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Behind the Mike

32 episodes · 1940–1941 · Blue Network · Variety & Music

Play Behind the Mike on Radio Days

Graham McNamee's weekly look backstage at radio: the people, sound effects, mistakes and oddities behind the broadcasts. Heard on the NBC Blue Network.

Sources: RadioGOLDINdex

Episodes

Tap a title to play it on Radio Days.

1940

• The First Show September 15, 1940 · Blue Network · 30 min
  The first show of Graham McNamee's backstage tour of radio: a woman who has sat in the audience of some 32,500 broadcasts, and an NBC page with a surprising life.
• Warming Up a Studio Audience September 22, 1940 · Blue Network · 30 min
  Harry Von Zell shows how to warm up a studio audience, a quiz winner tells what he did with his $1,000, and an animal imitator explains how he played a killer ape on The Shadow.
• Radio Babies September 29, 1940 · Blue Network · 25 min
  How an eighteen-year-old actress plays radio babies, and how eleven-year-old Mary Small was discovered.
• Versatile Acting October 6, 1940 · Blue Network · 30 min
  Dialect actor Charlie Cantor shows off his voices, plus radio oddities and what the stars like to eat.
• Sundown on the Veldt October 13, 1940 · Blue Network · 29 min
  Joseph Marais tells about a Zulu prince he met in London, and Bill Stern explains how a football game is broadcast.
• Radio Sneezing October 20, 1940 · Blue Network · 30 min
  Radio's expert sneezer, John J. Anthony's most shocking moment on the air, and a radio actor who talked his way out of a speeding ticket.
• Stoogedom October 27, 1940 · Blue Network · 29 min
  Minerva Pious of The Fred Allen Show demonstrates her character voices.
• Sound Effects November 3, 1940 · 30 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs doesn't list this date, but lists the same title on November 10, 1940.
• Making a Living by Dying November 10, 1940 · Blue Network · 30 min
  How sound effects are made, character voices from Gilbert Mack, and an actor who makes his living getting killed on the air.
• Radio Oddities November 17, 1940 · Blue Network · 30 min
  Radio editor Ben Gross tells odd stories from radio's early days.
• War News Mistakes November 24, 1940 · 30 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists this date as “Dinah and the Truck Driver.”
• Musical Bridges December 8, 1940 · 30 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Radio's Dramatic Actresses December 15, 1940 · Blue Network · 30 min
  Gertrude Warner shows her range as an actress, and a look at NBC's shortwave broadcasts overseas.
• Difficult Names December 22, 1940 · Blue Network · 30 min
  Ben Grauer fills in for Graham McNamee, with a xylophonist whose name nobody can pronounce and a dialect coach.
• The Radio Almanac December 29, 1940 · Blue Network · 30 min
  Phil Cook on hosting an hour a day, six days a week, and how a man's voice becomes Donald Duck's.

1941

• A Lunch with Henry Morgan January 5, 1941 · Blue Network · 30 min
  A writer's lunch with Henry Morgan, the work of the studio engineer, and a talking dog interrupted at the wrong moment.
• Script Writers January 12, 1941 · 30 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• FDR Third Inaugural Ceremonies January 19, 1941 · 30 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• You're My Dream January 26, 1941 · 30 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Putting a Program Together February 2, 1941 · Blue Network · 30 min
  How this very program is put together, plus odd letters to NBC.
• The Lady from Oklahoma February 9, 1941 · Blue Network · 29 min
  A cooking expert's call from an Oklahoma listener, and an amateur radio operator's adventure on the air.
• Character Actors February 16, 1941 · Blue Network · 29 min
  An actor explains how he creates dialect characters, and the secret of the fizzing-tablet sound effect.
• Comedy Broadcasts February 23, 1941 · Blue Network · 30 min
  How a radio comedy show is put together, and how NBC builds a singing group.
• Pioneers of Radio Entertainment March 2, 1941 · Blue Network · 30 min
  A salute to radio's pioneers, with WJZ's first announcer and listeners' letters from 1924.
• The Lee De Forest Story March 23, 1941 · Blue Network · 30 min
  A singer's comeback, and a dramatization of Lee De Forest's inventions on the anniversary of the radio-telephone.
• Early Microphones April 20, 1941 · Blue Network · 29 min
  An original WJZ engineer on early microphones, with the orchestra heard through one, and the sound of a Roman galley.
• Enoch Light Returns May 4, 1941 · Blue Network · 30 min
  Enoch Light explains why he was off the air for seven months, and how an ad agency builds a show for a sponsor.
• Amusing Stories Behind Radio May 18, 1941 · Blue Network · 29 min
  Stories about Arthur Godfrey and radio stations around the country, and how radio kept a boy out of reform school.
• Selling a Show to a Sponsor June 8, 1941 · Blue Network · 30 min
  How independent producers sell programs, how commercials are made, and a salute to an old show.
• The Associated Press June 29, 1941 · Blue Network · 30 min
  The founding of the Associated Press, and great stories it carried, dramatized.
• Zulu Radio Star October 12, 1941 · Blue Network · 30 min
  Joseph Marais tells more about his Zulu friend, and Gilbert Mack shows how he plays Asta the dog.
• Impersonations of Famous People November 30, 1941 · Blue Network · 30 min
  An impressionist explains his craft, Superman breaks a stone wall, and how Inner Sanctum's creaking door opening is done.