September 30, 1962 The Day Radio Died .. Or Did It?
Old Time Radio Researchers
The last day of network radio: 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 Suspense : Devilstone Both episodes were written by Jack Johnstone, but he used the monicker "Jonathan Bundy" for the Suspense episode. He had used that name many times before since his name was so strongly associated with YTJD and desired to keep his Suspense association separate and distinct. "Bundy" was a name in his wife's family. 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. Some of the series are available at The Internet Archive: Black Mass https://archive.org/details/blackmassashtree CBS Radio Mystery Theater https://archive.org/details/audio?query=CBS+Radio+Mystery+Theater&sort=&page=1 Little Things in Life https://archive.org/details/little-things-in-life-1975-12-18-99-where-are-the-decorations Sears Radio Theater https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Sears_Radio_Theater_Singles Theater Five https://archive.org/details/T5project Zero Hour https://archive.org/details/rod-serling-hour-zero
This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.
Chapters
Reviews
reports of my death are kinda exaggerated
calvinsx
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.