
The Golden Age of Radio, also known as the old-time radio (OTR) era, was an era of
radio in the United States where it was the dominant electronic home
entertainment medium. It began with the birth of commercial
radio broadcasting
Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio signal, audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a lan ...
in the early 1920s and lasted through the 1950s, when
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
superseded radio as the medium of choice for scripted programming, variety and dramatic shows.
Radio was the first
broadcast medium, and during this period people regularly tuned in to their favorite radio programs, and families gathered to listen to the home radio in the evening. According to a 1947
C. E. Hooper survey, 82 out of 100 Americans were found to be radio listeners. A variety of new entertainment formats and genres were created for the new medium, many of which later migrated to television:
radio plays, mystery serials,
soap opera
A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...
s,
quiz shows,
talent shows, daytime and evening
variety hours,
situation comedies,
play-by-play sports,
children's shows,
cooking show
A cooking show, cookery show, or cooking program (also spelled cooking programme in British English) is a television genre that presents food preparation, often in a restaurant kitchen or on a Television studio, studio set, or at the host's p ...
s, and more.
In the 1950s,
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
surpassed radio as the most popular broadcast medium, and commercial radio programming shifted to narrower formats of news, talk, sports and music. Religious broadcasters, listener-supported public radio and college stations provide their own distinctive formats.
Origins

During the first three decades of
radio
Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
, from 1887 to about 1920, the technology of transmitting sound was undeveloped; the information-carrying ability of radio waves was the same as a
telegraph
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...
; the radio signal could be either on or off.
Radio communication
Radio is the technology of telecommunication, communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transm ...
was by
wireless telegraphy
Wireless telegraphy or radiotelegraphy is the transmission of text messages by radio waves, analogous to electrical telegraphy using electrical cable, cables. Before about 1910, the term ''wireless telegraphy'' was also used for other experimenta ...
; at the sending end, an operator tapped on a switch which caused the radio transmitter to produce a series of pulses of radio waves which spelled out text messages in
Morse code
Morse code is a telecommunications method which Character encoding, encodes Written language, text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code i ...
. At the receiver these sounded like beeps, requiring an operator who knew Morse code to translate them back to text. This type of radio was used exclusively for person-to-person text communication for commercial, diplomatic and military purposes and hobbyists; broadcasting did not exist.
The broadcasts of live drama, comedy, music and news that characterize the Golden Age of Radio had a precedent in the
Théâtrophone, commercially introduced in
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
in 1890 and available as late as 1932. It allowed subscribers to eavesdrop on live stage performances and hear news reports by means of a network of telephone lines. The development of radio eliminated the wires and subscription charges from this concept.
Between 1900 and 1920 the first technology for transmitting sound by radio was developed, AM (
amplitude modulation
Amplitude modulation (AM) is a signal modulation technique used in electronic communication, most commonly for transmitting messages with a radio wave. In amplitude modulation, the instantaneous amplitude of the wave is varied in proportion t ...
), and
AM broadcasting sprang up around 1920.
On
Christmas Eve 1906,
Reginald Fessenden is said to have broadcast the first radio program, consisting of some violin playing and passages from the Bible. While Fessenden's role as an inventor and early radio experimenter is not in dispute, several contemporary radio researchers have questioned whether the Christmas Eve broadcast took place, or whether the date was, in fact, several weeks earlier. The first apparent published reference to the event was made in 1928 by H. P. Davis, Vice President of
Westinghouse, in a lecture given at
Harvard University
Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...
. In 1932 Fessenden cited the Christmas Eve 1906 broadcast event in a letter he wrote to Vice President S. M. Kinter of Westinghouse. Fessenden's wife Helen recounts the broadcast in her book ''Fessenden: Builder of Tomorrows'' (1940), eight years after Fessenden's death. The issue of whether the 1906 Fessenden broadcast actually happened is discussed in Donna Halper's article "In Search of the Truth About Fessenden" and also in James O'Neal's essays. An annotated argument supporting Fessenden as the world's first radio broadcaster was offered in 2006 by Dr. John S. Belrose, Radioscientist Emeritus at the Communications Research Centre Canada, in his essay "Fessenden's 1906 Christmas Eve broadcast."
It was not until after the
''Titanic'' catastrophe in 1912 that radio for mass communication came into vogue, inspired first by the work of
amateur ("ham") radio operators. Radio was especially important during World War I as it was vital for air and naval operations. World War I brought about major developments in radio, superseding the
Morse code
Morse code is a telecommunications method which Character encoding, encodes Written language, text characters as standardized sequences of two different signal durations, called ''dots'' and ''dashes'', or ''dits'' and ''dahs''. Morse code i ...
of the wireless telegraph with the vocal communication of the wireless telephone, through advancements in
vacuum tube
A vacuum tube, electron tube, thermionic valve (British usage), or tube (North America) is a device that controls electric current flow in a high vacuum between electrodes to which an electric voltage, potential difference has been applied. It ...
technology and the introduction of the
transceiver
In radio communication, a transceiver is an electronic device which is a combination of a radio ''trans''mitter and a re''ceiver'', hence the name. It can both transmit and receive radio waves using an antenna, for communication purposes. The ...
.
After the war, numerous radio stations were born in the United States and set the standard for later radio programs. The first radio news program was broadcast on August 31, 1920, on the station
8MK in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...
; owned by ''
The Detroit News
''The Detroit News'' is one of the two major newspapers in the U.S. city of Detroit, Michigan
Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United S ...
'', the station covered local election results. This was followed in 1920 with the first commercial radio station in the United States,
KDKA, being established in
Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
. The first regular entertainment programs were broadcast in 1922, and on March 10, ''
Variety'' carried the front-page headline: "Radio Sweeping Country: 1,000,000 Sets in Use." A highlight of this time was the first
Rose Bowl being broadcast on January 1, 1923, on the Los Angeles station
KHJ.
Growth of radio
Broadcast radio in the United States underwent a period of rapid change through the decade of the 1920s. Technology advances, better regulation, rapid consumer adoption, and the creation of broadcast networks transformed radio from a consumer curiosity into the mass media powerhouse that defined the Golden Age of Radio.
Consumer adoption
Through the decade of the 1920s, the purchase of radios by United States homes continued, and accelerated. The
Radio Corporation of America (RCA) released figures in 1925 stating that 19% of United States homes owned a radio.
