Our Miss Brooks is an American sitcom starring Eve Arden as a sardonic high-school English teacher. It began as a radio show broadcast on CBS from 1948 to 1957. When the show was adapted to television (1952–56), it became one of the medium’s earliest hits. In 1956, the sitcom was adapted for the big screen […]
Back before we had screens to endlessly gaze into, people turned the lights off and gazed at the radio with their ears (and sometimes their eyes, too) with the same intensity. Radio can be more magical than any of the best special effects you've seen in movies because it doesn't do everything for you. With the visual component of the story taken out, one is left to fill in that blank with whatever wild fantasies they might come up with. Good writing, characters, acting and all-around storytelling can coax the mind into releasing it's impressions of reality and transport you to another time or place.
Mindwebs
Mindwebs is an excellent radio show that originally aired on WHA Radio in Madison, Wisconsin from the mid 70’s through the mid 90’s. It lasted for over 160 episodes and featured Michael Hanson expertly reading stories by over 130 authors, many of which are well-known authors from Sci-Fi’s golden age. There is an effort going […]
Magic Island
Magic Island was a 1930’s radio show that was targeted to young people. It’s about a mother who is looking for her lost daughter. She finds her daughter on a man-made island that can submerge and hide itself from the outside world. You can find more about Magic Island at it’s source at the Archive.org
Mysterious Traveler
Mysterious Traveler is, as you might expect, a mystery show from Mutual that started in 1943. It was very popular in it’s time, rivaling the CBS heavyweight Suspense. While it’s estimated about 400 episodes were produced, only around 70 of them are still available. This is a definite must-listen. You can can learn more about […]
Crime Classics
Crime Classics is a CBS radio show that got it’s start in 1953. It describes itself as “A series of true crime stories from the records and newspapers of every land, from every time. Your host each week, is Mr. Thomas Hyland — connoisseur of crime, student of violence, and teller of murders.” You can […]
Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator
Barrie Craig was “your man when you can’t go to the cops. Confidentiality a specialty.” This is another solid detective / crime radio series that ran from 1951 to 1955. Barrie and his associate Lt. Travis Rogers would solve crimes in New York City efficiently and fearlessly. Here is the source from Archive.org
Obsession
Obsession’s first episode aired on October 9, 1950 on WBBM, Chicago as a filler until January 15, 1951, when Obsession earned its own time slot. The program lasted only seventeen months. Its final broadcast aired May 12, 1952. The program starred many radio greats including Vincent Price, Ruth Warrick, William Gargan, Miriam Hopkins, and Barton […]
Tales of the Texas Rangers
Tales of the Texas Rangers is a western themed adventure show that started in 1950 on NBC and ran through late 1952. Movie star Joel McCrea starred as Texas Ranger Jayce Pearson, who used the latest scientific techniques to identify the criminals and his faithful horse, Charcoal, to track them down. The shows were reenactments […]
Lights Out
Created by Wyllis Cooper and then eventually taken over by Arch Oboler, versions of Lights Out aired on different networks, at various times, from January 3, 1934 to the summer of 1947 and the series eventually made the transition to television. Lights Out was one of the earliest radio horror programs, predating Suspense and Inner […]
