PODCAST · society
The Chronic Rift Network
by Lucky Shot Productions
A series of pop culture podcasts attempting to find the culture in pop culture.
Episodes
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 202: REBECCA
I like to start off the new year with these adaptations by "The Lux Radio Theater." We're going to get a little spooky this year. "Rebecca" was first a great psychological thriller novel by Daphne de Maurier in 1938, then a great film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1940, and eventually this…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature - Fibber McGee & Molly and The Jack Benny Program
It's Episode 201 of "Presenting the Transcription Feature" and time for some more Christmas Old Time Radio. First off, on "Fibber McGee and Molly," the McGees are working at a local department store a few weeks before Christmas. They run the returns department where "the customer is always…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 200: JACK BENNY and THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE
It's Episode 200 of "Presenting the Transcription Feature" and Christmas in the land of Old Time Radio. On "The Jack Benny Program," Jack and company are visiting New York in December. This allows him to try shopping in a Manhattan department store, which provides a little variety. Then, on "The...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 199: THE LIVES OF HARRY LIME & BOB HOPE
It's been a long time since we checked in with that loveable con man Harry Lime, in the person of Orson Welles. Not quite the psychopathic murderer he was in the movie "The Third Man," where he originated the role, radio's Harry was more of a ne'er-do-well criminal. In this episode, of "The Lives...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 198: INFORMATION PLEASE & PHIL HARRIS-ALICE FAYE
We start off tonight with another episode of that great quiz show, "Information Please." Are you up on babies and their guardians, military insignia, and devils in literature? Then, since it's almost time for Easter, here's the Fred Flintstone and Barney Rubble of OTR: Phil Harris and Elliot…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 197: BOB HOPE & INFORMATION PLEASE
We start off tonight with an episode of "The Bob Hope Show." It's December of 1945, and the war is over. Hope had spent much of it broadcasting from military bases, but now he is back at the NBC studios in Hollywood. His guest, Jimmy Durante, promises to take Bob to a swanky party, but is Bob…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 196: THE GHOST AND MRS. MUIR
For our New Year's treat, here's "The Lux Radio Theater" adaptation of the classic 1947 film "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir." The film is an unconventional romance of sorts starring Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney as the title characters. She's a vibrant young widow, and he's the ghost of a rollicking…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 195: AUTHOR'S PLAYHOUSE & JACK BENNY
More Christmas here on "Presenting the Transcription Feature." "Author's Playhouse" was an anthology radio drama that ran from 1941 to 1945 on various networks. It featured adaptations of popular short stories by authors like James Thurber, W.W. Jacobs, and, in this case, O. Henry. The story you...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 194: BURNS AND ALLEN & THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE
Welcome to December on "Presenting the Transcription Feature." That means Christmas-themed episodes all month. We'll start off with George Burns and Gracie Allen in the eponymous "The Burns and Allen Show." Christmas is fast approaching, and George has no idea what to get his wife. Then "The…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 193: THE COUPLE NEXT DOOR & SAM SPADE
"The Couple Next Door" was one of the many 15-minutes-a day, five-days a week programs that used to fill the airwaves. It was, like "Vic and Sade" a show about "nothing." It lacks the absurdism of "Vic and Sade," and that may have made it easier for its audience to relate to. The show was the...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 192: JACK BENNY & SUSPENSE
It's Halloween, and what says spooky goings-on more than … Jack Benny. Tonight, we have two episodes of very different shows, but both starring Jack Benny. We start off with "The Jack Benny Program." Everyone is invited to Jack's house for a Halloween party. There's crazy costumes, disappointing...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 191: THE HALLS OF IVY & OUR MISS BROOKS
It's back-to-school time on this episode of "Presenting the Transcription Feature." And we all need to laugh, so here's two comedy episodes. First, we'll visit Ivy College, where the mellifluous British actor Ronald Colman and his real-life wife, the equally mellifluous Benita Hume, star as "The...
