Night Transmissions is a 120 minute show featuring vintage radio shows. In this show...
Murder by Experts, âThe Case of the Missing Mindâ (December 26 of 1949).
Nightfall, The Old Post Roadâ (April 2, 1982).
CBS Radio Workshop, âHousing Problemâ (June 16 of 1957).
The Black Museum, âThe Mandolin Stringâ (1952).
Notes: This is a weekly program which began on a now defunct low power FM station (KSOW) in Cottage Grove, OR. Since there seems to be some interest in the show I have decided to continue it. In this connection I will post a new show by Tuesday or Wednesday of each week. There is also a 64 bit version.
In the main, each episode consists of four approximately 30-minute long programs (not always, as sometimes I use a longer form show, so it may be 3 or fewer) and some filler to bring them in at 120 minutes. .
Broadcast Advisories
Use these programs in any way that suits you, commercial, non-commercial (well,don't sell it). Use them on your low power FM station or your AM station. Stream it on your internet station or stream. Whatever. Edit them if you want to, however you want to! I'm easy. In a few cases commercials have been left in but in those cases there is disclaimer stating that they are there for "historical perspective" only. I have edited out any underwriter spots that once existed. There is no comment about run times ( i.e. "It's Sunday night at 10 pm and this is Night Transmissions.") Also I have edited out any mention of the town I live in. In other words I have endeavored to make make these programs as "Evergreen" and global as possible. I would even consider making (at some point) shows that are tailored to some degree for specific locations. In most cases the mp3 file runs a little longer than 120 minutes. However, in all cases the main show comes in at under 120 minutes; anything in excess of 120 minutes is just music that can safely be faded out.
As of show 21 there are 30 second musical interludes at 30,60 and 90 minutes. with the last 5 to 10 minutes or so of the show uninterrupted music that can be faded out on without too much ado, Exact times will be in the mp3 comment tag
If you do broadcast or stream these I'd really be grateful if you dropped me a note.
This episode contains the following segments..
Segment One:
Murder by Experts, âThe Case of the Missing Mind (December 26 of 1949).
Todayâs episode opens up with a fairly common scenario. There is this guy in a nuthouse and heâs going on at some length trying to convince the authorities that he does not belong there.
He freely admits that he belongs in jail for the crime of murder. But he definitely is not crazy. All right! No, they canât find that body but that donât mean there ainât one somewhere. Someone may have misplaced it. Yeah, thatâs it! Someone misplaced it. Thatâs all
No, he doesnât know where that Dame is just now. But sheâs out there!
So what if they canât find that guy in a funny hat. That guy named âAladdinâ.
Aladdin did so grant him a wish. Where else did all that money come from?
Stupid cops!
Murder by Experts was a show which ran between 1949 and 1951 on the Mutual Network where each week the host of the show would introduce a story selected by a member of the Mystery Writers of America.
Murder by Experts was a show with no shortage of talent. The series was at first hosted by the well-known Mystery Writer John Dickson Carr (who left the show in 1950) and for the remainder of the series by another Mystery Writer, Bret Halliday.
The creative team behind the program David Kogan and Robert A. Arthur was one of the most productive in radio having created some of the most memorable mystery/suspense programming on radio (The Mysterious Traveler, The Sealed Book, and The Strange Dr. Weird). Also, the show featured an exceptional ensemble cast includeing performances by Lawson Zerbe, Bryna Raeburn, Miriam Wolfe, Maurice Tarplin, Ann Shephard, Wendell Holmes, Gertrude Warner, Larry Haines, Leslie Woods, Santos Ortega, and more.
Ultimately the show would produce 130 episodes (Sorry to say; only a handful has survived.). Segment Two:
Nightfall-The Old Post Roadâ (Apr 02, 1982).
This one is another spooky tale from the well-produced Canadian series Nightfall. This particular story illustrates that it is always a bad idea to drive down lonely country roads especially if you are a young man and young woman not looking for any trouble.
Nightfall, was a radio drama series produced by CBC Radio from July 1980 to June 1983. While primarily a supernatural/horror series, Nightfall featured some episodes in other genres, such as science fiction, mystery, fantasy, and human drama. The series became one of the most popular shows in CBC Radio history, running 100 episodes that featured a mix of original tales and adaptations of both classic and obscure short stories.
Segment Three:
CBS Radio Workshop, âHousing Problemâ (June 16 of 1957).
I could say âElvesâ â¦, But it is not elves exactly⦠and besides itâs more like pixies⦠or something.
The episode today is a nicely wrought adaptation of a short story by Henry Kurtner (1915-1958), a highly respected writer of science fiction and fantasy during the 1940s and 50s.
Kurtner wrote under a large number of pseudonyms including, Lewis Padgett. Who may have been more famous than Henry Kurtner.
It should be noted that Padgett was actually one of the names used for collaborations between him and his wife, the excellent science fiction and horror writer Catherine Lucille Moore (C. L. Moore).
âHousing Problemâ was originally published in Charm Magazine for Oct. of 1944
The CBS Radio Workshop was an experimental dramatic radio anthology series that aired on CBS from January 27, 1956, until September 22, 1957. Subtitled âradioâs distinguished series to manâs imagination,â it was a revival of the earlier Columbia Workshop, broadcast by CBS from 1936 to 1943, and it used some of the same writers and directors employed on the earlier series. The premiere broadcast was a two-part adaptation of Aldous Huxleyâs Brave New World, introduced and narrated by Huxley.
Music for the series was comprised of stellar contributions by Bernard Herrmann, Jerry Goldsmith, Amerigo Moreno, Ray Noble and Leith Stevens.
Writers adapted for the series included Robert A. Heinlein, Sinclair Lewis, H. L. Mencken, Edgar Allan Poe, Frederik Pohl, James Thurber, Mark Twain and Thomas Wolfe.
Segment Four:
The Black Museum, âThe Mandolin Stringâ (1952).
A pretty blond, blue-eyed widow who plays the mandolin figures prominently in this case of two âaccidentalâ deaths.
The Black Museum was a 1951 radio crime drama produced by Harry Alan Towers for the BBC. It would later air in the United States, on the Mutual Network, between January 1st, 1952 and December 30th, 1952.
The show dramatized true cases from the files of Scotland Yardâs Black Museum ,wherein the narrator, Orson Welles ,tells us the story of one or another grisly murders. Always, well nearly always, accomplished by the means of some ordinary object now preserved and on exhibit in Scotland Yardâs âBlack Museumâ.