Radio America

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet was the real-life

Nelson family on the air, with all the little adventures

that an active middle-class American family might have,

and two young boys growing up before their parents' and

the television audience's eyes. The Nelsons lived in

Hillsdale at 822 Sycamore Road. On TV Ozzie had no

defined source of income, and always seemed

to be hanging around the house.

The Burns and Allen act, a classic vaudeville routine involving a "Dumb Dora" and a male straight man, proved infinitely malleable. Initially a flirtation act, by the time it was transferred to television it was housed in a standard situation-comedy frame: Burns and Allen played themselves, a celebrity couple, enduring various matrimonial mix-ups.

The Cisco Kid and Pancho are a wonderful pair of rough and ready vagabonds who often are mistaken for outlaws themselves. They are smart enough to use this to their advantage, and get in and out of trouble at the drop of a sombrero. They had trusty steeds that any young cowhand could name - for Cisco, it was Diablo, and Pancho rode Loco. And often, the pair seemed like a couple of crazy devils themselves. Pancho is one of the best sidekicks in Western as he is always rattling on with a sense of humor that is as wide as his belly. He's a lover of the food, while Cisco is obviously a handsome, dashing hero who has an eye for a shady "varmint", or the fair lady in distress that usually thanks him at the end of the episode. From '42 to '45, Jackson Beck played Cisco Kid, and Louis Sorin handled Pancho. Mutual-Don Lee productions took over in '46, and Jack Mather became Cisco, and Harry Lang played Pancho. They continued in the roles until the show's end in '56.

This episode of Father Knows Best starring Robert Young as Jim Anderson was broadcast on June 15, 1950.

Cartoon characters spend a silly day at the Kalama Zoo. Produced in 1939.

Dragnet was an incredible radio series for many reasons. It represented the apex of police procedural broadcasting. It used sound effects to an extent that had rarely be seen before and it extended the boundaries of what was classed as acceptable broadcasting with some of its controversial storylines. In this episode Detective Sergeant Friday is assigned to robbery detail. A ruthless fiend roams the streets of the city masquerading as a police officer. For months helpless citizens have been robbed, beaten senseless and kidnapped. The criminal is a twisted genius with cunning. It's up to Detective Sergeant Joe Friday to get him.

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This 15 minute daily situation comedy was probably the most popular radio show of all time. The listening audience was estimated at 40 million, almost one-third of Americans living at that time. The story was of Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll playing Amos and Andy as black men from Harlem who owned the Fresh Air Taxi Company, so called because its only cab had no windshield. Amos and Andy were the commonest of common men: they symbolized the poor Joe with no money, no job and no future. It was the first significant serial utilizing the elements of sympathetic characters, comedy and suspense.

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Buck Rogers was a comic strip that appeared in the America's newspapers, so it was a natural for radio action, too. It had several time slots and sponsors on radio during the 1930's, and the shows from 1938-39, running on Mutual, re-tell our hero's beginnings to get us kids ready for action as Buck blasts off on more exciting space adventures in the incredible future of the 25th Century. After his 1930's adventures, Buck Rogers was "lost in space" until a return to Earth radio in 1947. Many actors played the parts throughout the decades.