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Golden Radio Hour
Escape was a CBS adventure anthology that sent listeners into danger, survival stories and literary adaptations from 1947 to 1954. William Conrad and Paul Frees were among the voices closely associated with its memorable opening narration. Golden Radio Hour preserves 250 recordings.
CBS high-adventure anthology mixing original radio stories and literary adaptations.
The run breaks into several distinct periods: Audition recordings (February 28, 1947 to March 21, 1947) on CBS Radio Network, First regular CBS run (July 7, 1947 to August 30, 1951) on CBS Radio Network, and Post-hiatus CBS run (October 12, 1952 to September 25, 1954) on CBS Radio Network.
Names that turn up again and again in the surviving run include William Conrad (performer and announcer), Norman Macdonnell (director, producer, and assistant producer), Roy Rowan (announcer), William N. Robson (producer, director, and radio adaptor), Leith Stevens (conductor, composer, and music), Paul Frees (performer), and Ben Wright (performer, narrator, and writer).
Across its run, the surviving broadcasts are tied to CBS Radio Network, Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, Armed Forces Radio Service, and KNX.
The stories often return to survival in extreme danger, wartime danger, danger at sea, dangerous animals, wilderness survival, and crime, pursuit, and captivity.
The show also sits in a wider radio history that includes the postwar adventure-anthology boom, radio adaptations of literature, and radio drama moving toward television anthology formats.
If you are following the same actors and creative circles, related programs worth opening next include Lux Radio Theatre, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, The Whistler, The Adventures of Philip Marlowe, and Broadway Is My Beat.
Search this program or browse in its validated catalog order.
Three escaped convicts cross the sea on a primitive raft with a native guide whom they despise and underestimate. Thirst and greed turn the fugitives against one another until all…
Two young regimental drummers, Jakin and Piggy, watch the British Fore and Aft break under Afghan fire and decide to shame the soldiers back into action. They march into the…
After a mild stroke convinces Christopher Bell that he will soon become helpless, the aging mountaineer chooses an impossible glacier climb as a disguised suicide. Near exhaustion he hears a…
Second-class tourist Ronald Dawson leaves his cruise companions in Mozambique to retrieve a bronze idol and is unexpectedly swept into a night of murder, police pursuit and escape with a…
Second-class tourist Ronald Dawson leaves his cruise companions in Mozambique to retrieve a bronze idol and is unexpectedly swept into a night of murder, police pursuit and escape with a…
Plantation owner Leiningen refuses to abandon his Amazon estate when a vast army of man-eating ants approaches, trusting preparation and intelligence to defeat them. When every defensive line begins to…
Investigator Paul Vernier reaches a remote Borneo station knowing one of three Americans is the murderer Stiques, but not which one. A suspect finally gives himself away by objecting when…
Jealous J. F. Morner goes to the isolated Snake Doctor's cabin intending to kill him and steal the money hidden there. After Morner dies from terror while reaching into the…
A poet secretly moves into a department store after closing and discovers an entire community that lives hidden there at night under strict rules. He falls in love with Ella…
Toby Manning follows Consuela into the Mexican mountains in search of revolutionary gold hidden by her father. A former soldier trails them and confronts them at a rope bridge, where…
Sailor John Woolfolk anchors off an isolated Georgia plantation and is drawn to Millie, whose family lives in fear of the violent Nicholas. After Nicholas kills Millie's father, John fights…
A ship's doctor answers a distress call to a yacht carrying Joseph Ingram and a two-million-dollar bearer draft, then becomes trapped as greed turns the people aboard against one another.…
Tio Martinez is trying to abandon his underworld life and marry Amalia, but his need for money to help with her cafe mortgage draws him into the search for an…
Tio Martinez is trying to abandon his underworld life and marry Amalia, but his need for money to help with her cafe mortgage draws him into the search for an…
One-armed veteran Dundas helps recover victims from a wartime sinking in the English Channel, then later takes aboard a German operative who offers him thousands of pounds for passage to…
