Some one new just getting into the Part 15 hobby mentioned on one of the forums that he's going to start by using Winamp for automation.... So I decided to attempt to provide a basic tutorial to show him that Zara Radio is a much better option.. So here goes nothin.. Zara Radio is really very simple to learn and use, and it consist of several useful and professional features which can be utilized to improve the operation and quality of your radio station.
Zara Radio (v1.6.2) can be run on any version of Windows from XP to 7. (not sure about 8)
Forget about just using a Winamp Playlist, your cutting yourself and your listening audience short.
Supportd wav, mp3, ogg and wma.
Complete Event System
90 Instant Jingles
Automatic Gain Control
Password Protection Capable
It logs every broadcasted file
Crossfade between tracks
Time, Temperature and Humidity
End of song detector
DTMF tone detector
Five players (1 main + 4 aux)
It's FREE!
And much more...
Here's a quick, simple, and visual Zara Radio tutorial ...
1. - Download and set up Zara Radio
Download ZaraRadio v1.6.2 Free Edition from http://www.zarastudio.es/download.php.
While you're there you might as well download the manual too as it
covers many more capabilities which you may wish to explore later, as they are not even addressed in this down and
dirty tutorial, But for now,
the following will quickly, and easily get your broadcast underway.
.
Install the program and run.... The follow the guidelines as shown to set it up..
Just set everything up as shown in the following images to help you quickly get the feel and configure the options and some basic features..
Now click the small clock over Events window (as shown circled above) Then click "New" button.
Follow instructions shown below...
Click OK
To have ZaraRadio announce the temperature and humidity, then click "New" again and follow the same procedure. If you would like to have a newscast or other stream automatically play at specific times, the procedure is very similar..
In the above example the news will play for five minutes every day at 5:30PM.. Select "Internet Stream" Type in or paste in the stream address (I use http://www.voanews.com/mp3/voa/english/nnow/NNOW_HEADLINES.mp3 For more information see this post) Set "Start Time" at 5:30PM Select "Immeadiate" Select "Once a day" Select "All" days of the week Click "Ok"
...........................
YOUR ALMOST DONE!...
You need voice files and a weather retrieval program. Here are the free downloads:
3. - Download Voices for Time, Temperature, and Humidity Announcements
Zara Radio can automatically broadcast the current time,
temperature, and humidity for you. You just tell it how often
and/or when.
The following Time, Temperature, and Humidity voices are free. These are professionally produced files..
Time: Time-
Demented Elf Productions.zip --Download and unzip
these files to: C:\Program Files\ZaraSoft\ZaraRadio\Time\
Temperature: Temperature-
Demented Elf Productions.zip--Download and unzip
these files to: C:\Program
Files\ZaraSoft\ZaraRadio\Temperature\
Humidity: Humidity-
Demented Elf Productions.zip --Download
and unzip these files to: C:\Program
Files\ZaraSoft\ZaraRadio\Humidity\
4. - Download and configure Weather Watcher
For your radio station automatically retrieve and
announce current temperature and humidity for your location, then
you must have Weather Watcher software installed.
All versions of Weather Watcher prior to version 6.1 are free,
however, the free versions can only access WeatherBug.com weather
stations, which may or may not cover your specific location.
Whereas the paid version also includes WeatherUnderground.com
data, thus further expanding your choice of specific weather
stations Download
Weather Watcher v6.0.6 (free version) UPDATE 12/25/2014: v6.06 no longer parses the data to Zara, But version 5's still do.. You can download the free earlier version 5.6.6 at http://mram.50webs.com/index_files/page4.htmor athttp://windows.softwareweb.com/weather-watcher-5.6.6-9E9HE.html
Or the newest paid version .. Download
Weather Watcher Live (paid version $19 a year)
Upon installing Weather Watcher it will ask if you wish to
configure options.. if it doesn't then just click on the options
tab, then set up appropriately as shown in the following
examples... (these screenshots are from the free version)
General Tab:
Stations Tab:
Auto Update Tab:
Export Tab:
If you just set up everything as shown in all the above, then everything should perform correctly for both Zara and weather watcher. There are some other options you might want to look at from zararadios "Tools"/"Options".. I just got tired and didn't feel like explaining that right now, but you'll be fine with out it for now. I'll probably re-write this later, in better detail, but the above info should get you going! You Later...
