Suspense
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Suspense_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
The run
- Network
- NBC
- Years active
- 1940–1949
- Surviving broadcasts
- 267
- Genre
- comedy
Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work on radio and in film and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and early 1950s. Their patter routine Who's on First?
1949 · 11948 · 31947 · 11946 · 21945 · 21944 · 21940 · 1
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Clean transfer · 13 of 40Listenable · 19 of 40Rough but complete · 8 of 40
Source collection
Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: OTRR_Abbott_Costello_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
12 dated broadcasts across 10 years on the air, with 3 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1940, in original transmission order.
- 1. Lion Hunting · 20 Mar 1940
- 2. Visit to a Sanitarium · 13 Jan 1944
- 3. Costello Buys Gifts · 18 Jun 1944
- 01
Lion Hunting
20 Mar 1940 · 25 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 02
Visit to a Sanitarium
13 Jan 1944 · 24 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 03
Costello Buys Gifts
18 Jun 1944 · 17 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 04
Abbott and Costello 45-01-25 The Merchant Marines (AFRS)
25 Jan 1945 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Abbott_Costello_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 05
Anniversary Special
20 Jun 1945 · 6 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 06
Abbott and Costello 46-02-14 Mrs. Niles Gives the Boys a Job
14 Feb 1946 · 26 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Abbott_Costello_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 07
Abbott and Costello 46-12-12 Costello the Air Hero
12 Dec 1946 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Abbott_Costello_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 08
Lou Joins The New York Yankees
19 Jun 1947 · 30 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Same night on the air
2 Dec 1948
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 2 Dec 1948.
Al Jolson
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Jump Jump and the Ice Queen
Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Also on NBC
NBC in 1940–1949
Other series the network carried while Abbott and Costello was on the air.
Same seasons
comedy on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
Friends in front of a microphone
Jack Benny and Fibber McGee sold intimacy: recurring characters, in-jokes, a house style. The modern hang-out show is the same trick without the script.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of Abbott and Costello
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
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