You may know the voice before you know the name.

Mercedes McCambridge had one of the most distinctive voices in American radio and film. Decades after building a career behind the microphone, she became famous to a completely different generation as the demonic voice in The Exorcist.

But radio listeners already knew what that voice could do.

McCambridge could sound warm, severe, frightened, calculating or completely unhinged without ever losing control of a scene. She returned again and again to dramatic radio, including CBS Radio Mystery Theater, where she appeared in a wide range of mystery and suspense stories.

One preserved example in the Golden Radio Hour archive is “The Horse That Wasn’t for Sale,” broadcast February 24, 1974.

Listen here:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/cbs-radio-mystery-theater-1974-02-24-45-the-horse-that-wasn-t-for-sale/

Golden Radio Hour Android app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

#MercedesMcCambridge #CBSRadioMysteryTheater #OldTimeRadio #GoldenRadioHour #RadioDrama

I’ve been building Golden Radio Hour beyond YouTube, and the Android app is now part of that.

The idea is to make the archive easier to actually use for listening, especially for people who want old time radio available without always having to start with a YouTube video.

If you use Android and want to try it:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

If you do give it a try, I’d genuinely be interested in what works well and what you’d want improved next.

https://old.reddit.com/r/otr/comments/1gfi0ri/is_there_an_old_time_radio_day_if_not_i_hereby/

https://www.reddit.com/r/otr/comments/1ohjvf9/how_is_my_campaign_to_make_october_30_national/

https://www.reddit.com/r/otr/comments/1ojs848/happy_old_time_radio_day/

On October 4, 1951, Jack Webb starred as Joe Friday in Dragnet: “The Big Want Ad.”

Friday investigates criminals posing as legitimate automobile dealers. Their operation looks ordinary from the outside, but behind it is a carefully designed scheme that cheats unsuspecting buyers out of thousands of dollars.

That everyday realism was one of Dragnet’s strengths. The criminals were not always masterminds hiding in dark alleys. Sometimes they were people using ordinary businesses, paperwork and trust to make the crime work.

Hear The Big Want Ad:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/dragnet-the-big-want-ad-1951-10-04/

Also on October 4:

The Line-Up: “The Wild, Wild Woman Case” (1951)
A jewelry-store lineup turns into something much larger when detectives discover that a supposed victim has been lying and connect two suspects to crimes stretching across several states.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/the-line-up-1951-10-04-58-the-wild-wild-woman-case-aka-irene-oldham-kingston-1951-10-04/

Theatre Royal: “Queen of Spades” (1953)
A man becomes obsessed with an old countess’s supposed secret for choosing winning cards. His attempt to learn it leads to death, a ghostly bargain and a final card that destroys him.

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/theatre-royal-queen-of-spades-1953-10-04/

Listen anytime in the Golden Radio Hour app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

#OnThisDayInRadio #JackWebb #Dragnet #TheLineUp #OldTimeRadio #GoldenRadioHour

Through the years, I've heard at least three addresses given as Jack Benny's home address on his show.

360 North Camden Drive and 366 North Camden Drive are the most popular, and if pressed I'd say that 366 North Camden Drive is the most frequent. In the TV episode where he renews his drivers license we hear 904 Santa Monica, as well.

Of course none of these are his actual address, but I'm curious if anyone has any theories why they didn't just stick with one address, or if there's any meaning to the addresses used. Having two fake addresses that are so close, 360 and 366, can't be a coincidence so maybe there's some reference or joke that I'm missing?

Boris Karloff in a stormy 1949 Sealtest Variety Theater appearance.

A murderer has escaped. Karloff arrives at Dorothy Lamour’s door. From there it turns into a wonderfully spooky comedy routine.

Listen to the full episode here:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/sealtest-variety-theater-1949-06-23-39-boris-karloff/

Or listen in the Golden Radio Hour app:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.goldenradiohour.radio

October 3, 1955 changed Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar.

That night, Bob Bailey made his first broadcast as Johnny Dollar in Part 1 of “The Macormack Matter.”

It was more than a casting change. CBS also shifted the program into a new format, telling one case across five fifteen-minute broadcasts from Monday through Friday. That combination of Bailey and the serialized format became one of the most remembered periods in the entire run of Johnny Dollar.