The
triode
A triode is an electronic amplifier, amplifying vacuum tube (or ''thermionic valve'' in British English) consisting of three electrodes inside an evacuated glass envelope: a heated Electrical filament, filament or cathode, a control grid, grid ...
and
regenerative circuit made amplified, vacuum tube radios widely available to consumers by the second half of the 1920s. The advantage was obvious: several people at once in a home could now easily listen to their radio at the same time. In 1930, 40% of the nation's households owned a radio, a figure that was much higher in suburban and large metropolitan areas.
The
superheterodyne receiver and other inventions refined radios even further in the next decade; even as the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
ravaged the country in the 1930s, radio would stay at the center of American life. 83% of American homes would own a radio by 1940.
Government regulation
Although radio was well established with United States consumers by the mid-1920s, regulation of the broadcast medium presented its own challenges. Until 1926, broadcast radio power and frequency use was regulated by the U.S. Department of Commerce, until a legal challenge rendered the agency powerless to do so. Congress responded by enacting the
Radio Act of 1927, which included the formation of the
Federal Radio Commission
The Federal Radio Commission (FRC) was a government agency that regulated United States radio communication from its creation in 1927 until 1934, when it was succeeded by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The FRC was established by ...
(FRC).
One of the FRC's most important early actions was the adoption of
General Order 40, which divided stations on the AM band into three power level categories, which became known as Local, Regional, and Clear Channel, and reorganized station assignments. Based on this plan, effective 3:00 a.m. Eastern time on November 11, 1928, most of the country's stations were assigned to new transmitting frequencies.
Broadcast networks
The final element needed to make the Golden Age of Radio possible focused on the question of distribution: the ability for multiple radio stations to simultaneously broadcast the same content, and this would be solved with the concept of a
radio network
There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass media, mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio (Duplex (teleco ...
. The earliest radio programs of the 1920s were largely unsponsored; radio stations were a service designed to sell radio receivers. In early 1922,
American Telephone & Telegraph Company (AT&T) announced the beginning of advertisement-supported broadcasting on its owned stations, and plans for the development of the first radio network using its telephone lines to transmit the content.
["National Radio Broadcast By Bell System"](_blank)
''Science & Invention'', April 1922, pp. 1144, 1173. In July 1926, AT&T abruptly decided to exit the broadcasting field, and signed an agreement to sell its entire network operations to a group headed by
RCA, which used the assets to form the
National Broadcasting Company. Four national radio networks had formed by 1934. These were:
*
National Broadcasting Company Red Network (NBC Red), launched November 15, 1926. Originally founded as the National Broadcasting Company in late 1926, the company was almost immediately forced to split under
antitrust
Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...
laws to form NBC Red and NBC Blue. When, in 1942, NBC Blue was sold and renamed the Blue Network, this network would go back to calling itself simply the National Broadcasting Company Radio Network (NBC).
*
National Broadcasting Company Blue Network (NBC Blue); launched January 10, 1927, split from NBC Red. NBC Blue was sold in 1942 and became the Blue Network, and it in turn transferred its assets to a new company, the American Broadcasting Company on June 15, 1945. That network identified itself as the
American Broadcasting Company Radio Network (ABC).
*
Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), launched September 18, 1927. After an initially struggling attempt to compete with the NBC networks, CBS gained new momentum when
William S. Paley was installed as company president.
[Sally Bedell Smith, ''In All His Glory: the Life and Times of William S. Paley and the Birth of Modern Broadcasting'' (1990)]
*
Mutual Broadcasting System
The Mutual Broadcasting System (commonly referred to simply as Mutual; sometimes referred to as MBS, Mutual Radio or the Mutual Radio Network) was an American commercial radio network in operation from 1934 to 1999. In the Golden Age of Radio, ...
(Mutual), launched September 29, 1934. Mutual was initially run as a cooperative in which the flagship stations owned the network, not the other way around as was the case with the other three radio networks.
However, by the end of the Golden Age (around 1950), two other national radio networks were in operation alongside the larger four:
*
Liberty Broadcasting System (Liberty), launched in 1948. Liberty was founded by American radio broadcaster Gordon McLendon, and broadcast live recreations of Major League Baseball games by following the action via Western Union ticker reports.
*
Progressive Broadcasting System (PBS), launched September 4, 1950. PBS's goal was to cater to smaller radio stations that hadn't yet affiliated with NBC, CBS, ABC, or even Mutual or Liberty. It planned to offer programming for 10 hours of the day on member stations.
Programming
In the period before and after the advent of the broadcast network, new forms of entertainment needed to be created to fill the time of a station's broadcast day. Many of the formats born in this era continued into the television and digital eras. In the beginning of the Golden Age, network programs were almost exclusively broadcast live, as the national networks prohibited the airing of recorded programs until the late 1940s because of the inferior sound quality of phonograph discs, the only practical recording medium at that time. As a result, network prime-time shows would be performed twice, once for each coast.
Live events
Coverage of live events included musical concerts and
play-by-play sports
Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...
broadcasts.
News
The capability of the new medium to get information to people created the format of modern
radio news: headlines,
remote reporting, sidewalk interviews (such as ''
Vox Pop''),
panel discussions,
weather reports, and farm reports. The entry of radio into the realm of news triggered a
feud between the radio and newspaper industries in the mid-1930s, eventually culminating in newspapers trumping up exaggerated reports of a
mass hysteria from the (entirely fictional) radio presentation of ''
The War of the Worlds'', which had been presented as a faux newscast.
Musical features
The sponsored musical feature soon became one of the most popular program formats. Most early radio sponsorship came in the form of selling the
naming rights
Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...
to the program, as evidenced by such programs as ''
The A&P Gypsies'', ''
Champion Spark Plug Hour'', ''
The Clicquot Club Eskimos'', and ''
King Biscuit Time''; commercials, as they are known in the modern era, were still relatively uncommon and considered intrusive. During the 1930s and 1940s, the leading orchestras were heard often through
big band remotes, and NBC's ''
Monitor'' continued such remotes well into the 1950s by broadcasting live music from New York City jazz clubs to rural America. Singers such as
Harriet Lee and
Wendell Hall became popular fixtures on network radio beginning in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Local stations often had staff organists such as
Jesse Crawford playing popular tunes.
Classical music
Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...
programs on the air included ''
The Voice of Firestone'' and ''
The Bell Telephone Hour''.
Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American Petroleum, oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its Gasoline, fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an Independ ...
sponsored the
Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts; the broadcasts, now sponsored by the
Toll Brothers, continue to this day around the world, and are one of the few examples of live classical music still broadcast on radio. One of the most notable of all classical music radio programs of the Golden Age of Radio featured the celebrated Italian conductor
Arturo Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini (; ; March 25, 1867January 16, 1957) was an Italian conductor. He was one of the most acclaimed and influential musicians of the late 19th and early 20th century, renowned for his intensity, his perfectionism, his ear for orche ...
conducting the
NBC Symphony Orchestra, which had been created especially for him. At that time, nearly all classical musicians and critics considered Toscanini the greatest living maestro. Popular songwriters such as
George Gershwin
George Gershwin (; born Jacob Gershwine; September 26, 1898 – July 11, 1937) was an American composer and pianist whose compositions spanned jazz, popular music, popular and classical music. Among his best-known works are the songs "Swan ...
were also featured on radio. (Gershwin, in addition to frequent appearances as a guest, had his own program in 1934.) The
New York Philharmonic also had weekly concerts on radio. There was no dedicated classical music radio station like
NPR at that time, so classical music programs had to share the network they were broadcast on with more popular ones, much as in the days of television before the creation of
NET and
PBS.
Country music
Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
also enjoyed popularity. ''
National Barn Dance'', begun on Chicago's
WLS in 1924, was picked up by
NBC Radio in 1933. In 1925, ''
WSM Barn Dance'' went on the air from
Nashville
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
. It was renamed the ''
Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...
'' in 1927 and NBC carried portions from 1944 to 1956. NBC also aired ''The
Red Foley Show'' from 1951 to 1961, and
ABC Radio carried ''
Ozark Jubilee'' from 1953 to 1961.
Comedy
Radio attracted top comedy talents from
vaudeville
Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...
and Hollywood for many years:
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...
,
Abbott and Costello,
Fred Allen,
Jack Benny,
Victor Borge,
Fanny Brice
Fania Borach (October 29, 1891 – May 29, 1951), known professionally as Fanny Brice or Fannie Brice, was an American comedian, Illustrated Songs, illustrated song model, singer, and actress who made many stage, radio, and film appearances. Sh ...
,
Billie Burke,
Bob Burns,
Judy Canova,
Eddie Cantor,
Jimmy Durante
James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side New York accent, accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced son ...
, ''
Burns and Allen'',
Phil Harris,
Edgar Bergen,
Bob Hope
Leslie Townes "Bob" Hope (May 29, 1903 – July 27, 2003) was an American comedian, actor, entertainer and producer with a career that spanned nearly 80 years and achievements in vaudeville, network radio, television, and USO Tours. He appeared ...
,
Groucho Marx
Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx (; October 2, 1890 – August 19, 1977) was an American comedian, actor, writer, and singer who performed in films and vaudeville on television, radio, and the stage. He is considered one of America's greatest comed ...
,
Jean Shepherd
Jean Parker "Shep" Shepherd Jr. (July 26, 1921 – October 16, 1999) was an American storytelling, storyteller, humorist, radio and TV personality, writer, and actor. With a career that spanned decades, Shepherd is known for the film ''A Christm ...
,
Red Skelton and
Ed Wynn
Isaiah Edwin Leopold (November 9, 1886 – June 19, 1966), better known as Ed Wynn, was an American actor and comedian. He began his career in vaudeville in 1903 and was known for his ''Perfect Fool'' comedy character, his pioneering radio show ...
.
Situational comedies also gained popularity, such as ''
Amos 'n' Andy'', ''
Easy Aces'', ''
Ethel and Albert'', ''
Fibber McGee and Molly'', ''
The Goldbergs'', ''
The Great Gildersleeve'', ''
The Halls of Ivy'' (which featured screen star
Ronald Colman and his wife
Benita Hume), ''
Meet Corliss Archer'', ''
Meet Millie'', and ''
Our Miss Brooks
''Our Miss Brooks'' is an American sitcom starring Eve Arden as a sardonic high-school English teacher. It began as a Old Time Radio, radio show broadcast on CBS from 1948 to 1957. When the show was adapted to television (1952–56), it became ...
''.
Radio comedy ran the gamut from the small town humor of
Lum and Abner,
Herb Shriner and
Minnie Pearl to the dialect characterizations of
Mel Blanc and the caustic sarcasm of
Henry Morgan. Gags galore were delivered weekly on ''
Stop Me If You've Heard This One'' and ''
Can You Top This?'', panel programs devoted to the art of telling jokes. Quiz shows were lampooned on ''
It Pays to Be Ignorant'', and other memorable parodies were presented by such satirists as
Spike Jones,
Stoopnagle and Budd,
Stan Freberg and
Bob and Ray
Bob, BOB, or B.O.B. may refer to:
People, fictional characters, and named animals
*Bob (given name), a list of people and fictional characters
*Bob (surname)
*Bob (dog), a dog that received the Dickin Medal for bravery in World War II
*Bob the ...
. British comedy reached American shores in a major assault when NBC carried ''
The Goon Show'' in the mid-1950s.

Some shows originated as stage productions:
Clifford Goldsmith's play ''
What a Life'' was reworked into NBC's popular, long-running ''
The Aldrich Family'' (1939–1953) with the familiar
catchphrase
A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture and in the arts, and typically spread through word of mouth and a variety of mass ...
s "Henry! Henry Aldrich!," followed by Henry's answer, "Coming, Mother!" Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman's Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway hit, ''
You Can't Take It with You'' (1936), became a weekly situation comedy heard on Mutual (1944) with Everett Sloane and later on NBC (1951) with
Walter Brennan.
Other shows were adapted from comic strips, such as ''
Blondie'', ''
Dick Tracy'', ''
Gasoline Alley'', ''
The Gumps'', ''
Li'l Abner'', ''
Little Orphan Annie
''Little Orphan Annie'' was a daily American comic strip created by Harold Gray and print syndication#Comic strip syndication, syndicated by the Tribune Media Services. The strip took its name from the 1885 poem "Little Orphant Annie" by James ...
'', ''
Popeye the Sailor'', ''
Red Ryder'', ''
Reg'lar Fellers'', ''
Terry and the Pirates'' and ''
Tillie the Toiler''. Bob Montana's redheaded teen of comic strips and comic books was heard on radio's ''
Archie Andrews'' from 1943 to 1953. ''The Timid Soul'' was a 1941–1942 comedy based on cartoonist
H. T. Webster's famed
Caspar Milquetoast character, and Robert L.
Ripley's Believe It or Not! was adapted to several different radio formats during the 1930s and 1940s. Conversely, some radio shows gave rise to spinoff comic strips, such as ''My Friend Irma'' starring
Marie Wilson.
