Radio Days Theater of the Mind Museum was founded in 2016, by Dennis and Rhonda Wright with the mission of preserving and presenting historical material and artifacts related to the history of Old-Time Radio. Admission is only $5.00 per person, with free admission for visitors under the age of 12.
Museum History
I was 16 during the winter of 1973 when I was dial surfing the AM radio band when I heard these words, “Suspense! This is The Man in Black, here again to introduce Columbia's program, Suspense”. The program airing on that fateful winter morning was The Hitchhiker starring Orson Wells. Little did I know at the time that encounter would alter my life forever. Later in my life as my passion for old-time radio grew so did my desire to collect the Old-Time Radio shows that brought me so much joy and for many years, I was satisfied with just expanding my library. I began to collect and preserve Photographs of well-known radio personalities followed later by a search for Old-Time Radio premiums and memorabilia.
In 1988 I became a CNA (Certified Nurse’s Assistant). As my collection of radio premiums grew, I began to share them with my patients and soon discovered they enjoyed reminiscing about Old-Time Radio as much as I liked talking about it. Growing and sharing my collection of radio premiums was taking on a life of its own. I started looking into other opportunities and began to share my collection with other museums, retirement homes, and assisted living facilities finally in March of 2016, my wife and I opened the Radio Days “Theater of the Mind” Museum in Sutherlin, Oregon.
My First Radio premium was Sergeant Preston’s Police Whistle, offered by the sponsors Quaker Puffed Wheat and Quaker Puffed Rice. Most of what is in the Museum is from my collection. which I mostly find on eBay or other auction sites and a few private sellers. We have on permanent display some vintage broadcasting equipment, vintage and antique radios, Old-Time Radio Album Art, posters, comic art, and radio premiums from the 1930s, ’40s, and 50’s. Our rarest display pieces would be The Captain Midnight Sun God ring, two complete Lone Ranger Frontier towns from 1948 one unpunched in four sections, and the other is assembled for all to see. One of my favorite pieces is the 1947 Green Hornet secret compartment ring. We have an extensive collection including items from: Space Patrol, Buck Rogers, Captain Midnight, Tom Mix, The Lone Ranger, Straight Arrow, Sergeant Preston of the Yukon and so many treasures from lots of different radio shows.
What makes the Radio Days Museum unique is that I do not consider us to be a broadcast museum my focus is on the listeners who listened in during their early childhood and are now in their 70s, 80s, and 90s, which brings me to our mission statement of preserving and presenting historical material and artifacts related to the history of Old-Time Radio, to further our mission, we have Android and iPhone apps for people of all ages to enjoy Old-Time Radio especially the youth of today. We call it the Superhero Academy which is a listener-supported, streaming Old-Time Radio heroes 24/7. So please like us on Facebook for updates and if you live out west, please come by and say hello. The Museum is open Friday – Saturday 11:00 am to 4:00 pm and I can be reached via the website www.radiodaysmuseum.org or call us at (541) 315-5991.