CBS Radio Workshop

Roughing It

English

CBS Radio Workshop was an anthology program that brought a wide range of dramatic and literary material to radio. Its productions could draw on fiction, plays, biography, and other subjects, with each broadcast offering a distinct story or theme rather than following a continuing cast of characters.

The program used radio’s expressive tools—performances, dialogue, narration, music, and sound effects—to shape its material for listening. This entry is titled “Roughing It,” a work associated with Mark Twain’s account of his travels in the American West. The anthology format makes the broadcast a self-contained listening experience, with the title pointing toward a literary source and a journey far from settled life.

The series is notable for treating radio drama as a flexible space for both adaptation and original presentation. Its appeal lies in the variety of voices and subjects, and in hearing familiar literary material transformed through performance and sound.

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.