What is Old Time Radio (oldtime.radio)?

Updated

Old Time Radio is a free, 24/7 streaming station that plays classic American radio shows from the 1930s through the 1950s. You can listen in a web browser at oldtime.radio, and the site also lets you build your own custom channels from a list of available programs. The audio is hosted by the non-profit Internet Archive, and the site itself is open-source software released under the MIT Licence.

What you can listen to

The station's catalog draws on the Internet Archive's collection of vintage radio drama, comedy, and adventure serials. Shows named on the site include:

  • Superman — the radio adventures of the Man of Steel
  • X-Minus One — science fiction anthology series
  • Tarzan — jungle adventure serial
  • Philip Marlowe — detective drama
  • Gunsmoke — Western drama
  • Jack Benny — comedy

These are examples rather than a complete list; the full set of shows is what you browse when building a custom station.

How the site works

Listening

The station broadcasts continuously, so there is no episode queue to manage — you tune in and hear whatever is currently playing. JavaScript must be enabled in your browser, since the player depends on it. If JavaScript is disabled, the page shows a "Please Adjust Your Receiver" notice instead of audio.

Schedule

A Schedule panel lets you select a channel and see which shows are coming up next, so you can plan around a specific program rather than catching it by chance.

Visualiser

A Visualiser panel offers a choice of visual displays that react to the audio while you listen.

Volume and preferences

Volume is controlled directly in the player. Under Preferences you can toggle:

  • Show episode summary when tuning in partway through
  • Information messages
  • "Now Playing" messages
  • Sleep Timer, which stops playback after a set interval

Station Builder

Station Builder is the feature that distinguishes oldtime.radio from a plain stream. You create your own radio station by selecting shows from a list and arranging them into channels. Within a channel you can:

  • Adjust channel settings
  • Choose whether to play commercials between programmes
  • Add another channel
  • Delete a station

This means you can, for example, build a channel that plays only detective dramas, or one that mixes comedy and science fiction, instead of relying on the default rotation.

Cost and hosting

The site states that it broadcasts Old Time Radio shows 24/7 for free. All audio is hosted by the non-profit Internet Archive, and the site asks regular listeners to consider supporting the Internet Archive financially. The website's own source code is available on GitHub under the MIT Licence, and the station can be contacted by email.

Who it is for

Old Time Radio suits listeners who want background or focused listening to vintage serials without downloading files or managing a library, and who are willing to keep a browser tab open with JavaScript enabled. If you want to curate what you hear rather than take the default stream, Station Builder is the reason to use this site over a generic archive search.