Portal:Radio/Selected article/1
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Old-time radio (OTR) and the Golden Age of Radio are phrases used to refer to radio programs (audio theater) mainly broadcast, in the USA, during the 1920s through the late 1950s. According to a C. E. Hooper survey in the late 1940s, 82 of every 100 Americans were radio listeners in 1947.
Vintage radio is now most vividly remembered by its more famous fragments: fanfares and show openings, running gags, trademark sounds and newsworthy events, such as the headlines generated by The War of the Worlds when it was dramatized on Orson Welles' Mercury Theater on the Air. Some still recall the creaking-door sound effect on Inner Sanctum Mysteries, the Dragnet theme music, the "Hi-Yo, Silver!" call of the Lone Ranger or the cackle of The Shadow: "Who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of men? The Shadow knows." In the early 1950s, music radio began to replace the many familiar comedy/drama favorites. The end of the era is often marked by the final CBS broadcasts of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar on September 30, 1962.
