''The Weird Circle'' was a syndicated

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 ...

series produced in New York and originally broadcast between 1943 and 1945.

Production background

The series was a Ziv Production, produced at

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

studios and licensed by the

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, ...

, and later,

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It is one of NBCUniversal's ...

Red network The National Broadcasting Company's NBC Radio Network (also known as the NBC Red Network from 1927 to 1942) was an American commercial radio network which was in continuous operation from 1926 through 1999. Along with the NBC Blue Network, it wa ...

. It lasted two seasons, 39 shows each (78 total) consisting mostly of radio adaptations of classic horror or supernatural stories written by authors such as

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic who is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales involving mystery and the macabre. He is widely re ...

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

and

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

. A few scripts were written specifically for the series. The production values were modest and ''The Weird Circle'' featured very little music.Weird Circle entry o
''Radio Horror Hosts'' website
Accessed July 4, 2013

Series opening/closing

Standard opening

(SFX: Running water, perhaps a sea surf. Bell tolls) Old Man: "In this cave by the restless sea, we are met to call from out of the past, stories strange and weird. Bell keeper, toll the bell, so that all may know that we are gathered again in ''The Weird Circle''."

Alternate opening

Announcer: "Out of the past, phantoms from a world gone by speak again the immortal tale (episode title)."

Standard closing

Host: "From the time worn pages of the past, we have recalled, (episode title). Bell Keeper, toll the bell! (SFX: Bell tolls)

List of Episodes

Stories dramatized in ''The Weird Circle'' came largely from public-domain 19th-century (or earlier) sources. Longer works were heavily abridged, keeping only the bare outline of the weird elements of the story. Short works were expanded and rewritten, often with additional characters and a romantic element added. In some cases, the rewriting was so extensive that the original story is almost unrecognizable save for some character names.

Notes

References

External links

''Weird Circle'' Titles, Authors, First Broadcast Dates

Listen to episodes of ''The Weird Circle'' on mp3 at the Internet Archive
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weird Circle American radio dramas Fantasy radio programs Horror fiction radio programmes Ziv Company radio programs 1940s American radio programs Syndicated American radio programs Anthology radio series