60 minute drama episodes
This show ran for three seasons, from 1948 to 1950. It featured the best adaptations of classic novels that radio had to offer. The show was an interesting use of radio for eduction. It was incorporated into several college home-study courses; starting with the University of Louisville and Washington State College with more added later. I can't help but think of parallels to current online education courses. During breaks in the episode a popular author or literary critic (back then it was possible to have a popular literary critic) would remark on the book, the author, or the performance helping to add to the educational value of the program. The show was broadcast according to the universities semester schedule. The episodes encouraged listeners to read the book (although I wonder if the tape recorder was available would the show have become more a Cliff Notes of the classic – well desperate students of today may make full use of these programs).
The program featured extremely high quality dramatizations of classic novels, including Don Quixote, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Great Expectations, Of Human Bondage, Alice in Wonderland, and many, many more. The shows were so well acted and produced that it won a Peabody Award (just as prestigious then as it is now) in 1949 for their adaptation of Hemingway's The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber. Actors included John Lund, George Montgomery, Angela Lansbury, Jane Darwell, and Preston Foster. But just like today, studio executives feared that the word “University” in the title of the program was scaring potential listeners off, so in 1950 the name was changed to just NBC Theater. (Probably later replaced by American Idol.)
Text from Wikipedia
Purchase as a download, purchase as CD(s), or listen for free
All of our Old Time Radio Programs are in MP3 format. You can play them on your computer, you can transfer them to MP3 players (like the IPod), but, by and large, you cannot play them on stereos, walkmen, or car radios.
The sound quality of Old Time Radio Programs can vary greatly. Some episodes are excellent, others you have to turn up the volume a little and ignore the static. All of the episodes can be listened to and enjoyed. You can listen to our free samples to get a feel for how the programs sound.
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Episode List Set 1
NBCUT 48-08-13 ep_003 Number One.mp3
NBCUT 48-08-20 ep_004 Noon Wine.mp3
NBCUT 48-08-27 ep_005 The Romantic Comedians.mp3
NBCUT 48-09-03 ep_006 Candide.mp3
NBCUT 48-09-10 ep_007 Peter Ibbertson.mp3
NBCUT 48-09-17 ep_008 The Purloined Letter.mp3
NBCUT 48-09-24 ep_009 Gulliver's Travels.mp3
NBCUT 48-10-03 ep_010 Lord Jim.mp3
NBCUT 48-10-10 ep_011 An American Tragedy.mp3
NBCUT 48-10-17 ep_012 The History of Mr. Polly.mp3
NBCUT 48-10-24 ep_013 They Stooped to Folly.mp3
NBCUT 48-10-31 ep_014 Justice.mp3
NBCUT 48-11-07 ep_015 Arrowsmith.mp3
NBCUT 48-11-14 ep_016 Of Human Bondage.mp3
NBCUT 48-11-21 ep_017 The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macombe.mp3
NBCUT 48-11-28 ep_018 A Passage to India.mp3
NBCUT 48-12-05 ep_019 Three Soldiers.mp3
NBCUT 48-12-12 ep_020 After Many a Summer Dies the Swan.mp3
NBCUT 48-12-26 ep_021 Alice in Wonderland.mp3
NBCUT 49-01-02 ep_022 Main Street.mp3
NBCUT 49-01-09 ep_023 The Grapes of Wrath.mp3
NBCUT 49-01-16 ep_024 All the King's Men.mp3
NBCUT 49-02-06 ep_026 Gulliver's Travels.mp3
NBCUT 49-02-27 ep_029 The Heart of Mid-Lotheian.mp3
NBCUT 49-03-06 ep_030 Tales of Edgar Allan Poe.mp3
NBCUT 49-03-13 ep_031 The Pickwick Papers.mp3
NBCUT 49-03-20 ep_032 The Marble Fawn.mp3
