The Golden Age of Radio

With Dick Bertel and Ed Corcoran


Click on title to read about and hear program

Each title below will take you to an information page containing pictures and facts of one or two subjects.

From there you can access the programs themselves.


If you have problems with or questions about any of the programs, please contact the webmaster.

The following two programs predated "The Golden Age of Radio" but were part of the inspiration for the series to come.

Echoes of Christmas Past - 1967

With Dick Bertel and Ed Corcoran - Christmas Day, 1967

Echoes of Christmas Past - 1968
With Dick Bertel and Ed Corcoran - Christmas Day, 1968



1. April, 1970 - Stanley Quinn, Writer and Producer for the radio department of the J. Walter Thompson Advertising Agency 

2. May, 1970 - Charles Harrell, Eastern Program Director for the NBC Blue and ABC Radio Networks

3. June, 1970 - Jack Bishop, Network Radio research writer and creator of Mr. District Attorney


4. July, 1970 - Peg Lynch, creator and star of “Ethel and Albert”  and Margaret Hamilton, Aunt Effie on “Ethel and Albert” and the Wicked Witch of the West in “The Wizard of Oz”.

5. August, 1970 - Jan Miner, Network Radio Soap Actress and  heroine of "Hilltop House."

6. September, 1970 - John Gibson, Network Radio actor who portrayed Ethelbert on “Casey, Crime

Photographer”

7. October, 1970 - Rudy Vallee, Band Leader and Radio Star and a pioneer in the new medium of radio.
(Two hours)

8. November, 1970 - William Spier, Director of “Suspense” and “Sam Spade” and June Havoc, radio, stage, and motion picture actress.

9. December, 1970 - Richard Dana, free lance writer and  broadcast program supervisor at Young and Rubicam.

10. January, 1971 - Goodman Ace, Comedy writer and  creator and star of “Easy Aces.”

11. February, 1971 - Rosa Rio, radio organist for many of the major shows in radio.

12. March, 1971 - Carroll Carroll, Comedy Writer and author of “None of your Business or My Life with J. Walter Thompson – Confessions of a Renegade Radio Writer.”

13. April, 1971 - Jackie Kelk, Radio Actor who played the part of Homer on “The Aldrich Family”.

14. May, 1971 - Jim Jordan - who with his wife Marian, created “Fibber McGee and Molly”

15. June, 1971 - Part 1. Don McNeil, Host of the Breakfast Club and a pioneer in  Chicago radio.
Part 2 – Radio premiums, treasures acquired with a boxtop and a thin dime. 


16. July, 1971  - Mary Jane Higby, Network Radio Soap Actress, star of “When a Girl Marries” and author of “Tune in Tomorrow.”

17. August, 1971 - Hans Conried, Radio, TV and Film Actor

18. September, 1971 - Noel Gerson, writer of over 10,000 radio shows

19. October, 1971 - Ed Rice - Writer, Producer, Director of "The Shell Chateau,"

20. November, 1971 - Parker Fennelly, radio actor who portrayed Titus Moody on Fred Allen’s famous “Allen’s Alley.”


21. December, 1971 - Sal Trapani and Jay Hickerson, co-hosts of the First Annual Convention of the Golden Radio Buffs held in New Haven, Connecticut

22. January, 1972 - Bret Morrison, radio actor and the voice of “The  Shadow”

23. February, 1972 - Radio Shows from 1947 – A retrospective look at radio programs from a quarter century ago.

24. March, 1972 - Shirley Eggleston, Radio actress, appearing in “Counterspy”, “Whispering Streets” and countless other programs

25. April, 1972 - Ruby Keeler, radio and motion picture actress, who starred in many major Hollywood musicals of the 1930s. (Not part of the original series) 

26. May, 1972 - Fran Allison, Radio actress, who appeared as  Aunt Fanny on “The Breakfast Club”

27. June , 1972 - Donald Buka, Radio actor who had his start on “Let’s Pretend”

28. July, 1972 - Alexander Scourby, Radio Actor and narrator of countless documentaries for radio, television and motion pictures

29. August, 1972 - Mary Jane Higby and Guy Sorel, husband and wife who appeared in thousands of radio dramas.

30. September, 1972 - Aldo Gisalbert, NBC studio engineer discusses the very early days of the NBC network, including the move to Radio City.

31. October, 1972 - Bill Owen, author of “Radio’s Golden Age”, a listing of all the major radio shows and the people who made them happen.

32. November, 1972 - Vincent Price -  The noted motion picture actor ("Laura," "House of Wax") and host of PBS's "Mystery" recalls his first love - radio.