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The Hornet's Sting: "Hornet, Save Thyself"
"HORNET, SAVE THYSELF" AIRED: MARCH 3, 1967 Britt is accused of murder after he kills a former employee in a room full of witnesses. Now, he must break ranks with Scanlon and go rogue as the Hornet in order to prove his innocence. John and Jim use this episode as an example of a point they've…
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The Batcave Podcast: Episode 74 - "Bubi, Bubi, Who's Got the Ruby?" & "1001 Faces of the Riddler"
"Bubi, Bubi, Who's Got the Ruby?" & "1001 Faces of the Riddler" Aired October 12, 1968 Catwoman and Penguin are at odds over a priceless ruby and the Terrific Trio are caught in the middle in our two-part story review. Next, Riddler is back in town and he's using disguises to throw the Dynamic…
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Shazam/Isis Podcast: Jack Harris
Episode 44 Jack C. Harris With the conclusion of our reviews of DC Comics' 1977 run of The Mighty Isis comic series, we're proud to present our interview with The Mighty Isis writer Jack C. Harris. Harris talks with us about how he got the assignment to write the book, the abrupt cancellation…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 190: YOU BET YOUR LIFE & X MINUS ONE
We'll start off tonight with The One, The Only, Groucho! on "You Bet Your Life." Tonight, Groucho Marx interviews the usual assortment of unusual high school students, assistant district attorneys, housewives, and are dog trainers that different from piano teachers? Then on Old Time Radio's…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 189: FAMILY THEATER & OUR MISS BROOKS
For the Fourth of July, we're going to present two Independence Day-themed episodes of classic old time radio. First drama then comedy. "Family Theater" was a family-friendly anthology show featuring a mix of original stories and adaptations of literary classics, usually starring big names from...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 188: ROGERS OF THE GAZETTE & LUM AND ABNER
It's summer time, and I want to present a couple of summer-themed and summer-adjacent radio shows. We'll start off with real American politician, writer, and newspaper publisher Will Rogers, Jr playing a fictional Will Rogers, Jr who runs the fictional small-town newspaper, the "Illyria Weekly...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 187: RAFFLES
The character of A.J. Raffles was created by E.W. Hornung in 1898. Hornung was Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's brother-in-law, and he was inspired to write about a sort of anti-Sherlock Holmes. His Raffles is thief, to be sure, but one who was charming. Raffles an "an amateur cracksman," who lives the...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 186: COLLEGE QUIZ BOWL & BOBBY BENSON
We begin with the "College Quiz Bowl," as students from Tulane go up against their counterparts from Northwestern. As always, some of the topics are very specific to the day, but we 21st Century residents should still be able to answer quite a lot. Are you up on the names of pop culture family...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 185: LEAVE IT TO JEEVES & X MINUS ONE
"Forecast" was a radio show specifically designed to try out new shows. Both "Suspense" and "Duffy's Tavern" got their starts there. Tonight, we present the pilot for a show I would have absolutely loved had it gone to series, but alas it did not. "Leave It To Jeeves," was inspired by the P.G....
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 184: AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS
Tonight, we return to Orson Welles' "The Mercury Theatre on the Air." In this adaptation of Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days," Welles plays British gentleman adventurer Phileas Fogg, who has wagered his personal fortune that he can circumnavigate the globe in just that time. Filled with...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 183: NERO WOLFE & JACK BENNY
Nero Wolfe, the brilliant, but lazy, detective created by Rex Stout, famously almost never left his house. One of the few things that could stir him was his love of orchids. In tonight's episode of "The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe," starring Sydney Greenstreet, it is indeed some of those lovely...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 182: SUSPENSE & INFORMATION PLEASE
We start off tonight with an episode of "Suspense" that isn't all that suspenseful, i.e. spooky. But it's a lot of fun. "The Lost Special" is based on a non-Sherlock Holmes story by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which first appeared in "The Strand Magazine" in August, 1898. Orson Welles narrates. This…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 181: MR AND MRS NORTH & FIBBER MCGEE AND MOLLY
We start off tonight with a murder as investigated by those charming amateur sleuths, "Mr. and Mrs. North." Then we get seasonal with "Fibber McGee and Molly," as Fibber attempts to celebrate Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday, aka Fat Tuesday or Mardi Gras) by serving his wife a pancake breakfast in…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 180: SUSPENSE & LIFE WITH LUIGI
This late January marks both the birth and death of actor J. Carrol Naish, who was born on January 21, 1896 and died just shortly after his 77th birthday on January 24, 1973. Naish received two Oscar nominations for his supporting roles in the films "Sahara" (1943) and "A Medal for Benny" (1945),...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 179: THE SCARLET PIMPERNEL
I like to start off the new year with these adaptations by "The Lux Radio Theater." Tonight, Leslie Howard reprises his 1934 starring role as the original secret identity hero, "The Scarlet Pimpernel." Here, Olivia de Havilland plays his wife. A year later, the two would appear as husband and…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 178: THIS IS YOUR FBI & JACK BENNY
Here's two more Christmas episodes to round out this December. We'll start off with a drama, then some comedy. "This Is Your FBI" ran on ABC radio from April of 1945 to January of 1953. It dramatized real cases from the files of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. No less than the head of the…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 177: CANDY MATSON & OUR MISS BROOKS.
