Whistler Upgrades

This is just an higher encode copy that replaces a lower encode with the same sound quality
Whistler 1951-09-02 482 Public Hero ENCODE INCREASE.mp3
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Another file for today...
Whistler 1952-02-03 504 Shakedown UPGRADE.mp3
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Just 4 more days of Whistler to go...

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

greybelt wrote:Whistler 1952-05-18 519 Determined Traveler UPGRADE.mp3
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Thank you.  (To Quote 'Tony The Tiger') Have a GRRRREEEEAAAATTTT day.
Phil

Whistler 1953-05-03 567 Disappearing Woman AFRS LQ UPGRADE.mp3
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Unfortunately this qualifies as an upgrade because it is "less bad" than the one it replaced.

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art

Many, many thanks, Greybelt.

These are the last of the Whistler upgrades.

Whistler 1954-04-25 618 Spell in Green AFRS UPGRADE.mp3
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Whistler 1954-09-19 639 Song Team AFRS.mp3
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Starting tomorrow, upgrades to Johnny Dollar will begin.

Thanks greybelt

Looking forward to Johnny

Best regards

Art

greybelt wrote:These are the last of the Whistler upgrades.

Starting tomorrow, upgrades to Johnny Dollar will begin.

Thank you, I'll be looking forward to JD. Always one of my favorite detective shows.
Phil

Thank you Graybelt!!!

This is a question I posed to completedayman who helped post the Whistler on Cobalt in 2011 with me. We are both stumped. Can you help??

The Radio Spirits download site recently posted "Lady and the Sea," but it differs from what we had.
Copies of both versions are at [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

These are the two programs:

• Whistler 1948-07-28 320 Lady from the Sea (OPEN and now for the radio program).mp3 (THIS IS THE ONE WE HAD)
  
• Whistler 1948-07-28 320 Lady from the Sea (OPEN and now stay tuned).mp3 (THIS IS THE NEW ONE)
  

One has this opening that is used from episode 317 on 48-06-23 to episode 328 on 48-09-22

Announcer. “And now for the radio program that has rated tops in popularity for a longer period of time than any other west coast program. The mystery program that is unique among all mystery programs, because you know who’s guilty. You see his every move, you know his complete plan, even his innermost thoughts. Yet the final curtain always brings a startling surprise, in the Signal Oil program. The Whistler.”

The other has this opening used from at least episode 369 on 49-06-26 to at least episode 406 on 50-03-12
Announcer. “And now, stay tuned for the program that is rated tops in popularity for a longer period of time than any other west coast program in radio history. The Signal Oil program – the Whistler.”

The other has this opening from at least episode 407 on 50-03-19 to at least episode 522 of 52-06-08.

Announcer. “And now, stay tuned for the mystery program that is unique among all mystery programs, because even when you know who’s guilty, you always receive a startling surprise at the final curtain, in the Signal Oil program The Whistler.”

This opening places the new program in 1950 and beyond, but I cannot find any openings in the schedules where it would fit.

One of the problems for the new recording is that the 1970s syndicated versions all use the "and now stay tuned" opening, with no mention of Signal Oil. But this recording seems to have all of the Signal Oil ads intact in the balance of the program and they do not seem patched in. The show credits match in both. RadioGoldindex does not list a Signal version of this episode, just a syndicated one. We know the one we had was a network version.

The only newspaper listings I can find are for the Household Finance run for this script performed on April 21, 1948. This is definitely not that.

The Whistler has thrown curves at us before, for sure!

Cobaltia's fresh eyes and ears will help!

greybelt, the second version, Whistler 1948-07-28 320 Lady from the Sea (OPEN and now stay tuned).mp3 (THIS IS THE NEW ONE )

does not have this opening.

It says.. and now stay tuned for the mystery program that is unique among all mystery programs because even when you know who's guilty, you always receive a startling surprise at the final curtain in The Whistler

Is this the version you meant to post?

Best regards

Art

Thank you artatoldotr -- I have corrected the post.

