Category Archives: reporters

Agnes Moorehead Reports Again

Posted on February 25, 2017 by Bob Stepno

https://archive.org/download/OTRR_Suspense_Singles_By_Year_1953/Suspense%20530323%20505%20The%20Signalman%20%28128-44%29%2027657%2028m49s.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 … 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 Bob Stepno

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

Fighting drugs with a radio-comicbook crossover

Posted on March 28, 2016 by Bob Stepno

Radio and movie star Frank Lovejoy would have been 104 today. Better known as the leading man reporter on Night Beat,  Lovejoy also took a turn as The Blue Beetle, a radio and comic book superhero who appeared to borrow … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, adaptations, adventure, comics, detectives, reporters, science fiction | Leave a comment

Calling Clark Kent — not Superman — to the rescue

Posted on October 6, 2015 by Bob Stepno

News stories about September 2015 death of Jack Larson — “Jimmy Olsen” on the 1950s Superman television series — often mentioned the actor’s dislike for story-lines that repeatedly had “Jimmy” dripping wet, threatened by rising tides or torture-rooms filling with water. … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, 1950s, adaptations, adventure, Clark Kent, Jimmy Olsen, Perry White, reporters, reporting, Superman, television | 1 Comment

Hey Lucky, get me rewrite!

Posted on January 12, 2015 by Bob Stepno

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 Bob Stepno

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

Journalism ethics — love, war and flashbulbs

Posted on July 8, 2014 by Bob Stepno

The short-lived 1948 radio series “Shorty Bell” was about a newspaper delivery truck driver who became a reporter, learning mostly from his mistakes, and from a crusty and sardonic editor rumored to have a heart of gold. This last episode, one … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, ethics, photographer, reporters, romance | Leave a comment

A young reporter’s ethical growing pains

Posted on April 10, 2014 by Bob Stepno

Listening to more of Mickey Rooney’s unsuccessful “Shorty Bell” series from 1948 — after reading obituaries and tributes to him this week — I can’t help wondering what the audience wanted from his radio newspaper-journalism vehicle: A lighter family-friendly “Andy … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, editors, ethics, newspapers, reporters, sports, stereotypes | Leave a comment

Mickey Rooney’s newspaper days — on radio

Posted on April 7, 2014 by Bob Stepno

Mickey Rooney, who died Sunday at 93, was most famous for playing scrappy, funny and musical young men in the 1930s and ’40s.His starring role in this spring 1948 radio drama didn’t have any “Hey kids, let’s put on a … Continue reading →

Posted in 1940s, newspapers, reporters, sports | Leave a comment

It Happened More Than One Night — on radio

Posted on December 17, 2013 by Bob Stepno

by Bob Stepno“It’s a Wonderful Life” had no newspaper characters to give me an excuse to include the seasonal favorite here, so I’ll make a holiday present of another Frank Capra classic: It Happened One Night appeared on the silver screen … Continue reading →

Posted in 1930s, 1940s, adaptations, Capra, comedy, reporters, romance, stereotypes | Leave a comment