Here's an cool clip of Howard Stern talking about his career in radio and about when he first got started... It's excerpted from one of his radio shows. Don't know the date of broadcast, I came across it somewhere and edited out this 6 minute portion because I found it interesting.
Warning; He does drop the F word 2 or 3 times, but other than that the discussion is pretty tame
I managed to fall into the peculiar website of phrack.org while googling "AM radio basics", and came across an article which I've read before, but then got curious about the website it's hosted on.. I wasn't quite sure what kind of website it was..
0 - Introduction
0.1 - Technical Terms
1 - Radio Basics
1.1 - Radio Waves
1.2 - Carrier
1.3 - (RF) Frequency Bands
1.4 - Wavelength
1.5 - Transmission
1.6 - Receiving
2 - AM Radio
2.1 - What is AM Radio?
2.2 - Modulation
2.3 - Demodulation
2.4 - Circuits
2.4.1 - Receivers
2.4.2 - Transmitters
3 - FM Radio
3.1 - What is FM radio?
3.2 - Modulation
3.3 - Demodulation
3.4 - Circuits
4 - Misc
4.1 - Pirate Radio
4.2 - Wireless Telephone Tapping
4.3 - Jamming
5 - Conclusion6 - Bibliography
They have no "about" page, in which to determine some form of overview of basically what the site is about, nor state any objective or definition. So I went way back to their originating Volume One, Issue One, released on November 17, 1985 to find out..
"Welcome to the Phrack Inc. Philes. Basically, we are a group of phile writers who have combined our philes and are distributing them in a group..."
Interesting.. But what's a phile? They didn't say, so I looked it up.. Combining form suffix: -phile denoting fondness for a specified thing. A combining form meaning “lover of,” “enthusiast for” that specified by the initial element: Anglophile; bibliophile; demophile. It originates from the Greek word "philos", meaning "loving"
Ok.. that's pretty cool.
My part15ophile today is really no more than a link to a particular "phile" about RADIO found lingering amongst Phracks vast midst of other topics scattered on the ocean of their website,..
Released: July 17, 2004
Entitled: Radio Hacking
Subtitled: The Basics of Radio
By: shaun2k2
This article is divided up into four parts. The first part describes
the basic theory of radio, and examples to illustrate some of the
common day uses of it. In parts two and three, AM and FM radio
details are outlined showing various different circuits to illustrate
how these principles can be applied to real-life, functioning
circuits. Section four is a misc. section, presenting some
miscellaneous interesting points.
Radio waves, otherwise referred to as 'radio signals', are simply electromagnetic waves. Radio waves are transmitted by devices called 'radio transmitters' or 'transmitters' for short. Despite our wide and many uses for radio waves as a whole, we actually known very little about 'radio'. We do know, however, that radio waves are a form of energy, which act exactly like they have been propagated as any other type of wave we know of. For example, an audio wave. Radio waves are made up of three things; an electric field, a direction, and a magnetic field. Despite our underlying ignorance of radio and its properties, we can predict and use its properties to our advantage to undergo a wide variety of different tasks -- and will probably do so for a long time to come... ~~~ AM Radio refers to any form of technology which makes use of Amplitude Modulation to modulate the 'carrier' with information... ..AM is one of the simplest forms of modulation, and with this, comes its disadvantages... ~~~ AM Modulation involves nothing more than shifting the power of a radio wave's carrier by tiny amounts, in sympathy with a modulating signal... Amplitude, as you probably already knew, is just another word for 'power'... ..After AM modulating the carrier, the signal has usually twice the 'bandwidth' of the original modulating signal. ~~~ Pirate Radio stations are simply just radio stations ran by individuals who are not licensed amateur radio enthusiasts... ..Some 'pirate radio' stations keep within the FCC terms, by transmitting at low-power. These types of stations are often referred to as 'free radio', or 'micropower stations'. ..The US allows transmission of radio signals at *microscopic* power, making the limitations almost useless for unlicensed radio enthusiasts, thus causing them to resort to pirate radio. ~~~ To avoid being busted, it is probably a good idea to stay within the legal power limits. Otherwise, a Direction Finding device used by the authorities could easily track down the exact location of the transmitter. ~~~ Read full article here:http://phrack.org/issues/62/11.html
This newspaper clipping was recently posted by a member of the Radio World staff on their website:
Eagle-eyed
Dan Slentz sent us this clip from an unknown newspaper that he found on
a Facebook page. “Just plain old-fashioned good radio I guess,” he
remarks.
