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TuneInVintage Radio For Modern Listeners.
The Good Old Days of Radio Show is a podcast that presents the period of American radio commonly known as “The Golden Age”. During this time, audiences were thrilled by comedy, mystery, suspense, and horror, produced by the some of the greatest writers, directors, composers, and famous stars of the time.
In this show we present the best of these radio shows. Each show is carefully selected by record collector John Tefteller as an outstanding example of this classic art form.
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The Story Behind The Good Old Days of Radio Show.
In 1992, John Tefteller brought the first Good Old Days Of Radio Show to the airwaves on local Southern Oregon station, KOPE-FM. For three hours every Saturday and Sunday night, thousands of listeners of all ages tuned in to hear the show, earning it ‘the highest rated radio program’ in its time slot.
Latest Episode
Thursday April 9, 2026
Episode 481: Crime Classics: If A Body Need A Body, Just Call Burke and Hare
This week, we’re back with another dark story from Crime Classics. We are once again joined by researcher Karl Schadow and Bernard Herrmann biographer Steven C Smith, to take us into one of the most chilling true crime stories the series tackled; the infamous tale of Burke and Hare, two men who turned murder into a business, supplying bodies to medical schools in 19th-century Scotland. Along the way, we discuss the cast, the production, and the eerie, minimalist score by Bernard Herrmann, which does a lot with very little to create a sense of unease.
Recent Episodes
Tuesday April 7, 2026
Episode 480: The Case of the Travelling Rat
It’s the first Tuesday of the month, and that means host John Tefteller and radio historian Dr. Joe Webb dig into another rediscovered show from the golden age of crime drama: a 1945 episode of Mr. District Attorney. Originally aired on August 29, 1945, this wartime mystery centers on a black-market racket dealing in stolen red ration points. John and Dr. Webb set the stage with background on wartime rationing, railroad travel limits, and how shows like Mr. District Attorney captured the patriotic mood of the times. They also chat about the episode’s cast, its classic sponsors (Vitalis and Ipana), and share a few great collector stories about how these long-lost programs survived decades of neglect.
Thursday April 2, 2026
Episode 479: Crime Classics: The Crime Of Bathsheba Spooner
This week, we’re back with another fascinating entry from Crime Classics. Host John Tefteller is joined by Karl Schadow and Steven C. Smith to take a closer look at the dry narration of Lou Merrill as Thomas Hyland, one of radio’s most unique storytellers. The featured story dives into a real case from 1778, the shocking murder of Joshua Spooner, planned by his wife, Bathsheba Spooner, who would go down in history as the first woman executed for murder in the United States. It’s a dark tale, but like all Crime Classics episodes, it’s told with a surprising mix of sharp humor and historical detail.
Tuesday March 31, 2026
Episode 478: Advance Release: Report From the Future
Want to hear what 1950 thought “the future” would sound like? We have an unusual program for you today, an NBC pilot from 1950 called Report from the Future, dramatized news broadcasts delivered as if they’re being reported from years yet to come. It’s part radio drama and part faux newscast. The program jumps through imagined headlines: a manned rocket launching into space, the (fictional) discovery of Cleopatra’s tomb, and a baseball slugger breaking Babe Ruth’s home run record. To make it all seem more believable, the show even folds in “expert” interviews from the era, including a rocket engineer and Major League star Ralph Kiner. More than anything, it plays like a time capsule of mid-century optimism, capturing what Americans in 1950 expected science, exploration, and pop culture to achieve in the decades ahead.
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Meet Your Host
John Tefteller has been collecting vintage radio programs since 1971. He is one of the foremost collectors of records and original radio transcriptions in the world.
John grew up in Southern California, and for decades he scoured flea markers, thrift stores, estate sales, garage sales, and private collections for records. Over the past almost 50 years of hunting, John amassed one of the largest private archives of vintage records and radio recordings.