Photo: First Dibs.
Above, a restored 1938 Zenith radio. Stars such as James Dean, Jack Klugman, Martin Landau, Lee Marvin, Walter Matthau, Steve McQueen, Anthony Perkins, Jerry Stiller, Martin Balsam performed on the television version of The Big Story, a show that started on radio in 1947.
The other day, my husband heard a Richard Strauss tone poem that brought back a memory he had of a true-crime show he liked. The Big Story started on radio and later transferred to television, where it attracted an impressive array of guest stars.
I didn’t know The Big Story, but as I learned more, it got me thinking about what a great service radio was — and still is. (When Suzanne and John were little, I had a show of my own at WGMC, a community station in Greece, New York.)
I turned to Wikipedia.
“The Big Story is an American radio and television crime drama which dramatized the true stories of real-life newspaper reporters. … Sponsored by Pall Mall cigarettes, the program began on NBC Radio on April 2, 1947. With Lucky Strike cigarettes sponsoring the last two seasons, it was broadcast until March 23, 1955. The radio series was top rated, rivaling Bing Crosby‘s Philco Radio Time.
“Produced by Barnard J. Prockter, the shows were scripted by Gail Ingram, Arnold Pearl and Max Ehrlich. Tom Vietor and Harry Ingram directed the series. … The theme was taken from Ein Heldenleben (‘A Hero’s Life’), a tone poem by Richard Strauss.
“Prockter was inspired to create the program after hearing about a man who was freed from a life sentence in jail by the work of two newspaper reporters in Chicago. Most of the stories in the show dealt with stories about closed cases. Ross Eaman, in his book, Historical Dictionary of Journalism, wrote that the program was ‘originally intended to honor reporters ignored by Pulitzer committees.’ Jim Cox also cited that plan in his book, Radio Crime Fighters: More Than 300 Programs from the Golden Age.
“Each week the program recognized the reporter who wrote the story on which that episode was based and the newspaper in which the story appeared. The reporter received $500, was interviewed on the air and was acknowledged in the introduction, as in this example:
” ‘Pall Mall, famous big cigarette, presents The Big Story, another in a thrilling series based on true experiences of newspaper reporters. Tonight, to Russ Wilson of the Des Moines Tribune goes the Pall Mall award for The Big Story. Now, the authentic and exciting story of “The Case of the Ambitious Hobo.” ‘
“The radio series was adapted for television where it debuted on NBC on September 16, 1949. The series continued to air on NBC until June 28, 1957, after which it appeared in syndication until 1958. The half-hour program was hosted by Robert Sloane, Norman Rose, Ben Grauer, and, finally, Burgess Meredith. …
“The theme music was two of the main themes from the tone poem ‘Ein Heldenleben’ (‘A Hero’s Life’) by the German composer Richard Strauss. The series was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in 1953.”
Now I’m thinking of some of my earliest memories of radio. I had a babysitter who love to listen to a morning show that opened with the song “Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag, and smile, smile, smile.” I know it’s a WW I song, but it was still in use when I was a kid.
I also remember that once when I was trying to fall asleep, I heard a radio drama someone had left playing and was too scared even to get up and turn it off!
What are your radio memories?
More at Wikipedia, here, and at Old Time Radio Downloads, here.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
How cool that you had your own show! My memories of radio revolve around music, top 40 hits, pop, Motown, rock and roll. It seems to me that podcasts are reminiscent of radio.
Podcasts do seem like the old radio plays as many of them have atmospheric music and sound effects. I don’t do many podcasts, but I loved yours.
Thanks so much!
We listened to the Lone Ranger on the radio all the time in Suffern, because we didn’t have a TV. We even went to your house to watch the opening of Disneyland.
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Yes!
When the Lone Ranger came on the radio, we knew to stop talking when “The William Tell overture” came on!
We watch it on television and noticed after a while that most of the action happened around the same big rock.
That Rock is in the “Alabama Hills” of the southeast side of the Sierras. Not far off the highway, and a few hours drive from the film studios in LA.
Seriously?! I thought it was papier-mâché!
Strange but I have only one radio memory and that is my Mom listening to opera(I think it was Saturday afternoon) I don’t remember what it looked like or where it was kept and listening was not a family activity. One of those questions you’d like to go back and ask, how come I was radio deprived ?
LOL. I know what you mean, Margaret. And your answer brings to mind a mental picture of your mother. I would never have known she was into opera. Thank you.
Since I do not subscribe to a newspaper or have a television, radio is a main source of entertainment and connection to the world. I grow tired of listening only when bad news is repeated again and again.
I remember as a little girl I would cut out dress patterns and sew with my mother at home. The radio was always on. Every hour the “latest news” was announced. I thought we were listening to the “ladies’ news,” because the men were at their jobs and not listening to the radio!
Politics in Louisiana, where I grew up, was colorful and always newsworthy in its drama and suspense. Chases of a governor — Earl Long — who disappeared for reasons I never understood had everyone gasping and guessing, much the same as we all did years later with O.J. Simpson.
In high school the first moon landing was turned up full volume for our art class. I remember scraping the bottom of baby food jars with my ear to the Watergate hearings as I fed my sweet little Alene. Most recently I found myself taking the long way home to Lowell as Adam Schiff became my favorite Democrat in his brilliant turns at the live mic.
The recent changes of On Being and Hidden Brain to podcasts left me sad. My Sunday rhythms were tuned in to the radio, and I guess I am just not up to reprogramming them.
Thanks for asking!
P.S. I wish I had heard your radio show. I’ll bet it was as interesting as your blogs! Meredith
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What an awesome collection of radio memories, Meredith! Thank you! Your mention of hearings reminds me how my husband at a young age was transfixed by the McCarthy hearings on radio, learning quickly to identify the phoniness of the obsessed senator.