Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting

In 1934 Chicago was the center for radio production. Writer and director Wyllis Cooper created a program for NBC affiliate WENR that drastically altered the tone of horror. Cooper had been writing advertising copy in the late 1920s when he entered radio, working first as a continuity editor, then for NBC's Empire Builders. His idea was to offer listeners a late-night terror program, at a time when...

Mystery is My Hobby originally came to Don Lee’s west coast airwaves in April of 1945, before going full network over Mutual that October as Murder Is My Hobby. It starred Glenn Langan as Barton Drake, a police inspector and the author of the book Mystery Is My Hobby. Drake combined his professions by collecting material for stories while he solved crimes. The program went off the air in July of 1...

Written and directed by Robert Arthur and David Kogan, The Mysterious Traveler first aired over the Mutual Broadcasting System on December 5th, 1943. Mostly sustained, the show was heard on virtually every night of the week. There were frequent gaps in its runs, but it was always good for a revival. It was cheap to produce; there were no major film stars to pay, and plenty of New York radio actors...

By October of 1947, nearly eleven million babies had been born in the U.S. since the end of World War II. Young parents were staying home with their children. Movie attendance bombed. The 1947-48 season had the largest radio audience in history. Homes with radios jumped 6%, car radios 29%. NBC, CBS, ABC, and Mutual added nearly one-hundred fifty affiliates. Ninety-seven percent of the nation’s AM...

In Breaking Walls episode 131 we spotlight Orson Welles’ time as The Shadow in 1937-38. —————————— Highlights: • Orson Welles’ on The March of Time and The Columbia Workshop • The Shadow as Narrator • Les Misérables • WOR and Network Radio In The Fall of 1937 • The Shadow Launches With Orson Welles • Jeanette Nolan and The Temple Bells of Neban • Early Reviews • Agnes Moorehead and The Three Ghost...

In the fall of 1938 as Orson Welles was launching The Mercury Theater of The Air, radio character actor Bill Johnstone became The Shadow. Johnstone held the role until March 21st, 1943, when Brett Morison took over. Morison had the title role for most of the rest of the radio run. The Shadow would air until December 26th, 1954. We’re going to stop here. I’ve covered Welles from his birth through P...

In late June 1938, Orson Welles was approached by CBS. He was offered a one-hour, network sustained time slot on Mondays at 9PM. William Paley’s concept: A Mercury Theater of the air for a nine-week trial run. Unlike Welles and Houseman’s theater productions which had several weeks of rehearsal, the show would begin in just two, on July 11th. Houseman was nervous. He’d never done radio. Welles wou...

The success of The Shadow was shared by Blue Coal. Billboard reported that twelve months after the premiere their sales were up nearly eleven percent. Blue Coal was selling for as much as two dollars per ton more than their competitors. In February of 1938 Orson Welles opined that “radio’s future big-wigs will be college graduates.” By then more than ninety colleges offered courses in radio speech...

Orson Welles opened in Julius Caesar on November 11th, 1937. He also made time to perform in guest appearances elsewhere on radio with Tallulah Bankhead and Cedric Hardwicke. Thursday, November 25th, 1937 was Thanksgiving Day. The New York Daily News headline spoke of Consolidated Edison finally getting on board with F.D.R.’s new deal program. November 28th’s episode of The Shadow was called “The...

On Halloween 1937, Benito Mussolini removed Italy’s foreign minister to France due to strained relations between the two countries over Italy's participation in the Spanish Civil War. Adolph Hitler gave the Order of the German Eagle to the Japanese emperor’s son, while Chinese forces abandoned its defense of the Sihang Warehouse. Sunday was Halloween and at 5:30PM eastern, The Shadow took to the a...

The September 29th, 1937 issue of Variety said “that melodramatic and at times astonishing crime fighter, “The Shadow,” returns to the ether to probably find a rather sizable slice of listeners waiting for him. In this series the sponsor will benefit from having a program aimed right at the vulnerability of the audience it seeks. Orson Welles, a young and good actor still riding a crest of recogni...

On the October 24th, 1937 episode of The Shadow called “The Temple Bells of Neban,” Lamont meets an Indian woman and drug smuggler named Sadi Bel-Adda. She knows The Shadow’s true identity. She’s the niece of the man who trained Lamont, and capable of using the same powers. This cast featured Ray Collins as Commissioner Weston with Carl Frank as Jerry Gleason and Everett Sloane playing bit parts....

In the fall of 1937, Orson Welles was busy readying for a Mercury Theater broadway production of Julius Caesar. The agency Ruthrauff and Ryan approached Welles about the possibility of starring in a weekly radio series. His signing was announced in The New York Times on August 29th, 1937. Welles’ contract allowed him to miss rehearsals and readings. He was paid seventy-five dollars per week, or ro...