My first inclination is to say that it's a rebroadcast, but the Signal Oil ads seem intact and match the other recording as best I can tell

I have realized that my copy of
Whistler 1943-05-29 54 Final Decree
is incorrect -- it's a mislabeled copy of the 1949-06-26 performance.

Now I'm wondering if the 1943 version exists at all. Can you check your collections and see if you have the correct one?
If it's 1943 it will begin with "Have you heard the strange (or weird) tales of The Whistler?".
If it's 1949 it will start with Marvin Miller "And now stay tuned for..."

Greybelt, I have the same episodes in my collection as you do.
They are both 1949 versions.

Sorry.

Best regards

Art

I'm convinced now that this was my error in my master collection and the 1943 episode is still a missing episode

thanks so much for these upgrades , my copies were really bad , much appreciated!!

THANK YOU!
I hope there are more Whistler to come!

This begins about a week and a half of 2-per day postings of upgrades or new files of The Whistler rebroadcast episodes. Many of these have been encoded from the same reel collection that had all of the Suspense that were posted over the last three months.

The Whistler was mainly a CBS Pacific Network program, but there was some national recognition of it because it was a summer 1946 substitute program for Jack Carson, and had a brief but separate non-Pacific run for Household Finance in the late 1940s. Both of these were new performances of Pacific Network scripts with Hollywood production staff. There was a midwest version produced by Chicago actors at WBBM, sponsored by Meister Brau beer, usually in front of a live studio audience. The movie series with Richard Dix had some national interest. In the early 1950s, the television series brought many of the radio scripts to the nation.

The Hollywood productions were always top-notch but did not follow the movie-star approach that Suspense did. That makes the program a favorite of OTR fans because we can always hear our beloved radio favorites, often uncredited, in Whistler productions, such as Lovejoy, Conrad, Mohr, the Lewises, Tuttle, Benaderet, Webber, and so many more. The Marvin Miller openings were always a distinctive part of the Signal Oil sponsorship. Many of the writers went on to have great careers in other series, television, and movies.

The 1970s rebroadcasts were done by Audio Arts. At that time in collecting, there were many episodes of The Whistler that could only be heard (recorded and traded) in their format. I believe they were syndicated using LP records, but they may have been on full-track tape. You can often tell from the recordings that they used the drama portions of the programs with Signal Oil commercials edited out, of course, and then added common openings and closings to the recordings. The programs are generally from the 1949-1952 era of the run which were probably the best productions of the Pacific series.

There were collectors who believed that this took away from the authenticity of the presentations, so they clipped the Audio Arts closing from them. This resulted in many "pretender" network recordings in circulation among collectors.

As transcriptions of more of the Pacific Network series came into circulation, many of these rebroadcasts fell out of circulation. Others, however, remained, because there were no other recordings available of certain episodes.

There was a reel of 12 of these programs in circulation in the mid-1970s that was popular among collectors and then disappeared. I have been searching for it for decades, and it was in this reel collection. (Hooray!!) The recordings had to be cleaned up a bit but the sound is generally pleasing.

What will be posted here are all of the rebroadcast syndicated files, in various encode levels, that I could find since 2011. These are all fully intact as many of us may have heard them, as I did, in the early 1970s. For me, it was on WRVR-FM, the NYC jazz station. There were very few The Whistler in circulation at the time, so this was a big deal for that new collector still in high school and still wondering what all this OTR stuff was.

Please... if you find any other syndicated recordings in your collections that are not posted here... bring them to my attention as the completist urge must be appropriately fed.

Thanks again everyone!


Please note: there are generally no detailed newspaper listings for The Whistler... ever! It was just another mystery show with no big stars to make it newsworthy. Here, 70ish years later, it is one of OTR's favorite and beloved programs. It is funny that so many of the plots involve schemes to get insurance payments, grab inheritances, escape romantic entanglements, or just plain greed for a pile of cash. It's typical fare, but we still love it.



Whistler 1949-01-30 347 All Damage Covered REBROADCAST.mp3
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Whistler 1949-06-19 367 That Physical Fact REBROADCAST.mp3
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Thank you!

Thanks greybelt

Best regards

Art