Old Radio

The 1990s industrial rock band Rage Against the Machine might not have meant their name to be an homage to the classic radio gem X Minus One , but the phrase does do a good job of summing up the show's common story lines. On this revival of Dimension X , men fight computers and robots and are attacked by alien star fleets. Today, 1955, marks the first time radio listeners got to hear the famous lines, "Countdown for blast off...three, two, X Minus One !" NBC launched (get the pun?) the series, with Don Pardo announcing as only he can. Wendell Holmes, Ken Williams, and Luis Van Wooten starred in "No Contact" in which a space ship made a voyage toward a planet called Volta in a future time known as 1987. Sources radiogoldindex.com otrcat.com

We were saddened to hear of the passing of Don Pardo (1918-2014) this week at the age of 96. In most recent history, he was best known for his legendary voice on SNL ("Saturday Night Live"). He was also one of the first voices heard in 1963 reporting the assassination of John F Kennedy . During the golden age of radio , his voice talents were used on broadcasts of Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator , Just Plain Bill , The Magnificent Montague , The Catholic Hour , Pete Kelly's Blues and the sci-fi  radio classic, X Minus One . Enjoy this broadcast of X Minus One episode from 1955: "The Parade":