The Comedy-O-Rama Hour: New "Lum & Abner" Radio Comics on Comedy-O-Rama Premieres Saturday 2:30 pm ET, 11:30 am PT on CRAGG!

Beginning Saturday, April 13, 2013, at 2:30 pm ET, new Lum and Abner audio comics will become a regular feature of The Comedy-O-Rama Hour, which premieres every Saturday streamed over Cult Radio A-Go-Go! [http://www.cultradioagogo.com].

Comedy-O-Rama is the creation of veteran radio producer-host Joe Bevilacqua (Joe Bev).

Lum and Abner was an American network radio comedy program created by Chester Lauck and Norris Goff that was aired from 1931 to 1954. Modeled on life in the small town of Waters, Arkansas, near where Lauck and Goff grew up, the show proved immensely popular. In 1936, Waters changed its name to Pine Ridge after the show's fictional town.

Lauck and Goff had known each other since childhood and attended the University of Arkansas together where they both joined the Sigma Chi Fraternity. They performed locally and established a blackface act which led to an audition at radio station KTHS in Hot Springs, Arkansas. Prior to the audition, the two men decided to change their act and portray two hillbillies, due to the large number of blackface acts already in existence. After only a few shows in Hot Springs, they were picked up nationally by NBC, and Lum and Abner, sponsored by Quaker Oats, ran until 1932. Lauck and Goff performed several different characters, modeling many of them on the real-life residents of Waters, Arkansas.

Lum and Abner broadcast more than 5,000 shows on NBC, Mutual, CBS and ABC (formerly NBC Blue) before leaving the air in 1954. The show had various sponsors during its 22 year run, including Quaker Oats, Ford Dealers of America, Horlick's Malted Milk, General Foods (Postum), Miles Laboratories (Alka-Seltzer and One-a-Day), and Frigidaire.

Cartoonist/writer/actor Donnie Pitchford said, "I created these audio audio dramatization of my comic strip, complete with voices, sound effects and music, as a feature for blind fans of old time radio, but one that any reader may access. I am thrilled my Lum and Abner audio will now please new audiences on Joe Bev's Comedy-O-Rama!"

Early in 2011, negotiations between Pitchford and Ethan C. Nobles of http://www.firstarkansasnews.net, the Chester Lauck family resulted in a new comic strip series based on the classic radio programs and its characters. Beginning June 5, 2011, "Lum and Abner" officially began appearing at http://firstarkansasnews.net in a "Sunday strip" format with a new installment each Sunday. Readers may sign up for a free e-mail subscription by visiting GoComics. The comic strip made its newspaper debut in "The Mena Star" of Mena, Arkansas on Thursday, July 28, 2011. It has since been signed by two more Arkansas papers, "The Saline Courier" of Benton and "The Standard" of Amity.

A feature unique to this strip is a weekly audio version, designed with blind readers in mind. It is posted here and contains character voices, sound effects and music, much in the same style as the 1931-54 "Lum and Abner" radio series. Fans of "Lum and Abner" have the opportunity to buy coffee mugs, mouse pads and tee shirts at the Lum and Abner store. A "Lum and Abner Comic Strip Group" page is available on Facebook. "Lum and Abner" entertained millions as a classic radio program, inspiring a series of seven motion pictures and shaping the style and content of television's rural comedies as well. We hope our comic strip will carry Lum and Abner into a new era of entertainment.

Joe Bev hosts and producers four different radio hours per week. Archived episodes are podcast via iTunes:

WATERLOGG PRODUCTIONS

4 PODCASTS

SUBSCRIBE to The Comedy-O-Rama Podcast on iTunes OR click on the link to the right to hear us online	SUBSCRIBE to The Jazz-O-Rama Podcast on iTunes OR click on the link to the right to hear us online
SUBSCRIBE to The Joe Bev Experience Podcast on iTunes OR click on the link to the right to hear us online	SUBSCRIBE to The Cartoon Carnival Podcast on iTunes OR click on the link to the right to hear us online

Listeners can subscribe to each show, which will automatically download weekly for FREE.

Every Saturday, at 2:30 pm ET / 11:30 am PT, "The Joe Bev 3-Hour Block" includes radio comedy, classic jazz, radio drama, interview, documentary and more, starting with The Comedy-O-Rama Hour, then The Jazz-O-Rama Hour and The Joe Bev Experience following. Listen online for free at http://www.cultradioagogo.com.

Waterlogg Productions is a full service entertainment company, founded by Joe Bevilacqua and Lorie Kellogg, specializing in audio production of many styles and genres, from fictional comedy to serious documentary. For more information, go tohttp://www.waterlogg.com.

VIDEO-Behind the Scenes Recording The Comedy-O-Rama Hour: