"Nostalgia Theater" - a trip back to the golden age of network radio with Don Miller and Larry Fuller

The Betty Strong Encounter Center will host “Nostalgia Theater,” a trip back to the golden age of network radio with Don Miller and Larry Fuller, at 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 5. Admission will be free. A reception will follow.

The Sioux City radio broadcasters and their longtime producer, Scott Frick, will reach back to an era that began in 1926 when National Broadcasting Company opened.

Appearing on stage, they’ll treat the audience to a rich sampling of classic network radio shows, the stylings of popular radio announcers and the staying power of memorable advertising jingles. They’ll invite the audience to participate in a radio play broadcast re-enactment.

 “Old-time radio programs conveyed noble myths, like ‘Crime does not pay,’ ‘Goodness is always rewarded’ and ‘Evil will not go unpunished,’” says Miller, a longtime Siouxland radio newsman. “Radio produced shows that entertained millions of listeners, such as ‘Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet,’ ‘The Lone Ranger,’ ‘Lux Radio Theater,’ ‘Sam Spade Private Eye’ and many more.”

On Sunday afternoons during radio’s heyday, Siouxlanders could tune into “The Shadow” on KTRI, now KWSL; and KCOM, now KMNS. The popular serial drama premiered in 1937 over the Mutual Broadcasting Network.

Radio began giving way to TV in the post-World War II Baby Boom. It abruptly ended in the fall of 1962 when Columbia Broadcasting System axed "Suspense" and "Yours Truly Johnny Dollar," two of its top hits and longest-running shows.

In 2002, KSCJ radio asked Miller to host six hours of old-time radio for the station’s 75th birthday. Fuller provided shows from his collection of some 12,000 recordings for the program. Later that year, Miller and Fuller teamed up to host a Saturday morning nostalgia show for the station. They’ve been an old-time radio team ever since, playing radio classics for two hours each Saturday morning.

Miller’s interest in broadcast radio history began in January 1976 when the former KBCM (now KG95) aired hour-long, old-time radio shows on Sunday afternoons. Immediately popular, the program expanded to two hours.

Fuller, a fan of the show and a pharmaceutical sales representative, was a frequent winner of the show’s trivia quizzes. The show ran until the station was sold in May 1983.