In the fourth episode for 2026 we listen to an episode of Bold Venture, a radio series from the early nineteen fifties to explore storylines, economics and the development of the means of distribution in the mid-twentieth century media industries.

 

Friday Number 5 

EPISODE 23 | OCTOBER 30, 2026

 

HOST

OWEN KELLY

 

COMMENTARY

On months that have a fifth Friday we break from our normal schedule. This year, as we did in 2022, we take an opportunity to delve into the history of radio to bring back some examples that let us hear unfiltered aspects of the world as it seemed to our grandparents.

Today go back to July 9 1951, and the 16th episode of a 78 episode series called Bold Venture and starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

The series features a story that will still sound sadly familiar to listeners today, although the way it is presented and resolved may not.

It also raises some interesting issues about the nature of syndication as a deliberate strategy to circumvent the influence of the major radio networks and set up alternative distribution platforms appealing to smaller more local advertisers.

Finally, trying to work out how to calculate the value of Bogart and Bacall’s fees in today’s money raises questions about how this calculation is usually carried out in current media journalism.

Owen Kelly introduces the episode and explains all this and more.

 

REFERENCES

Old Time Radio on Bold Venture https://oldtime.radio/episodes/bold-venture

Old Time Radio Researchers Group on Bold Venture https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Certified_Bold_Venture

Wikipedia on Bold Venture https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bold_Venture

Wikipedia on electrical transcription https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_transcription

Wikipedia on Frederic W Ziv https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Ziv

Wikipedia on the Frederic W Ziv Company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ziv_Company