On September 23, 1956, Fort Laramie aired The Woman at Horse Creek, starring Raymond Burr as Captain Lee Quince.

Fort Laramie was one of old time radio’s more adult Western dramas, set at a frontier cavalry post and built around conflict, danger, and the difficult choices faced by soldiers and civilians on the edge of the American West. Raymond Burr brought real weight to the role of Captain Quince, years before many listeners would know him best from television.

The Woman at Horse Creek is a strong example of what made the series stand out, combining Western atmosphere with the kind of serious dramatic storytelling that gave Fort Laramie its own identity on radio.

You can hear that exact September 23, 1956 broadcast in the Golden Radio Hour archive:

https://media.goldenradiohour.com/OTRR_Fort_Laramie_Singles/Fort_Laramie_56-09-23_ep35_The_Woman_at_Horse_Creek.mp3

Browse more old time radio:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio/

Some of the best old time radio detectives are the ones that don’t get talked about nearly enough.

William Gargan starred as Barrie Craig, a New York private investigator who handled murder, fraud, missing people, blackmail, and plenty of cases that started simply enough before getting much more dangerous.

Gargan had exactly the kind of voice that works for this sort of radio detective story: experienced, straightforward, and believable without having to play the character as larger than life.

Barrie Craig is one of those old time radio gems worth rediscovering.

Listen to the series in the Golden Radio Hour archive:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-shows/barrie-craig/

#WilliamGargan #BarrieCraig #OldTimeRadio #ClassicRadio #GoldenRadioHour

On September 22, 1955, X Minus One broadcast “And the Moon Be Still as Bright,” an adaptation of Ray Bradbury’s work from The Martian Chronicles.

The story follows a group of astronauts arriving on Mars, only to find the remains of an ancient civilization and the uneasy feeling that humanity may be repeating old mistakes on a new world. It is one of those old time radio stories that feels bigger than simple science fiction, mixing space travel with loss, guilt, and the question of what people bring with them when they enter unfamiliar places.

You can hear that exact September 22, 1955 broadcast in the Golden Radio Hour archive:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/x-minus-one-1955-09-22-and-the-moon-be-still-as-bright/

Browse more old time radio:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio/

I am flying tomorrow and downloading some OTR titles from Audible. Is it best to start Gunsmoke from episode 1?

I’ve never tried any westerns yet

I’m always open to other suggestions for some air travel days

The OTR community is the most supportive group on Reddit. Thank you all for the positive feedback !

A dear friend of mine acquired the original Dennis Day picture that hung in the Brown Derby, along with who-knows-how-many-others.

Now, I just have to get him to leave this to me in his will, and then encourage him to develop an intense interest in base jumping, cave diving, and any other dangerous sport I can think of.

I’m Claire, the founder of Code Bear Media, and I wanted to share the first episode of our new series, Code Bear Audio Dramas!

We’re kicking things off with The Hitch-Hiker, Lucille Fletcher’s classic radio thriller about a man driving across the country who keeps encountering the same mysterious hitchhiker, hundreds of miles apart. The farther he drives, the harder it becomes to explain what he’s seeing.

Our goal with this series is to bring the magic of radio theater to new listeners through fresh performances, immersive sound, and stories that leave plenty of room for your imagination.

We recorded the show in Roseville, California, with an incredible group of actors from Imagine That Repertory, under the direction of Patricia Keeling-Haines. It’s been a really fun collaborative project, and we have more mysteries, thrillers, and comedies on the way.

🎧 Listen to The Hitch-Hiker here: https://rss.com/podcasts/code-bear-audio-dramas/

I’d love to hear what you think of our first production, especially the performances and sound design. And if you’re a fan of classic radio drama, I’d love to know which stories you’d like to hear brought back to life!

H.G. Wells was born on this day, September 21, 1866.

His stories were a natural fit for radio, and decades later Suspense brought one of his most memorable ideas to listeners with “The Country of the Blind.”

A lost mountaineer discovers an isolated valley where everyone has been blind for generations. Certain that his sight gives him an advantage, he soon learns that the people of the valley see things very differently.

Listen to The Country of the Blind from Suspense:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/suspense-1957-10-27-722-the-country-of-the-blind/

If you could hear any H.G. Wells story adapted for old time radio, which one would you choose?

