Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing, yet pleasant, journey to the past.
Review: A disappointment here. Very readable overview of the glory days of radio before television. Doesn't break much original ground, but is a fun rehash of radio history. A few minor factual errors (e.g. regarding the roots of "My Favorite Husband" and misidentifying Alan Frees - instead of Alan Reed - as the voice of TV's Fred Flintstone) promote fears of what other errors there might be. Mr. Nachman deserved an editor more familiar with broadcasting. A pleasant journey to the past, but you might want to wait for the paperback.
Rating:
Summary: Good overview of old time radio but with many errors
Review: Although Gerald Nachmann presents a good overview of the golden age of radio, the book is riddled with errors, a clear indication of faulty research.For instance, he indicates that Mary Jane Croft portrayed the Southern belle, Leila Ransom on the Great Gildersleeve show, when in fact the character was played by Shirley Mitchell. Nachmann also states that Harold Peary portrayed George Gildersleeve who owned a girdle factory on the Fibber McGee and Molly program. Harold Peary did portray a wide array of stooge characters on the show, many of whom shared the Gildersleeve name. However, it was Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve who owned the girdle works, not George. For the beginner the book provides a good introduction to old time radio, but beware of quoting the the many errors as facts.
Rating: 
Summary: A must for anyone raised on radio.
Review: I come at this book from an oblique angle. Yes, I was definitely raised on radio shows like "The Great Gildersleeve" and "Fibber McGee and Molly," but I was born in 1971, twenty years after the demise of the medium! Thanks to a nostalgia program called "The Big Broadcast" on the Washington DC public radio station WAMU, however, every Sunday night for years I was drawn out of my 1980s media world (of The Empire Strikes Back and The Dukes of Hazzard) and into the wonderfully different, off-beat universe of vintage radio. Like my father, forty years before me, I was a kid with a radio hang-up, who's head spun around with the adventures of "The Shadow" (in reality, wealthy man-about-town Lamont Cranston) and who thrilled to stories of "Suspense!" None of my friends...not one...had any idea that this world recaptured from the past existed. That had its advantages: I could use any routine from Jack Benny or Fred Allen and claim it as my own. But it had its disadvantages as well. Radio was filled with loveable characters and great shows...you want to talk about them! Being one of the tiny minority of my generation who knew who Sheriff Matt Dillon was, I was all alone. Until now! Gerald Nachman's book RAISED ON RADIO is like having a great conversation with the world's biggest old-time radio authority...and enthusiast! I haven't listened to some of these shows in ten years, and yet its amazing how well I remember the VOICES when Mr. Nachman quotes an old gag or piece of dialogue. That's the magic of radio: the voices approach you intimitely, and your imagination takes flight. Whether you are 27 (as I am) or 72 (and you listened to the original broadcasts of "Mercury Theater on the Air" or "Dragnet") the voices are probably still echoing in your memory. Mr. Nachman's book is a great key to open that closet of remembrances in your head: a closet as jam-packed as ever Fibber McGee's was! Thank you, Gerald Nachman!
Rating:
Summary: Brings you back to those thrilling days of yesteryear.
Review: I laughed out load during many passages of this exceedingly well written book about the "good old days of radio." It's a balanced mixture of behind the scenes info, warm rememberances and hilarious author comments on the glory days of radio. Chapters are divided by types of shows. There's even a chapter on sound effects. I wished it could have been twice as long.
Rating: 
Summary: Relive the days when radio was king...
Review: I really love this book... Its a great read... neither overly scholarly (as in Zzzzzzzzzzzzz...) nor overly wishy washy like some titles that might come to mind. Its just one of those books you can sit back, read and enjoy. In the process you'll get a great overview of the rise and fall of radio... you'll meet the stars and the personality in front of and behind the mic, from the actors and executives, right down to the writers and sound effects men. - - I'm not sure if one could call it definitive... but for sure whether its definitive or not, it tells the story well and is re-readable as many of those classic radio shows are still relistenable. - - All in all, if you're a die hard "OTR" buff and want to know who played so and so in episode 154 of a certain radio show, its original airdate, and when it re-aired... the book probably isn't for you... - - If, however, to hear the story of radio as a whole, relive this golden age, and experience it not only from the perspective of the people who made it, and the generation that grew up on it this is one must have piece of literature - - (...to boot, almost all of my favorite radio shows were covered... atleast in brief !)
Rating:
Summary: Relive the days when radio was king...
Review: I really love this book... Its a great read... neither overly scholarly (as in Zzzzzzzzzzzzz...) nor overly wishy washy like some titles that might come to mind. Its just one of those books you can sit back, read and enjoy. In the process you'll get a great overview of the rise and fall of radio... you'll meet the stars and the personality in front of and behind the mic, from the actors and executives, right down to the writers and sound effects men. - - I'm not sure if one could call it definitive... but for sure whether its definitive or not, it tells the story well and is re-readable as many of those classic radio shows are still relistenable. - - All in all, if you're a die hard "OTR" buff and want to know who played so and so in episode 154 of a certain radio show, its original airdate, and when it re-aired... the book probably isn't for you... - - If, however, to hear the story of radio as a whole, relive this golden age, and experience it not only from the perspective of the people who made it, and the generation that grew up on it this is one must have piece of literature - - (...to boot, almost all of my favorite radio shows were covered... atleast in brief !)
