"The Golden Age of Radio"
(As originally broadcast on WTIC, Hartford, CT)


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Program 83 - February, 1977 - Horror Shows

 
Raymond Edward Johnson
Host of "Inner Sanctum Mysteries"
 

A history of the horror show genre on radio. Radio was born in the 1920s, boomed in the Thirties, was golden in the Forties, and busted by a monster called television in the late Fifties.   While it reigned supreme, the "Theater of the Mind" took listeners into a world made real by their own imaginations, a world of sound rather than sight, a world where the voices of actors and the ingenuity of sound effects artists gave everything plausible, sometimes terrifying life. It was on an episode of the radio anthology series Escape that Vincent Price first made his indelible mark.  "Tired of the every day grind?  Ever dreamed of a life of romantic adventure?" Every week would ask the deep, powerful, menacing voice of William Conrad or Paul Frees.  "Want to get away from it all?  We offer you… ESCAPE!"  And a few bars from Moussorgsky's "Night on Bald Mountain," to set the proper mood. On this show we'll hear excerpts from "The Witch's Tale," "Quiet Please," "Mysterious Traveler," "I Love a Mystery," and "Lights Out." Many other horror shows entertained listeners; A partial list: Lights Out Arch Oboler's Plays Beyond Midnight Black Castle / Black Chapel Black Museum Boris Karloff Collection Chandu, the Magician The Clock Dr Jekyll & Mr. Hyde Dracula Eleventh Hour Five Minute Mysteries Frankenstein, 1931-325 Hall of Fantasy Haunting Hour Hermit's Cave Hunchback of Notre Dame I Love a Mystery I Love Adventure Inner Sanctum Mysteries Mysterious Traveler Mystery House Mystery in the Air Mystery is My Hobby Quiet Please The Shadow Standby for Adventure Suspense Suspicion The Whistler

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Program 83 - February, 1977 - Horror Shows

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