All December it's Christmas episodes on "PTTF." We'll start off tonight with a mystery and then a comedy. These Christmas episodes are from the same year, and, as it happens, only one day apart. First up, we hear from that sultry-voiced PI, "Candy Matson." Then we'll see what Eve Arden as "Our…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 176: JEFF REGAN & MY FRIEND IRMA
As we approach Thanksgiving, we're going to start off with a Turkey Day-themed crime drama and then then a comedy. "Jeff Regan, Investigator" starred Jack Webb as a private investigator working for the International Detective Bureau. The show just barely pre-dates "Dragnet," and Webb's Regan is...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 175: INFORMATION PLEASE & DUFFY'S TAVERN
It's a Karloff-fest tonight as we prepare to celebrate Halloween. We start off with an episode of "Information Please" that originally aired on Christmas Eve, but features Boris Karloff as one of the guests. Are you up on literary skulls, crossers of the English Channel, and poems that feature...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 174: BROADWAY IS MY BEAT and THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE
We start off tonight with an episode of "Broadway Is My Beat." If you think the sophisticated avenues of Time Square to Columbus Circle are free from murder and crime, you're dead wrong. It's "the gaudiest, the most violent, the lonesomest mile in the world." "Broadway Is My Beat" ran from…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 173: JOHNNY DOLLAR and SUSPENSE
Sixty years ago today, September 30, 1962, is the date generally accepted as the end of the Golden Age of Radio. On the same night, the final episodes of "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar" and "Suspense" were broadcast. "Johnny Dollar" after 13 years and "Suspense" after 20 years. I couldn't let that...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 172: ELLERY QUEEN & THE COLLGE QUIZ BOWL
We start off tonight by trying to match wits with that amateur detective who's also a mystery writer, the eponymous star of "The Adventures of Ellery Queen." This episode is another twisty one of multiple murders that requires you to really pay attention. Then on "The College Quiz Bowl," the best...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature 171: THE LONE RANGER & JACK BENNY.
Let's begin tonight with another thrilling story of the masked rider of justice, "The Lone Ranger." We always think of the Lone Ranger as a hero, but to the people of the Old West, he was "The Masked Man," a character a little more morally ambiguous. Tonight, he and Tonto go up against…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature: INFORMATION PLEASE and GUNSMOKE
"Information Please" famously gave away copies of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" to people who sent in questions that stumped the show's panel. The "Britannica"'s offices were in Chicago. In the summer of 1943, as part of a War Bond drive, the show left New York and broadcast from some "western"...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature: BLONDIE and ROGERS OF THE GAZETTE
Tonight, we present two examinations of the world of newspapers and investigative reporting, first comedy, then something a little more dramatic. The newspaper comic strip "Blondie" was created by Chic Young and started running in 1930. It is still running, as I record this, almost 92 years…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature: FATHER BROWN and YOU BET YOUR LIFE
"The Adventures of Father Brown" was broadcast on the Mutual Network during June and July of 1945, so only a few episodes were ever produced. It starred Karl Swenson as the titular priest and part-time detective. The show was based on the Father Brown mysteries, written by G.K. Chesterton…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature: GUNSMOKE & THE KRAFT MUSIC HALL
We start off tonight with another episode of "Gunsmoke." Here, a mysterious couple shoot four other strangers in town, sending Marshall Dillon and Chester after them all around the West. Then, on "The Kraft Music Hall," Bing Crosby is joined by actor Keenan Wynn for lots of World War II-era…
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Once Upon a Village-A Prisoner Podcast-"Once Upon a Time" & "Fall Out"
"Once Upon a Time" UK Airing: January 25, 1968 US Airing: September 14, 1968 "Fallout" UK Airing: February 1, 1968 US Airing September 21, 1968 A previous Number 2 returns to the Village and is given permission to crack the Prisoner using Degree Absolute. When it fails, it appears that the…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature: MY MAN GODFREY
