I grew up in an interesting time in history. Born in 1955, by the time I've come of age to understand anything on TV or radio, radio drama was gone, and basically all I knew was television -- and some of the things my Dad told me about radio.

So it was sometime much later that I heard radio drama for the first time. I say "Drama", but I really mean comedy, mystery, and essentially anything other than news and top-40 DJ's. Funny, because in the 70's there was a small revival of sorts, and two shows come to mind. One was CBS Mystery Theatre, which unfortunately in DC the only station that played it was WTOP, and it was something like 1 in the morning or some awful hour. I COULD hear it on other stations in the evening via skip, and remember listening to a few episodes. The other show is one that I don't think has ever stopped to this day, and I believe is considered the only show of its type still in existence -- that is the religious program Unshackled. Each week it tells of someone coming to Jesus and how it changed his life, and the stories are surprisingly well written.

I also remember hearing a few dramas rewritten for radio on NPR. Star Wars and Empire Strkes Back were both adapted for radio, split into several episodes each. I've also found out, through research, that X Minus One had one new episode broadcast in 1973. Of course there have been numerous re-enactments of War Of The Worlds, generally around Halloween.

Any other "new" attempts at radio dramas out there worth noting?

Similar to the CBS Mystery Theatre (CBSRMT) was Nightfall, a CBC Radio (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) program that ran from from July 1980 to June 1983. I recently started a thread on Nightfall if anyone is looking for more info.

Funny you should mention Unshackled, I haven't heard it in a long time but usually enjoyed it when I tuned in on one.

While in the USAF in the mid-70's I vividly recall driving at night in my VW bug listening to AM radio and finding a CBSRMT broadcast. It was always good to keep me awake because it was usually a distant station and I had to fiddle with the tuning as it faded in and out. Then there were times when I'd loose the station before the show was over. Occasionally I got lucky and got in range of a different station that was broadcasting it at a later time so I'd finally get to hear the ending.

Is there a good source to download CBSRMT?

You can find CBS radio mystery theater here. I believe its all of the episodes. Pretty cool website. You can download tons of shows.

http://www.archive.org/details/cbs_radi ... ry_theater

Hi all,

I found a nice Canadian one called Blackjack Justice on Decoder Ring Theater.........

http://decoderring.libsyn.com/category/Black%20Jack%20Justice

At first I found it a tad corny in the way they acted, but it kinda grew on me as I found the plots and story lines had a bit of a comical side to them.

I suggest starting with the first episodes, so you get to know the characters better.

Cheers, Bob

CBC had a great series of contemporary mystery shows, but unfortunately they have become very
protective of the copyrights. I was lucky to get the CDs before they were removed from the sites.
Clean Sweep, Midnight Cab, and a few others are worth noting.
I have the CBS Mystery shows, but haven't had time to listen to them.
Pete

Thanks Bob. I will start from episode 1.

Every car trip, my Android phone gets loaded with OTR. I normally have some gunsmoke, dragnet, dimension X, Dr. Kildare and others.

But there is a modern show that I always load as well. It's comedy, which I find lacking in traditional OTR (other than Amos and Andy).

It's also a radio show like you've never heard before. It can be crude, and sometimes even vulgar, but it's always outrageous and often very, very funny. Don't say I didn't warn you!

It's a radio talk show by Phil Hendrie. He interviews people and takes calls. It was broadcast on many local stations. Sounds normal, right?

Here's an episode where PHil interviews a national columnist named Margaret Gray who is outraged at the super bowl commercial in which Christopher Reeve was shown walking again. Click to play or Right Click and "SAve As" to save the mp3 file.

http://ia600209.us.archive.org/2/items/ ... shback.mp3

And the great thing about Phil Hendrie is that he's playing BOTH the radio host and the bizarre guests he interviews....

WBLW, a Baptist Christian radio station out of Gaylord, Michigan (88.1 FM) plays Unshackled as well as several other Christian-based radio dramas such as Free Indeed, Lamp Lighter Radio Theater, Jonathan Park, Ranger Bill, and The Sugar Creek Gang. I tend to catch them on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. One of my favorite stations - too bad they're not on AM!

I am surprised no one has mentioned it yet, but Imagination Theater puts together some wonderful modern radio dramas. Based out of Washington State, IT does numerous shows, most notable The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and Harry Nile. These shows are extremely well done and the acting/sound effects are all first rate. Their website (www.harrynile.com) has the episodes available individually or boxed sets and they are reasonably priced. Definitely check them out if you want to hear some modern detective style radio dramatizations.

-Scott

Found out that our strongest local station, WMKT (1270 KHz, news-talk out of Charlevoix) broadcasts relatively new episodes of "The Twilight Zone" from 6PM to 8PM on Sundays. AWESOME!!!

Since you said Not - so - old OTR, I'm listening to the local radio station here I recorded July 10, 1972. WATZ/WHSB - Neil Diamond and other artists. Also local and world wide news. There were special programs such as the Stork Report and the Trade-Mart for folks who wanted to sell items. I have a treasure of old radio programs. Some not so old...1968 - 1975. Many, a lot older. My friends here could care less about them so I have no one to share them with.

Dennis

If you like to refer to radio programming that's not in the "Drama/comedy/acting department, I've got a handful of radio "Transcriptions" if you still want to call them that, that fall in the category of modern times. First off, I have a handful of "Country Music Time - Special Of Thw Week" from 1983-84, which are probably about the very last programs to actually be distributed on vinyl. These are standard 12" microgroove disks, resembling LP's. There are segments, with a log sheet of what's on each segment -- including Coors beer commercials. These include interviews with Janie Fricke, Johnny Cash, and a few others. I also have a few CD's of radio programming, including Dick Clark's "Rock, Roll & Remember" and another one I believe is named "Cool Bobby B's Doo-Wop Stop" or something like it. I LOVE the introduction -- "One day in 1957, someone broke the lock on the door of a big radio station in Philadelphia, turned up the power and played three-part harmony to the region. He left before the authorities arrived and is in hiding to this day, which is why the origin of this program cannot be disclosed . . ."

Unshackled,
You can Google the word and find the website for it .There is a radio log for the programme and it is still on in many states and Canada.
Cheers
Jerry F Bacon♫♫

Someone mentioned the remakes of the Twilight Zone. Over the past ten years or so they redid all of the old TV episodes and are now in current production doing both unused TV scripts as well as new writing.

See:
http://www.twilightzoneradio.com
(182 episodes available so far)



Also, I should check out some of the CBS-RMT sets, I recall the show when I was growing up, but, in my ignorant youth, I never paid that much attention to them when they were in new production. Thanx for the link!

Mike

National Public Radio had "NPR Playhouse" going well into the nineties: I used to listen to it on Sunday nights on our local public station. I remember dramatizations of Winnie the Pooh, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, and lots of other stuff, all very well done.

If anyone here is into classic horror audio programs, I am finding that Dreadtime Stories really delivers. Modern show but has that classic feel to it. I am into classic horror, especially audio horror and this program is well produced, scary, and the sound effects are quite unique. Check it out - http://bit.ly/L6hjeD