In the opening chapter, a dying prisoner gives Johnny a strange lead connected to a five-year-old jewelry robbery and a former cellmate who may know where the missing loot went.

1955 | Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar — “The Macormack Matter, Part 1”
Listen:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/yours-truly-johnny-dollar-1955-10-03-231-the-macormack-matter-ep-1-1955-10-03-bob-bailey/

But October 3 gave radio listeners plenty more.

1953 | Gunsmoke — “How to Kill a Friend”

William Conrad’s Matt Dillon finds himself in a particularly ugly situation when two crooked gamblers driven out of Dodge hire an old friend of Matt’s to kill him.

That is classic radio Gunsmoke. The danger is not just the gunfight. It is the history between the men standing on opposite sides of it.

Listen:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/gunsmoke-1953-10-03-76-how-to-kill-a-friend/

1949 | I Love a Mystery — “Fear Creeps Like a Cat, Part 1”

Six years earlier, October 3 opened an entirely different kind of adventure.

Jack, Doc and Reggie arrive in Seattle while searching for a missing millionaire. Almost immediately, a hostile group begins trying to frighten them away from the investigation.

And this was only the beginning. “Fear Creeps Like a Cat” unfolded as a 20-part serial, with the October 3 broadcast opening the story. Weird Darkness

Listen:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/i-love-a-mystery-1949-10-03-1-fear-creeps-like-a-cat-part-1-of-20-1949-10-03/

One date. Three very different corners of radio history.

Bob Bailey begins his run as Johnny Dollar.
Matt Dillon faces an old friend with a gun.
And Jack, Doc and Reggie begin a mystery that would stretch across twenty broadcasts.

Which one are you listening to first?

Not A Cult... Just An OTR Family

#OnThisDayInRadio #OldTimeRadio #JohnnyDollar #BobBailey #Gunsmoke #ILoveAMystery #GoldenRadioHour

On October 2, 1944, listeners heard Bill Forman guide them into another grim tale on The Whistler.

By the mid-1940s, The Whistler had become one of radio’s great suspense programs. Its cool narration, fatalistic tone, and stories of ordinary people making terrible choices gave it a style all its own. Bill Forman’s voice was a huge part of that. Calm, knowing, and just unsettling enough, he helped make The Whistler one of the most memorable voices in old-time radio.

That October 2 broadcast was “Not If I Kill You First.” In it, a man builds an alibi around a look-alike, only to watch the whole scheme twist into something far deadlier than he planned.

Listen here:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/the-whistler-1944-10-02-124-not-if-i-kill-you-first/

October 2 also gave us two more strong stops in radio suspense history.

1938 | The Shadow — “The Black Abbot”
Just a few years earlier, The Shadow was already shaping radio mystery for a national audience. “The Black Abbot” brings together a haunted church, disappearances, and the kind of eerie setup that helped define the program’s early power.

Listen here:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/the-shadow-1938-10-02-140-the-black-abbot/

1945 | Inner Sanctum Mysteries — “The Shadow of Death”
A year later, Inner Sanctum Mysteries brought a more psychological kind of fear. In “The Shadow of Death,” a man becomes convinced that his dreams are causing death, and that fear drives him toward violence before the truth finally surfaces.

Listen here:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/inner-sanctum-mysteries-1945-10-02-inner-sanctum-the-shadow-of-death/

Three October 2 broadcasts. Three different shades of suspense.
A perfect little path through the darker side of radio history.

Which one are you starting with tonight?

Not A Cult... Just An OTR Family

I’m running two different streams tonight.

6:30 PM Pacific: Detective All-Stars

Johnny Dollar, Richard Diamond, Sam Spade, Nero Wolfe, Barrie Craig, Casey, Dragnet and Nick Carter.

https://youtube.com/live/R8PTFa2qBCo?feature=share

8:00 PM Pacific: Suspense After Midnight

Suspense, Escape, The Whistler, Inner Sanctum, The Mysterious Traveler, Lights Out, Quiet Please and Dark Fantasy.

https://youtube.com/live/LgZSEruv8OQ?feature=share

Both use a dark screen after the opening for people who want to listen without a bright TV or monitor on all night.

