Old Time Radio (30s-60s) CBS Radio Workshop Crime Classics X-Minus One Whitehall 1212 (another Cooper series) Damon Runyon Theater Dimension X Escape Destination Freedom
Middle Aged Radio (70s-80s) CBS Radio Mystery Theater Sci-Fi Radio
New Time Radio (90s-present) Undone The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy Julie Enfield Investigates Doctor Who tons of miniseries on BBC Radio 7, like The Psychadelic Spy, Paradise Lost in Space, Oneira, Les Miserables, The Brightonomicon
Black Museum (w/ Orson Wells) Supposedly based on fact murder stories. Wells hosted. Creeps By Night (w/ Boris Karloff). Tales of suspense w/ Boris as a character. Dimension X. One of the best sci fi anthologies. Escape. One of the best adventure anthologies. Hall of Fantasy. Often good supernatural tales. Haunting Hour. Often melodramatic supernatural stories, Sometimes, campy. The Hermit's Cave. Sometimes spotty, but often effective ghost stories. Inner Sanctum. An all time favorite, especially when featuring the real Raymond as host. The murder stories were sometimes so twisted it was impossible, but always fun. I Was A Communist for the FBI. A wonderful espionage series based on the real life experiences of Matt Cvetic, who worked undercover for the FBI. A gem of cold war history and hype, made long before it was considered fashionable to be anti-capitalist. Lights Out. (Cooper's early series especially). The best ones had music, most didn't, but the supernatural stories had interesting plot elements. Mystery In The Air (starring Peter Lorre). He was always a good insane person. Mysterious Traveler. Very good supernatural stories. The Sealed Book. Corny and often melodramatic, but still, often good ghost stories. Stay Tuned For Terror. I never heard this one, but I'm already in love with it coz it was written by Robert Block and starred Boris Karloff. Suspense. Not as good as Escape, but often very effective suspense tales, like Alfred Hitchcock Present sort of stories (in fact, he borrowed from the series). 2,000 Plus. Sometimes melodramatic, but usually good sci-fi tales. I can't wait to see how futuristic it really in the distant future of the year 2,000 The Whistler. Fun murder stories with a sinister narrator, The Whistler, who always enjoyed egging on the killer... yes Albert, you DID kill her didn't you, but if the land lord saw you through the window, the only way to play it safe is to kill her too! Witches Tale. Often melodramatic delivery, because it was so old, but the actual scripts are really, really creepy. Try reading them some day and see! Very few remain but the entire run was saved by the author who thew them away in the 1970s when he thought they had no worth. What a tragedy! X Minus One. The revived Dimension X series, just as good (usually).
The CBS Mystery Theatre was great in the 1970s, and the closest I got to actually hearing old time radio growing up as a boomer. (Thanks Himan Brown!)
Bradbury 13 is one of my favorite newer series. Great sound design and classic Bradbury scripts. The Fox In The Forest and Sound of Thunder are the best. Nightfall was a distant 2nd, but deserves credit for originality.
And of course, I always enjoy Mystery Playhouse for nostalgic reasons (and hearing Dr. Morgan).
To follow up on "Stay Tuned for Terror", the series written by Robert Bloch. I stated earlier that it starred Boris Karloff, because Richard Hand made the claim on pages 10 and 52 of his book, "Terror on the Air". But now I believe that statement was in error. Bloch recounts his involvement with the show and its actors in several interviews, and he never mentions Karloff at all. (Instead, he mentions the lead as James Doolittle.) There are no recordings in circulation of this series to listen to, but it seems very unlikely Bloch "forgot" Karloff's involvement. More likely, Hand just confused it with another series, like Karloff and Bloch's partnership on TV's THRILLER.
My favorite OTR shows besides QP are mostly from the horror/sci-fi/mystery vaults: Inner Sanctum, Mysterious Traveler, Lights Out, Witch's Tale, Suspense, Dimension X, X-Minus One, The Whistler, Zero Hour and of more recent vintage, CBS Radio Mystery Theater.
I got into OTR pretty late in the going (the summer of 2000, when I was 44), but I already had a massive appreciation for the golden age of communication (black-and-white movies, mostly, featuring Karloff, Lugosi, Lorre, etc.).
I can remember distinctly stumbling across a web site that had an episode of the The Shadow on it called "Murders in Wax" and I thought, "Hmm, this is pretty awesome. Any more of this stuff online?" Heh-heh, little did I know what was out there.
In all honesty, I'd had a slight curiousity about OTR for some time because I'd see those tapes at the Cracker Barrel stores. But I was put off because I figured it wasn't worth five bucks to get two shows that you'll listen to one time and probably never again. And the thought of how much it would cost to collect them in serious numbers really pushed me away.
The advent of MP3s and the availability of so many shows online for very reasonable prices changed everything. I became an avid listener, and eventually a collector. Today I have more than 1,500 episodes of dozens of OTR shows, and I'm banking on living long enough after my retirement (hopefully in about 12 years) to listen to it all.
0/5
1
2
3
4
5
Sorry, you don't have permission to post posts. Log in, or register if you haven't yet.
