Shamus devotees would no doubt have an engaging discussion as to whether Samuel Spade was the greatest private detective of them all, but old-time radio fans could probably come to a consensus that The Adventures of Sam Spade—which premiered sixty-seven years ago on this date—was one of the greatest private eye programs of them all […]

If you really wanted to nitpick…celebrating the 71st anniversary of the anthology program Suspense would have to be put off until July 22 of this year—and we’d also have to add a few years, making it the 73rd birthday.  July 22, 1940 marked the official debut of “radio’s outstanding theatre of thrills,” when it premiered […]

Seventy-one years ago on this date, radio’s best-known omniscient narrator took the first of what would be many strolls by night…and by the time that final curtain was brought down on The Whistler on September 22, 1955, it would be no small exaggeration to say that he was pretty much exhausted after all that walking.   Okay…I’m […]

Seventy-six years ago on this date, a program that would soon become the number one radio show in the nation premiered over the Red network of NBC.  The Chase and Sanborn Hour was big-time radio: it featured the likes of Nelson Eddy, Don Ameche, Dorothy Lamour and W.C. Fields—all of whom were audience pleasers at […]

Eighty-two years ago on this date, radio listeners paid their first visit to the sleepy little Arkansas hamlet of Pine Ridge to sit around the stove at the general mercantile known as “The Jot ‘Em Down Store.”  An emporium run by partners Columbus “Lum” Edwards (played by Chester “Chet” Lauck) and Abner Peabody (Norris “Tuffy” […]

Seventy years ago on this date in history, the literary sleuth created by Drexel Drake made his radio debut on the Blue Network with a series that would entertain listeners until November 29, 1954: The Adventures of the Falcon.  No one ever really explained to the radio audience’s satisfaction why a shamus named Michael Waring adopted the […]

Seventy-three years ago on this date, one of radio’s best-remembered running gags was introduced…and it was as simple as opening up a closet door.  The March 5, 1940 broadcast of The Johnson Wax Program with Fibber McGee & Molly introduced a radio sound effect that was rivaled only by the creaking door heard on Inner Sanctum […]

Seventy-two years ago on this date, radio audiences made their first visit to a dingy, dank East Side watering hole affectionately known as Duffy’s Tavern.  The half-hour sitcom, created by and starring Ed Gardner, would become show business’ most famous “place where everybody knows your name” until the television show Cheers premiered some forty years […]