What initially came to my mind is maybe the guy had stopped there for the sake of reception of local area part 15 broadcast.. I got curious..
The online version didn't supply any further information other than what is stated in the clip above, but as a part 15'er, I opt to create an urban legend...
You know what a fourble board is? I didn't know either til this guy explained it.. in my minds eye.. If you ever find yourself on one, be careful with what you don't see...
"..The bizarre and supernatural will be the material for writer Wyllis
Cooper's "Quiet Please," a new dramatic series to be heard on WOR by
transcription,..." --New York Times 1947 'News of Radio' column
Quiet, Please! was a radio show produced at WOR in New York City, and it aired a total of 105* episodes (only 4 were repeats) from June 8th 1947 until June 20th of 1949. It originated on the Mutual Broadcasting System, and then the next year it was syndicated by the ABC radio network.
It's theme generally was along the line of Sci-Fi, Fantasy, or Horror, but was not limited to those genres. At times the lean would be with spiritual or moralistic overtones. Other times humorous. But always exibiting a sense of surealality.
The show was created, written, and directed by Wyllis Cooper (after his previous success with "Lights Out" radio program), and Ernest Chappell was the primary announcer and actor for the show.
It is presumed that the two had previously became friends while working together during The Campbell Playhouse radio productions almost ten years prior.
But Quiet Please was a little different, more unique than either of those shows..
"..There's no formula or pattern to Quiet, Please! other than that it is always narrated in the first person by Ernest Chappell, and has an eerie, slow-paced mood. Sometimes it's macabre, sometimes hilarious, but always it is entertaining. ABC reports that it gets more requests for Quiet, Please! scripts than for those of any other show..." -- Writer's Digest magazine, May 1949 Radio & Television By Harriet Cannon
Anyway..
I never even heard of Quiet, Please! until recently when reading a post on the Arcane Radio Trivia blog where he only briefly mentioned it in passing.. But for some reason it captured my attention, and after some mild research, I chose to have a listen to their most famous episode called: "The Thing on the Fourble Board"; which commonly gets praised not only as "one of the best, if not the best in radio horror", it's also consistently cited as one of best examples of radio drama in general. Wow, I thought, That's some pretty impressive opinions for an episode of a program that I never heard of. So I decided to give it a listen.. Was it all that?..
Well, I liked it, and so far as radio dramas go, yeah, I give it a big thumbs up. The presentation and delivery was excellent. As for horror? Well, I can't say I was horrified, but it was creepy, and then it got kinda freaky.. in a freaky creepy kind of way..
"Cooper says that writing good
dialogue is harder work than laying bricks. He ought to know--he's laid
them. He's also worked in oil fields and on the railroads, and he's
utilized much of this experience as background material in his scripts."- Writer's Digest mag. May 1949
I listened, and after about 25 minutes the story had concluded, and the closing announcements were made as usual... I did enjoy it. The general feel of the episode (as it is with all of the Quiet Please episodes) is strikingly different than the delivery of most old time radio programs. It's not just a radio drama, the delivery is more personal.. it feels as if he's presenting the story to You... It's hard to describe, but I can understand the cult following.
