Tonight, November 19, 2023, The boys are back! Max takes a break and welcomes back our resident producers, Doug Bost and Jeff Ward with an episode called “Latecomers.” Radio dramas from beyond the so-called end of THE GOLDEN AGE OF RADIO. Tune in to WBAI-NY 99.5 FM, or listen to the stream at wbai.org. Executive producer Max Schmid.

“LATECOMERS”

Tonight we’re showcasing four great shows that missed that September 1962 “cutoff” for the age of old time radio.

THEATER 5 “Mama’s Girl”

From May 1, 1965, the great Elaine May stars as a wife who starts to think–with good reason–that her husband is keeping something terrible from her. Fred Foy is the announcer here, and he’s also the voice of the weekly intro to The Golden Age of Radio!

BEYOND MIDNIGHT “40th Birthday”

From March 7, 1969. Beyond Midnight is a series from South Africa from the 1960s, written by Michael McCabe, and the audio quality isn’t always pristine, but stick with this one. It’s also got different titles depending on where you look, including Eloise's Whereabouts and Three O’Clock, but it makes the most sense to call this suspenseful story 40th Birthday.

VANISHING POINT #53 “A Small Good Thing”

From February 10, 1986. Vanishing Point, of course, is the CBC series from the mid-80s, and this episode is based on the great short story by Raymond Carver, which had only been published a few years previous. This version was dramatized by Steve Petch and features beautiful performances—if anyone knows the names of the actors, we’d love to hear about it.

NPR PLAYHOUSE/BRADBURY 13 “The Ravine”

From April 2, 1984. The Ravine is based on a story from Ray Bradbury’s novel Dandelion Wine, and this show is part of the Bradbury 13 series from 1983-84, heard on NPR Playhouse. Created by Michael McDonough, introduced by Ray Bradbury and Paul Frees, and this episode stars Barta Hyner and Beverly Roland. It’s a story that evokes America in the 50s but now it also feels like a metaphor about climate deniers or Trump deniers–people who are told again and again that terrible things are coming, but they don’t act until it’s way too late.

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