BSAP: OTR Swag Cast: John Steele, Adventurer

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BrokenSea Audio Presents: OTR Swag CastOf the many podcasts I’m subscribed to the one that I take the most for granted, and mention the least, is BrokenSea Audio’s OTR Swag Cast. OTR, of course, stands for Old Time Radio. But there are at least a dozen old time radio podcasts and I don’t really like any of them except for the OTR Swag Cast. One of the reasons I love it so much is that the host, Bill Hollweg, has a passion for audio drama that’s truly infectious. Moreover, he picks interesting, obscure and excellent OTR. The latest show, which isn’t actually hosted by Hollweg, features the first episode of a 1949 Mutual Network series called “John Steele, Adventurer.” It’s a really terrific episode! Titled “Cargo Unknown”, it introduces the John Steele, a former WWII fighter pilot who runs a one man airline that carries cargo to all points around the world. And in this episode it puts him into a dangerous situation straight away. The cargo he carries is of course both deadly and beautiful and the show makes for really terrific listening. The only sadness here is some sort of digital compression artifacting that can drown out some of the quieter scenes. The OTR Swag Cast typically runs over an hour, and so after that first half hour of excellence there’s their regular welcome backup feature, The Avengers!

If you haven’t heard the OTR Swag Cast before, pick it up with this episode, you’ll love it! |MP3|

Podcast feed: http://brokensea.com/otr/?feed=podcast

Posted by Jesse Willis

BBC Radio 3: Night Waves – The Avengers

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The Avengers - Steed and Peel

The Avengers was (along with Have Gun – Will Travel) one of my mom’s favourite shows. I can really see the appeal. “It starts with a frenzy of bongos!” Indeed, BBC Radio 3’s Matthew Sweet hosts a wonderful intellectual celebration of The Avengers for the “flagship arts and ideas programme” Night Waves. Recorded for the fiftieth anniversary retrospective, this is a must listen for fans of the series. The show is currently available via the Listen Again system (or whatever they’re calling their limited time streaming system these days). And, just like the show they’re celebrating this retrospective is “extraordinarily sophisticated and extraordinarily playful”.

BBC Radio 3Night Waves – The Avengers at 50
1 Broadcast – Approx. 45 Minutes [DOCUMENTARY/DISCUSSION]
Broadcaster: BBC Radio 3
Broadcast: April 20, 2011
Matthew Sweet dons his kinky boots to investigate the phenomenon that was The Avengers, 50 years after it first hit Britain’s television screens. As well as its regular cavalcade of cyborgs, spies and megalomaniacs, The Avengers seemed to present a new action figure: the liberated single female who, week after week, proved to be deadlier than the male. But, asks Night Waves, how progressive was the series’ sexual politics? Was Diana Rigg in her leather cat suit a male fantasy or a feminist icon? And did Honor Blackman always play second fiddle to Patrick Macnee? Matthew has assembled a crack team of thinkers to ponder these mind-bending questions: fans Bea Campbell and Sarah Dunant; historian Dominic Sandbrook; and one of the masterminds behind The Avengers, screenwriter Brian Clemens.
Presenter/Matthew Sweet, Producer/Stephen Hughes

[Thanks Eric!]

Posted by Jesse Willis