Adventurer Colby accepts a job carrying an ancient Peruvian relic back toward Peru and becomes entangled with collector St. Ubarian, nurse Analus and the ruthless Jefferson. The relic leads to…
Jean, Louis and Auguste are isolated lighthouse keepers on Three Skeleton Key when a derelict ship releases an enormous swarm of rats onto their rock. The rats overrun the lighthouse,…
Jean, Louis and Auguste are isolated lighthouse keepers on Three Skeleton Key when a derelict ship releases an enormous swarm of rats onto their rock. The rats overrun the lighthouse,…
Mate Doyle sails aboard a freighter carrying a shipment of rifles to Central American strongman General Topaz, while tension grows among the captain, shipper and passengers. At the destination Topaz…
Alcoholic Jason Torrance leaves his wife after another collapse, and his uncle forces him into a harsh voyage meant to confront the weakness ruining his life. Jason becomes obsessed with…
Young Lieutenant Cohill dismisses veteran Captain Brittles as an overcautious relic until an Indian threat turns a routine patrol into a deadly lesson in command. Forced to lead men under…
Struggling actor Evan finds thousands of dollars hidden in belongings connected to an arrested bus passenger and detours into a Mexican border town instead of continuing directly to Hollywood. He…
Insurance detective Joe escorts wealthy Mrs. Bankner and the priceless Star of Kilimanjaro emerald across India, but greed turns him from guard into thief. After Mrs. Bankner is murdered, Joe…
Drifter Kenneth Braun joins pearl dealer Lee on an expedition after convincing himself that one rich haul can solve his failures. Their greed peaks when a giant hand-shaped mass is…
Jonathan Storm reaches a California gold camp seeking his murdered brother and finds killer Bart Mallory protected by the advantage of a new Colt revolver. Storm forces the final confrontation…
Young Cynthia Winship's mother becomes critically ill in a Paris hotel, and a doctor sends Cynthia away for medicine. When she returns, the hotel denies that her mother ever existed…
A ship doctor is summoned to a schooner after wealthy aviation magnate Joseph Ingram is shot, only to discover that Ingram has exploited reports of his own death to disappear…
A ship doctor is summoned to a schooner after wealthy aviation magnate Joseph Ingram is shot, only to discover that Ingram has exploited reports of his own death to disappear…
Eddie Gillespie develops a remote Caribbean island as a resort and plants fake pirate relics as a tourist attraction, but greed overwhelms the project when Amanda, Brewer and beachcomber Clive…
Eddie Gillespie develops a remote Caribbean island as a resort and plants fake pirate relics as a tourist attraction, but greed overwhelms the project when Amanda, Brewer and beachcomber Clive…
Condemned murderer Roger refuses to accept his approaching execution and repeatedly imagines ingenious escapes: a train wreck, a staged medical emergency, flight into Mexico under a new identity, and finally…
Condemned murderer Roger refuses to accept his approaching execution and repeatedly imagines ingenious escapes: a train wreck, a staged medical emergency, flight into Mexico under a new identity, and finally…
Test pilot Bill Westfall takes an experimental rocket aircraft far beyond its expected range and returns with a warning from beings outside Earth: another atomic explosion could bring destruction upon…
British reporter Philip Sutherland leaves Moscow only after Soviet officials revoke the travel permission of his new wife, ballerina Mario. He secretly returns, assumes a false identity and races across…
Convict Bichot has only days left before release from the New Caledonia penal colony and plans to leave with Zellie, the young wife of the colony's hated executioner. The escape…
Royal Navy officer Edward Bradman disobeys orders during the 1914 fighting in Flanders and uses a deception involving Highlander uniforms to make German forces believe British reinforcements have arrived, helping…
Royal Navy officer Edward Bradman disobeys orders during the 1914 fighting in Flanders and uses a deception involving Highlander uniforms to make German forces believe British reinforcements have arrived, helping…
Down-on-his-luck Danny Quinn joins a diving expedition to recover treasure from the sunken ruins of Port Royal and becomes consumed by the fortune below. Mutiny and greed leave the expedition's…
Three lighthouse keepers on remote Three Skeleton Key are besieged by a vast swarm of rats from a derelict ship. The animals overrun the tower and trap the men in…
Drifter Joe accepts work from a wealthy-looking couple in Florida and is soon caught inside their criminal scheme, then framed for a murder he did not commit. He escapes from…
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