Showing results by author "CBS Radio" in All Categories

Suspense went through several major phases, characterized by different hosts, sponsors, and director/producers. Formula plot devices were followed for all but a handful of episodes: The protagonist was usually a normal person suddenly dropped into a threatening or bizarre situation; solutions were "withheld until the last possible second"; and evildoers were usually punished in the end.

Getting away with murder? Don't bet on it! Sometimes even the careful get caught. Sometimes revenge leads to regret. Sometimes we wade through dark thoughts and dark water, through evil and espionage to...suspense! Radio's outstanding theater of thrills dishes up a dose of tension-packed drama in this collection of 20 engrossing episodes, featuring performances by Bette Davis, Barbara Stanwyck, Burt Lancaster, Red Skelton, Ginger Rogers, Charles Boyer, Joseph Cotten, and more!

Enjoy sixteen of the greatest programs from radio’s golden age and the Hollywood celebrities that starred in them.

My Favorite Husband hit the CBS Radio airwaves in 1948, starring Lucille Ball and Richard Denningas Liz and George Cugat - who later became Liz and George Cooper when confusion with bandleader Xavier Cugat prompted a name change. Set in the fictitious town of Sheridan Falls, the show follows the happily married couple, residents of 321 Bundy Drive, through mischief and various predicaments, from faked illnesses to trouble with exes.

Our Miss Brooks was a situation comedy show heard on radio and seen on television and in films starring Oscar winner Eve Arden. Her skill with the wicked one-liner and acid aside had begun to lead to typecasting, so, to find a new image, Arden signed on for the lead in radio's Our Miss Brooks. The series centered on Connie Brooks, a smart, sharp-witted, lovable English teacher at fictional Madison High School.

Radio Westerns were strictly for kids until 1952, when Gunsmoke hit the radio airwaves. The stories were grim, the deaths brutal, and life on the plains was harsh. Radio audiences had never heard anything like Gunsmoke, and they made it the number one Western on the radio. It soon made a successful transition to television, becoming the longest-running dramatic series in television history.

Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman auditioned for the roles of a married couple in a radio pilot for a new comedy, My Favorite Husband, based on the novel Mr. and Mrs. Cugat by Isabel Scott Rorick. The concept was very well received and within a few weeks the weekly sitcom was established. Bowman was replaced by Richard Denning and during the first season, the Cugats were renamed the Coopers, who lived “in a little white two-story house” in the bustling, small suburb of Sheridan Falls.

Nostalgia radio had incredible comedy, mystery, detective, western, sci-fi, musical, and drama shows that kept Americans glued to their radio sets. Families gathered around their living room radios to hear their favorite Hollywood stars in fully-dramatized broadcasts that entertained millions.

The evening edition with all the day's news from the nation's longest-running news broadcast.

Our CBS News team in Washington wraps up the news of the week and goes deep into the major stories with CBS News correspondents. It's the end-of-week news magazine show you can take with you wherever you go. (046510)

Bring history back to life through Jim Hodges' historically accurate, exciting, and edifying audio recordings. You Are There radio dramatization begins with "live" background coverage of the historical event, and then the "on the scene reporters" take over.

Everybody knows there were no radio announcers onboard the Niña, Pinta, or Santa Maria (or from ancient Greece, medieval France, or the Battle of Gettysburg either!), but you will be transported back in time anyway as the show "broadcasts" from the ships, the shore, and Spain. The dialogue is very believable, historically accurate, and very much in character. It is apparent that the producers of this show did their homework!

In one of her most renowned roles, Bette Davis portrays Julie Marsden, a spoiled Southern belle who risks losing her suitor with her impetuous behavior. Engaged to successful banker Preston Dillard, Julie pushes him away with her arrogant and contrary ways, leading to a scandalous scene at a major social event and his subsequent departure. When Preston eventually returns and Julie attempts to win him back, she discovers that it may be too late.

Conceived as a potential radio vehicle for Alfred Hitchcock to direct, Suspense was a radio series of epic proportion. It aired on CBS from 1942 to 1962, and is considered by many to be the best mystery/drama series of the golden age. Often referred to as "Radio's Outstanding Theater of Thrills" it focused on suspenseful thrillers starring the biggest names in Hollywood.

Jack Webb (1920 - 1982) was a popular American actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter. He started out in the entertainment industry in comedy, but achieved his first success playing the title character in the radio show Pat Novak, for Hire. His greater success came from his role as Los Angeles Police Department sergeant Joe Friday in the show Dragnet, which he created based on actual LAPD criminal case files and which ran for many years on both radio and television.

Every week, Inner Sanctum Mysteries told a story of ghosts, murderers, and lunatics. Taking its name from a popular series of mystery novels, Inner Sanctum Mysteries debuted over NBC radio's Blue Network in January 1941 and featured one of the most memorable and atmospheric openings in radio history, as an organist hit a dissonant chord, a doorknob turned, and a creaking door slowly began to open.

Fort Laramie was an adult-oriented Western radio series that aired Sunday afternoons on the CBS radio network in 1956. Produced and directed by Gunsmoke's Norman Macdonnell, this realistic Western drama depicted life at Fort Laramie, an important stop on the Oregon, California, and Mormon Trails as well as a staging point for various military excursions during the 19th century.

It's on-the-job training for your nerves as Radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrills takes a look at crimes and calamites in the workplace! Listen to the "Man in Black" as he introduces you to corrupt colleagues who are responsible for more than the bottom line. But don't worry. You're in the hands of professionals with Van Heflin, Ronald Colman, Joseph Cotten, Elliott Lewis, Joseph Kearns, William Conrad, and Richard Widmark.

Radio's Outstanding Theatre of Thrills seldom stayed in one place for long. Over the course of its 20-year run, Suspense presented stories that spanned the entire Earth. From the four corners of the globe come tales of shock and tension! Distant lands, exotic settings, and the mystery of the unknown all converge to bring you outstanding tales of... Suspense!

Suspense went through several major phases characterized by different hosts, sponsors, and director/producers. Formula plot devices were followed for all but a handful of episodes: The protagonist was usually a normal person suddenly dropped into a threatening or bizarre situation; solutions were "withheld until the last possible second"; and evildoers were usually punished in the end.