Dic Youngs Died

I don't know that Dic Youngs -- Youngsie, the Old Youngster -- was well known outside of central Iowa. But at least there, Des Moines and environs, he was a legendary disk jockey, and everyone knew him on KIOA.

He died.

As far as I was concerned, Dic was the voice of the rock 'n' roll in the '60s, since it was his channel that played the hits (along with KSO) and his voice and style was perfect for it. The perfect DJ voice.

Then later, before KIOA became strictly oldies, he had the Saturday Night Oldies Show, which was a throwback to the glory days. We used to listen to that too, faithfully, with Dic giving lots of shout outs to Des Moines businesses and people. Listening to the oldies was special. And the way he did it, with interviews, calling in favorites, Des Moines history, rock history, etc., it had a lot of texture.

He used to be at the state fair all the time. I talked to him a few times over the years. And saw him at a few concerts, music shows. I'm about 100% sure he was the guy in 1967 who was the DJ at the Monkees' concert.

Last time I heard him -- it's been a few years -- I was fairly far from Des Moines, and could just hear the channel fading in and fading out very badly. He was talking about a health problem he was having. I wondered how long he'd last.

Old Time Radio

Here's a place that looks like it links to lots of archives of Old Time Radio shows, mp3s of episodes of shows from way back, '30s, '40s, '50s.

Calf Killer Old Time Radio.

I have quite a few OTR shows, burnt on discs some years ago. I never listen to them, but I know they'd be good. I tend to drift. Some are not great quality, but some are very clear. There are thousands of episodes out there of detective stories, mystery stories, horror stories, and comedies that you may never have dreamt existed.

One of my favorites, back when I was listening to them, was a show called "Diary of Fate." And, hey, sure enough, there's a link off to a directory of this show's episodes. There's only 25-some episodes, identified by the name of the main character of that episode.

The premise of "Diary of Fate" is that Fate (that inexorable force behind everything) is personified, and reviewing a big book that has the life stories of various individuals. He has a slightly sinister, satisfied-about-it voice when he does these reviews. Each review is an episode of someone who did something terribly wrong. Perhaps it could've been avoided, perhaps they might not have gotten caught, "but for a little thing." Fate says that a lot, "It was a little thing." Such as a happenstance visit, a red light at an inopportune moment, a phone call that delays you, etc. And in the episodes it's these "little things" that Fate uses to seal their fate!

A common premise would be trying to get rich by killing someone in the way. But the little things pile up and next thing you know...their life's down the drain! It's a good show.

Calf Killer has lots of links, and some of these shows I recognize as ones I have. The "Adventures By Morse" link doesn't go anywhere live, and I only tested a couple links.

As far as I know, they're public domain, either that or they're so forgotten that no one cares.