Broadcast on Syndicated. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
The run
- Network
- NBC
- Years active
- 1934–1949
- Surviving broadcasts
- 39
- Genre
- kids
The Adventures of Frank Merriwell brought Gilbert Patten's dime-novel hero — the clean-living Yale sportsman — to NBC, first in the mid-1930s and again in a Saturday-morning run from 1946 to 1949 with Lawson Zerbe in the title role. These public-domain transfers come from the Old Time Radio Researchers collections.
1948 · 81947 · 11946 · 2
Source collection
Internet Archive audio collections
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: AdventuresofFrankMerriwell
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
5 dated broadcasts across 16 years on the air, with 13 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
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 NaN, in original transmission order.
- 1. Confesses In Dark · Date unknown
- 2. Riddle of Wrong Answers · 5 Oct 1946
- 3. Clue of Numbers · 19 Oct 1946
Confesses In Dark
Date unknown · 14 min
The Adventures of Frank Merriwell brought Gilbert Patten's dime-novel hero — the clean-living Yale sportsman — to NBC, first in the mid-1930s and again in a Saturday-morning run from 1946 to 1949 with Lawson Zerbe in the title role.
Riddle of Wrong Answers
5 Oct 1946 · 30 min
The Adventures of Frank Merriwell brought Gilbert Patten's dime-novel hero — the clean-living Yale sportsman — to NBC, first in the mid-1930s and again in a Saturday-morning run from 1946 to 1949 with Lawson Zerbe in the title role.
Clue of Numbers
19 Oct 1946 · 30 min
The Adventures of Frank Merriwell brought Gilbert Patten's dime-novel hero — the clean-living Yale sportsman — to NBC, first in the mid-1930s and again in a Saturday-morning run from 1946 to 1949 with Lawson Zerbe in the title role.
Big Top Adventure
15 Mar 1947 · 30 min
The Adventures of Frank Merriwell brought Gilbert Patten's dime-novel hero — the clean-living Yale sportsman — to NBC, first in the mid-1930s and again in a Saturday-morning run from 1946 to 1949 with Lawson Zerbe in the title role.
Ballot Box Mystery
15 May 1948 · 28 min
The Adventures of Frank Merriwell brought Gilbert Patten's dime-novel hero — the clean-living Yale sportsman — to NBC, first in the mid-1930s and again in a Saturday-morning run from 1946 to 1949 with Lawson Zerbe in the title role.
Mystery of Iron Door
22 May 1948 · 29 min
The Adventures of Frank Merriwell brought Gilbert Patten's dime-novel hero — the clean-living Yale sportsman — to NBC, first in the mid-1930s and again in a Saturday-morning run from 1946 to 1949 with Lawson Zerbe in the title role.
Missing Mascot
29 May 1948 · 29 min
The Adventures of Frank Merriwell brought Gilbert Patten's dime-novel hero — the clean-living Yale sportsman — to NBC, first in the mid-1930s and again in a Saturday-morning run from 1946 to 1949 with Lawson Zerbe in the title role.
Stolen Masterpiece
5 Jun 1948 · 28 min
The Adventures of Frank Merriwell brought Gilbert Patten's dime-novel hero — the clean-living Yale sportsman — to NBC, first in the mid-1930s and again in a Saturday-morning run from 1946 to 1949 with Lawson Zerbe in the title role.
Same night on the air
15 May 1948
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 15 May 1948.
Originally broadcast on NBC, 15 May 1948. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Also on NBC
NBC in 1934–1949
Other series the network carried while The Adventures of Frank Merriwell was on the air.
Same seasons
kids on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
The children's serial
Fifteen minutes, a cliffhanger, and a promise to be back tomorrow. Kids' audio still runs on the shape the Yukon and Speed Gibson serials cut.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of The Adventures of Frank Merriwell
Modern series carrying this form forward.
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