The run
- Network
- NBC
- Years active
- 1940–1950
- Surviving broadcasts
- 195
- Genre
- comedy
Digitised by the Old Time Radio Researchers and streamed from the Internet Archive item “BobRayLibraryReel5”; these recordings are in the public domain.
Source collection
Internet Archive audio collections
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
0 dated broadcasts across 11 years on the air, with 11 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from NaN, in original transmission order.
- 1. Wally Ballou at An Antique Factory · Date unknown
- 2. Bob & Ray Grand National Spelling Bee II · Date unknown
- 3. Used Car Lot of the Air · Date unknown
- 01
Wally Ballou at An Antique Factory
Date unknown · 3 min
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 02
Bob & Ray Grand National Spelling Bee II
Date unknown · 3 min
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 03
Used Car Lot of the Air
Date unknown · 3 min
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 04
One Fellas Family (The Children Return Home)
Date unknown · 3 min
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 05
Bob & Ray Grand National Spelling Bee I
Date unknown · 3 min
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 06
Interview with Songwriter (Labor Day)
Date unknown · 2 min
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 07
Guest Disc Jockey Proctor Pops Part I
Date unknown · 2 min
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 08
Phone Call to WTOK
Date unknown · 2 min
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Also on NBC
NBC in 1940–1950
Other series the network carried while Bob & Ray Library Reel 5 was on the air.
Same seasons
comedy on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
Friends in front of a microphone
Jack Benny and Fibber McGee sold intimacy: recurring characters, in-jokes, a house style. The modern hang-out show is the same trick without the script.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of Bob & Ray Library Reel 5
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
Chosen by the same editors.