Soap operas
The first program generally considered to be a daytime serial drama by scholars of the genre is ''
Painted Dreams
''Painted Dreams'' is an American radio soap opera that premiered on WGN (AM), WGN radio, Chicago, on October 20, 1930 and last aired in July 1943. It is widely considered by scholars of the genre to be the first daytime soap opera or drama-by-i ...
,''
which premiered on
WGN on October 20, 1930.
The first networked daytime serial is ''
Clara, Lu, 'n Em'', which started in a daytime time slot on February 15, 1932. As daytime serials became popular in the early 1930s, they became known as
soap opera
A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...
s because many were sponsored by soap products and detergents. On November 25, 1960, the last four daytime radio dramas—''
Young Dr. Malone'', ''Right to Happiness'', ''The Second Mrs. Burton'' and ''
Ma Perkins'', all broadcast on the
CBS Radio Network—were brought to an end.
Children's programming
The line-up of late afternoon adventure serials included ''
Bobby Benson and the B-Bar-B Riders'', ''
The Cisco Kid'', ''
Jack Armstrong, the All-American Boy'', ''
Captain Midnight'', and ''
The Tom Mix Ralston Straight Shooters''. Badges, rings, decoding devices and other
radio premiums were often linked to a sponsor's product. These items were offered on adventure shows. Young listeners had to mail in a
boxtop from a breakfast cereal or other
proof of purchase.
Radio plays
Radio plays were presented on such programs as ''
26 by Corwin'', ''NBC Short Story'', ''
Arch Oboler's Plays'', ''
Quiet, Please'', and ''
CBS Radio Workshop
''The CBS Radio Workshop'' was an experimental dramatic radio anthology series that aired on CBS from January 27, 1956, until September 22, 1957. Subtitled “radio’s distinguished series to man’s imagination,” it was a revival of the earli ...
''.
Orson Welles's ''
The Mercury Theatre on the Air'' and ''
The Campbell Playhouse'' were considered by many critics to be the finest radio drama anthologies ever presented. They usually starred Welles in the leading role, along with celebrity guest stars such as
Margaret Sullavan or
Helen Hayes
Helen Hayes MacArthur (; October 10, 1900 – March 17, 1993) was an American actress. Often referred to as the "First Lady of American Theatre", she was the second person and first woman to win EGOT, the EGOT (an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and ...
, in adaptations from literature, Broadway, and/or films. They included such titles as ''
Liliom'', ''
Oliver Twist'' (a title now feared lost), ''
A Tale of Two Cities
''A Tale of Two Cities'' is a historical novel published in 1859 by English author Charles Dickens, set in London and Paris before and during the French Revolution. The novel tells the story of the French Doctor Manette, his 18-year-long impr ...
'', ''
Lost Horizon'', and ''
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd''. It was on ''Mercury Theatre'' that Welles presented his celebrated-but-infamous
1938 adaptation of
H. G. Wells
Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...
's ''
The War of the Worlds'', formatted to sound like a
breaking news program. ''
Theatre Guild on the Air'' presented adaptations of classical and Broadway plays. Their Shakespeare adaptations included a one-hour ''
Macbeth
''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...
'' starring
Maurice Evans and
Judith Anderson, and a 90-minute ''
Hamlet
''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...
'', starring
John Gielgud. Recordings of many of these programs survive.
During the 1940s,
Basil Rathbone and
Nigel Bruce, famous for playing
Sherlock Holmes
Sherlock Holmes () is a Detective fiction, fictional detective created by British author Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a "Private investigator, consulting detective" in his stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with obser ...
and
Dr. Watson in films, repeated their characterizations on radio on ''
The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes'', which featured both original stories and episodes directly adapted from
Arthur Conan Doyle
Sir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle (22 May 1859 – 7 July 1930) was a British writer and physician. He created the character Sherlock Holmes in 1887 for ''A Study in Scarlet'', the first of four novels and fifty-six short stories about Hol ...
's stories. None of the episodes in which Rathbone and Bruce starred on the radio program were filmed with the two actors as Holmes and Watson, so radio became the only medium in which audiences were able to experience Rathbone and Bruce appearing in some of the more famous Holmes stories, such as "
The Speckled Band". There were also many dramatizations of Sherlock Holmes stories on radio without Rathbone and Bruce.
During the latter part of his career, celebrated actor
John Barrymore starred in a radio program, ''Streamlined Shakespeare'', which featured him in a series of one-hour adaptations of
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...
plays, many of which Barrymore never appeared in either on stage or in films, such as ''
Twelfth Night'' (in which he played both
Malvolio and
Sir Toby Belch), and ''
Macbeth
''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...
''.
''
Lux Radio Theatre'' and ''
The Screen Guild Theater'' presented adaptations of Hollywood movies, performed before a live audience, usually with cast members from the original films. ''
Suspense'', ''
Escape'', ''
The Mysterious Traveler'' and ''
Inner Sanctum Mystery'' were popular thriller anthology series. Leading writers who created original material for radio included
Norman Corwin,
Carlton E. Morse,
David Goodis,
Archibald MacLeish
Archibald MacLeish (May 7, 1892 – April 20, 1982) was an American poet and writer, who was associated with the modernist school of poetry. MacLeish studied English at Yale University and law at Harvard University. He enlisted in and saw action ...
,
Arthur Miller,
Arch Oboler,
Wyllis Cooper,
Rod Serling,
Jay Bennett, and
Irwin Shaw.
Game shows
Game show
A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...
s saw their beginnings in radio. One of the first was ''
Information Please'' in 1938, and one of the first major successes was ''
Dr. I.Q.'' in 1939. ''
Winner Take All'', which premiered in 1946, was the first to use lockout devices and feature returning champions.
A relative of the game show, which would be called the giveaway show in contemporary media, typically involved giving sponsored products to studio audience members, people randomly called by telephone, or both. An early example of this show was the 1939 show
''Pot o' Gold'', but the breakout hit of this type was ABC's
''Stop the Music'' in 1948. Winning a prize generally required knowledge of what was being aired on the show at that moment, which led to criticism of the giveaway show as a form of "buying an audience". Giveaway shows were extremely popular through 1948 and 1949. They were often panned as low-brow, and an unsuccessful attempt was even made by the
FCC to ban them (as an illegal lottery) in August 1949.