33. December, 1972 - Raymond Edward Johnson, actor who portrayed Raymond, the host of “Inner Sanctum Mysteries”


34. January, 1973 - Virginia Payne, actress who portrayed “Ma Perkins” for over a quarter of a century.

35. February, 1973 - Don Ameche, Master of Ceremonies for the Chase and Sandborn Hour, and co-star of “The Bickersons"


36. March, 1973 - Jackson Beck, actor and announcer, who appeared in countless radio shows during radio’s golden era.

37. April, 1973 - Mason Adams, actor, best known for his portrayal of  Pepper in “Pepper Young’s Family”

38. May, 1973 - Hamilton O’Hara, network sound effects man, whose  work was heard on “Grand Central Station” and “Inner Sanctum”, among other shows.

39. June, 1973 - Tony Marvin - CBS staff announcer, Arthur Godfrey sidekick, and in the early 1960's, Mutual newscaster

40. July, 1973 - Gale Storm and Barbara Britton. Although they were primarily known for their work in television, each was well grounded in radio.


41. August, 1973 - Roger Bower not only announced many of the network radio shows but produced several major programs as well, including “It Pays to be Ignorant”

42. September, 1973 - Kenny Delmar, best known for creating the character “Senator Claghorn” on the Fred Allen Show.

43. October, 1973 - Jack Pearl (Baron Munchausen), Will Jordan (Ed Sullivan Impersonator), and Peter Donal


44. November, 1973 - Howard Duff is probably best known on radio for his portrayal of private detective “Sam Spade.”

45. December, 1973 - Himan Brown, creator of countless radio shows,  including “Inner Sanctum”, and the “CBS Mystery Theater”.

46. January, 1974 – Aldo Gisalbert, NBC studio engineer continues his discussion of the very early days of the NBC network.

47. February, 1974 - Larry Haines, who appeared in almost all of the major evening radio dramas, was often cast as a heavy.

48. March, 1974 - E.G. Marshall, noted stage, television and motion picture actor, was the host of the CBS Mystery Theater.

49. April, 1974 - Edgar Bergen, and his sharp-tongued dummy, Charlie  McCarthy, brought joy to millions of radio listeners every Sunday night for two decades.

50. May, 1974 - Arnold Moss, noted actor and narrator, recalls his colorful career on radio.

51. June, 1974 - Arnold Stang began his career as a child actor and became one of the most sought after comedic voices in radio.
52. July, 1974 - Robert Cummings, motion picture actor, recalls his early days as a radio actor.

53. August, 1974 - Mel Blanc, who did the voices of Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig and many other cartoon characters, recalls his days on the Jack Benny show.

54. September, 1974 Mandel Kramer starred as the man with the action packed expense account “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar"

55. October, 1974 - Sid Raymond, who got his start in radio on the Major Bowes Original Amateur Hour, replaced Charlie Cantor as Finnegan on  Duffy’s Tavern

56. November, 1974 - Virginia Graham, under the pseudonym Virginia  Gotham, wrote Stella Dallas and Backstage Wife

57. December, 1974 - Christmas Stories tended to be repeated year after year on radio and became a memorable part of that era

58. January, 1975 - Robert Anderson, author of “Tea and Sympathy” and other noted plays, recalls his days, immediately following World War Two, as a struggling young radio writer in New York.

59. February, 1975 - David Rounds, co-author of “The Soaps”, which  documents the development of daytime radio soap operas

60. March, 1975 - Les Tremayne, Betty Lou Gerson, Bret Morrison, and Vincent Pelletier, a group of performers now living in Los Angeles, recall their early days in Chicago radio.

61. April, 1975 - Harry Herman - Writer for Mr. District Attorney and the Kraft Music Hall, among others.

62. May, 1975 - Joan Fontaine - The Academy Award-winning actress recalls her career in radio and films.

63. June, 1975 - Samm Sinclair Baker wrote many of the network radio programs of the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, including “Famous Jury Trials” and “Colonel Stoopnagle”

64. July, 1975 - Mel Allen began his career as a staff announcer with CBS and eventually became the voice of the New York Yankees.

65. August, 1975 - Don MacLaughlin, played the part of David Harding on the famous radio drama “Counterspy”

66. September, 1975 - Joseph Julian, an actor who did more than 20,000 radio shows during his long career.

67. October, 1975 - Frances Chaney, radio actress, who played the part of Burma on “Terry and the Pirates”

68. November, 1975 - Humphrey Davis recalls his start on WTIC and his subsequent career as a network actor in New York.

69. December, 1975 - Jean Burnett was a child actress on many major network radio shows, including “Coast to Coast on a Bus”, “The Rudy Vallee Show” and “The Telephone Hour.”

70. January, 1976 - William Robson directed many memorable network shows but is best remembered as the director of “Suspense”.

