This Old Time Radio Word Search is a tribute to more of the classic broadcasts that defined a generation: Gunsmoke, Death Valley Days, Flash Gordon, Tarzan, Superman, The Quiz Kids, Truth or Consequences, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Kraft Music Hall, Command Performance, and Mercury Radio Theater, as well as dozens more.

Westerns and adventure programs as well as suspense programs all made their debut on radio and became part of the fabric of pop culture. Many made the transition to television. Who could forget The Inner Sanctum and its creaking door? Or Dr. Kildare, who made it big in books and movies as well as radio? And then there were cowboys and the explorer-adventurers like Jungle Jim.

The writers of radio created the formats used today in sitcoms and dramas. They developed the cliff-hanger endings, the methods of using music to bridge the action in the scripts and the methods of creating opportunities for sponsors to add product tie-ins to the program. They brought characters to life that you only heard, never saw, and yet you knew these characters as well as you knew anyone in your life. The voice actors gave life to the characters, but the voice actors wouldn’t have had anything to work with if the writers hadn’t created them.

Radio invented the war correspondent, and many radio journalists went to Europe and the Pacific to cover the war. They invented the methods to get news flashed around the world by linking shortwave broadcasts together to be re-broadcast back home. Murrow’s Boys covered the war and became some of the most famous journalists in America.

Announcers controlled the pace of the show and set the tone of excitement and interest for the listeners. They also controlled the soundboards and often became part of the cast. There were so many famous announcers and so many others who got their start as announcers. Harlow Wilcox, Hy Averback, Don Wilson and Harry Von Zell were just a few of the famous announcers who made radio great.

The sports announcer was born on radio and where would we be without Red Barber, Ted Husing and Graham McNamee narrating the games, giving us the scores, and telling stories about the players and the ball teams? They literally created the play-by-play.

Many of the original shows were theater and playhouse shows – Lux Radio Theater, Mercury Theater, Kraft Music Hall, etc. These programs brought plays to their listening audiences as well as adapting novels and movies for broadcast over the radio. Many famous people were heard on these programs.

And then there were the quiz shows – Information Please, Queen for a Day and You Bet Your Life as examples. America developed an obsession with quiz programs and many of these programs made the transition to television.

Every puzzle page is packed with bits of trivia and information as puzzle clues that bring these programs to life. Like our other old time radio books, this book also features vintage advertising and artwork and photos from out-of-print magazines that add interest and life to the names and faces of yesteryear.

No streaming. No commercials. Just a pencil, a quiet evening, and the crackle of memory.

Learn about an era you didn’t experience and develop the imagination that radio fostered in everyone.

This book will be available very soon on Amazon!