Broadcast production methods
The
RCA Type 44-BX microphone had two live faces and two dead ones. Thus actors could face each other and react. An actor could give the effect of leaving the room by simply moving their head toward the dead face of the microphone.
The scripts were paper-clipped together. It has been disputed whether or not actors and actresses would drop finished pages to the carpeted floor after use.
History of professional radio recordings in the United States
Radio stations
Despite a general ban on use of recordings on broadcasts by radio networks through the late 1940s, "reference recordings" on phonograph disc were made of many programs as they were being broadcast, for review by the sponsor and for the network's own archival purposes. With the development of high-fidelity magnetic wire and tape recording in the years following World War II, the networks became more open to airing recorded programs and the prerecording of shows became more common.
Local stations, however, had always been free to use recordings and sometimes made substantial use of prerecorded
syndicated programs distributed on pressed (as opposed to individually recorded)
transcription discs.
Recording was done using a
cutting lathe and
acetate discs. Programs were normally recorded at 33
rpm on 16-inch discs, the standard format used for such "
electrical transcriptions
Electrical transcriptions are special phonograph recordings made exclusively for radio broadcasting,Browne, Ray B. and Browne, Pat, eds. (2001). ''The Guide to United States Popular Culture''. The University of Wisconsin Press. . P. 263. which wer ...
" from the early 1930s through the 1950s. Sometimes, the groove was cut starting at the inside of the disc and running to the outside. This was useful when the program to be recorded was longer than 15 minutes so required more than one disc side. By recording the first side outside in, the second inside out, and so on, the sound quality at the disc change-over points would match and result in a more seamless playback. An inside start also had the advantage that the thread of material cut from the disc's surface, which had to be kept out of the path of the cutting stylus, was naturally thrown toward the center of the disc so was automatically out of the way. When cutting an outside start disc, a brush could be used to keep it out of the way by sweeping it toward the middle of the disc. Well-equipped recording lathes used the vacuum from a water aspirator to pick it up as it was cut and deposit it in a water-filled bottle. In addition to convenience, this served a safety purpose, as the cellulose nitrate thread was highly flammable and a loose accumulation of it combusted violently if ignited.
Most recordings of radio broadcasts were made at a
radio network
There are two types of radio network currently in use around the world: the one-to-many (simplex communication) broadcast network commonly used for public information and mass media, mass-media entertainment, and the two-way radio (Duplex (teleco ...
's studios, or at the facilities of a network-owned or
affiliated station, which might have four or more lathes. A small local station often had none. Two lathes were required to capture a program longer than 15 minutes without losing parts of it while discs were flipped over or changed, along with a trained technician to operate them and monitor the recording while it was being made. However, some surviving recordings were produced by local stations.
When a substantial number of copies of an electrical transcription were required, as for the distribution of a syndicated program, they were produced by the same process used to make ordinary records. A master recording was cut, then electroplated to produce a stamper from which pressings in vinyl (or, in the case of transcription discs pressed before about 1935, shellac) were molded in a record press.
Armed Forces Radio Service

The Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) had its origins in the U.S.
War Department's quest to improve troop morale. This quest began with short-wave broadcasts of educational and information programs to troops in 1940. In 1941, the War Department began issuing "Buddy Kits" (B-Kits) to departing troops, which consisted of radios, 78 rpm records and electrical transcription discs of radio shows. However, with the entrance of the United States into World War II, the War Department decided that it needed to improve the quality and quantity of its offerings.
This began with the broadcasting of its own original variety programs. ''
Command Performance'' was the first of these, produced for the first time on March 1, 1942. On May 26, 1942, the Armed Forces Radio Service was formally established. Originally, its programming comprised network radio shows with the commercials removed. However, it soon began producing original programming, such as ''
Mail Call'', ''G.I. Journal'', ''Jubilee'' and ''
GI Jive''. At its peak in 1945, the Service produced around 20 hours of original programming each week.
From 1943 until 1949 the AFRS also broadcast programs developed through the collaborative efforts of the
Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs and the
Columbia Broadcasting System in support of America's
cultural diplomacy initiatives and President Franklin Roosevelt's
Good Neighbor policy. Included among the popular shows was ''
Viva America'' which showcased leading musical artists from both North and South America for the entertainment of America's troops. Included among the regular performers were:
Alfredo Antonini,
Juan Arvizu,
Nestor Mesta Chayres,
Kate Smith, and
John Serry Sr.
After the war, the AFRS continued providing programming to troops in Europe. During the 1950s and early 1960s it presented performances by the Army's only symphonic orchestra ensemble—the
Seventh Army Symphony Orchestra.
It also provided programming for future wars that the United States was involved in. It survives today as a component of the
American Forces Network (AFN).
All of the shows aired by the AFRS during the Golden Age were recorded as electrical transcription discs, vinyl copies of which were shipped to stations overseas to be broadcast to the troops. People in the United States rarely ever heard programming from the AFRS, though AFRS recordings of Golden Age network shows were occasionally broadcast on some domestic stations beginning in the 1950s.
In some cases, the AFRS disc is the only surviving recording of a program.
Home radio recordings in the United States
There was some home recording of radio broadcasts in the 1930s and 1940s. Examples from as early as 1930 have been documented. During these years, home recordings were made with disc recorders, most of which were only capable of storing about four minutes of a radio program on each side of a twelve-inch
78 rpm
A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The g ...
record. Most home recordings were made on even shorter-playing ten-inch or smaller discs. Some home disc recorders offered the option of the
33 rpm speed used for electrical transcriptions, allowing a recording more than twice as long to be made, although with reduced audio quality. Office dictation equipment was sometimes pressed into service for making recordings of radio broadcasts, but the audio quality of these devices was poor and the resulting recordings were in odd formats that had to be played back on similar equipment. Due to the expense of recorders and the limitations of the recording media, home recording of broadcasts was not common during this period and it was usually limited to brief excerpts.
The lack of suitable home recording equipment was somewhat relieved in 1947 with the availability of
magnetic wire recorders for domestic use. These were capable of recording an hour-long broadcast on a single small spool of wire, and if a high-quality radio's audio output was recorded directly, rather than by holding a microphone up to its speaker, the recorded sound quality was very good. However, because the wire cost money and, like
magnetic tape
Magnetic tape is a medium for magnetic storage made of a thin, magnetizable coating on a long, narrow strip of plastic film. It was developed in Germany in 1928, based on the earlier magnetic wire recording from Denmark. Devices that use magnetic ...
