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CBS Radio Mystery Theater

Back in the '70s I was working at what was then the CBS affiliate in Concord, NH (WKXL, 1450/102.3)....
I used to run the show with the studio lights out.....for "effect....."!! Being alone in the building, it gave the place that "spooky" feel......
Once in a while the boss would actually pop in at that hour (10:00 PM) and ask :"Why are ALL the lights off? Didn't we pay our bill this month???"
There were some pretty "sappy" shows, IMO. by today's standards....but plenty of really good ones, too!
This hour of network programming also gave me a chance to get the 11:00 PM newscast together...Being (then) a 1kw day/250w night AM operation, we weren't yet on 24 hours a day.....
The 11:00 PM news was our "Final Report".....
 
Himan Brown's CBS Radio Mystery Theater introduced me to radio drama. As I recall, the cast often included such legendary actors as Fred Gwynne, John Lithgow, Mason Adams, Jackson Beck, Ralph Bell, and Norman Rose. One sponsor, Vigne Rosé Wine, even created custom ads for the RMT. Interestingly, the show aired on CBS O&Os except WCBS. (In New York, it was heard on WOR, and later, on WMCA.)
 
Kemosabe said:
Himan Brown's CBS Radio Mystery Theater introduced me to radio drama. As I recall, the cast often included such legendary actors as Fred Gwynne, John Lithgow, Mason Adams, Jackson Beck, Ralph Bell, and Norman Rose. One sponsor, Vigne Rosé Wine, even created custom ads for the RMT. Interestingly, the show aired on CBS O&Os except WCBS. (In New York, it was heard on WOR, and later, on WMCA.)
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I didn't know who carried it in NY. Thanks for the info. My guess is WCBS didn't carry it because they didn't want to break from their all news format so another station picked it up. I live in Central CT and recall WINF in Manchester which was CBS Radio in the Hartford area carried it. But they also carried a lot of sports including Yankees and Mets baseball and if my memory is correct it was aired on tape delay if they were carrying a sporting event at 10 PM which often happened. Then I believe they aired it immediately after the conclusion of the game.
 
I used to listen to it when I was a kid. You could just twist around the AM band at night and you could find it on multiple out of town stations. Usually the 50,000 watt big ones.
 
umfan said:
https://www.pe.com/2019/11/12/radio-theres-no-mystery-why-this-show-grabbed-listeners/


Article reports on an attempt in the md-70s by CBS to return scripted shows to radio. It appears the show had some success and the shows have been archived and are available online. Interesting history.
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The show ran 8 years (1974-82), with 1400 original episodes (almost 3000 total, including reruns). I'd call that "success." Remember, the WW2/Korean War generation that grew up with "old time radio" was roughly 45-60 years old then, and it hadn't been all that long since CBS Radio had stopped airing entertainment programming (1962 in prime time, 1972 for Arthur Godfrey). This was the audience CBS was going after with this show.

In addition to this show, Sears sponsored a radio series called The Sears Radio Theater, which also aired on CBS in 1979-80, then moved to Mutual for a year as The Mutual Radio Theater.
 
There were several old style scripted radio drama shows at this time. In addition to CBS Radio Theater, the poster above mentioned Mutual Radio Theater. There was also Zero Hour. NPR had its own theater group based in Minnesota. For kids, there was Charlotte's Web, produced by WGBH in Boston. There was the syndicated National Lampoon's Radio Hour. This was the last gasp of network radio, and the generation that grew up with radio drama was still alive. But National Lampoon and Firesign Theater really tried to reach out to a new generation of radio drama fans.
 
mikedorb said:
I didn't know who carried it in NY. Thanks for the info. My guess is WCBS didn't carry it because they didn't want to break from their all news format so another station picked it up. I live in Central CT and recall WINF in Manchester which was CBS Radio in the Hartford area carried it. But they also carried a lot of sports including Yankees and Mets baseball and if my memory is correct it was aired on tape delay if they were carrying a sporting event at 10 PM which often happened. Then I believe they aired it immediately after the conclusion of the game.
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I remember WNEW carrying it in the late '70s. Not sure if it was WOR or WMCA before that.
 
I remember 'Star Wars' being serialized on radio to some extent. I heard this sometime around 1980 but the spots could've been produced anytime between 1977 and then.
 
umfan said:
I remember 'Star Wars' being serialized on radio to some extent. I heard this sometime around 1980 but the spots could've been produced anytime between 1977 and then.
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It was part of NPR Playhouse, and produced by NPR and KUSC with full co-operation of George Lucas, and featured the original cast.
 
TheBigA said:
It was part of NPR Playhouse, and produced by NPR and KUSC with full co-operation of George Lucas, and featured the original cast.
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Not all of the original cast were available. In particular, James Earl Jones, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford were not part of the radio serial and their characters were voiced by others.

Notably, the voice of Yoda was provided by John Lithgow.
 
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