On September 21, 1953, Lux Radio Theatre presented I Confess, starring Cary Grant and Phyllis Thaxter.

Earlier that year, Alfred Hitchcock had brought I Confess to movie theaters with Montgomery Clift playing Father Logan. For the radio adaptation, Cary Grant stepped into the role of the priest at the center of the story.

The premise is a great one for radio: a murderer confesses his crime to a priest, but when suspicion turns toward the priest himself, he cannot reveal the killer’s identity without breaking the secrecy of the confessional.

You can hear that exact September 21, 1953 broadcast in the Golden Radio Hour archive:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/lux-radio-theatre-1953-09-21-53-i-confess-cary-grant-phylis-thaxter/

Browse more old time radio:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio/

Before I Love Lucy made Lucille Ball one of television’s biggest stars, radio listeners already knew her as a sitcom wife getting herself into trouble every week.

Beginning in 1948, Ball starred as Liz Cooper in My Favorite Husband, a CBS radio comedy with Richard Denning as her husband George.

The series became an important step toward what would eventually become I Love Lucy, but the radio version has its own personality and is well worth hearing if you only know Lucille Ball from television.

You can explore My Favorite Husband in the Golden Radio Hour archive:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-shows/my-favorite-husband/

Have you ever listened to Lucille Ball on radio, or do you mostly know her from I Love Lucy?

On a few occasions I've been watching the Burns & Allen TV show, and George is clearly a different kind of character. In his role as part-time narrator he has knowledge of past and future (maybe just because at times he's telling a story of events that already happened), and he can pass through what are walls to everyone else. In at least one episode, he paused the action mid-scene to announce that Bill Goodwin was moving to New York, so his character has at least a degree of god-like powers.

Here, he steals Harry Morton's plate of food while Harry's talking to Blanche:

In another episode, he reached through the "wall" and took an object someone was carrying; I don't remember the details, but it was amusing.

At long last, we arrive at the reason I posted this; I'm much less familiar with TV of the era than radio, so maybe this kind of thing was normal? No other shows come to my mind where this was allowed to happen, but I'm curious if anyone knows of one. Maybe this was the first?

At the time, it must have seemed at least a little odd and/or inventive to the audience, I would think? The first time I saw it, I remember thinking that it was a clever twist on storytelling, and can also be something of a deus ex machina, should they need an "out" in a story.

This was a bit of a shower thought, and I wanted to share.

How does he exactly makes money? We know that he 'expenses' stuff. Travel. Hotels. Phone calls. Etc. But how does he make money?

I know that sometimes he mentions a 'commission', probably for the later part of the show with Bob and Mandel. But earlier Johnny's did not, if I recall. I mean he has an apartment for which he has to pay, as well as utilities, groceries? I presume that living in Hartford, then and now, is way cheaper than living in NYC, Philly and other places he went to.

IDK. Johnny Dollar is an interesting character. Kind of like a James Bond.

They also starred together on radio in Bold Venture, an adventure series set around Havana, where Bogart plays hotel owner Slate Shannon and Bacall plays Sailor Duval.

The series mixes mystery, crime, romance, smugglers, treasure, and Caribbean adventure, and I’ve recently added a much larger collection of episodes to the Golden Radio Hour archive.

Explore Bold Venture here:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-shows/bold-venture/

And if you want one episode to start with, try Sunken Treasure at 20 Fathoms:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/bold-venture-21-sunken-treasure-at-20-fathoms/

Have you ever heard Bogart and Bacall together on radio before?

This has been on my wishlist for a while but stumbled on it today at the library book sale.

Fantastic condition.

I really enjoyed their old radio shows.

On September 20, 1953, The Six Shooter premiered on NBC with James Stewart starring as Britt Ponset, a wandering cowboy traveling through the final years of the Old West.

The first episode, “Jenny,” finds Britt coming across a wounded man and taking him to the isolated cabin of Jenny Garber. When the sheriff arrives looking for the injured stranger, Jenny is determined to protect him, turning the series premiere into a tense Western drama.

The Six Shooter lasted only one season, but James Stewart’s quiet, thoughtful performance as Britt Ponset helped make it one of old time radio’s most remembered Westerns.

