The run
- Network
- CBS
- Years active
- 1940–1950
- Surviving broadcasts
- 128
- Genre
- western
SEARS RADIO THEATER Sears Radio Theater was a radio drama anthology series which ran weeknightly on CBS Radio in 1979, sponsored by the Sears chain. Often paired with The CBS Radio Mystery Theater during its first season, the program offered a different genre of drama for each day's broadcast. In 1980, the program moved to the Mutual Broadcasting System and became the Mutual Radio Theater. The Mutual series broadcast repeats from the CBS run until September 1980, when a short season of new dramas was presented. Sears continued as a sponsor during the Mutual run. Monday was "Western Night" and was hosted by Lorne Greene. Tuesday was "Comedy Night", hosted by Andy Griffith. Wednesday was "Mystery Night" with Vincent Price as host. Thursday was "Love And Hate Night" with Cicely Tyson doing honors as host. Digitised by the Old Time Radio Researchers and streamed from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Sears_Radio_Theater_Singles”; these recordings are in the public domain.
Source collection
Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
0 dated broadcasts across 11 years on the air, with 11 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from NaN, in original transmission order.
- 1. Hostages · Date unknown
- 2. No Greater Dream · Date unknown
- 3. A Short History of Bac Ha · Date unknown
- 01
Hostages
Date unknown · 35 min
Broadcast on CBS. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 02
No Greater Dream
Date unknown · 51 min
Broadcast on CBS. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 03
A Short History of Bac Ha
Date unknown · 49 min
Broadcast on CBS. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 04
Anne Bonny's Gold
Date unknown · 48 min
Broadcast on CBS. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 05
The American Family Robinson
Date unknown · 42 min
Broadcast on CBS. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 06
Survival
Date unknown · 40 min
Broadcast on CBS. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 07
The Final Fall
Date unknown · 50 min
Broadcast on CBS. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 08
The Wrath of ZEUS
Date unknown · 50 min
Broadcast on CBS. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Also on CBS
CBS in 1940–1950
Other series the network carried while Sears Radio Theater was on the air.
Same seasons
western on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
The adult western
Gunsmoke was sold as the first adult western: moral ambiguity, weather, silence. Serialised folk horror and long-form fiction inherited its patience.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of Sears Radio Theater
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
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