, could be repeatedly re-used to make new recordings, only a few complete broadcasts appear to have survived on this medium. In fact, there was little home recording of complete radio programs until the early 1950s, when increasingly affordable reel-to-reel tape recorders for home use were introduced to the market.
Recording media
Electrical transcription discs

Before the early 1950s, when radio networks and local stations wanted to preserve a live broadcast, they did so by means of special
phonograph records known as "
electrical transcriptions
Electrical transcriptions are special phonograph recordings made exclusively for radio broadcasting,Browne, Ray B. and Browne, Pat, eds. (2001). ''The Guide to United States Popular Culture''. The University of Wisconsin Press. . P. 263. which wer ...
" (ETs), made by cutting a sound-modulated groove into a blank disc. At first, in the early 1930s, the blanks varied in both size and composition, but most often they were simply bare aluminum and the groove was indented rather than cut. Typically, these very early recordings were not made by the network or radio station, but by a private recording service contracted by the broadcast sponsor or one of the performers. The bare aluminum discs were typically 10 or 12 inches in diameter and recorded at the then-standard speed of 78
rpm, which meant that several disc sides were required to accommodate even a 15-minute program. By about 1936, 16-inch aluminum-based discs coated with cellulose nitrate lacquer, commonly known as
acetates and recorded at a speed of 33 rpm, had been adopted by the networks and individual radio stations as the standard medium for recording broadcasts. The making of such recordings, at least for some purposes, then became routine. Some discs were recorded using a "hill and dale" vertically modulated groove, rather than the "lateral" side-to-side modulation found on the records being made for home use at that time. The large slow-speed discs could easily contain fifteen minutes on each side, allowing an hour-long program to be recorded on only two discs. The lacquer was softer than shellac or vinyl and wore more rapidly, allowing only a few playbacks with the heavy pickups and steel needles then in use before deterioration became audible.
During World War II, aluminum became a necessary material for the war effort and was in short supply. This caused an alternative to be sought for the base on which to coat the lacquer. Glass, despite its obvious disadvantage of fragility, had occasionally been used in earlier years because it could provide a perfectly smooth and even supporting surface for mastering and other critical applications. Glass base recording blanks came into general use for the duration of the war.
Magnetic wire recording
In the late 1940s,
wire recorders became a readily obtainable means of recording radio programs. On a per-minute basis, it was less expensive to record a broadcast on wire than on discs. The one-hour program that required the four sides of two 16-inch discs could be recorded intact on a single spool of wire less than three inches in diameter and about half an inch thick. The audio fidelity of a good wire recording was comparable to acetate discs and by comparison the wire was practically indestructible, but it was soon rendered obsolete by the more manageable and easily edited medium of magnetic tape.
Reel-to-reel tape recording
Bing Crosby
Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...
became the first major proponent of magnetic tape recording for radio, and he was the first to use it on network radio, after he did a demonstration program in 1947.
Tape had several advantages over earlier recording methods. Running at a sufficiently high speed, it could achieve higher fidelity than both electrical transcription discs and magnetic wire. Discs could be edited only by copying parts of them to a new disc, and the copying entailed a loss of audio quality. Wire could be divided up and the ends spliced together by knotting, but wire was difficult to handle and the crude splices were too noticeable. Tape could be edited by cutting it with a blade and neatly joining ends together with adhesive tape. By early 1949, the transition from live performances preserved on discs to performances prerecorded on magnetic tape for later broadcast was complete for network radio programs. However, for the physical distribution of prerecorded programming to individual stations, 16-inch 33 rpm vinyl pressings, less expensive to produce in quantities of identical copies than tapes, continued to be standard throughout the 1950s.
Availability of recordings
The great majority of pre-World War II live radio broadcasts are lost. Many were never recorded; few recordings predate the early 1930s. Beginning then several of the longer-running radio dramas have their archives complete or nearly complete. The earlier the date, the less likely it is that a recording survives. However, a good number of syndicated programs from this period have survived because copies were distributed far and wide. Recordings of live network broadcasts from the World War II years were preserved in the form of pressed vinyl copies issued by the Armed Forces Radio Service (AFRS) and survive in relative abundance. Syndicated programs from World War II and later years have nearly all survived. The survival of network programming from this time frame is more inconsistent; the networks started prerecording their formerly live shows on magnetic tape for subsequent network broadcast, but did not physically distribute copies, and the expensive tapes, unlike electrical transcription ("ET") discs, could be "wiped" and re-used (especially since, in the age of emerging trends such as television and
music radio, such recordings were believed to have virtually no
rerun
A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. The two types of reruns are those that occur during a hiatus and those that occur when a program is syndicated.
Variations
In the United Kingdom, the word "repe ...
or resale value). Thus, while some prime time network radio series from this era exist in full or almost in full, especially the most famous and longest-lived of them, less prominent or shorter-lived series (such as
serials) may have only a handful of extant episodes.
Airchecks, off-the-air recordings of complete shows made by, or at the behest of, individuals for their own private use, sometimes help to fill in such gaps. The contents of privately made recordings of live broadcasts from the first half of the 1930s can be of particular interest, as little live material from that period survives. Unfortunately, the sound quality of very early private recordings is often very poor, although in some cases this is largely due to the use of an incorrect playback stylus, which can also badly damage some unusual types of discs.
Most of the Golden Age programs in circulation among collectors—whether on analog tape, CD, or in the form of
MP3s—originated from analog 16-inch transcription disc, although some are off-the-
air AM recordings. But in many cases, the circulating recordings are corrupted (decreased in quality), because lossless
digital recording
In digital recording, an audio signal, audio or video signal is converted into a stream of discrete numbers representing the changes over time in air pressure for audio, or Color, chroma and luminance values for video. This number stream is s ...
for the home market did not come until the very end of the twentieth century.
Collectors made and shared recordings on
analog magnetic tapes, the only practical, relatively inexpensive medium, first on
reels, then
cassettes. "Sharing" usually meant making a duplicate tape. They connected two recorders, playing on one and recording on the other. Analog recordings are never perfect, and copying an analog recording multiplies the imperfections. With the oldest recordings this can even mean it went out the speaker of one machine and in via the microphone of the other. The muffled sound, dropouts, sudden changes in sound quality, unsteady pitch, and other defects heard all too often are almost always accumulated tape copy defects. In addition, magnetic recordings, unless preserved
archivally, are gradually damaged by the
Earth's magnetic field
Earth's magnetic field, also known as the geomagnetic field, is the magnetic field that extends from structure of Earth, Earth's interior out into space, where it interacts with the solar wind, a stream of charged particles emanating from ...