Quiet Please was promoted by both the Mutual Broadcasting System and Wyllis Cooper as " A new-type psychological drama with the listening audience slated to become part of the program.." -source
I'll not reveal what the story is about, as that would just spoil it for any one who has never heard it before. But will say Cooper had drawn from his own real world experiences while writing the script, as the events take place while at working in an oil field.
"..They have an odd flavor, extremely difficult to describe, and they represent, I should say, PURE RADIO ... That's the sort of stories they are -- just weird -- and if you're of literal mind I suggest you avoid them. Their great charm for me is that I don't know what Mr. Cooper will do next. Also, these stories are handled with extreme skill. Mr. Cooper presents you with a fantastic idea, but he never piles the unlikely on top of the unlikely. Once you accept the original premise, the rest follows logically. Incidentally, the fantasies are never fully explained. There's the secret. Never explain anything fully. Leave 'em guessing." - Variety Magazine Feb 4 1948 -John Crosby - Radio in Review
You can find copies of The Thing on the Fourble Board all over the
place. It's still gets aired on broadcast stations occasionally
particularly around halloween, and had even been released as a feature track on a LP record back in the 1970s, as well as on cassette tape, and now cd. Evidently I'm the only one who never heard of it! It is a classic episode.
If you should decide to listen to it yourself, which you ought to; I strongly encourage that you turn off the lights, lay down, relax, close your eyes and give ityour full attention. Don't busy yourself with some menial task while mindlessly half listening to it in the background, you'll miss the magic..
What is superb, I think, is not the story itself but the presentation. What it conjures, is a perfect example of what it means to experience "the theater of the mind". You can actually kind of watch it. It deserves no distractions, so leave everything else behind for the next 25 minutes, and just fall into the story ... Perhaps that's too much hype.. It's might not blow your mind, but it will entertain your imagination.
Quiet Please - Episode 60: The Thing on the Fourble Board. Aired: August 8, 1948
Listen: or Download mp3
I've put a lot emphasis of this particular episode, but that's only because it's a predominate example. But this post was not supposed to be about 'The Thing on the Fourable Board', but rather the series as a whole. Fortunately, the audio quality of this particular episode is excellent, when considering that it was recorded almost 70 years ago. Unfortunately the same can't be said for all of the Quiet Please episodes. Many of them desperately need restoration, and I don't comprehend why greater efforts have not really been applied to it yet.
"Master
of the weird and the whimsical, Cooper is both writer and director of
Quiet, Please! To date he has turned out some 90-odd scripts, which are
easy to listen to and "murder to write... Quiet Please is slow in tempo.. He believes that radio drama generally is played too fast; but he admits that he can write in such an unorthodox manner only because he is his own director.. Only three or four other writers in radio have the same privilege and "all of them earned it through years of hard work. "- Writer's Digest magazine, May 1949
For many years only 12 episodes of Quiet Please were known to exist.. Then fortunately, in the 1980s, much to the delight of OTR enthusiast; about 80 original transcription disc and first generation taped copies of the series were found... this never would have happened were it not for Ernest Chappell, (the primary announcer/actor) keeping, and years later, in the mid 1960s, transfering the original 16 inch 78rpm transcription disc to reel to reel tape... It was his personal collection which his widow had found years later (rumored to be from under a bed), and ultimately became provided to the public.
Sometime in the 1970s, David Goldin of the J. David Goldin Collection aquired Chappells (tapes?) collection from Chappell's estate (directly from his widow?).
=================================== Update Edit: Thanks to a senior member at quietplease.org (MS), some important history has been pointed out to me.. Although Goldwin was most likely responsible for putting the "original 12 episodes" into circulation from ABCs limited archives of the series which he acquired while working there about 40 or 50 years ago, he actually had nothing to do with discovering the large collection from Chappells estate. However, due to his position in archival circles, he was able to per-cure copies of that material to add to his collection.