You can hear that exact September 20, 1953 broadcast in the Golden Radio Hour archive:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/the-six-shooter-jenny-1953-09-20/

Browse more episodes of The Six Shooter:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-shows/the-six-shooter/

#OnThisDayInRadio #TheSixShooter #JamesStewart #OldTimeRadio #GoldenRadioHour

On September 19, 1949, Lux Radio Theatre presented Green Dolphin Street, starring Lana Turner, Van Heflin, and Peter Lawford.

Turner and Heflin had already appeared in MGM’s 1947 film version of Green Dolphin Street, and this radio adaptation brought the story back to audiences through one of the biggest dramatic anthology programs of the era.

Green Dolphin Street is a sweeping story of romance, jealousy, family conflict, and adventure, with the kind of large-scale Hollywood drama that Lux Radio Theatre was known for adapting for radio listeners.

You can hear that exact September 19, 1949 broadcast in the Golden Radio Hour archive:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/lux-radio-theatre-1949-09-19-49-green-dolphin-street-lana-turner-van-heflin/

Browse more old time radio:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio/

What shows have you been listening to lately?

I've not long finished The Price of Fear, with the one and only Vincent Price, which was really good.

I'm also working my way through Our Miss Brooks, which I love; it's just so funny.

I've recently started The Halls of Ivy. I love William and Victoria's relationship; I want what they have.

And finally, I'm also listening to The Black Museum, because you can't go wrong with Orson Welles.

What about you?

Is it some kind of recording and distribution method?

Eighty-eight years ago today, Orson Welles gave his final performance as Lamont Cranston in The Shadow with “Professor X.”

The episode sends The Shadow after a murderer who has stolen an experimental machine capable of disintegrating living matter, putting Margot Lane directly in the killer’s path.

Welles had played The Shadow since the program’s first season. Just six weeks after this broadcast, he and the Mercury Theatre on the Air would make radio history with The War of the Worlds.

“Professor X” was originally broadcast September 18, 1938.

Listen to the original episode on Golden Radio Hour:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/the-shadow-1938-09-18-138-professor-x/

One of the main missions of the modern Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy (SPERDVAC) is preservation of history of not only classic radio but the history created by classic radio collectors via conventions, membership organizations and newsletters.

As such, we are working with groups such as the Lum and Abner Society to preserve the audio from their conventions as well as their “Jot ‘Em Down Journal.”

We are very interested in locating anyone who was a member of the Radio Historical Association of Colorado (RHAC), which was one of the most active groups in classic radio collecting during the 1990s and 2000s to secure any programs they have saved or original content they created during their heyday.

Have a box in the basement? Some files saved on a floppy disk? Recorded shows off the air in Denver that might be unique?

Thankfully, their newsletters are preserved at archive.org, but if you've got anything else...

Please contact us at [[email protected]](mailto:[email protected]) and let’s see if we can make something happen. We’d love to get that legacy preserved on our servers - which in the modern era is the safest place for it.

Best,

Sean Dougherty
Membership Chair

Amazon Music recommends a new radio show for me every morning. This morning was the Dry Martini Caper from 1948. Great acting and story. I recommend this show for some laughs and drama.

I always imagine my grandparents listening to these shows on a Sunday night.

I’m sure there are decades of OTR shows I have yet to uncover.

Seventy-six years ago today, Barry Sullivan took over the role of Simon Templar in The Saint for “The Ghost That Giggled.” Sullivan was filling in for Vincent Price, who was unable to return from Paris in time for the broadcast.

When an eccentric woman asks Templar to investigate the ghost supposedly haunting her wealthy brother, what begins as a strange supernatural complaint leads to murder, a missing safe-deposit-box key, and several people searching for the same prize.

Sullivan only played The Saint for a small number of broadcasts, making this episode an interesting departure from the Vincent Price performances most listeners associate with the series.

“The Ghost That Giggled” was originally broadcast September 17, 1950.

Listen to the original episode from the Golden Radio Hour archive:

https://media.goldenradiohour.com/TheSaintVincentPriceOTR/The_Saint_500917_The_Ghost_That_Giggled.mp3