.
The audio quality of the source discs, when they have survived unscathed and are accessed and dubbed anew, is usually found to be reasonably clear and undistorted, sometimes startlingly good, although like all phonograph records they are vulnerable to wear and the effects of scuffs, scratches, and ground-in dust. Many shows from the 1940s have survived only in edited AFRS versions, although some exist in both the original and AFRS forms.
, the Old Time Radio collection at the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
contains 5,121 recordings. An active group of collectors makes digitally available, via CD or
download
In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar systems. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...
, large collections of programs. RadioEchoes.com offers 98,949 episodes in their collection, but not all is old-time radio.
Copyright status
Unlike film, television, and print items from the era, the copyright status of most recordings from the Golden Age of Radio is unclear. This is because, before 1972, the United States delegated the
copyrighting of sound recordings to the individual states, many of which offered more generous
common law copyright protections than the federal government offered for other media (some offered ''perpetual'' copyright, which has since been abolished; under the
Music Modernization Act of September 2018, any sound recording 95 years old or older will be thrust into the public domain regardless of state law).
The only exceptions are AFRS original productions, which are considered
work of the United States government and thus both ineligible for federal copyright and outside the jurisdiction of any state; these programs are firmly in the
public domain
The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...
(this does not apply to programs carried by AFRS but produced by commercial networks).
In practice, most old-time radio recordings are treated as
orphan works: although there may still be a valid copyright on the program, it is seldom enforced. The copyright on an individual sound recording is distinct from the federal copyright for the underlying material (such as a published script, music, or in the case of adaptations, the original film or television material), and in many cases it is impossible to determine where or when the original recording was made or if the recording was copyrighted in that state. The U.S. Copyright Office states "there are a variety of legal regimes governing protection of pre-1972 sound recordings in the various states, and the scope of protection and of exceptions and limitations to that protection is unclear."
For example,
New York has issued contradicting rulings on whether or not common law exists in that state; the most recent ruling, 2016's ''
Flo & Eddie, Inc. v. Sirius XM Radio'', holds that there is no such copyright in New York in regard to public performance.
Further complicating matters is that certain examples in case law have implied that radio broadcasts (and faithful reproductions thereof), because they were distributed freely to the public over the air, may not be eligible for copyright in and of themselves. The
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
and other organizations that distribute public domain and open-source audio recordings maintain extensive archives of old-time radio programs.
Legacy
United States
Although the Golden Age of Radio is generally considered to have ended in the 1950s with the rise of television, radio continued to evolve and remain a significant medium in the 1960s. The decade saw the growth of FM radio, which offered better sound quality and attracted listeners with its music and talk show formats. Notable events included the
first presidential debate broadcast on both radio and television in
1960, and the debut of the first locally produced
talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. They may feature monologues, dialogues between the hosts, Interview (jo ...
show, 'At Your Service,' from KMOX in St. Louis, Missouri, which helped launch the talk radio format in the United States.
Some old-time radio shows continued on the air, although in ever-dwindling numbers, throughout the 1950s, even after their television equivalents had conquered the general public. One factor which helped to kill off old-time radio entirely was the evolution of popular music (including the development of
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
), which led to the birth of the
top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is a list of the 40 currently most popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "To ...
radio format. A top 40 show could be produced in a small studio in a local station with minimal staff. This displaced
full-service network radio and hastened the end of the golden-age era of radio drama by 1962. (Radio as a broadcast medium would survive, thanks in part to the proliferation of the
transistor radio, and permanent installation in vehicles, making the medium far more portable than television). Full-service stations that did not adopt either top 40 or the mellower
beautiful music or
MOR formats eventually developed
all-news radio
All-news radio is a radio format devoted entirely to the discussion and broadcast of news.
All-news radio is available in both local and radio syndication, syndicated forms, and is carried on both major US satellite radio networks. All-news sta ...
in the mid-1960s.
Scripted radio comedy and drama in the vein of old-time radio has a limited presence on U.S. radio. Several radio theatre series are still in production in the United States, usually airing on Sunday nights. These include original series such as ''
Imagination Theater'' and a radio adaptation of ''
The Twilight Zone'' TV series, as well as rerun compilations such as the popular daily series ''
When Radio Was'' and
USA Radio Network's ''
Golden Age of Radio Theatre'', and weekly programs such as ''The Big Broadcast'' on
WAMU, hosted by
Murray Horwitz. These shows usually air in late nights and/or on weekends on small AM stations. Carl Amari's nationally syndicated radio show ''Hollywood 360'' features 5 old-time radio episodes each week during his 5-hour broadcast. Amari's show is heard on 100+ radio stations coast-to-coast and in 168 countries on American Forces Radio. Local rerun compilations are also heard, primarily on
public radio
Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive ...
stations.
Sirius XM Radio maintains a full-time
Radio Classics channel devoted to rebroadcasts of vintage radio shows.
Starting in 1974,
Garrison Keillor, through his syndicated two-hour-long program ''
A Prairie Home Companion'', has provided a living museum of the production, tone and listener's experience of this era of radio for several generations after its demise. Produced live in theaters throughout the country, using the same sound effects and techniques of the era, it ran through 2016 with Keillor as host. The program included segments that were close renditions (in the form of parody) of specific genres of this era, including Westerns ("Dusty and Lefty, The Lives of the Cowboys"), detective procedurals ("
Guy Noir, Private Eye") and even advertising through fictional commercials. Keillor also wrote a novel, ''
WLT: A Radio Romance'' based on a radio station of this era—including a personally narrated version for the ultimate in verisimilitude. Upon Keillor's retirement, replacement host
Chris Thile chose to reboot the show (since renamed ''
Live from Here'' after the syndicator cut ties with Keillor) and eliminate much of the old-time radio trappings of the format; the show was ultimately canceled in 2020 due to financial and logistics problems.
Vintage shows and new audio productions in America are accessible more widely from recordings or by satellite and web broadcasters, rather than over conventional AM and FM radio. The
National Audio Theatre Festival is a national organization and yearly conference keeping the audio arts—especially audio drama—alive, and continues to involve long-time voice actors and OTR veterans in its ranks. Its predecessor, the Midwest Radio Theatre Workshop, was first hosted by
Jim Jordan
James Daniel Jordan (born February 17, 1964) is an American politician who has served in the U.S. House of Representatives as the representative for since 2007. He is a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party.
...
, of ''Fibber McGee and Molly'' fame, and
Norman Corwin advised the organization.