Chappells widow had actually donated the collection at some point a Florida University, where it sat silently hidden. It was Don Aston, a long establish archivist, twice serving on the SPERDVAC Board of Directors (Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy), and AVPRO CEO, who was responsible for the discovery which he described in an 2009 article in 'OTR Digest':
"I found the Quiet Please episodes at the University of Florida. A work Study student dubbed the discs. The University would not allow any outside people to touch them. The Work Study Student did not clean or even bother to wipe off the discs,. He just put them on a turntable and dropped the needle. That is the reason so much noise is on many of the early surving episodes. Mrs. Chappell was going to let us, Randy [Eidemiller] and Me, copy the discs, but negotiations dragged on and on. Then the discs wound up in the OTR Museum in New York City"
So now back to the story..
Goldwin had obtained copies of the large discovery above, and had added them to his previously small Quiet Please collection ..
===================================
They remained in Goldwin's possesion for 30 years or so, until around 1997, at which time he sold his entire collection (not just Quiet Please) of master tapes and/or original transcription disc.
It is commonly believed there are only 88 and half episodes of "Quiet, Please!" in existence. However, the fact is, there are actually 91 and half episodes in existence.. To explain, let's look at the14 and half missing episodes.. (actually it's *17, but..)
Episode #9 A Mile High and a Mile Deep Aired 1947-08-18
Episode #10 Mirror, Mirror On the Wall Aired 1947-08-24
Episode #11 A Ribbon of Lincoln Green Aired 1947-08-31
Episode #12 Retreat At Dunkerque Aired 1947-09-03**A
Episode #13 Three Sides To A Story Aired 1947-09-07
Episode #15 The Big Box Aired 1947-09-15
Episode #16 Be a Good Dog, Darling Aired 1947-09-22** half missing
Episode #17 The Low Road Aired 1947-09-29
Episode #41 "Meeting at Ticonderoga" Aired 1948-03-15
Episode #52 Below 5th Avenue Aired 1948-05-31**B
Episode #53 100,000 Diameters Aired 1948-06-07**C
Episode #63 Motive Aired 1948-08-30
Episode #78 Read Me This Riddle Aired 1948-12-12
Episode #79 Gothic Tale Aired 1948-12-19
Episode #94 The Venetian Blind Man Aired 1949-04-03**D *Note: Also lost are the following episodes, however alternative versions still remain: Episode #20 The Girl With the Flaxen Hair (actual title: "La fille aux cheveux de lin") 1947-10-20 which was performed on MBS on Oct 20, 1947 with the cast Joan Lazer, Melville Ruick, Mary Kay Simmons. However, the script was later re-performed in episode 105 on 1949-06-18, but with a different audio theme, a new cast (Anne Seymour, Don Briggs, Joan Lazer) and the new title: "Pavane" on ABC. (which does exist) Episode #29 "Berlin 1945" 1947-12-22 The original broadcast starring Ted de Corsia, Frank Thomas, Jr., Eric Dressler, Don Briggs and Frederick Bell, aired on MBS is a lost episode - However, the re-performance on ABC a year later in episode 80 survives (12-26,48) with the same title, but a new cast (James Goss, Frank Latimer, James Monks, Melville Ruick, Warren Stevens, Frank Thomas, Jr.) Episode #43 "Quiet, Please" broadcast on MBS on 1948-03-29 is lost (cast unknown) - But the second performance of this script on ABC survives as #106 with same title, and the cast of Claudia Morgan, Floyd Buckley, Lotte Stavisky, Vinton Hayworth
**A - It is highly probable that Episode #12 Retreat at Dunkerque never existed, thus not a missing episode... "Retreat at Dunkerque" was actually the regular local New York City
rebroadcast on WOR of that week's Mutual episode, "A Ribbon of Lincoln
Green" (which is about the British retreat at Dunkerque) Apparently, a
local newspaper or some other source printed "Retreat at Dunkerque" as
the title, thus confusing everybody decades later."source
