Great even without nostalgia

I enjoyed this thoroughly even though I didn't have any memories of Yiddish radio growing up.

disappointing

Growing up in Brooklyn in the 1950's, my Father's radio was always tuned to WEVD (or WQXR). As such, I expected more of the lingua franca that the CD purports to contain. Enlish ditties sung by Jewish personalities is cute but not enthralling. I kept waiting to hear actual Yiddish and especially the voice of Zvi Scooler. I cannot imagine any collection of this sort not containing the voice of Zcooler. Maybe I expected too much.

A beautifully assembled history of a time long gone

It's a shame that there's only one review of this double CD, and also a shame that it is described as an unabridged CD, as if it's a narration of a book. In fact, this was a radio presentation on public radio, narrated by Scott Simon, on the lost world of Yiddish radio, using old acetates (the flimsy records used to record the shows) recovered from dustbins by Henry Sapoznik, a social historian, who provides his own arch commentary. It is, as Sapoznik says, like listening to transmissions from another planet, because the recordings evoke an entire time period and culture of the 1930's and 1940's when a large audience of Yiddish speakers in New York listened to Yiddish radio. There is a wonderful pastiche of Yiddish advertisements, a hilarious history of Yiddish swing, and lots of dramas, advice columnists of the air, and other gems. It bears listening again and again, and you might find yourself entertaining passengers in your car with selections you like best. It gives you a warm, homey feel of being privy to the everday world of your grandparents, 60 or 70 years ago. I strongly recommend it.