71. February, 1976 - Robert Metz is the author of “CBS – Reflections In a Bloodshot Eye”, the story of William S. Paley and the creation of the Columbia Broadcasting System.

72. March, 1976 - Leon Janney, one of the busiest actors in radio, recalls the “red scare” of the early 1950’s and the impact it had on his career and that of others as well. This was originally broadcast as the 25th show in the series in April, 1972, and repeated in March, 1976.

73. April, 1976 - Martha Raye, a Hollywood star of the 1930s and 40s recalls her radio days with Bob Burns, Rudy Vallee, Al Jolson, Eddie Cantor and others.

74. May, 1976 - Robert Montgomery, noted Hollywood actor and director, recalls his career in radio.

75. June, 1976 - Jim Maloney began his network acting career in the late 1940s, appearing in such shows as “The Aldrich Family”, and “Aunt Jenny – Real Life Stories”, among others.

76. July, 1976 - Will Yolen wrote many of the outstanding radio shows of the 1930’s including “Gangbusters” and “We the People”.

77. August, 1976 - Elliott Lewis, one of the most popular radio actors in Los Angeles, who portrayed Remley on the “Phil Harris Alice Faye” program

78. September, 1976 - A history of the radio quiz shows

79. October, 1976 A discussion of the hobby of collecting old time radio programs  - with radio collecter Jay Hickerson

80. November, 1976 - Evie Juster appeared in many radio programs, including “Amanda of Honeymoon Hill”, “Cavalcade of America”, and the “CBS Mystery Theater”

81. December, 1976 - Robert Campbell is the author of “The Golden  Years of Broadcasting”, the first 50 years of NBC

82. January, 1977 - Staats Cotsworth began his acting career in 1932 and starred for many years as “Casey, Crime Photographer.”  (From a 1975 interview; not a part of the original series. This replaces the repeat broadcast of Program 35, February, 1973, with Don Ameche.)

83. February, 1977 - A history of the horror show genre on radio

84. March, 1977 - Ken Coleman recalls his career as a sportscaster, which eventually led to his selection as the voice of the Boston Red Sox.


Additional Programs

Not Broadcast During the Original Series.

When we decided to make these programs available on the internet we realized we were missing at least a half dozen shows with no prospects, we thought, of ever finding them. In order to maintain a proper chronological order to the series we decided to create additional shows from interviews recorded for “The Golden Age of Radio” but never used, or for other WTIC programs that had been recorded during the same time period.

At the time Bob Scherago was living in Virginia, Ed Corcoran in Connecticut and I was in Maryland.  Bob and I were able to work together but Ed was several hundred miles away.  In an attempt to include Ed on these additional shows, I scripted them and sent copies to Ed.  The idea, unfortunately, didn’t work, mostly for technical reasons.  Ed was using home equipment while I was in a studio.  We simply couldn’t match up our voices.

However, we were determined to include Ed in these faux shows as much as possible.  We, therefore, combed through the 70 original programs we had on hand, looking for general comments that Ed had made during the course of the interviews. We then isolated those comments, and worked them into the additional shows. Believe me, it was a labor of love.  An expert can hear differences in room tone, I’m sure, but the average listener is probably unable to detect these inserts.  (Of course, now that I’ve given away the secret everybody will be looking for them, I’m sure).

After we were fortunate enough to find the missing shows in the series, thanks to collectors who had recorded them off the air, we opted to retain the additional shows we had created for those missing slots   We even placed two of them in the original rotation, to cover for shows that had been repeated over the years.

We hope you enjoy listening to this additional material.  We had great fun putting it together.

Dick Bertel


85. Glenn Miller used radio to build the most popular band in America, through late night band remotes and eventually “Moonlight Serenade” sponsored by Chesterfield. The story of those radio broadcasts is told through the voices of Rudy Vallee, Teddy Wilson, Gene Krupa, Duke Ellington, Bob Eberly, Ray Eberle, Artie Shaw, Ray McKinley, and Paula Kelly. (Based on interviews conducted by Dick Bertel from 1965 to 1971)

86. Glenn Miller - the War Years. Miller's military service as the leader of the famous Air Force Band is recounted by Ray Eberle, Paula Kelly and Ray McKinley and illustrated by his many radio broadcasts of that period, including "I Sustain the Wings".  (Based on interviews conducted by Dick Bertel in 1971)

87. Lowell Thomas, Jack Benny, Ann Elstner   (Based on interviews conducted by Dick Bertel and Ed Corcoran when they were appearing in Connecticut)

88. Henry Hull, radio, stage and motion picture actor who appeared in “The Pit and the  Pendulum” one of the very first “Suspense” dramas. (From a 1964 interview)

89. John Cromwell, movie director, recalls several of his  famous motion pictures, which were adapted for radio.  (From a 1965 interview)
Return to Home Page