About the station

Old radio shows and 78 records, playing all the time on eighteen stations. You don't pick what plays: you tune in, and whatever is on is on, for everyone on that station at the same second. That's how radio worked.

I made The Bee's Knees.fm so these shows and records have somewhere to play all day, the way they did on the radio. It's a one-woman station: I pick the shows and records, build the schedules and keep it on the air.

Keep it on the air

Listening is free, with no account and no ads except the vintage ones. If you'd like to help with the web address and upkeep, you can tip the station on Ko-fi. Members get their name in the ticker, and Sponsors can put their name on a station for the month.

A Discord for listeners is coming soon.

Say hello

Requests, a recording that won't play, or a show that shouldn't be here: write to [email protected].

Whose recordings these are

Not mine. Every show and record plays straight from the Internet Archive, a non-profit library, and this site hosts no audio of its own. "via archive.org" under each title opens that recording's page at the Archive. Much of the radio collection was gathered by the Old Time Radio Researchers, and the 78s by the people who digitized them. The station isn't affiliated with the Archive, and they run on donations, so if you enjoy something, give them something.

Records released in 1925 or earlier are in the US public domain. Many records here are newer, and some may still be under copyright. The radio shows are widely treated as public domain, but not every part of every show is settled. If a recording is yours and you want it off a station, email me and it will come off the schedule. Removing it from the Archive itself is a separate request to them.

What's kept

• No accounts and no cookies. Your browser remembers your last station and volume, on your own device.
• Listener counts and reactions are anonymous: no one, including me, can tell who sent them.
• If you tip on Ko-fi and make it public, your Ko-fi name and message can show in the ticker for two weeks. Amounts and email addresses never do.

A note about the shows

These programs are played as they were made. Some are frightening, and some carry the attitudes of their time, including stereotypes that were wrong then too. Nothing is rated or filtered.