Bob and Ray Show
½ hour comedy show
Bob Elliot and Ray Goulding were a radio comedy team that went from the 1940s to the 1980s. In general they were masters of improvisation and satirizing popular entertainment of the day, very much including radio shows.

Elliott and Goulding both began in radio with their own separate shows at the same radio station, WHDH-AM in Boston. The two would appear on the other’s show and joke around. Their rapport was so funny, spontaneous, and entertaining that WHDH called on them to fill in for rain delays when they broadcast Red Sox games.

Elliott and Goulding's brand of humor caught on, and WHDH gave them their own weekday show in 1946. Matinee with Bob and Ray was originally a 15-minute show, soon expanding to half an hour. This is why Elliott and Goulding became known as Bob and Ray: it rhymed with "Matinee." Goulding later quipped, "If the word had been Matinob, we would have been Ray and Bob."

The team was great for radio stations because they were so versatile that they could fill in for any format or time slot: a 15 minute show, or an hour long show, a show at midnight, a game show, or just be on call for when problems arouse and they needed something on the air (like baseball rain delays, or a live show couldn’t be aired for some reason.) Early in their career they mostly ad-libbed the show, but later, they relied more on scripts.

Bob and Ray created hundreds (thousands) of skits and characters, some of the more famous include: Wally Ballou, an inept news reporter and "man-on-the-street" interviewer, snappy sportscaster Biff Burns ("This is Biff Burns saying this is Biff Burns saying goodnight"); Tex Blaisdell, a drawling cowboy singer who also did rope tricks on the radio; Arthur Sturdley, an Arthur Godfrey take-off;

Mary Margaret McGoon (satirizing home-economics expert Mary Margaret McBride), who offered bizarre recipes for such entrees as "ginger ale salad" and "mock turkey." As well as characters, the two also poked fun at popular radio shows of the day. "Mary Backstayge, Noble Wife" and "One Fella's Family", which spoofed Backstage Wife and One Man's Family respectively. " Mr Keene faced their pointed wit with the continuing parody, "Mr. Trace, Keener Than Most Persons." Jack Headstrong, The All American American, of course was a take off of Jack Armstrong, and they did many more.

Much like Saturday Night Live the Bob and Ray show would also mock commercials with such products as the "Little Jim Dandy Burglar Kit", or the "Bob and Ray Home Surgery Kit." There were commercials for such fictitious sponsors as the Monongahela Metal Foundry ("Casting steel ingots with the housewife in mind"), and The Croftweiler Industrial Cartel ("Makers of all sorts of stuff, made out of everything").

Bob and Ray remained in radio, but they made many appearances on television, including a 15 minute show from 1951 to 1953, bit parts in the Electric Company, skits with Saturday Night Live cast members, a game show, and other non-regular work.

All of our Old Time Radio Programs are in MP3 format. You can play them on your computer, you can transfer them to MP3 players (like the IPod), but, by and large, you cannot play them on stereos, walkmen, or car radios.

The sound quality of Old Time Radio Programs can vary greatly. Some episodes are excellent, others you have to turn up the volume a little and ignore the static. All of the episodes can be listened to and enjoyed. You can listen to our free samples to get a feel for how the programs sound.

Download all episodes -
Save money on the cost of the episodes, get your episodes instantly, and avoid the shipping fee!

• You can purchase all of these episodes either on a CD (just click the "add to cart button on this page) or download them. To download episodes

Bob and Ray Show 115 episodes:
bray.1948.08.26_xxx.mp3
bray.1948.08.27_xxx.mp3
bray.1948.09.13_xxx.mp3
bray.1948.10.10_xxx.mp3
bray.1948.12.25_xxx.mp3
bray.1948.12.27_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.01.14_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.07.15_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.07.20_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.07.21_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.07.26_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.07.27_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.07.28_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.07.29_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.07.30_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.07.31_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.01_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.02_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.03_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.04_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.05_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.09_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.11_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.12_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.13_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.15_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.16_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.17_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.18_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.19_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.20_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.22_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.23_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.24_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.25_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.26_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.27_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.29_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.30_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.08.31_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.09.01_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.09.14_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.09.17_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.09.19_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.09.20_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.09.24_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.09.26_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.10.13_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.10.14_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.10.21_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.11.14_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.11.15_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.11.16_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.11.17_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.12.07_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.12.08_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.12.09_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.12.10_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.12.12_Boston_Mary_Cries_and_Terrence_McCaffigen.mp3
bray.1949.12.14_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.12.15_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.12.16_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.12.17_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.12.19_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.12.21_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.12.22_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.12.28_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.12.29_xxx.mp3
bray.1949.12.31_xxx.mp3
bray.1950.02.20_xxx.mp3
bray.1950.08.17_xxx.mp3
bray.1950.08.21_xxx.mp3
bray.1950.10.07_xxx.mp3
bray.1950.10.09_xxx.mp3
bray.1953.xx.xx_Merchandising_Icecubes.mp3
bray.1959.02.13.CBS_02.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_01.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_02.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_06.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_10.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_13.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_14.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_15.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_16.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_17.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_18.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_19.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_21.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_22.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_23.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_24.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_25.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_27.mp3
bray.1959.06.29_CBS_28.mp3
bray.1959.07.13_CBS_02.mp3
bray.1959.07.13_CBS_03.mp3
bray.1959.07.13_CBS_04.mp3
bray.1959.07.13_CBS_05.mp3
bray.1959.07.13_CBS_06.mp3
bray.1959.07.13_CBS_07.mp3
bray.1959.07.13_CBS_10.mp3
bray.1959.07.13_CBS_11.mp3
bray.1959.07.13_CBS_20.mp3
bray.1959.07.13_CBS_23.mp3
bray.1959.08.07_CBS_01.mp3
bray.1959.08.10_CBS_01.mp3
bray.1959.08.10_CBS_05.mp3
bray.1959.08.10_CBS_06.mp3
bray.1959.08.10_CBS_13.mp3
bray.1959.08.10_CBS_17.mp3
bray.1959.08.10_CBS_19.mp3
bray.1959.08.10_CBS_21.mp3
bray.1959.08.10_CBS_25.mp3
bray.1959.08.10_CBS_27.mp3
bray.1959.08.10_CBS_28.mp3