Radio programming

Radio broadcasts were a popular entertainment from the 1910s until television became widespread. The medium was unique in that it used only sound.

Radio programmes included the famous Hollywood talent of the day, and so there has been a resurgence of interest in what is now called old-time radio or the "Golden Age of Radio," with surviving shows being traded and collected in reel-to-reel, cassette and MP3 format. In the late 1940s and early 1950s, the advent of television gradually eroded the popularity of most radio shows, and by the late 1950s radio broadcasting took on much the form it has today.

Radio broadcasting is still very popular, with many stations devoted to news, talk, sports and especially popular music. In western Europe offshore radio, such as Radio Caroline broadcast from ships at anchor or abandoned forts, helped to stimulate a demand for the latter type of station during the post 1964 period.

• Internet radio, which keeps the form of audio-only broadcasting, although the signals are transmitted using the Internet rather than by radio broadcast - a sort of "radio-less radio".
• Digital audio broadcasting, which is a way of broadcasting radio digitally, which gives less noise in the transmission.

Notable old-time radio programs include:

• Amos 'n Andy
• The Jack Benny Program (see Jack Benny)
• Burns and Allen
• Suspense
• Nightbeat
• The Lone Ranger
• The Shadow
• Ma Perkins
• Fibber McGee and Molly
• Lux Radio Theater
• Escape
• Inner Sanctum
• CBS Radio Mystery Theater
• The Great Gildersleeve
• The Bob Hope Show (see Bob Hope)
• Dragnet
• Mercury Theater on the Air (also see Orson Welles)
• Dimension X/X-Minus One

Notable modern radio programs include:

• All Things Considered
• The Al Read Show
• The Archers
• Billy Cotton Band Show (see Billy Cotton)
• Caesar the Geezer sometimes known as Caesar the Boogieman
• Desert Island Discs
• Dick Barton - Special Agent
• Does he take Sugar
• Dr. Laura
• Emperor Rosko Show
• The Goon Show initially called Crazy People
• Hello Cheeky
• The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• The Howard Stern Radio Show
• I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
• ITMA-It's That's Man Again
• Kenny Everett Radio Programme
• The Larry King Show
• Listen with Mother
• Morning Edition
• The Navy Lark
• Paul Harvey
• Phil Hendrie
• Pick of the Pops
• A Prairie Home Companion
• Round The Horne, and its predecessor, Beyond Our Ken
• Rush Limbaugh
• Stan Freberg
• This American Life
• The Today Programme

See also:

• National Public Radio, old-time radio, Public Radio International