"My Man Godfrey" is a classic screwball comedy from 1936. Filmed and set during the Great Depression, it stars William Powell as Godfrey, a "forgotten man": one of the millions of unemployed and down-and-out at the time. Carol Lombard co-stars as the daughter of wealthy family who soon employ...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature: NERO WOLFE & JACK BENNY
We begin this evening with "The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe." This is a particularly clever and twisty plot involving a high-stakes card game. Then on "The Jack Benny Program," Jack is a little concerned that his contract for next season hasn't been renewed yet. Is he going to be replaced by his...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature: THE GOLDBERGS and INFORMATION PLEASE
Tonight, we start off with a couple episodes of "The Goldbergs." Not the TV series set in the 1980s, but the long-running radio series from the 1930s and 40s. The show tells the story of the daily life of the Goldbergs, a Jewish family living in New York and, later, Connecticut. The program was...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature: DR. KILDARE and FIBBER MCGEE & MOLLY
We start off tonight with everyone's favorite medical drama, "The Story of Dr. Kildare." Here Drs. Kildare and Gillespie help an aging Western movie star with psychological difficulties. Then we drop by 79 Wistful Vista for a visit with "Fibber McGee and Molly." Tonight, Fibber is very busy with...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature: SUSPENSE & THE PHIL HARRIS-ALICE FAYE SHOW
We start off with a tale well-calculated to keep you in … "Suspense." In this twisty episode, tough guy actor Edward G. Robinson stars as both himself and as a humble little nothing of a man who has big ideas. Robinson made his mark playing gangsters in movies like "Little Caesar" and "Key…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature: THE QUIZ KIDS & THE PHIL HARRIS-ALICE FAYE SHOW
The school bell is ringing, so let's check in with a handful of very bright youngsters on "The Quiz Kids." I hope you know your baseball scoring rules, animals associated with each of the 48 (!) states, and that favorite topic of 8th graders everywhere: opera. Then on "The Phil Harris-Alice Faye...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature: X-Minus One and Great Gildersleeve
We start off tonight with another "X Minus One" adaptation of a classic science fiction short story. This time it's Tom Godwin's "The Cold Equations," a controversial tale that's still a subject of discussion. Then on "The Great Gildersleeve," Mr. Peavy finally gets a day off while Gildy minds…
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Presenting the Transcription Feature: Information Please & The Adventures of Ellery Queen
We start off tonight with another episode of that wonderful quiz show, "Information Please." This is an Armed Forces recording, which means that the original was recorded and then all the ads were taken out and replaced with short classical music breaks. Are you up on the publication dates of...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature: MR AND MRS NORTH and A DAY IN THE LIFE OF DENNIS DAY
"Mr. and Mrs. North" featured a married couple of sleuths. They began their career in short stories written by Richard Lockridge in the 1930s, but soon progressed to novels, a movie, a Broadway play, an Edgar-Award-wining radio show, and eventually television in the 1950s. They have affection for...
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Presenting the Transcription Feature: THE CANTERVILLE GHOST
I like to start off the new year with these adaptations by "The Lux Radio Theater" of light, amusing tales. "The Canterville Ghost" was a short story written by Oscar Wilde in 1887. Over the years, there have been numerous adaptations. The latest version just aired in the U.K. on the BBC and...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Chronic Rift Network have?
The Chronic Rift Network currently has 100 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Chronic Rift Network about?
A series of pop culture podcasts attempting to find the culture in pop culture.
How often does The Chronic Rift Network release new episodes?
The Chronic Rift Network has 100 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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The Chronic Rift Network is created and hosted by Lucky Shot Productions.
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