Category Archives: Drama

News Meets Blues

Posted on December 18, 2017 by

“Hurry up, newsman, get on with the fight, Or Johnny dies with me before daylight.” That’s the unmistakable voice of blues singer Josh White, added to the cast of “Big Town,” the adventures of fighting editor Steve Wilson, for this … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, Drama, editors, journalism | Leave a comment

Agnes Moorehead Reports Again

Posted on February 25, 2017 by

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Suspense_Singles/Suspense_530323_505_The_Signalman_-128-44-_27177_28m54s.mp3 For the “Suspense” March 23, 1953, production of Charles Dickens’ “The Signal-Man,” one of radio’s leading ladies, Agnes Moorehead, narrates a supernatural story, some 16 years before she played the witch Endora on TV’s “Bewitched.” Her character is a returned resident … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, 19th century, adaptations, Drama, reporters, suspense | Leave a comment

The reporter and “The Signalman”

Posted on February 6, 2017 by

Sorting out a stack of CDs of podcasts I downloaded more than a decade ago, I discovered this reporter-centric episode of “Lights Out,” a suspenseful 1940s series.  http://otrrlibrary.org/OTRRLib/Library%20Files/L%20Series/Lights%20Out/Lights%20Out%2046-08-24%20(008)%20The%20Signal%20Man.mp3 This copy is playable or downloadable from the Old Time Radio Researchers … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, adaptations, Drama, podcast, reporters, suspense | Leave a comment

Two-fisted editor KO’s reform school scandal

Posted on September 2, 2015 by

News about a real-life judge sentenced to jail for taking kickbacks from a for-profit jail reminded me of this Big Town episode, with its crusading newspaper editor sending a 17-year-old copyboy undercover to expose a corrupt and barbaric reformatory. “A … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, Drama, newspaper crusades, newspapers, undercover | Leave a comment

Hey Lucky, get me rewrite!

Posted on January 12, 2015 by

My cousin in Memphis just told me she heard an episode of the classic series called “Night Beat” recently on a satellite radio show made up of golden age broadcasts. I told her she’d found one of my favorites, and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1950s, adaptations, Chicago, columnists, Drama, ethics, reporters, writing | Leave a comment

The bloodstained Chicago paper is a clue

Posted on November 2, 2014 by

Juke Box Melodrama Newspapers as an “old media” technology survived the 1950s and struggled into the next century, but this May 1951 episode of Night Beat features an even rarer form of communication — a coin-op juke box with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Chicago, Drama, reporters | Leave a comment

Reporter had spunk, but soup-opera didn’t last long

Posted on April 24, 2014 by

Jane Endicott, Reporter — premiere, January 5, 1942: I’ve had this short-lived series  tucked away on my “Soaps and Romance” page, although these adventures of a young woman reporter are not a typical soap-opera or romance series with cliff-hanger episode endings and … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, Drama, editors, ethics, journalism, women | Leave a comment