The voice at the top of this clip is that of former WOR chief engineer Jack Poppele. The station went online on February 22nd, 1922. In 1934, WOR became one of the flagship stations of the Mutual Broadcasting System. The next March, Poppele was chiefly responsible for the creation of radio’s first directional antenna just as WOR increased its power to fifty-thousand watts. In December of 1936, Don...

By late spring in 1937, the Federal Theater Project was under intense scrutiny for staging what some felt were too many left-leaning labor plays. In Washington, there were rumors funds would be cut. At the same time, Welles and John Houseman were rehearsing a production of The Cradle Will Rock. The play took place in "Steeltown, USA.” It followed the efforts of Larry Foreman to unionize the town's...

In 1930 publisher Street and Smith decided to try radio with hopes of boosting pulp sales. Each week a drama would be adapted from an upcoming issue of Detective Story Magazine. They added a mysterious host, called The Shadow, and left the link to the magazine somewhat tenuous. The show premiered over CBS on July 31st, 1930. Ken Roberts soon became the announcer. It wasn’t long before people were...

In the spring of 1935, nineteen year-old Orson Welles was living in New York, appearing on stage in Katharine Cornell’s stock company and workin on CBS’ American School of the Air and The March of Time. The next year, Welles was on the debut episode of CBS’s Columbia Workshop. The program’s creator Irving Reiss recognized Orson’s talent, while Welles studied the creative risks The Workshop took. H...

In Breaking Walls episode 130 we head to the summer of 1947 to get to the bottom of NBC’s Philip Marlowe caper. —————————— Highlights: • Who was Raymond Chandler? • Who is Philip Marlowe? • Van Heflin, Movie Star • Radio Ratings in the Spring of 1947 • Marlowe Launches with Red Wind • Initial Reviews • The King in Yellow • The Celebrated Life and Tragic Death of Jeff Chandler • Marlowe Leaves NBC,...

In Breaking Walls episode 129 we honor the seventy-fifth anniversary of the Roswell incident by focusing on Radio and the mid-century flying saucer craze. —————————— Highlights: • World War II, Kenneth Arnold, Roswell, and “Project Saucer” • The Chicago Roundtable Attempts to Answer What Life on Other Planets Would Look Like • Sightings in The Spring of 1950 — Dimension X Launches • The 1950 Radio...

In Breaking Walls episode 128 we wrap up our six month look at 1954 by ending in June with network cancellations. —————————— Highlights: • The State of Radio and The Union • The End of Escape with John Dehner • News with Frank Edwards on Mutual • Let’s Pretend with Arnold Stang • Autolite Drops Suspense • Goodbye To Jack Benny (For Now) • What’s At Stake in the Fall 1954 Midterm Elections • CBS Ca...

In Breaking Walls episode 127 we keep on with our look at 1954 by picking up in May during one of the most important months of the decade. —————————— Highlights: • The Big Sound in Nashville • Everett Sloane and The 21st Precinct • Ray Milland and Meet Mr McNutley • An Eisenhower Presser and Other Current Events • I Love a Mystery — Born Again • Wild Bill Hickok • Grace Kelly Guest Stars on Bob Ho...

In Breaking Walls episode 126 we continue our mini-series in April of 1954. —————————— Highlights: • Eisenhower talks fear • Lum and Abner’s April Fools’ Joke • The Eternal Light • Nightwatch — A New CBS Real Police Show • Barrie Craig, Confidential Investigator • Illegal Immigrant Fears • Gildersleeve’s Dinner Party • Easter Sunday and The End of The Whistler • Jack Benny Holds a Seance • The Arm...

In Breaking Walls episode 125 we continue our mini-series in March of 1954. —————————— Highlights: • Edward R. Murrow Sees It Now • Perry Mason Busts The Syndicate • The 1954 DNC in Florida • Cathy and Elliott Lewis Can’t Fight City Hall • Groucho Marx Bets His Life • Phil Harris and Alice Faye: Happy Couple In Cancellation • The End of the Expense Account For Johnny Dollar? • Escape’s Violent Nig...

In Breaking Walls episode 124 we pick up our 1954 mini series in February. We’ll focus on radio programming and national news from that month. —————————— Highlights: • Radio Billings Are Down. Now What? • Dragnet—Still Going Strong • Lee Deforest and The Hallmark Hall of Fame • Americana • Jack Benny Turns 39? 40? 60? • Guest Star and The McCarthy News • The College Quiz Bowl • Mr and Mrs North •...

For those who wanted Breaking Walls episode 123 in the traditional format. ___________ In Breaking Walls episode 123 we open 2022 with a six-part mini-series on radio business and programming in 1954. We’ll begin with January, in a radio half-season that was for many, the end of the line. —————————— Highlights: • Ringing in the New Year with Fibber McGee and Molly • Gunsmoke’s Stage Holdup • Peopl...