Showing results by author "Radio Shows of the Past!" in All Categories

Frank Lovejoy starred as Randy Stone, a reporter who covered the night beat for the Chicago Star, encountering criminals, eccentrics, and troubled souls. Listeners were invited to join Stone as he "searches through the city for the strange stories waiting for him in the darkness." Most episodes leaned towards suspense, crime and thriller themes, but Night Beat also featured occasional humorous or sentimental stories. Each episode ended with Stone at his desk as he finished typing a news story based on his latest exploits, and shouting for the copy boy to deliver his story to an ...

The 52 30-minute episodes (and two sales pitches) were produced in the mid-1940s. Dates of production and the earliest broadcasts are uncertain. Several Internet sites mention that the entire series was broadcast in 1944, but in the final two chapters of It's Dismal to Die, it is clearly stated that the Second World War has ended.Advertisements have been found for broadcasts in 1946 and 1949.The series was presented in 13-episode blocks (each containing two stories), with each ten-chapter story ending with a teaser for the following three-chapter story. The City of the Dead and A Coffin ...

On January 7, 1941, the Inner Sanctum radio program premiered, the name licensed by Simon & Schuster on condition that at the end of each broadcast the announcer would promote the latest book title published in the series. The anthology series featured stories of mystery, terror and suspense, and its tongue-in-cheek introductions were in sharp contrast to shows like Suspense and The Whistler. The early 1940s programs opened with Raymond Edward Johnson introducing himself as "Your host, Raymond" in a mockingly sardonic voice. A spooky melodramatic organ score (played by Lew White) ...

The Whistler is an American radio mystery drama which ran from May 16, 1942, until September 22, 1955, on the west-coast regional CBS radio network. The show was also broadcast in Chicago and over Armed Forces Radio. On the west coast, it was sponsored by the Signal Oil Company: "That whistle is your signal for the Signal Oil program, The Whistler." There were also two short-lived attempts to form east-coast broadcast spurs: July 3 to September 25, 1946, sponsored by the Campbell Soup Company; and March 26, 1947, to September 29, 1948, sponsored by Household Finance. The program was ...

Salty seadog Slate Shannon (Bogart) owns a Cuban hotel, Shannon's Place, sheltering an assortment of treasure hunters, revolutionaries, and other shady characters. With his sidekick and ward, the sultry Sailor Duval (Bacall), tagging along, he encounters modern-day pirates and other tough situations while navigating the waters around Havana.Aboard his boat, the Bold Venture, Slate and Sailor experience "adventure, intrigue, mystery and romance in the sultry settings of tropical Havana and the mysterious islands of the Caribbean."Calypso singer King Moses (Jester Hairston) provided musical...

Candy Matson was a radio program on NBC West Coast that aired from June 29, 1949, to May 20, 1951. It centered on Candy Matson, a female private investigator with a wry sense of humor and a penthouse on Telegraph Hill in San Francisco. The program was notable for having a striking female character "without a trace of squeamishness" as well as a veiled gay character in Candy's best friend Rembrandt Watson, voiced by Jack Thomas. Candy's love interest was police detective Ray Mallard, voiced by Henry Leff. The announcer was Dudley Manlove.Actors frequently heard in minor roles were Helen ...

Life with Luigi is an American radio situation comedy series which began September 21, 1948, on CBS Radio and broadcast its final episode on March 3, 1953.The action centered on Luigi Basco and his experiences as a newly arrived Italian immigrant in Chicago. Many episodes took place at the night school classes that Luigi attended with other immigrants from different countries. Another common theme involved Luigi's landlord/sponsor, Pasquale, scheming to get Luigi to marry his obese daughter. Perennial character actor and two-time Academy Award nominee J. Carrol Naish played Luigi. Life ...

The Adventures of Philip Marlowe was a radio series featuring Raymond Chandler's private eye, Philip Marlowe. Robert C. Reinehr and Jon D. Swartz, in their book, The A to Z of Old Time Radio, noted that the program differed from most others in its genre: "It was a more hard-boiled program than many of the other private detective shows of the time, containing few quips or quaint characters.". The program first aired 17 June 1947 on NBC radio under the title The New Adventures of Philip Marlowe, with Van Heflin playing Marlowe.The show was a summer replacement for Bob Hope. The first...

Our Miss Brooks was a hit on radio from the outset; within eight months of its launch as a regular series, the show landed several honors, including four for Eve Arden, who won polls in four individual publications of the time. Arden had actually been the third choice to play the title role. Harry Ackerman, at the time CBS's West Coast director of programming, wanted Shirley Booth for the part, but as he told historian Gerald Nachman many years later, he realized Booth was too focused on the underpaid downside of public school teaching at the time to have fun with the role. Lucille Ball...

