Yesterday USA Podcast

Yesterday USA Podcast is a feed of radio drama, and its recent titles move between science fiction, the western and the detective case. Several belong to X Minus One. Its introduction promises 'transcribed tales of new dimensions in time and space', and one episode carries a launch countdown before the story. In 'X Minus One Tunnel Under The World', credited to a story by Frederick Pohl from the pages of Galaxy and adapted for radio by George Lefferts, Guy Burkhart finds metal under the floor and behind the walls. He tells his wife, Mary, that someone has replaced their house with a clever imitation. The following morning he wakes screaming, and it is still June 15th. 'X Minus One The Stars Are The Styx', from a story by H.L. Gold adapted by Ernest Kenoy, has its narrator sizing up a pair of new arrivals, Wald and Flower, as almost reptilian and doubting they would ever risk the trip to space. Not every story stays grim. One scene in 'X Minus One The Snowball Effect' is a meeting of the Watershaw Sewing Circle that bogs down in a prolonged parliamentary battle over a point of order. Fred Collins is the credited announcer on two of these NBC Radio Network productions. Tom Mix handles the western. The broadcast hails 'America's favorite cowboy' and later closes on a Shredded Ralston jingle urging listeners to take a tip from Tom. In 'Tom Mix Vanishing Herd Part1and2', a villain called the Iron Mask plans to kill a vast herd of cattle, an FBI man named Joe Begley has been shot, and Tom tells the sheriff to drive the cattle off the plateaus and into the valleys. The credits name Curly Bradley as Tom Mix, and the sign-off is 'This is Mutual.' The Sounds of Darkness turns to crime. Its hero, Lee Masters, is an FBI man billed as the blind detective, working alongside Johnny. In 'Sound Of Darkness-The Neiman Principle', a student lies dead in a professor's laboratory, a flash bulb may be of Russian origin, and the pair examine the lock once more. Hedy van Beek is credited as producer. The period wrapping stays in throughout: cast lists, directors, NBC promos and a Heart Fund appeal. The present day intrudes as well. Spots for oldtimeradiodvd.com and its free digital magazine, the Gazette, introduce the episodes, and 'Special News Letter and Announcements 2015' gives the pitch an episode of its own, with the seller comparing the site's prices to Amazon's and asking listeners to share the site on Facebook and Twitter. For a first listen, 'X Minus One Tunnel Under The World' offers slow-dawning paranoia, and 'Tom Mix Vanishing Herd Part1and2' offers pulp momentum.