Showing results by author "CBS Radio" in All Categories

Suspense went through several major phases, characterized by different hosts, sponsors, and director/producers. Formula plot devices were followed for all but a handful of episodes: The protagonist was usually a normal person suddenly dropped into a threatening or bizarre situation; solutions were "withheld until the last possible second"; and evildoers were usually punished in the end.

Nostalgia radio had incredible comedy, mystery, detective, western, sci-fi, musical, and drama shows that kept Americans glued to their radio sets. Families gathered around their living room radios to hear their favorite Hollywood stars in fully-dramatized broadcasts that entertained millions.

To what lengths will people go to protect their children? Spite their siblings? Murder the missus? Find out in 21 digitally remastered and restored episodes spanning two decades of radio's outstanding theater of thrills.

Many of the episodes, which included both original stories and adaptations, centered on a protagonist facing a life-or-death situation. Numerous actors made appearances on the show, including Elvia Allman, Eleanor Audley, Parley Baer, Harry Bartell, William Conrad, Ted de Corsia, John Dehner, Sam Edwards, Virginia Gregg, Lou Merrill, Howard McNear, Jeanette Nolan, Alan Reed, Bill Johnstone, Marvin Miller, Frank Lovejoy, Berry Kroeger, Vic Perrin, Elliott Lewis, Jack Webb, Peggy Webber, and Will Wright.

My Favorite Husband hit the CBS Radio airwaves in 1948, starring Lucille Ball and Richard Denningas Liz and George Cugat - who later became Liz and George Cooper when confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change. Set in the fictitious town of Sheridan Falls, the show follows the happily married couple, residents of 321 Bundy Drive, through mischief and various predicaments, from faked illnesses to trouble with exes.

For its premiere episodes, The CBS Radio Workshop aired a two-part adaptation of Brave New World, featuring its author, Aldous Huxley, as narrator. The musical score was created by Academy Award-winner Bernard Hermann, whose film credits included Psycho and Citizen Kane.

Getting away with murder? Don't bet on it! Sometimes even the careful get caught. Sometimes revenge leads to regret. Sometimes we wade through dark thoughts and dark water, through evil and espionage to...suspense! Radio's outstanding theater of thrills dishes up a dose of tension-packed drama in this collection of 20 engrossing episodes, featuring performances by Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Red Skelton, Ginger Rogers, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten, and more!

Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman auditioned for the roles of a married couple in a radio pilot for a new comedy, My Favorite Husband, based on the novel Mr. and Mrs. Cugat by Isabel Scott Rorick. The concept was very well received and within a few weeks the weekly sitcom was established. Bowman was replaced by Richard Denning and during the first season, the Cugats were renamed the Coopers, who lived “in a little white two-story house” in the bustling, small suburb of Sheridan Falls.

Suspense went through several major phases characterized by different hosts, sponsors, and director/producers. Formula plot devices were followed for all but a handful of episodes: The protagonist was usually a normal person suddenly dropped into a threatening or bizarre situation; solutions were "withheld until the last possible second"; and evildoers were usually punished in the end.

Suspense went through several major phases, characterized by different hosts, sponsors, and director/producers. Formula plot devices were followed for all but a handful of episodes: The protagonist was usually a normal person suddenly dropped into a threatening or bizarre situation; solutions were "withheld until the last possible second"; and evildoers were usually punished in the end.

Our Miss Brooks was a highly popular radio sitcom that was eventually adapted for both television and film. It starred Hollywood film and New York stage veteran Eve Arden, who specialized in playing the wisecracking friend. She often did it better than anyone else, receiving an Oscar nomination for the 1945 film Mildred Pierce. Since her skill with the wicked one-liner was beginning to lead to typecasting, Arden signed on for the lead in radio's Our Miss Brooks to find a new image.

In this collection of sixteen detective episodes, you’ll hear Frank Sinatra as amateur detective Rocky Fortune, Dick Powell as Richard Diamond, Private Detective, Alan Ladd on Box Thirteen, Jack Webb as Sgt. Joe Friday on Dragnet, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce as Holmes and Watson on The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, William Gargan as Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator, Vincent Price as Simon Templar aka “The Saint” and many more!

The Whistler was one of radio's top mystery programs, airing from May 16, 1942 until September 22, 1955. The Whistler was an ominous narrator who opened each episode with, "I am the Whistler, and I know many things, for I walk by night. I know many strange tales, many secrets hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak."

The Mercury Theatre was an independent repertory company founded in New York City in 1937 by Orson Welles and producer John Houseman, who is best known for his Oscar-winning performance as Professor Charles Kingsfield in the The Paper Chase. After a series of acclaimed stage productions, Welles and his Mercury Theatre were offered theirown weekly hour-long radio program over the CBS radio network.

Everybody knows there were no radio announcers onboard the Niña, Pinta, or Santa Maria (or from ancient Greece, medieval France, or the Battle of Gettysburg either!), but you will be transported back in time anyway as the show "broadcasts" from the ships, the shore, and Spain. The dialogue is very believable, historically accurate, and very much in character. It is apparent that the producers of this show did their homework!

First heard on network radio in 1948, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar chronicled the adventures of freelance insurance investigator Johnny Dollar, "the man with the action-packed expense account". For 14 years, it was one of the most popular detective shows on the air, lasting until the final days of network radio drama in 1962. Each story started with a phone call from an insurance executive calling on Johnny Dollar to investigate an unusual claim.

Jack Webb (1920 - 1982) was a popular American actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter. He started out in the entertainment industry in comedy, but achieved his first success playing the title character in the radio show Pat Novak, for Hire. His greater success came from his role as Los Angeles Police Department sergeant Joe Friday in the show Dragnet, which he created based on actual LAPD criminal case files and which ran for many years on both radio and television.

Conceived as a potential radio vehicle for Alfred Hitchcock to direct, Suspense was a radio series of epic proportion. It aired on CBS from 1942 to 1962 and is considered by many to be the best mystery drama series of the golden age. Often referred to as "Radio's Outstanding Theater of Thrills", it focused on suspenseful thrillers starring the biggest names in Hollywood.

Bring history back to life through Jim Hodges' historically accurate, exciting, and edifying audio recordings. You Are There radio dramatization begins with "live" background coverage of the historical event, and then the "on the scene reporters" take over.

Arthur Godfrey, The Romance of Helen Trent, Our Gal Sunday, The Goldbergs, President Roosevelt's Address to Congress, Amos 'n' Andy, Joe E. Brown, Major Bowes, Louis Prima, and more all in a row! This is a recording of a full broadcast day, remastered (from the National Archives transcript disks) by Joe Bevilacqua.