Have Gun – Will Travel is an American Western television series that was produced and originally broadcast by CBS on both television and radio from 1957 through 1963. The television version of the series starring Richard Boone was rated number three or number four in the Nielsen ratings every year of its first four seasons.Set in the period of the Old West, the series follows the adventures of "Paladin," played by Boone, a gentleman investigator/gunfighter who travels around the Old West working as a gunfighter for hire.Although Paladin charges steep fees to clients who can ...

The situation comedy was a staple of the NBC Red Network from 1936 on, after originating on NBC Blue in 1935. One of the most popular and enduring radio series of its time, it ran as a stand-alone series from 1935 to 1956, and then continued as a short-form series as part of the weekend Monitor from 1957 to 1959.The title characters were created and portrayed by Jim and Marian Jordan, a husband-and-wife team that had been working in radio since the 1920s.Fibber McGee and Molly followed up the Jordans' previous radio sitcom Smackout. It featured the misadventures of a ...

The series was co-created by Jerome Lawrence and Aleen Leslie, and based on Leslie's “One Girl Chorus” column in the Pittsburgh Press. Lawrence left the show in 1943.The show began as a summer replacement for Bob Hope's show, sponsored by Pepsodent and airing on NBC from June 24 to September 16, 1941, with 14-year-old Ann Gillis in the title role. Mercedes McCambridge played Judy's girl friend.[3] Dellie Ellis (later known as Joan Lorring) portrayed Judy Foster when the series returned the next summer (June 23 – September 15, 1942).Louise Erickson, then 15, took over the ...

For over twelve years, from 1949 through 1962 (including a one year hiatus in 1954-1955), this series recounted the cases "the man with the action-packed expense account, America’s fabulous freelance insurance investigator, Johnny Dollar". Johnny was an accomplished 'padder' of his expense account. The name of the show derives from the fact that he closed each show by totaling his expense account, and signing it "End of report... Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar".

"The Police Reporter" pre-dates the more famous network show by a couple of years - if not the first, it could be one of the earliest true crime shows on the air. Program 1 of the series is about a man who has been missing for four days. A neighbor calls the police, thinking something may be wrong. It's the Lincoln murder case, which occurred in Aurora, Illinois in 1923.The program includes an announcement that this is the first program of the series. The series uses real names, dates and locations, so it's easy to track down information on the real cases dramatized on many of the programs. ...

This podcast offers true crime stories that are classics. You can hear true crime stories from old school people. The stories are based on true crime events, they are well produced and nostalgic. You certainly do not want to miss out on these great true crime classic stories, they will leave you on the edge of your seat.

Ranger Bill is a Christian radio program from the 1950s, produced by Moody Radio. With over 200 episodes produced, Ranger Bill stars Miron Canaday as the title character and Stumpy Jenkins and Ed Ronne, Sr as Grey Wolf.The main character, Ranger Bill, is a forest ranger located in the town of Knotty Pine along the Rocky Mountains. The show describes the various tales of the adventures of Ranger Bill and his friends.

The Red Skelton Show is an American television comedy/variety show that aired from 1951 to 1971. In the decade prior to hosting the show, Richard "Red" Skelton had a successful career as a radio and motion pictures star.[1] Although his television series is largely associated with CBS, where it appeared for more than sixteen years, it actually began and ended on NBC.During its run, the program received three Emmy Awards, for Skelton as best comedian and the program as best comedy show during its initial season, and an award for comedy writing in 1961. In 1959 Skelton also received a Golden ...

The Red Skelton Show is an American television comedy/variety show that aired from 1951 to 1971. In the decade prior to hosting the show, Richard "Red" Skelton had a successful career as a radio and motion pictures star.[1] Although his television series is largely associated with CBS, where it appeared for more than sixteen years, it actually began and ended on NBC. During its run, the program received three Emmy Awards, for Skelton as best comedian and the program as best comedy show during its initial season, and an award for comedy writing in 1961. In 1959 Skelton also received a Golden ...

The series originated on January 31, 1936, on WXYZ, the same local Detroit station that originated its companion shows The Lone Ranger and Challenge of the Yukon. Beginning April 12, 1938, the station supplied the series to the Mutual Broadcasting System radio network, and then to NBC Blue and its successors, the Blue Network and ABC Network, from November 16, 1939, through September 8, 1950. It returned from September 10 to December 5, 1952.It was sponsored by General Mills from January to August 1948 and by Orange Crush in its brief 1952 run. Distinguished by its use of classical music for ...

This show, from the early 1950s, is a good example of the true story style of delivery made popular in radio's classic crime shows Gangbusters and Mr. District Attorney. Of course, the best and most popular of the true crime shows was Dragnet -- the monotone, "just the facts" style demanded by Jack Webb in the show made two points at once: first, that the show wasn't a typical melodramatic crime show, as had been on radio since "the good old days", and more importantly, that we were along for the ride on another day at the office -- in this case, a policeman's “day at the office".