Best of Classic Radio 09-30-26 - The last shows of the Golden Age of Radio

Wyatt Cox (0:00)

Thank you for downloading this Wednesday edition of Classic Radio Theater with Wyatt Cox, the best of Classic Radio Theater. And this is a sad day because it was on this date in 1962

What are widely considered the last programs of The True Golden Age of Radio were broadcast. We'll start off with My Favorite Husband, starring Lucille Ball and Richard Denning. We'll also have the final episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Mandel Kramer as Dollar in The Tip Off Matter. We'll have an episode also of Claudia from 1948

And then we'll have an episode of Suspense, the last show of the series, The Last Show of The Golden Age of Radio from 1962, Devilstone. And we'll wrap it up with Fibber McGee and Molly. That's all coming up in the two hours ahead. Thank you so much. We'll be back with new shows starting tomorrow.

SPEAKER_2 (1:11)

Now, the greatest radio shows of all time.

SPEAKER_3 (1:15)

Suspense!

Richard Denning (1:16)

The Shadow Node!

SPEAKER_5 (1:17)

Washington Calling!

SPEAKER_3 (1:19)

David Harding! Counterspies!

SPEAKER_2 (1:21)

Classic Radio Theater!

SPEAKER_5 (1:23)

The Great Gilder Sleeves!

Richard Denning (1:24)

Fibber McGee and Molly!

SPEAKER_5 (1:26)

Dragnet!

Lucille Ball (1:27)

Gunsmoke!

SPEAKER_3 (1:28)

The Lone Ranger!

SPEAKER_2 (1:30)

Now, step back into a time machine with your host, Wyatt Cox.

SPEAKER_5 (1:35)

Good evening, friends of the Inner Sanctum.

Wyatt Cox (1:39)

Comedy this hour, Lucille Ball, Richard Denning, in an episode of My Favorite Husband, going back 73 years to September 30, 1949, the Woman's Club Election. Thank you for tuning in. On this TGI Friday, this is the 30th day of September. It's a sad day in radio history, and we'll tell you why in a few moments. This is the 273rd day of the year, 92 days remaining until we get to 2023 World's first commercial hydroelectric power plant on this date in 1882 went into service on the Fox River in Appleton, Wisconsin. It was later known as the Appleton Edison Light Company. Hubert Cecil Booth patented the vacuum cleaner on this date in 1901 In 1927, Babe Ruth became the first baseball player to hit 60 home runs in a season. The Hoover Dam astride the border between Arizona and Nevada, dedicated on this date in 1935

Still working to this day, despite low water levels, the League of Nations unanimously outlawed intentional bombings of civilian populations in 1938

Britain first began evacuating citizens on this date in 1939, in anticipation of war. Premiering on Nationwide Radio for the first time on this date in 1940, Captain Midnight!

SPEAKER_7 (3:29)

The Scully Oil Company presents Captain Midnight! Captain Midnight brought to you every day Monday through Friday at the same time by the Scully Oil Company, Scully Jobbers and Dealers.

SPEAKER_5 (3:49)

And now to Captain Midnight.

Wyatt Cox (3:51)

A clip of the transcription edition of the show originating at WGN in Chicago. The program would air for nine years nationwide, airing over mutually, for 1943 to 1945 where it aired over the NBC Blue Network. That would later become ABC. The show was sponsored by Ovaltine for its entire national run. By the way, we recently acquired, thanks to your Buy Me a Coffee donations to our show, we acquired some more Captain Midnight. So we'll be having those coming up from time to time.

In 1946, Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring, sentenced in Nuremberg for his crimes against humanity.

SPEAKER_8 (4:35)

Defendant Hermann Wilhelm Göring, on the counts of the indictment on which you have been convicted, the International Military Bureau sentences you to death by hanging.

Wyatt Cox (4:51)

The second most powerful man in Germany under Adolf Hitler committed suicide the day before he was to be hanged. The Berlin Airlift ended on this date in 1949, where the Eastern powers blockaded Berlin, kept them from getting any outside supplies. Well, the US and other allied powers sent food and rations in directly by air.

Navy Submarine Nautilus commissioned as the world's first nuclear-powered vessel on this date in 1954 Film icon James Dean died in a road accident on this date in 1955 at the age of 24 Claiming that the state of Arkansas was now an occupied territory, Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus continued his rhetoric aimed at desegregationists in general and President Eisenhower in particular. His target on this date in 1957, the federalization of the National Guard.

SPEAKER_8 (5:57)

The federal government has made a grave and grievous error in the federalizing of the Guard and the use of federal troops.

The troops are even inside the school building, accompanying the Negro students from class to class. This constitutes a serious danger. The impetuous or thoughtless act of a white student could result in his penetration by a bayonet. Justice has occurred on the outside of the building.