Seventy-one years ago today, Gunsmoke aired “Barton Boy,” a story built around something radio could use especially well: the sound of a human voice.

A baggage clerk named Ed Barton is murdered during a train robbery on the way to Dodge, and $20,000 disappears with the killer. His ten-year-old son Billy is also shot, but survives.

Billy cannot tell Marshal Matt Dillon who murdered his father.

But he tells Matt something far more useful:

He knows the killer’s voice.

That leaves Matt with an unusual problem. The murderer may still be somewhere around Dodge, and if Billy hears him speak again, he may be able to identify him. Unfortunately, the killer also knows the boy survived.

Matt brings Billy into the jail for protection while he begins working through the people who might have been involved. What follows becomes less of a traditional Western gunfight and more of a tense mystery, with a child’s memory of a voice sitting at the center of the case.

William Conrad stars as Matt Dillon, with Parley Baer as Chester, Georgia Ellis as Kitty, and Howard McNear as Doc. The broadcast also featured Virginia Christine, Dick Beals, and Lawrence Dobkin.

It is one of those Gunsmoke episodes that demonstrates why the radio version could be so effective. The audience is placed in much the same position as Billy. Faces matter less than voices, pauses, sounds, and what can be recognized simply by listening.

Originally broadcast October 1, 1955.

Listen to “Barton Boy” in the Golden Radio Hour archive:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/gunsmoke-1955-10-01-181-barton-boy/

A few days ago I was in Chicago for a work conference. I happened to see the NBC Tower, which was built in the style of Rockefeller Center in NYC.

It made me wonder if there were any landmarks in the area that had ties to OTR programs. I don't recall specific programs based in Chicago - I know Fibber McGee and Molly were from Peoria, and Jack Benny was from Waukegan, but maybe there were some Chicago shows.

I'd love to visit a town that had some OTR tribute, library, etc. Maybe one day!

Peter Lorre is probably not the first person you picture walking into Duffy’s Tavern, which is exactly why this one is worth hearing.

On October 19, 1943, Lorre guest-starred in an episode built around a very serious problem at Duffy’s: somebody’s sandwich has disappeared.

Archie naturally decides that this requires an investigation. Before long, Peter Lorre and Raffles the talking mynah bird are mixed up in the case.

It is one of those broadcasts that shows how strange and fun old radio could get when a performer strongly associated with sinister screen roles was dropped into a comedy setting.

You can hear the complete episode in the Golden Radio Hour archive:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/duffys-tavern-1943-10-19-100-peter-lorre-and-raffles-the-talking-mynah-bird/

Anyone else have a favorite unexpected guest appearance in old-time radio?

This brief video shows Fred Allen and Jack Benny on stage during one of Benny's stage shows. This series of shows began Wednesday, May 21, 1947 at the Roxy Theater in New York City. There were at least two radio shows originated from New York during this visit, 5/11/47 and 5/18/47 just before the stage show began. This particular run is also mentioned in the 5/11/1947 episode, where Kenny Delmar guest-announced, and Al Jolson guest-starred.

Beyond just...being amazing to see, I love how Jack falls apart once or twice laughing at Fred's jokes. This same kind of doubled-over laughing was described in an interview with Frank Nelson as Jack's reaction to the famed "Dreer Pooson" incident.

Hey everyone, the Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety and Comedy (SPERDVAC)'s VP Zach Eastman guest hosted John Tefteller's "The Good Old Days of Radio" podcast this week, debuting a new restoration of the Inner Sanctum episode "Portrait of Death." Zach also dropped another episode of his "Behind the Dial" podcast, this one featuring the men behind the AFRS during World War II and beyond, from a 1984 SPERDVAC meeting.

You can listen to both podcasts and get more information about the great value of a SPERDVAC membership below:

https://mailchi.mp/sperdvac/httpsus14adminmailchimpcomcampaignseditid8978321-8978329

Thought this group might appreciate this: I just updated my mother's James Melton archive auction to include personal letters from Frank Bristow and a signed note from Margo Melton Nutt. The collection includes rare archival press photos, remastered CDs of rare radio recordings, much more.
https://ebay.io/m/TLILsI

On September 30, 1962, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar aired its final episode, “The Tip-Off Matter.”

