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Amos 'n' Andy (1929-60)
This 15 minute daily situation comedy was probably the most popular radio show of all time. The listening
audience was estimated at 40 million, almost one-third of Americans living at that time. The story was of Freeman Gosden
and Charles Correll playing Amos and Andy as black men from Harlem who owned the Fresh Air Taxi Company, so called because
its only cab had no windshield. Amos and Andy were the commonest of common men: they symbolized the poor Joe with no money,
no job and no future. It was the first significant serial utilizing the elements of sympathetic characters, comedy and
suspense.
Title: Marriage Proposal Mix-up
Date: 17th November 1944
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Box 13 (1948 to 49)
This popular detective adventure stars Alan Ladd as Dan Holiday, a former newsman who now writes mystery novels.
To get plots for his books he runs an advertisement that reads "Adventure wanted; will go anywhere, do anything - Box 13.
Each episode sees him head out on a brand new mystery.
Title: The Professor and the Puzzle
Date: 9th January 1949
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I Love a Mystery (1939-1952)
I Love A Mystery weaves a spell over its fans. I was a tale of three partners, Jack Packard, Doc Long and Reggie
Yorke who had formed the A-1 detective agency. They were adventurers who traveled the world in search of action, thrills
and mystery, battling the evils of natural and supernatural and rescuing women in distress. The episode below is part one
of a multi-part story, so don't get too hooked or you might have to become a member to hear how it ends.
Title: Million Dollar Curse Part 1
Date: 12th December 1949
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Fred Allen and Jack Benny in the Jack Benny
Program
A classic episode from one of the longest-running comedy shows in radio history. This episode is classic Benny
and Allen at their very best.
Title: How Jack and Fred Allen Met
Date: 15th January 1950
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Life of Riley Each evening after dinner Chester A Riley (played by William Bendix) sits down and relaxes with the evening paper.
Whatever is lacking in our daily lives the evening newspaper can provide. For the stout and sedentary businessman there’s the
sports page. For the meek and mild spinster there’s the latest axe murder and for Riley - happily married for 18 years -
there’s the divorce news.
Title: Riley Talks in His Sleep About Gertrude
Date: 2nd April 1949
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Sherlock Holmes (1930-1960s)
The famous Sherlock Holmes detective stories appeared on radio for more than 25 years, with a long list of
performers playing the parts of Holmes and Dr. Watson. They stories were written by Edith Meiser, a self-confessed Holmes
addict. At first she used Arthur Conan Doyles’ original stories, but, after the series outlived the original material, she
created her own new stories. These were so well written that she was warmly praised by Arthur Conan Doyle’s widow and
son.
Title: Murder by Moonlight
Date: 29th October 1945
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Dragnet (1949 -1957)
Dragnet was an incredible radio series for many reasons. It represented the apex of police procedural
broadcasting. It used sound effects to an extent that had rarely be seen before and it extended the boundaries of what was
classed as acceptable broadcasting with some of its controversial storylines. In this episode Detective Sergeant Friday is assigned to robbery detail. A ruthless fiend roams the streets of the city
masquerading as a police officer. For months helpless citizens have been robbed, beaten senseless and kidnapped. The
criminal is a twisted genius with cunning. It's up to Detective Sergeant Joe Friday to get him.
Title: Red Light Bandit
Date: 14th July 1949
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Life with Luigi (1948 -1954)
This wonderful comedy series was originally called The Little Immigrant, but the name was changed before
the first broadcast. The lead character was a recent Italian immigrant called Luigi Basco played wonderfully by J. Carrol
Naish, an Irishman in real life. Luigi had moved from Rome to run an antique shop next to Pasquale's Spaghetti Palace in
the Little Italy section of Chicago and the stories revolved around his efforts to discover and integrate into his new
environment.
Title: Luigi Discovers America
Date: 21st September 1948
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Escape (1947 -1954)
When Radio Life wrote "These stories all possess many times the reality that most radio writing conveys" it hit
the nail on the head. Escape is everything that was good about old time radio drama rolled into one. The title
itself almost sums up the very essence of what radio drama is all about. Each and every episode was a micro drama carefully
planned to capture the listeners attention for thirty minutes.
Title: Country of the Blind
Date: 26th November 1947
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X Minus 1 (1955 -1958) A thirty-minute science fiction series totalling 113 episodes and throughout its three years of broadcasting, it
always used the same opening, a rocket-launch countdown. The stories were strict science fiction striking out into deep
space, exploring thousands of other galaxies and the power struggles with aliens and alien worlds, but the stories were not
always human triumphs, sometimes the aliens won!
Title: The Green Hills of Earth
Date: 7th July 1955
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Couple Next Door (1957 -1960)
This light-hearted situation comedy about a young couple was first broadcast between 1935 and 1937. It was revived
in 1957 and ran through to 1960. Peg Lynch and Alan Bunce played the same characters as they had in Ethel and Albert, but
throughout the complete revival they didn't once refer to each other by name, always calling each other
"dear".
Title: Union Rules
Date: 16th September 1958
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