One of the longest running radio programs celebrating this era is ''The Golden Days of Radio'', which was hosted on the
Armed Forces Radio Service for more than 20 years and overall for more than 50 years by Frank Bresee, who also played "Little Beaver" on the ''
Red Ryder'' program as a child actor.
One of the very few still-running shows from the earlier era of radio is a Christian program entitled ''
Unshackled!'' The weekly half-hour show, produced in Chicago by
Pacific Garden Mission, has been continuously broadcast since 1950. The shows are created using techniques from the 1950s (including home-made sound effects) and are broadcast across the U.S. and around the world by thousands of radio stations.
Today, radio performers of the past appear at conventions that feature re-creations of classic shows, as well as music, memorabilia and historical panels. The largest of these events was the Friends of Old Time Radio Convention, held in
Newark, New Jersey
Newark ( , ) is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, most populous City (New Jersey), city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, the county seat of Essex County, New Jersey, Essex County, and a principal city of the New York metropolitan area. ...
, which held its final convention in October 2011 after 36 years. Others include REPS in Seattle (June), SPERDVAC in California, the Cincinnati OTR & Nostalgia Convention (April), and the Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention (September). Veterans of the Friends of Old Time Radio Convention, including Chairperson Steven M. Lewis of The Gotham Radio Players, Maggie Thompson, publisher of the ''Comic Book Buyer's Guide'', Craig Wichman of audio drama troupe Quicksilver Audio Theater and long-time FOTR Publicist Sean Dougherty have launched a successor event
Celebrating Audio Theater – Old & New scheduled for October 12–13, 2012.
Radio dramas from the golden age are sometimes recreated as live stage performances at such events. One such group, led by director
Daniel Smith, has been performing re-creations of old-time radio dramas at
Fairfield University's
Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts since the year 2000.
The 40th anniversary of what is widely considered the end of the old time radio era (the final broadcasts of ''
Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar'' and ''
Suspense'' on September 30, 1962) was marked with a commentary on NPR's ''All Things Considered''.
A handful of radio programs from the old-time era remain in production, all from the genres of news, music, or religious broadcasting: the ''
Grand Ole Opry
The ''Grand Ole Opry'' is a regular live country music, country-music Radio broadcasting, radio broadcast originating from Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee, on WSM (AM), WSM, held between two and five nights per week, depending on the ...
'' (1925), ''
Music and the Spoken Word'' (1929), ''
The Lutheran Hour'' (1930), the ''
CBS World News Roundup'' (1938), ''
King Biscuit Time'' (1941) and the ''
Renfro Valley Gatherin''' (1943). Of those, all but the Opry maintain their original short-form length of 30 minutes or less. The ''
Wheeling Jamboree'' counts an earlier program on a competing station as part of its history, tracing its lineage back to 1933.
Western revival/comedy act
Riders in the Sky produced a radio serial ''
Riders Radio Theater'' in the 1980s and 1990s and continues to provide sketch comedy on existing radio programs including the ''Grand Ole Opry'', ''
Midnite Jamboree'' and ''
WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour''.
Elsewhere
Regular broadcasts of radio plays are also heard in—among other countries—Australia, Croatia, Estonia,
France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Romania, and Sweden. In the United Kingdom, such scripted radio drama continues on
BBC Radio 3
BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...
and (principally)
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...
, the second-most popular radio station in the country, as well as on the rerun channel
BBC Radio 4 Extra, which is the seventh-most popular station there.
Museums
*
SPARK Museum of Electrical Invention
*
Museum of Broadcast Communications
*
Paley Center for Media
*
Pavek Museum of Broadcasting
See also
*
List of old-time radio programs
*
List of old-time American radio people
*
List of U.S. radio programs
*
List of radio soap operas
Radio drama, Radio daytime drama serials were broadcast for decades, and some expanded to television. These dramas are often referred to as "soaps", a shortening from "soap opera". That term stems from the original dramatic Serial (radio and tele ...
*
*
Antique radio
*
Audio theater
*
Music radio
*
Radio comedy
Radio comedy, or comedy, comedic radio programming, is a radio broadcast that may involve variety show, sitcom elements, sketch comedy, sketches, and various types of comedy found in other media. It may also include more surreal or fantastic elemen ...
* ''
Radio Days'' (
Woody Allen
Heywood Allen (born Allan Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American filmmaker, actor, and comedian whose career spans more than six decades. Allen has received many List of awards and nominations received by Woody Allen, accolade ...
film dramatizing old-time radio)
*
Radio drama
Radio drama (or audio drama, audio play, radio play, radio theatre, or audio theatre) is a dramatized, dramatised, purely acoustic performance. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the liste ...
* ''
Remember WENN'' (
AMC television series set at an old-time radio station in Pittsburgh)
*
Soap opera
A soap opera (also called a daytime drama or soap) is a genre of a long-running radio or television Serial (radio and television), serial, frequently characterized by melodrama, ensemble casts, and sentimentality. The term ''soap opera'' originat ...
* ''
When Radio Was''
Notes
References
* Blue, Howard (2002). ''
Words at War: World War II Era Radio and the Postwar Broadcasting Industry Blacklist''. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press.
*
Further reading
* Buxton, Frank, and Bill Owen. (1972). ''The Big Broadcast 1920–1950''. New York: Viking Press.
* Delong, Thomas A. (1980). ''The Mighty Music Box: The Golden Age of Radio''. Los Angeles, CA: Amber Crest Books.
* Dunning, John. (1976). ''Tune in Yesterday: The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio 1925–1976''. Englewood Cliffs, NY: Prentice Hall. .
*
* Maltin, Leonard. (1997). ''The Great American Broadcast: A Celebration of Radio's Golden Age''. New York: Dutton. .
* Nachman, Gerald. (1998). ''Raised on Radio''. New York: Pantheon, 1998. .
* ''It's That Time Again, Volume 4'', edited by
Jim Harmon. Albany, NY: BearManor Media, 2009. .
External links
Gunsmoke series on WRCW RadioOld Time Radio on-line archive at Archive.orgOld Time Radio on Way Back When
Audio Noirinternet radio station – free old time radio detective & crime shows
OTRR: Old Time Radio Research group– OTR restoration and preservation
OTRR Internet Archive homepage– comprehensive OTRR collections
{{Telecommunications
1920s establishments in the United States
1950s disestablishments in the United States
Radio comedy
Radio drama
Radio programs
Radio
Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
Nostalgia radio in the United States