commercial breaks are a killer.

I find myself sometimes listening to a show, say like Suspense, Abbott & Costello, Lone Ranger, etc. then I get bored with the commercial breaks and end up going into my Old Time Radio vault and listening to many of the same shows without the commercials.

[wadenjulie]

Isn't it great to have an Old Time Radio vault so you can do that? You are fortunate! I've had to do the same thing with music. Commercial radio these days just drives me crazy. It's not like it was back in the seventies. For the most part I've tossed the radio aside and I play what I want to hear.

Wade

[vinnyv07]

I have XM and I do like XM Radio Classics 164 but the commercial breaks are a killer.

I find myself sometimes listening to a show, say like Suspense, Abbott & Costello, Lone Ranger, etc. then I get bored with the commercial breaks and end up going into my Old Time Radio vault and listening to many of the same shows without the commercials.

Same with Sirius Old Time Radio channel. The commercials are many and the often the same. I like the channel but some of the shows like Twillight Zone are only on at midnight or later. And it takes a full hour to get through a show that seems like its only 35 minutes. But I guess that is the name of the game. I like listening to drama on the radio so I'll put up with the commercials.

[Executive]

Sirius Radio Classics (Channel 118) must have changed in the past year since I last heard it, because the commercials were only in-between shows. For example, GUNSMOKE ran 25 minutes without the commercials.

[vinnyv07]

Sirius Radio Classics (Channel 118) must have changed in the past year since I last heard it, because the commercials were only in-between shows. For example, GUNSMOKE ran 25 minutes without the commercials.

I have Sirius and I only have tried to listen to Twilight Zone. There was a commercial every 15 minutes during the show. It was the same commercials over and over again. One commercial is from the TZ producers trying to sell TZ radio drama on cd. Another is always for another ch on Sirius. But if you look at the TZ radio website they are priced a little high for my taste. So even though the commercials are annoying during the show, there not that bad. Hey...they have to pay the bills somehow. I would think that an older show like GUNSMOKE would have less commercials since it isn't a new production like TZ is.

[Executive]

So even though the commercials are annoying during the show, there not that bad. Hey...they have to pay the bills somehow. I would think that an older show like GUNSMOKE would have less commercials since it isn't a new production like TZ is.
Things have changed since I last heard Sirius almost a year ago. :)

They make most of their money from the $13 a month subscription fee, but advertising brings in additional revenue and business is business....