NBCUT 49-03-27 ep_033 The History of Henry Esmond.mp3
NBCUT 49-04-03 ep_034 Jane Eyre.mp3
NBCUT 49-04-10 ep_035 Moby Dick.mp3
NBCUT 49-04-17 ep_036 The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn.mp3
NBCUT 49-04-24 ep_037 The Way of All Flesh.mp3
NBCUT 49-05-01 ep_038 The Mayor of Casterbridge.mp3
NBCUT 49-05-08 ep_039 Red Badge of Courage.mp3
NBCUT 49-05-15 ep_040 Heart of Darkness.mp3
NBCUT 49-05-22 ep_041 The Age of Innocence.mp3
NBCUT 49-05-29 ep_042 The Ambassadors.mp3
NBCUT 49-06-05 ep_043 The Short, Happy Life of Francis MaCombe.mp3
NBCUT 49-06-12 ep_044 A Passage to India.mp3
NBCUT 49-07-02 ep_047 The Ides of March.mp3
NBCUT 49-07-09 ep_048 Goodbye, Mr. Chips.mp3
NBCUT 49-07-16 ep_049 Point of No Return.mp3
NBCUT 49-07-23 ep_050 How Green was My Valley.mp3
NBCUT 49-07-30 ep_051 This Side of Paradise.mp3
NBCUT 49-08-06 ep_052 The Death of a Heart.mp3
NBCUT 49-08-20 ep_054 The Crusaders.mp3
NBCUT 49-08-27 ep_055 1984.mp3
NBCUT 49-09-03 ep_056 Precious Bane.mp3
NBCUT 49-09-25 ep_057 Penrod.mp3
NBCUT 49-10-09 ep_059 The House of Mirth.mp3
NBCUT 49-10-16 ep_060 Sister Carrie.mp3
NBCUT 49-10-30 ep_062 Dark Laughter.mp3
Episode List Set 02
NBCUT 49-11-13 ep_064 Babalon Revisited.mp3
NBCUT 49-11-20 ep_065 For Whom the Bell Tolls.mp3
NBCUT 49-11-27 ep_066 Point of No Return.mp3
NBCUT 49-12-04 ep_067 The Wild Palms.mp3
NBCUT 49-12-18 ep_068 You Can't Go Home Again.mp3
NBCUT 50-01-01 ep_069 Great Expectations.mp3
NBCUT 50-01-08 ep_070 Manhatten Transfer.mp3
NBCUT 50-01-15 ep_071 The Ides of March.mp3
NBCUT 50-01-22 ep_072 At Heaven's Gate.mp3
NBCUT 50-01-29 ep_073 'Flowering Judas' and 'Pale Horse'.mp3
NBCUT 50-02-05 ep_074 Track of the Cat.mp3
NBCUT 50-02-12 ep_075 The Light That Failed.mp3
NBCUT 50-02-16 ep_076 Victory.mp3
NBCUT 50-02-24 ep_077 The Patrician.mp3
NBCUT 50-03-05 ep_078 Tonobungay.mp3
NBCUT 50-03-12 ep_079 There is No Conversation.mp3
NBCUT 50-03-19 ep_080 Angel Pavement.mp3
NBCUT 50-03-26 ep_081 Howard's End.mp3
NBCUT 50-04-02 ep_082 Mrs. Dalloway.mp3
NBCUT 50-04-09 ep_083 The Nazarine.mp3
NBCUT 50-04-16 ep_084 After Many a Summer Dies the Swan.mp3
NBCUT 50-04-23 ep_085 Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.mp3
NBCUT 50-04-30 ep_086 Sons and Loves.mp3
NBCUT 50-05-07 ep_087 England Made Me.mp3
NBCUT 50-05-14 ep_088 Protter Violet.mp3
NBCUT 50-05-21 ep_089 The House in Paris.mp3
NBCUT 50-05-28 ep_090 Imperial Palace.mp3
NBCUT 50-06-04 ep_091 Gallion's Reach.mp3
NBCUT 50-06-11 ep_092 Monsieur Vincent.mp3
NBCUT 50-06-18 ep_093 The Wild Palms.mp3
NBCUT 50-06-25 ep_094 The Doctor in Spite of Himself.mp3
NBCUT 50-07-02 ep_095 The Chips are Down.mp3
NBCUT 50-07-09 ep_096 The Time of Man.mp3
NBCUT 50-07-16 ep_097 The Treasure of Franchard.mp3
NBCUT 50-07-23 ep_098 The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.mp3
NBCUT 50-07-29 ep_099 Trent's Last Case.mp3
NBCUT 50-08-06 ep_100 A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Co.mp3
NBCUT 50-08-20 ep_102 A High Wind in Jamaica.mp3
NBCUT 50-08-27 ep_103 Hedda Gabbler.mp3
NBCUT 50-09-03 ep_104 The Crime of Sylvester Bonard.mp3
NBCUT 50-09-10 ep_105 Lost Horizon.mp3
NBCUT 50-09-17 ep_106 Portrait in a Mirror.mp3
NBCUT 50-09-24 ep_107 Don Quixote.mp3
NBCUT 50-10-01 ep_108 Jonathan Wilde.mp3
NBCUT 50-10-08 ep_109 Candide.mp3
NBCUT 50-10-15 ep_110 North Anger Abby.mp3
NBCUT 50-10-22 ep_111 Pere Gorio.mp3
NBCUT 50-11-02 ep_112 The Red and Black.mp3
NBCUT 50-12-27 ep_118 The Gambler.mp3
NBCUT 51-01-03 ep_119 The Kreutzer Sonata.mp3
NBCUT 51-01-17 ep_120 Daisy Miller.mp3
NBCUT 51-01-24 ep_121 The Man That Corrupted Hydleyburg.mp3
NBCUT 51-02-14 ep_122 The Withered Arm.mp3