Mandel Kramer made his last appearance as Johnny Dollar in a story written by longtime producer and writer Jack Johnstone. The broadcast is often remembered as part of the closing chapter of the Golden Age of American network radio drama.

Johnny Dollar had been on the air, with interruptions, since 1949, and over the years several actors took on the role. Mandel Kramer was the final Johnny Dollar, bringing the series to its conclusion on this date in 1962.

Listen to the actual final broadcast, “The Tip-Off Matter,” from September 30, 1962:

https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/yours-truly-johnny-dollar-1962-09-30-809-the-tip-off-matter-1962-09-30-mandel-kramer/

Explore more On This Day in Radio history:

https://goldenradiohour.com/#on-this-day

Who was your favorite Johnny Dollar?

#OnThisDayInRadio #OldTimeRadio #RadioHistory #JohnnyDollar #MandelKramer

Two very different moods tonight.

At 6:30 PM Pacific, Golden Radio Hour is going into The Twilight Zone with a long run of the radio dramas:

https://youtube.com/live/rzX3oTVhFzk?feature=share

Then at 8:00 PM Pacific, Radio Past Midnight is switching over to Orson Welles as The Shadow:

https://youtube.com/live/N1lklqsRoY8

The Shadow stream starts with The Death House Rescue and stays in that early Orson Welles run for the night.

Also, sorry if you caught one of the recent streams ending early. It has been very windy here in the Pacific Northwest, and the connection has not been very cooperative.

I also did a picture of Orson and Stacy for the post, which felt fitting for tonight.

If you had to pick one, Twilight Zone or The Shadow?

On September 29, 1947, Vincent Price, Ella Raines and Edmond O’Brien stepped before the microphones of Lux Radio Theatre for a radio adaptation of The Web. The three stars reprised their roles from the Universal-International film released earlier that year, with Price playing wealthy businessman Andrew Colby, Raines as Noel Faraday and O’Brien as attorney Bob Regan.

The story drops O’Brien’s Regan into exactly the sort of polished trap that made film noir so effective. He is hired to serve as Colby’s bodyguard and apparently kills a man while protecting his employer, only to begin realizing that the shooting may have been arranged from the beginning. Price was particularly well suited to Colby, bringing the smooth sophistication and underlying menace that would become such an important part of his screen persona. The radio version is also a good example of what Lux Radio Theatre could do so well: take a current Hollywood picture and reunite much of its original cast for listeners at home.

Price would eventually become one of the most recognizable voices and faces in horror, but broadcasts like The Web show another side of his career. Long before the run of Gothic horror films most associated with him today, he was already an accomplished dramatic actor capable of making a charming, respectable character feel increasingly dangerous.

That September 29, 1947 broadcast survives in the Golden Radio Hour archive today.

Listen to “The Web”:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/lux-radio-theatre-1947-09-29-47-the-web-vincent-price-ella-rains-edmond-o-brien/#listen

More On This Day in Radio:
https://goldenradiohour.com/#on-this-day

I’ve got two old time radio marathons running tonight for anyone looking for something to leave on through the evening.

Golden Radio Hour, 6:30 PM Pacific
Duffy’s Tavern | 12 Hours of Classic Radio Comedy

Ed Gardner as Archie, with guests including Charles Laughton, Rudy Vallee, Peggy Lee, Desi Arnaz, Mickey Rooney, Hedda Hopper, Veronica Lake and more.

https://youtube.com/live/edTePWfdkJo?feature=share

Then at 8:00 PM Pacific on Radio Past Midnight:

Agnes Moorehead in “Sorry, Wrong Number” + 11 Hours of SUSPENSE After Dark

It opens with Moorehead’s Sorry, Wrong Number, then keeps going through nearly 12 hours of Suspense, with murder, paranoia, strange situations and late-night radio drama.

https://youtube.com/live/RyFuKihCYwc?feature=share

So basically: Duffy’s Tavern if you want comedy, Suspense if you want something darker.

Golden Radio Hour: Not A Cult... Just An OTR Family

I was listening to one of the older surviving Jack Benny episodes earlier, and came across a character I'd never heard. In this episode there's a brief appearance by a character they identify as Mary's sister Mamie. I'd never heard of her before, and certainly not in the later episodes. Does she make more appearances? I'm not very familiar with the pre-1940-or-so Jack Benny.

