the best meat, and plenty of it

Just received a huge order from the Old Time Radio Catalog. I had been thinking about ordering from them forever, and finally did it so I'd have more WWII material for this weekend's Memorial Day show. Their prices are incredible: $5 per MP3 CD, with sometimes dozens of programs on one CD.

For this weekend's show I ordered the discs for Command Performances and Jubilee. Both were Armed Forces Radio programs which seemed to have the same basic premise: servicemen would write in requesting specific performers, and the show would get the performers to appear and mention the servicemen by name on the air. This afternoon I cracked open the disc for Jubilee. It's great! It was aimed at black servicemen and the talent was incredible. I listened to 4 episodes and heard Cab Calloway, Louis Jordan, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Nat King Cole, Lena Horne, Fletcher Henderson, Gene Krupa and Ethel Waters. Plus a host named "Bubbles" who used so much jive lingo that I had no idea what he was saying half the time.

I also got a CD of wartime commercials and PSAs, which are fantastic. Short radio messages about rationing, war bonds, home canning and victory gardens, loose lips sinking ships, etc. My favorite so far is a PSA for the "Share Meat" program, which I gather was a government program encouraging people to voluntarily cut back on red meat consumption before it was rationed. The slogan, repeated at the beginning and end, was "Our fighting men need MEAT! The BEST meat! And plenty of it!" I also really liked one called "Is This Trip Necessary?" which encouraged civilians not to travel so there'd be room on the trains for servicemen on holiday leave. I'm going to drop the PSAs in throughout the show. I think it will be a nice fun addition.

My only complaint is that this evening, the same day I got my CDs, I also got an email from the company with a special offer ... 20% off all WWII CDs. Anyone reading this who runs a small business, here's a tip: don't ever do this! Never, ever send someone a coupon for something they just bought at full price. Now instead of basking in the enjoyment of my massive new stash of music, I'm having to convince myself that I didn't just get ripped off.

I really didn't: the price is great, even at full price. And if he had told me to wait because WWII CDs were going on sale in a few days, I wouldn't have been able to because I needed them for the show this weekend. Knowing that doesn't change my annoyance at getting that coupon just a few hours after receiving the order I paid full price for.