Classic Streams: Old Time Retro Radio

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television. When aired in the United Kingdom, the television ser...

Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work on radio and in film and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and early 1950s and the highest-paid entertainers in the world during World War II. Their patter routine "Who's on First?" is one of the best-known comedy routines of all time. Their popularity waned in...

The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective was a radio series based loosely on the private detective character Sam Spade, created by writer Dashiell Hammett for The Maltese Falcon. The show ran for 13 episodes on ABC in 1946, for 157 episodes on CBS in 1946–1949, and finally for 51 episodes on NBC in 1949–1951. The series starred Howard Duff (and later, Steve Dunne) as Sam Spade and Lurene Tuttle as h...

X Minus One is an American half-hour science fiction radio drama series that broadcast from April 24, 1955 to January 9, 1958 in various timeslots on NBC. Known for high production values in adapting stories from the leading American authors of the era, X Minus One has been described as one of the finest offerings of American radio drama and one of the best science fiction series in any medium. Ov...

Lux Radio Theatre, sometimes spelled Lux Radio Theater, a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company [ABC] in 1943–1945); CBS Radio network (Columbia Broadcasting System) (1935–54), and NBC Radio (1954–55). Initially, the series adapted Broadway plays during its firs...

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television. When aired in the United Kingdom, the television ser...

Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work on radio and in film and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and early 1950s and the highest-paid entertainers in the world during World War II. Their patter routine "Who's on First?" is one of the best-known comedy routines of all time. Their popularity waned in...

The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective was a radio series based loosely on the private detective character Sam Spade, created by writer Dashiell Hammett for The Maltese Falcon. The show ran for 13 episodes on ABC in 1946, for 157 episodes on CBS in 1946-1949, and finally for 51 episodes on NBC in 1949-1951. The series starred Howard Duff (and later, Steve Dunne) as Sam Spade and Lurene Tuttle as h...

A determined man battles even more determined insects in the tropical jungles. You are isolated on a remote plantation in the crawling Amazon Jungle and an immense army of ravenous ants is closing in on you - swarming in to eat you alive. A deadly black army from which there is no escape.

Hallmark Playhouse is an American old-time radio dramatic anthology series. It was broadcast on CBS from June 10, 1948 until February 1, 1953, and was described by one author as "a program that consistently produced the highest levels of production quality and value." Beginning on February 8, 1953, the program underwent changes of title, host, and format. It was broadcast as The Hallmark Hall of F...

Gunsmoke is an American radio and television Western drama series created by director Norman Macdonnell and writer John Meston. The stories take place in and around Dodge City, Kansas, during the settlement of the American West. The central character is lawman Marshal Matt Dillon, played by William Conrad on radio and James Arness on television. When aired in the United Kingdom, the television ser...

Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work on radio and in film and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and early 1950s and the highest-paid entertainers in the world during World War II. Their patter routine "Who's on First?" is one of the best-known comedy routines of all time. Their popularity waned in...

Sam Spade is a fictional character and the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel, The Maltese Falcon. Spade also appeared in four lesser-known short stories by Hammett. The Maltese Falcon, first published as a serial in the pulp magazine Black Mask, is the only full-length novel in which Spade appears.

The Adventures of Sam Spade, Detective was a radio series based loosely on the private detective character Sam Spade, created by writer Dashiell Hammett for The Maltese Falcon. The show ran for 13 episodes on ABC in 1946, for 157 episodes on CBS in 1946-1949, and finally for 51 episodes on NBC in 1949-1951. The series starred Howard Duff (and later, Steve Dunne) as Sam Spade and Lurene Tuttle as h...

The Adventures of Maisie (aka Maisie) was a radio comedy series starring Ann Sothern as underemployed entertainer Maisie Ravier and a spin-off of Sothern's successful 1939–1947 Maisie movie series, based on a character created by Wilson Collison.). The series was broadcast on C B S Radio,N B C Radio, the Mutual Radio Network, and Mutual flagship radio station W H N in New York City. Sponsored by E...

Alias Jimmy Valentine is an old-time radio crime drama in the United States. It was broadcast on NBC-Blue January 18, 1938 - February 27, 1939.  Format: The concept for Alias Jimmy Valentine came from writer O. Henry in his short story A Retrieved Reformation. That story was adapted into the 1910 play Alias Jimmy Valentine by Paul Armstrong. The program's stories focused on Lee Randall, descr...

Sears Radio Theater was a radio drama anthology series which ran weeknights on CBS Radio in 1979, sponsored by the Sears chain. Often paired with The CBS Radio Mystery Theater during its first season, the program offered a different genre of drama for each evening's broadcast. In January 1980, the program moved from CBS to the Mutual Broadcasting System and was renamed the Mutual Radio Theater. Th...

Richard Diamond, Private Detective is an American detective drama, created by Blake Edwards, which aired on radio from 1949 to 1953, and on television from 1957 to 1960. Radio. Dick Powell starred in the Richard Diamond, Private Detective radio series as a wisecracking, former police officer turned private detective. Episodes typically open with a client visiting or calling cash-strapped Diamond's...

Woman on the Run is a 1950 American crime film noir directed by Norman Foster and starring Ann Sheridan and Dennis O'Keefe. The film was based on the April 1948 short story "Man on the Run" by Sylvia Tate and filmed on location in San Francisco. The film was restored and preserved by the UCLA Film & Television Archive. Plot. Frank Johnson (Ross Elliott) is an unsuccessful painter who is out walkin...

Challenge of the Yukon is an American radio adventure series that began on Detroit's WXYZ and is an example of a Northern genre story. The series was first heard on January 3, 1939. The title changed from Challenge of the Yukon to Sergeant Preston of the Yukon in September 1950, and remained under that name through the end of the series and into a television adaptation.  Background.  Fol...

Lux Radio Theatre, a classic radio anthology series, was broadcast on the NBC Blue Network (1934–35) (owned by the National Broadcasting Company, later predecessor of American Broadcasting Company  in 1943–1945); CBS Radio network (Columbia Broadcasting System) (1935–54), and NBC Radio (1954–55). Initially, the series adapted Broadway plays during its first two seasons before it began adaptin...

Blue Ribbon Town was a comedy-variety radio series, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer, broadcast on CBS from March 27, 1943, to August 5, 1944. The 30-minute series was heard Saturday nights at 10:30 p.m. until October when it moved to 8 p.m. It was also known as Pabst Blue Ribbon Town. The comedy situations, starring Groucho Marx, took place in the mythical American community of Blue Ribbon Tow...

Please Murder Me is a 1956 American film noir film directed by Peter Godfrey, and starring Angela Lansbury and Raymond Burr. Plot Defense lawyer Craig Carlson (Raymond Burr) buys a pistol at a pawn shop and travels to his office, where he deposits the gun in a desk drawer with a file folder, then begins to dictate into a tape recorder. Directing his message to District Attorney Ray Willis (John De...

Calling All Cars is an old-time radio police drama in the United States. It was broadcast on the CBS West Coast network and on the Mutual-Don Lee Network November 29, 1933 - September 8, 1939 and carried by transcription on stations in other areas. The program was notable for being one of the first police dramas on radio. Format. Calling All Cars dramatized cases that had been handled by the Los A...

Betty and Bob is a radio soap opera. The soap opera followed the lives of Betty and Bob Drake. Betty was a secretary who falls madly in love with her boss, bachelor Bob Drake. The two wed and each day, the subject matter dealt with everything from love to hate, jealousy to divorce, murder to betrayal, and collusion to insanity. The program was the first radio program produced by future daytime rad...