EXPAND YOUR MIND. ENTERTAIN YOURSELF. AND LIKE THE BEER AT THE DELTA HOUSE, IT "DON'T COST NUTHIN."

Like most readers of this blog, the Author is a member of the TV generation.

But long before the cathode ray tube turned generations of humans into Epsilon Semi-Morons, there was radio. Radio has had a long and varied life. The first wireless purveyor of news, weather, sports, music and entertainment. And it still does that today.

A popular feature of radio was entertainment programming. Soap operas, adventures, dramas, comedies, and serials filled the airwaves and living rooms from the 1930s to the 1950s.

RADIO BROADCASTS-LIKE BOOKS WITHOUT HAVING TO READ THE WORDS.

From 1974 through 1982, CBS radio produced the eponymously-titled "CBS Radio Mysteries". They were three-act one hour radio programs broadcast every weeknight on CBS stations around the country.

The target audience was an older demographic that grew up with radio. But CBS discovered that the shows pulled in younger listeners as well. Most of the programs were traditional mysteries. But some were versions of classic horror stories such as Dracula, Frankenstein, and the works of Edgar Allan Poe and other horror writers.

BETTER THAN A BOOK ON TAPE.

The Author discovered these CBS Radio mysteries in the late 1980s when driving home after working late. WBBM in Chicago rebroadcast the shows. And he got hooked.

WBBM stopped broadcasting these mysteries in the early 1990s and the Author forgot about them. However, a couple of months ago he stumbled upon a website that has MP3 versions of the entire series, all 1,399 episodes.

The shows are indexed in the order that they were broadcast. The sounds quality is a little degraded on some of them, but they are still listenable.

Some also contain the advertisements and news lead-ins from their original broadcasts. Broadcasts from 1974 feature public service ads about the "energy crisis" and news leads reporting the Nixon impeachment hearings.

So turn off the lights and turn up your PC speakers for a good time on a stormy night.

ALWAYS GETTING YOUR MONEY'S WORTH IN THE DESERT OF THE REAL!