Download old radio shows for your kids

It's a bird! It's a plane! It's...Gray's bedtime hack:

I download old radio shows (Superman, Lone Ranger, etc.) from RUSC.com (membership costs $7.50 per month) and burn them to cd, which I play for my kids in their bedroom after lights out.

Our bedtime routine is bath, then stories (in bed, from books), then lights out and listen to a radio show (in bed, in the dark). The children (6 and 4) fall asleep within 5 to 15 minutes. I adjust the volume down so that its only audible if they lie still. If they rustle the sheets and play, they can't hear the story. This makes them gladly lie very still. With the lights out and a still body, it doesn't take long and they're out until morning.

Tags: Bedt, Parenting, Radio shows, Sleep

Comments

[kirsten]

there is another site where you can do this for free (legally):
http://www.kiddierecords.com/

they have put one old record online each week since 2005. there are some really good ones!
(i believe i found this via Mommycoddle last year:
http://mommycoddle.typepad.com/)

[Nathan]

Try http://www.nonags.com and get a paid account -- $25 a year or $60 for a lifetime. Not only do they have some great free software guaranteed not to have spyware, spam or viruses, but they also have an MP3 section with tons of old radio shows, BBC programs, music from 78s that are out of copyright, etc. It's a treasure trove of this stuff, and there are no fees after the initial one.

On the other hand, they have a free version of the software too, but you don't have access to the DRM free MP3s.

Sign up at http://www.nonagsplus.com/nplus.html

(Full disclosure: I have nothing to do with the site except having a lifetime membership)

[Duane]

Actually I'll vouch for this approach personally - I've used it myself to overcome insomnia. During college I'd have bad bouts of lying in bed staring into space until 3am. So I'd put on the radio, always talk radio never music, and keep the volume at exactly what you said - so low that if I moved, I couldn't hear it. It wasn't so much to keep myself from moving, but more to allow my attention to drift gently away from the sound. If I found that because of noise I hadn't heard what was being discussed for the past 10 seconds, and I didn't care, it was a sure sign that I would be asleep soon as my attention came back to the sound less and less and eventually I was out cold.

[tomhiggins]

I have been collecting Old Time Radio shows off the net for more years than I want to say, the stacks of cds make my wife ever so happy:)-

There are tons of places you can get these gems for free(legaly) and in good sounding files.

Recently collectors have been moving vast chunks of our collections to archive.org, in fact they have given the OldTimeRadio folks their own section.

http://www.archive.org/details/oldtimeradio

In particular, for kids there is

The Cinnamon Bear- This is a fave, a classic and one made specficaly for kids. Great for the winter holidays.
http://www.archive.org/details/OTRR_Certified_Cinnamon_Bear

These next few are kids shows that are forgedin the morals of their times, meaning there is violence that some parents may not dig. Of the two I like Speed Gibson as it acts as a sort of snapshot of the world as kids were allowed to see it right before America entered WWII.

http://www.archive.org/details/Speed_Gibson_Of_The_International_Secret_Police
http://www.archive.org/details/otr_captainmidnight

If you have a preteen>older kid who is into science fiction you will not go wrong in letting them listen to a pair of shows that turned then new works into radio plays, many of those works latter became the foundations of The Golden Age of Science Fiction..its a kick to hear a "new story by Ray Badbury called The martian Chronicles" being said knowing now what a classic it has become.

http://www.archive.org/details/XMinus1_A

Look around in the archives, there are years worth of great listening to be had in the OTR archives...as well as some real clunkers that did not age so well. As alwasy give them a listen before you let the impressionable little sponges soak em up.

-tomhiggins

[Mo]

You can do something similar with audiobooks on cassette or CD from your local public library. For free! Some public libraries also have downloadable e-audiobooks.

[Jen]

There are also many great old time radio podcasts that are available on itunes. Just do a search for "old time radio" or "boxcars711" in in the itunes store. They are all free.

[Kip W]

I second the recommendation for archive.org -- I keep going back for more. The "Lux Radio Theater" section, for instance, has hour-long radio versions of movies, which include Pinocchio (with Cliff Edwards), The Wizard of Oz (with Judy Garland), and Snow White.

(And for the discerning parent, I recomment The Maltese Falcon with Edward G. Robinson as Sam Spade!)

[rachel]

i actually use the same hack to put myself to sleep. i have a playlist on my iPod with only songs i've heard so many times that they no longer surprise me with anything new, then i plug it in and play it like you said, so soft that i can't hear it if i move. and like Duane said, it's not so much to stop myself from moving, but for me, it's more so that my mind won't wander too far away and i'll eventually be lulled into sleep.

[Toni]

Here's one that we like - www.storynory.com

[Jim]

These are probably too scary for really young kids, but the old-time sci-fi, fantasy, and horror radio shows on Zombie Astronaut are pretty good and may keep even jaded teenagers and pre-teens interested in this form of entertainment.

There are all sorts of download options including signing up to get scary old-time radio sent to your gmail account once a week.

Also, there is usually some nice background information on many of the episodes.

Check it out... IF YOU DARE!... (sorry, couldn't resist) at: http://www.zombieastronaut.net

[inconsequentia]

we are homeschoolers and get ours -- for free -- from:
http://www.homeschoolradioshows.com/

peace

[ladygoat]

This is also great for kids who are sick and have to stay in bed - I remember listening to the Jack Benny show and Burns and Allen and Wonder Woman when I was 12 and lying in bed for hours away from my siblings so they wouldn't catch whatever virus I had.