Radio programming

Radio broadcasts were a popular entertainment from the 1910s until television became widespread. The medium was unique in that it only used 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(radio)
• 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 Songs Considered
• All Things Considered
• The Al Read Show
• The Archers
• Audience of Two
• Billy Cotton Band Show (see Billy Cotton)
• Coast to Coast AM with George Noory and Art Bell on weekends.
• Caesar the Geezer sometimes known as Caesar the Boogieman
• Dick Barton - Special Agent
• Does he take Sugar
• Dr. Demento
• Dr. Laura
• Emperor Rosko Show
• Hello Cheeky
• The Howard Stern Radio Show
• In Our Time
• ITMA-It's That's Man Again
• Kenny Everett Radio Programme
• The Larry King Show
• Late Junction
• Listen with Mother
• Morning Edition
• Paul Harvey
• Phil Hendrie
• Pick of the Pops
• A Prairie Home Companion
• Rush Limbaugh
• Stan Freberg
• This American Life
• The Today Programme

Notable American radio programs include:

Notable Canadian radio programs include:

• A Propos
• Basic Black
• The Dead Dog Cafe Comedy Hour
• Definitely Not The Opera pop culture magazine that airs opposite the Saturday opera.
• Finkleman's 45's
• The Frantics
• Global Village
• Go
• Madly Off In All Directions
• The Mystery Project
• National Research Council Time Signal
• Quirks and Quarks
• Richardson's Roundup
• Saturday Afternoon at the Opera
• The Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean.

Notable British radio programs include:

• Desert Island Discs
• The Goon Show initially called Crazy People
• The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy
• I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again
• I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue
• The Navy Lark
• Round The Horne, and its predecessor, Beyond Our Ken

See also:

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