Rating:
Summary: Lovely valentine, but correct the errors for the paperback!
Review: Nachman's writing benefits from the punchiness of his journalistic training; this book is a pleasantly affectionate tribute to a marvelous era. It does suffer from his personal lack of interest in certain genres -- the adventure serials and soap operas meant as much to many as the sitcoms did to him as a showbiz reviewer, but he whizzes through them with a chuckle as if they were all undiffrentiable. But the main thing: Mr. Nachman, please correct the myriad errors for future editions! Too many people will be reading this book for so many dates and names to be so far off. Jack Benny's show premiered in 1932, not 1934; Harold Peary's second show was called HONEST HAROLD, not THE HAROLD PEARY SHOW; Joan Davis' TV sitcom was called I MARRIED JOAN, not THE JOAN DAVIS SHOW; the TV version of MY FAVORITE HUSBAND was not superseded by I LOVE LUCY but premiered two years after it; THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE's Leila Ransom was played by Shirley Mitchell; not only Ethel Waters but Louise Beavers played BEULAH on TV, and Dooley Wilson was only one of three of her Bills; etc., etc. It's almost impossible for little things like this not to pop up in a manuscript occasionally, but in some sections of this book there is something like this every few pages, and the correct information is widely available in other books of long standing. Without these gaffes this would be a fine piece of work deserving of many reprintings.
Rating:
Summary: Lovely valentine, but correct the errors for the paperback!
Review: Nachman's writing benefits from the punchiness of his journalistic training; this book is a pleasantly affectionate tribute to a marvelous era. It does suffer from his personal lack of interest in certain genres -- the adventure serials and soap operas meant as much to many as the sitcoms did to him as a showbiz reviewer, but he whizzes through them with a chuckle as if they were all undiffrentiable. But the main thing: Mr. Nachman, please correct the myriad errors for future editions! Too many people will be reading this book for so many dates and names to be so far off. Jack Benny's show premiered in 1932, not 1934; Harold Peary's second show was called HONEST HAROLD, not THE HAROLD PEARY SHOW; Joan Davis' TV sitcom was called I MARRIED JOAN, not THE JOAN DAVIS SHOW; the TV version of MY FAVORITE HUSBAND was not superseded by I LOVE LUCY but premiered two years after it; THE GREAT GILDERSLEEVE's Leila Ransom was played by Shirley Mitchell; not only Ethel Waters but Louise Beavers played BEULAH on TV, and Dooley Wilson was only one of three of her Bills; etc., etc. It's almost impossible for little things like this not to pop up in a manuscript occasionally, but in some sections of this book there is something like this every few pages, and the correct information is widely available in other books of long standing. Without these gaffes this would be a fine piece of work deserving of many reprintings.
Rating:
Summary: A very enjoyable learning and entertaining experience
Review: Raised on Radio is a delight to read. Gerald Nachman has done a fine job of reviewing the Golden Years of Radio. He gives us background information not only on the characters and shows of OTR, but interestingly, not often heard insights into the lives of the stars who made radio great! What I found most enjoyable was his research into the lesser players in OTR: writers, directors, etc. who were every bit as responsible as the stars for making radio great, but got few chances to tell their stories. Now they can be heard!
Rating:
Summary: A radio lover's book that could be fine tuned.
Review: Raised on Radio is for those not really raised on radio but who experienced radio sometime in the twenties, thirties, particularly the forties, and just possibly the fifties before it was razed by TV. The book has insight and lovingly presents its topics. The structure although imperfect gives the reader Nachman's smorgasbord. There are things one will enjoy, like more of, things which could be omitted, or possibly just a little taste. However, it could be more carefully researched. The White Sox announcer at WCFL was not Bob Nelson but Bob Elson who incidentally recreated games on WJJD prior to WCFL. One could be confused after the elaborate Nachman treatment of the Nelson family earlier in the book. Ozzie and Harriet along with the boys did many things--but not White Sox baseball. The book also gives relatively little space to those of us raised on radio, meaning the afternoon adventures that followed the soap operas. There is a treatment but rather limited. Rather than being a book for those raised on radio it is a book for those who experienced radio. According to Nachman Fred Allen was one of the radio greats and I do not disagree, but I would argue that Allen's humor was not for those growing up with radio. It was adult and sophisticated and sadly missed today. Further, although the book talks about how radio pulled the nation together through the depression and World War II it does not discuss the importance of ethnic stations which presented programming in many languages to immigrants and gave them a sense of belonging, communication, and at the same time protected and reenforced their separateness. I often heard my grandparents listening to Polish stations in Chicago following the endless presentations of Chopin played by Paderewski with the news in Polish interrupted by advertisements in mixed languages for aluminum storm windows at an address on Milwaukee Avenue. It would also be nice to have appendicies with radio digests so one could get a feeling for what is being offered in March of 1936 or July of 1944. All in all Nachman's book gives one an appetite for more radio.
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