This topic was actually first discussed here: http://www.quietplease.org/forum/general/done-posting-scripts-122.html. Lending even more weight to this theory is that in the preceding episode script (A Ribbon of Lincoln Green) Cooper announces the next weeks show as "Three Sides to a Story".. As it is at the end of every Quiet Please episode, the title of the next weeks show is always announced, yet in no episode or script has ever mentioned "Retreat at Dunkerque". Also note that the air date took place (oddly) only three days after the previous episode ("Ribbon of Lincoln Green"), and it was only aired locally - the only one ever which was not broadcast national,.. Why? - it's plausible it was used as filler for some unscheduled time who knows? But the thing to keep in mind is that the episode which aired only three days prior (Lincoln Green) was a story about the retreat at Dunkerue - They are about the exact same subject. It's just too unlikely to be two entirely different episodes. All facts point to the conclusion that which has been logged as two different episodes have always been actually, indeed, one in the same. So that would bring it down to 13(*16) and a half missing episodes.. However, it's really less than that.. read on..
"Shortly after Ernest Chappell’s death, his widow donated the [original transcription] discs to the Museum of Television and Radio in New York."
The book also stated: “Programs 51* and 52(see note below), once thought to be missing, may now be heard at the
museum of television and radio location in new York city and Beverly
hills cal. Copies however are not available, but interested parties are
invited to make an appointment with the archives to hear these
marvelous programs.” *Note that while the aforementioned book is listed on Amazon and some other locations it is currently out of print, so the quotes shown here are received second hand from a November 5 2003 post in a thread here at the quietplease.org forum... There is question concerning the quoted numbers 51 & 52, since #51 was/is not missing, so it appears the quote maybe should have stated 52 & 53.. but the only way to have confirmed this was to actually look in book itself.. But all inconsistency aside, it can still be confirmed that two of the missing episodes do indeed exist at the museum...
On June 5, 2007 the name of the 'Museum of Television & Radio' was changed to the 'Paley Center for Media',
but it is the same organization, and maintains the same
media library. It is located at 25 West 52 Street New York, NY (212)
621-6600 Performing a simple search of their collection via their website: http://www.paleycenter.org/collection/.. confirms the above statements of the book that the episodes 100,000 Diameters & Below 5th Ave are in their collection..
**B&C - Included in the search results Paley Center for Media Collections are the following: QUIET, PLEASE!: BELOW FIFTH AVENUE {SHOW #50} (RADIO) (May 31, 1948) CATALOG ID: RB:1496
It is also rather likely that the second half of "Be a Good Dog Darling" can be found in the Paley holdings as well, even though it is not specifically listed, their catalog list numerous episodes simply as "QUIET PLEASE! (RADIO) (1947/07/xx)"CATALOG ID: RB:1477" or "QUIET PLEASE! (RADIO) (1947/07/xx) CATALOG ID: RB:1478" other times while referring to the reel tape copies they list those as ie: "QUIET, PLEASE! {VARIOUS EPISODES} (REEL ELEVEN, 70 THRU 75) (RADIO) CATALOG ID: RB:0990".. You get the idea.. Their spellings are wrong, (ie: Jack Rosalen instead of Dark Rosaleen, 3000 Wards instead of 'Words', and more..) the runtimes are wrong, the episode numbers are wrong, and there is no extant information supplied.. As if the shipment came in and some employee quickly documented them for Paleys database before tucking them away into storage.
So now, there are only 11 (*13) half missing episodes! The fact that the episode numbers do not correspond to common researched data is besides the point, the episodes do exist and can be listened to by visiting the museum. It seems a shame that these two episodes are not made readily available to the public along with the rest of the series, but for those living in the New York area, at least you can go to the museum to listen.
