September 30, 1962 The Day Radio Died .. Or Did It?


(4 étoiles; 2 critiques)

The last day of network radio was Sunday, September 30, 1962. At least it seemed that way! Though Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and Suspense had their last broadcasts on the same day, many listeners were likely surprised the next week when they were not there in their familiar spot. The only clue was that the closing announcements did not say "join us next week." Few newspapers even mentioned it was the final day of broadcasts.

Trade magazines reported CBS' decision to discontinue the broadcasts in August 1962. The final broadcasts were: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar: The Tip-Off Matter and Suspense: Devilstone. Both episodes were written by Jack Johnstone, who used the moniker "Jonathan Bundy" for the Suspense episode to keep his associations distinct.

Many CBS affiliates were not happy with the decision, and the network fed reruns to interested affiliate stations for a while. There were many efforts to continue dramatic radio productions through the years.


This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.

Critiques

reports of my death are kinda exaggerated


(4 étoiles)

a nice hourlong discussion of early 1960's network radio along with the time capsule of the final episodes of suspense and yours truly johnny dollar. these 2 episodes include some period commercials. the hour long discussion covers collectors of radio programs, major networks gradual retreat from radio and attempts to return to spoken word radio in more modern performances. one interesting point about the networks gradual move from radio to television is how *old time radio* persisted after 9/30/62. Soap operas had gone, westerns like gunsmoke and have gun will travel were gone as went suspense and johnny dollar. But much of radio continued whether the metropolitan opera or the grand old opera, arthur godfrey or reruns of comedy shows.