Comments on Favorite OTR shows besides Quiet Please
Junior Member
Usergroup: Member
Joined: Oct 30, 2005
Total Topics: 13
Total Comments: 17
I like the following:
Lights Out
Inner Sanctum
Dimension X
X Minus 1
Suspense
Lux Radio Theater
Senior Member
Usergroup: Webmaster
Joined: Dec 21, 2001
Location: Northern California
Total Topics: 38
Total Comments: 275
Old Time Radio (30s-60s)
CBS Radio Workshop
Crime Classics
X-Minus One
Whitehall 1212 (another Cooper series)
Damon Runyon Theater
Dimension X
Escape
Destination Freedom
Middle Aged Radio (70s-80s)
CBS Radio Mystery Theater
Sci-Fi Radio
New Time Radio (90s-present)
Undone
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Julie Enfield Investigates
Doctor Who
tons of miniseries on BBC Radio 7, like The Psychadelic Spy, Paradise Lost in Space, Oneira, Les Miserables, The Brightonomicon
Junior Member
Usergroup: Member
Joined: Mar 20, 2005
Location: Tallahassee, Fl
Total Topics: 4
Total Comments: 20
Here's my favorites in Alphabetical Order
Black Museum (w/ Orson Wells) Supposedly based on fact murder stories. Wells hosted.
Creeps By Night (w/ Boris Karloff). Tales of suspense w/ Boris as a character.
Dimension X. One of the best sci fi anthologies.
Escape. One of the best adventure anthologies.
Hall of Fantasy. Often good supernatural tales.
Haunting Hour. Often melodramatic supernatural stories, Sometimes, campy.
The Hermit's Cave. Sometimes spotty, but often effective ghost stories.
Inner Sanctum. An all time favorite, especially when featuring the real Raymond as host. The murder stories were sometimes so twisted it was impossible, but always fun.
I Was A Communist for the FBI. A wonderful espionage series based on the real life experiences of Matt Cvetic, who worked undercover for the FBI. A gem of cold war history and hype, made long before it was considered fashionable to be anti-capitalist.
Lights Out. (Cooper's early series especially). The best ones had music, most didn't, but the supernatural stories had interesting plot elements.
Mystery In The Air (starring Peter Lorre). He was always a good insane person.
Mysterious Traveler. Very good supernatural stories.
The Sealed Book. Corny and often melodramatic, but still, often good ghost stories.
Stay Tuned For Terror. I never heard this one, but I'm already in love with it coz it was written by Robert Block and starred Boris Karloff.
Suspense. Not as good as Escape, but often very effective suspense tales, like Alfred Hitchcock Present sort of stories (in fact, he borrowed from the series).
2,000 Plus. Sometimes melodramatic, but usually good sci-fi tales. I can't wait to see how futuristic it really in the distant future of the year 2,000
The Whistler. Fun murder stories with a sinister narrator, The Whistler, who always enjoyed egging on the killer... yes Albert, you DID kill her didn't you, but if the land lord saw you through the window, the only way to play it safe is to kill her too!
Witches Tale. Often melodramatic delivery, because it was so old, but the actual scripts are really, really creepy. Try reading them some day and see! Very few remain but the entire run was saved by the author who thew them away in the 1970s when he thought they had no worth. What a tragedy!
X Minus One. The revived Dimension X series, just as good (usually).
The CBS Mystery Theatre was great in the 1970s, and the closest I got to actually hearing old time radio growing up as a boomer. (Thanks Himan Brown!)
Bradbury 13 is one of my favorite newer series. Great sound design and classic Bradbury scripts. The Fox In The Forest and Sound of Thunder are the best.
Nightfall was a distant 2nd, but deserves credit for originality.
And of course, I always enjoy Mystery Playhouse for nostalgic reasons (and hearing Dr. Morgan).
Junior Member
Usergroup: Member
Joined: Mar 20, 2005
Location: Tallahassee, Fl
Total Topics: 4
Total Comments: 20
To follow up on "Stay Tuned for Terror", the series written by Robert Bloch. I stated earlier that it starred Boris Karloff, because Richard Hand made the claim on pages 10 and 52 of his book, "Terror on the Air". But now I believe that statement was in error. Bloch recounts his involvement with the show and its actors in several interviews, and he never mentions Karloff at all. (Instead, he mentions the lead as James Doolittle.) There are no recordings in circulation of this series to listen to, but it seems very unlikely Bloch "forgot" Karloff's involvement. More likely, Hand just confused it with another series, like Karloff and Bloch's partnership on TV's THRILLER.
Junior Member
Usergroup: Member
Joined: May 25, 2010
Total Topics: 6
Total Comments: 14
My favorite OTR shows besides QP are mostly from the horror/sci-fi/mystery vaults: Inner Sanctum, Mysterious Traveler, Lights Out, Witch's Tale, Suspense, Dimension X, X-Minus One, The Whistler, Zero Hour and of more recent vintage, CBS Radio Mystery Theater.
I got into OTR pretty late in the going (the summer of 2000, when I was 44), but I already had a massive appreciation for the golden age of communication (black-and-white movies, mostly, featuring Karloff, Lugosi, Lorre, etc.).
I can remember distinctly stumbling across a web site that had an episode of the The Shadow on it called "Murders in Wax" and I thought, "Hmm, this is pretty awesome. Any more of this stuff online?" Heh-heh, little did I know what was out there.
In all honesty, I'd had a slight curiousity about OTR for some time because I'd see those tapes at the Cracker Barrel stores. But I was put off because I figured it wasn't worth five bucks to get two shows that you'll listen to one time and probably never again. And the thought of how much it would cost to collect them in serious numbers really pushed me away.
The advent of MP3s and the availability of so many shows online for very reasonable prices changed everything. I became an avid listener, and eventually a collector. Today I have more than 1,500 episodes of dozens of OTR shows, and I'm banking on living long enough after my retirement (hopefully in about 12 years) to listen to it all.