Old Radio Shows and Homeschooling

My wife and I raised six children, homeschooling them for most of their school lives. We also raised them without television. One of the things parents constantly face who try to limit the influence of modern entertainment upon their children is how to give them some sort of wholesome entertainment that does not contain all the objectionable features of modern media. One of the main ways we provided this was through old radio shows.

There is a huge body of radio shows that are available today for free downloading. They ran from the 1930's into the early 1960's. A couple of the main ones are:
http://archive.org/details/oldtimeradio
http://www.otrrlibrary.org/index.html

The quality of the shows varies greatly, of course, but many of them are really well done and extremely entertaining. In fact, this is a entire body of largely-forgotten entertainment that was an integral part of our nation's history, especially in the Great Depression and World War II.

Two of the main advantages of radio shows are the information they give about the lifestyles of our fathers, particularly the World War II generation, and the fact that they engage the minds of the listeners to a much higher degree than visual media. The hearer must use the eye of his mind to picture what is happening.

Any time we took a trip, we played radio shows the whole way, and believe me, it made the journey much easier to have Fibber McGee or Johnny Dollar traveling with you. The kids were quiet, and the adults also were entertained. Miles go much quicker with old radio shows.

After the children left home, my wife and I have continued to collect radio shows. In fact, we always play one when we go to bed, and have found them to be an excellent "sleeping pill."

I have become a bona fide old radio show enthusiast. Parents who are trying to raise children with the values that our grandparents had (but sadly have disappeared) should investigate them as a major resource. I highly recommend them.