The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows | Old Time Radio

Gunsmoke, “Legal Revenge” (episode 200), originally broadcast on CBS on February 5, 1956. William Conrad stars as Marshal Matt Dillon, with Parley Baer as Chester and Howard McNear as Doc Adams. The episode was written by John Meston and produced by Norman Macdonnell.

When Doc Adams reports a troubling situation at an isolated homestead outside Dodge City, Matt and Chester investigate under the guise of prospective settlers. A wounded man, a guarded woman, and a ready six-gun turn a medical concern into a tense question of danger, identity, and frontier justice.

The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:49 Original Broadcast
25:40 Closing

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-50-greatest-old-time-radio-shows-old-time-radio--7218119/support.

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

Suspense presents “Nightmare,” episode 348, originally broadcast on CBS on September 1, 1949. Gregory Peck stars in this opening broadcast of the 1949–50 season, with Lurene Tuttle and Alan Reed; the drama was written by Sam Blas and produced by William Spier.

During a family fishing trip in the mountains, Ben leaves his stalled car to seek help at a nearby gas station. When he returns, his wife and young son have vanished from the roadside, setting off a harrowing search shadowed by danger, grief, and the possibility of revenge.

The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:51 Original Broadcast
30:47 Closing

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-50-greatest-old-time-radio-shows-old-time-radio--7218119/support.

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

Lux Radio Theatre presents “Vivacious Lady,” episode 289, originally broadcast on CBS on January 6, 1941. Sponsored by Lux, this radio adaptation stars Alice Faye and Don Ameche.

A reserved college botany professor impulsively marries a lively New York nightclub singer, then faces the challenge of bringing her into his conservative college-town world. Adapted from the 1938 RKO romantic comedy based on I. A. R. Wylie’s story, the comedy plays Manhattan glamour against small-town respectability.

The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:46 Original Broadcast
01:00:17 Closing

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-50-greatest-old-time-radio-shows-old-time-radio--7218119/support.

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

Dragnet, “The Big Border,” originally broadcast on March 20, 1952, is episode 145 of the NBC police drama. Jack Webb stars as Los Angeles robbery detective Sergeant Joe Friday, with Barney Phillips as Sergeant Ed Jacobs; the episode was written by Jim Moser.

Friday and Jacobs are assigned to track two armed convicts who have escaped from San Quentin and may be heading for Los Angeles. Following leads tied to one fugitive’s former fiancée, the detectives coordinate with fellow officers as the search pushes south toward the Mexican border. As was customary for Dragnet, the drama presents itself as drawn from official police files with Los Angeles Police Department technical advice.

The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:54 Original Broadcast
30:24 Closing

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-50-greatest-old-time-radio-shows-old-time-radio--7218119/support.

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

Escape presents “Ancient Sorceries,” episode 28, originally broadcast nationally on CBS on February 15, 1948. This sustaining production was adapted from Algernon Blackwood’s supernatural short story, written for radio by Les Crutchfield and directed by William N. Robson. The cast includes Paul Frees, William Conrad, Jeff Corey, and Ramsay Hill.

A traveler pauses overnight in an isolated Welsh town, only to find that its quiet, watchful residents seem to know him—and that the village exerts an unsettling pull he cannot easily explain. What begins as an ordinary stopover becomes an increasingly eerie encounter with the unknown.

The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:57 Original Broadcast
30:27 Closing

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-50-greatest-old-time-radio-shows-old-time-radio--7218119/support.

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

X Minus One presents “The Martian Death March,” episode 17, originally broadcast on NBC on September 8, 1955. Written by Ernest Kinoy, this production remakes a script first heard on Dimension X in 1951.

On Mars in 1997, an Earthman recalls meeting John, a man sympathetic to the Martians confined to reservations, and Cantalcar, a displaced Martian Highlander. When Martians begin a dangerous desert journey toward their ancestral northern mountains, the story becomes a powerful science-fiction allegory of conquest, prejudice, and the meaning of home. Norman Rose narrates.

The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:59 Original Broadcast
24:25 Closing

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-50-greatest-old-time-radio-shows-old-time-radio--7218119/support.

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

The Whistler, “Murder in Haste,” originally broadcast December 17, 1947, is episode 290. In this CBS Pacific Network presentation, sponsored by Signal Oil, Bill Forman stars as the ominous Whistler.

After a wealthy Miami woman dies, her husband Albert Taylor heads north by train under the watchful eye of a suspicious detective. Desperate to leave his past behind, Taylor glimpses a dangerous chance to take on the identity of a celebrated mystery writer. Written by Eleanor Beeson, this tense tale was a remake of a 1946 Whistler episode of the same title.

The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:44 Original Broadcast
30:17 Closing

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-50-greatest-old-time-radio-shows-old-time-radio--7218119/support.

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

Dimension X presents “Mars Is Heaven,” episode 33, broadcast January 7, 1951. This NBC science-fiction drama adapts Ray Bradbury’s short story “Mars Is Heaven!”; the production was written for radio by Ernest Kinoy and is a rebroadcast of the version first heard in July 1950.

Captain John Black, played by Wendell Holmes, leads Earth’s first expedition to Mars in 1987. Instead of the alien landscape the crew expects, they find an eerily familiar small American town, where Black and Dr. Horst (Peter Capell) confront unsettling signs that Mars may hold more than anyone anticipated. Norman Rose narrates.

The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:51 Original Broadcast
26:11 Closing

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-50-greatest-old-time-radio-shows-old-time-radio--7218119/support.

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

Suspense presents “The Moonstone - Part Two,” originally broadcast on CBS on November 23, 1953. This is episode 527 and the conclusion of a two-part adaptation of Wilkie Collins’s landmark detective novel.

As Franklin Blake and Sergeant Cuff continue their search for a remarkable yellow diamond that vanished from the Verinder estate, suspicion shifts inward among the household’s family, guests, and servants. Peter Lawford stars as Franklin Blake in this Richard Chandlee adaptation, produced and directed by Elliott Lewis.

The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:53 Original Broadcast
30:48 Closing

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-50-greatest-old-time-radio-shows-old-time-radio--7218119/support.

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio

Gunsmoke presents “Cavalcade,” episode 396, broadcast on CBS Radio on November 8, 1959. This airing repeats the original January 31, 1953 broadcast, with William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon and Parley Baer as Chester Proudfoot.

A deputy sheriff arrives in Dodge City from Richmond, Virginia, carrying murder warrants for two fugitives. When the names and an old photograph raise troubling questions close to home, Dillon must carefully sort evidence, duty, and friendship. Written by Les Crutchfield and directed by Norman Macdonnell, the episode also features Lawrence Dobkin as Deputy Ed Hunter.

The 50 Greatest Old Time Radio Shows presents the original broadcast with a newly produced contextual introduction, a short closing announcement, and gently cleaned/mastered audio for a more consistent listening experience.

Chapters:
00:00 Victor Sterling Introduction
00:56 Original Broadcast
27:35 Closing

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-50-greatest-old-time-radio-shows-old-time-radio--7218119/support.

Support Old Time Retro Radio at https://www.patreon.com/oldtimeretroradio