As for the others missing.. I did run a search for them with no result. That link again to the Paley Media Center Collection for Quiet Please is http://www.paleycenter.org/collection/..
A search for "Quiet Please" will return 7 pages of results, I copied and pasted the exact results from all 7 pages, and compiled them in a easier to read and examine pdf file which you can download here from my dropbox: https://db.tt/FxxDQM3F (right click to save).
Or if you prefer, here's the same as 3 gif images which you can scroll to read in your browser:
Page 1: https://db.tt/Ors8eFDp
Page 2: https://db.tt/a3qd79Tq
Page 3: https://db.tt/ZQuoU95O
**DThe University of Indiana’s Archive of Traditional Music in Bloomington, the list the “Venetian Blind Man” episodein their card catalog: http://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/28121
Title: [United States, 1949] sound recording / collector unknown. Format: Musical Recording- Sound Recording Physical description: 1 sound disc : analog, 33 1/3 rpm, acetate, mono. ; 10 in. Performer: Venetian Blind Man, organ, spoken monologue (and vocals?); Willis Cooper, writer and director. Notes: Dramatic presentation with music. Radio play. "Quiet Please"--documentation. Circumstances of recording unknown except for the date, April 3, 1949. Documentation for this collection is incomplete. Possibly deposited at the Archives of Traditional Music by Northwestern University in ca. 1963 (under option 2?) This collection includes organ music and speech; seemingly it is a one man dramatic presentation with spoken (and sung?) monologue and organ music.
See all details at http://iucat.iu.edu/catalog/28121 Indiana University students, faculty and staff may place requests online for delivery of materials to another IU library. Requests for delivery usually take 4-7 working days to complete.
That totals 3(+) more episodes known to be in existence which the general public has never heard...
One last note concerning the lost episodes.. We know that the majority of existing episodes are from Chappells personal collection of master disc and tapes. The following is a quote from the book "Terror on the Air" chapter 9, entitledd "The Unsettling Universe OF Wylliss Cooper and Ernest Chappell":
"He [Chappell] wrote to Cooper's widow Emily in 1966 to report that he owned copies of all but 11 episodes on transcription discs and had copied them all to reel to reel tape. Stating that he would happily copy any episodes for Emily, Chappell further wrote that "It took a lot of hours to make the tape transfers but I got a big thrill out of hearing them all over again and I want to say that there were many occasions when my emotions blew up and I just plain bawled. They brought back such wonderful times and so many intimate memories of such a treasured friend." Since Chappells collection is what the Paley Museum possesses, it's tempting to conclude that Paley must have also all but 11 episodes.. =========================================================== UPDATE: Monday, June 2 2014.. Well..Not exactly an update (yet), but just wanted to mention that a few hours ago I contacted Ron Simon, Curator, Television and Radio of the Paley Center, and also the Indiana University The Archives of Traditional Music about acquiring copies of the 3 missing episodes - It's a start, hopefully that will fruit results.. we'll see..
UPDATE: Monday, June 20, 2014:
Never received any response form the Paley Center, but have successfully corresponded with Indiana University, so far it looks very promising that I will succeed in acquiring a copy of "The Venetian Blind Man", so far I have no way of knowing the quality of the recording, but expect to receive it in about 3 weeks. As for being able to share it with every one else.. Well, I might not be able to, but that's still kind of up in the air, I'll let you know if anything changes.
UPDATE: Tuesday, July 10, 2014:
Finally received my copy of "The Venetian Blind Man" from the Indiana Universities Library of Traditional Music. The good news the audio quality is pretty good with exception to 2 minutes of poor quality. The bad news is it is not complete..
The first 11 minutes is intact, then there's a gap of missing audio, then 2 more minutes of poor audio,.. another gap,.. and then the final 6 and a half minutes of the episode.. So there's about 10 minutes missing.