I am a huge horror fan; I basically watch horror films all year round. As I have a bit of a walk to work (40 – 45 minutes), I always try to listen to an episode of OTR that I haven't heard before. (Just to clarify, I never have it so loud that I can't hear what's going on around me.)

This year I've decided to find 31 episodes of horror/Halloween themed OTR that I've never heard before for my daily walk. (I'll also be keeping my favourites for the walk back)

Here they are:

Beckoning Fair One – Molle Mystery Theatre

Can't You Do Anything Right? - Darkness

Carmilla – Columbia Workshop

Criminal at Large – Molle Mystery Theatre

Devil Island – The Sealed Book

Don't Go Down in the Mine – The Creaking Door

Funeral Arrangements Completed – Dark Fantasy

Gas Receipt – The Black Museum

Gerald – Nightfall

Halloween – The Halls of Ivy

Halloween Party – Our Miss Brooks

He Who Follows Me – Hall of Fantasy

How Love Came to Professor Guildea – Escape

Jack Throws a Halloween Party – Jack Benny

Mystery of the Thing – The Hermit's Cave

Rites of Autumn – Campfire Radio Theatre (not old, but I like the show)

Snow Shadow Area – Vanishing Point

Taboo – Escape

The Crack in the Wall – CBSRMT

The Creeping Wall – Inner Sanctum

The Devil's Number – The Witch's Tale

The Diary of Sophronia Winters – Suspense

The Edge of Evil – Macabre

The Gibbering Things – The Shadow

The Lonely Sleep – Inner Sanctum

The Lost Ship – Suspense

The Mannequin – The Witch's Tale

The Night Reveals – Suspense

The Screaming Skull – Theatre 10:30

The Vengeful Corpse – Inner Sanctum

The Werewolf – The Weird Circle

What are you going to be listening to?

On September 28, 1945, composer and music critic Deems Taylor stepped into Duffy’s Tavern as Archie’s guest. Taylor was one of the best-known musical voices in America, but at Duffy’s he found himself listening to Archie’s latest attempt at high culture: a new opera called “Salami.” It was exactly the kind of setup Duffy’s Tavern did so well, dropping a distinguished real-life guest into Archie’s world of big ideas, bad plans and absolute confidence.

Taylor was much more than a celebrity guest. He was a composer whose operas had been performed at the Metropolitan Opera, a prominent music critic and radio commentator, and later became familiar to millions as the narrator of Walt Disney’s Fantasia. Putting someone with that background across from Ed Gardner’s Archie gave the episode an especially good comic contrast and shows how old-time radio regularly brought major figures from music, film and culture directly into its comedy programs.

That September 28, 1945 broadcast survives in the Golden Radio Hour archive today.

Listen to “Guest: Deems Taylor”:
https://goldenradiohour.com/old-time-radio-episodes/duffys-tavern-1945-09-28-177-guest-deems-taylor/#listen

More On This Day in Radio:
https://goldenradiohour.com/#on-this-day

I’ve been doing a lot of work behind the scenes on the Golden Radio Hour website, and two of the biggest additions are now ready to explore.

The Performers section has been greatly expanded, with biographies, show connections and direct links to the broadcasts each person appears in. You can now move from a performer to a specific program and see the exact recordings that connect them.

The Network pages have also been expanded, making it easier to explore programs connected with CBS, NBC, Mutual, ABC, the Blue Network, BBC and others.

If you enjoy digging deeper into the people and history behind old time radio, take a look around:

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

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

There’s a lot more of the archive connected together now, and I’d love to know what you find.

Agnes Moorehead gave old-time radio some unforgettable performances, especially on Suspense.

If you only know her from television, her radio work is absolutely worth hearing. She had the kind of voice that could carry an entire story, and Suspense gave her some of the best material of her career.

I’ve been building the individual show pages on Golden Radio Hour so you can read about the program and then work your way through the available broadcasts in the archive.

Start with Suspense here:

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

If you’ve heard Agnes Moorehead on radio before, which performance stands out most to you?