The lp record it was recorded from presented the first part on side A, with side B containing first the conclusion, then a portion from the middle (in that order). The agreement I signed to obtain the copy does not allow me to distribute it,but anybody may obtain a copy from the library as "personal research" at the cost of $27 for a cd, or $20 for a downloadable wav file.I don't suspect providing a short sample to demonstrate the quality of the file would be in violation, so here is a clip the closing credits:
"Quiet
Please," a dramatic series dealing with psychological situations,
mysteries and fantasies with comic overtones, will switch from the
Mutual network to WJZ-ABC this afternoon at 5 P.M. The series is written and directed by Wyllis Cooper. -September 19, 1948 column by Sidney Lohman
Ok, now back to the condition of the Quiet Please mp3s floating around the internet.
I decided to have my hand at a few to see what my limited capability
could accomplish. Where better to start then with episode #1? It's poppy
and scratchy, and the noise is distracting..
First
I used Audacity to manually clean every pop, scratch, and click I could
get to and the
final result sounds much better (at least to me than before. I saved the Audacity project file to avoid having to re-import, should I opt to clean it further later, (which I probably will) thus it will not cause yet another generation copy of the episode.
The audio is still a scratchy, but overall noticeably better than it was.
Take a listen to my cleaned up version... Quiet Please - Episode 1: Nothing Behind the Door. Aired: June 8, 1947
or Download mp3
Now lest you don't find that impressive, compare it to the original.mp3 as commonly found everywhere else on the internet and on the mp3 cds you can buy on ebay, or anywhere else.. listen a few minutes and also notice how much worse it gets in the second half, then decide.. Which would you rather listen to??
Here's another one I spent much more time on; again it still has it's share of imperfections but still far exceeds the quality of the what it was sourced from..
Quiet Please - Episode 18: Not Enough Time. Aired: October 6, 1947 or Download mp3
Here's another, again, still sounds rough, but after cleaning it up it sounds noticeably a lot better than what it did before. It's a much more enjoyable listen..
Quiet Please - Episode 5: Cornelia. Aired: July 20, 1947
The best bet with the Quiet Please series seems to be manual second-by-second cleaning, it's time consuming and tedious, but apparently the only way to work on the remaining severely damaged episodes of this series..
Ok, this has been one very long post.. I've been repeatbly come back and adding more stuff to it. That's why it so long, drawn out, and scattered (kind o of like me).
But anyway, let me conclude this thing...
If you've read this far, then you must have found it of interest..
Quiet Please could be some great late night programing for your part 15 station.
One last note: While I made every attempt of being accurate with the information supplied on this page, I noticed occasional inconsistencies between sources of information during my crash research of the Quiet Now radio program. When such instances occurred, then generally the most common consensus is what was supplied here. I'm obviously no authority on it. It is only recently I became familiar with it. But it fascinated me, which is what made me aggressively dig around.
For a more in depth details and history, I suggest the Wikipedia as it addresses many details which was either omitted or only glanced upon here., also the Digital Deli covers some information not readily found from other sources, and of course always the well established and interactive quietplease.org website, where you can find lots more delectable tidbits of info in the forums.
Hope you found it of interest and welcome any comments.
Cooper
likes to think of himself as a rebel. To prove it, he points to the
fact that he has done fewer commercial shows than any other writer in
his class. "I don't believe in too strong a story line because
it's apt to be too hard for the listener to keep in mind," he says. "The
charm in radio consists of good characterization. Plot should consist
of a twist rather than a formalized structure." He doesn't rewrite, nor
does he permit his actors to "ad lib" although his dialogue achieves a
smooth flowing naturalness. He beats no drums, espouses no causes, says
his function is "to entertain. - Writer's Digest magazine, May 1949
This post (which was even longer than it is now until tonight (1/26/16) when I removed about 30% of it.... ...But this post was the predecessor of the Quiet Please Anthology website. http://www.quietplease.96.lt ,Which I built and have hosted on a free server from the UK. There you will find much more about the Quiet Please radio program then what you've just read hear (believe it or not). www.quietplease.96.lt
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