Suspense Upgrades

Thanks Greybelt

Best regards

Art

thanks

20 odd years ago my go to source was radio station WRVO which was right on the fringe of my reception. What a pleasure it is to listen to these sounds.
Thanks for the huge effort, Greybelt.

WRVO was where Allen Rockford and Don Richardson would do their broadcasts in the 1970s. I was surprised to find out recently that WRVO is still broadcasting OTR. And... they post their broadcasts as downloadable podcasts [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

We have about 3 weeks of upgrades and different versions ahead. Some of these are significant improvements in sound to some episodes that are circulating in dreadful condition. It will be a very good 20+ days for Suspense fans here on this thread!

Today's posted episode is the west coast performance of SWN from the early Roma Wines run where east coast broadcasts were on Thursday nights and west coast broadcasts with a completely new performance were the following Monday. Click on the link to the resource page at the bottom of this post and look for the spreadsheet link that details this interesting period of Suspense. The east coast network performance is not in circulation, but it is likely that the AFRS recording for this SWN that is in circulation (AFRS #41), is the east coast one.

Suspense_1944-02-28_SorryWrongNumber_wAgnesMoorehead UPGRADE-2 WC Monday.mp3
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The following clippings for this episode are for the east coast broadcast.


The east coast performance was the third time that Agnes Moorehead stepped before the microphone for SWN, and the west coast performance was the fourth time. The Suspense resource has a special page devoted specifically to SWN, and notes the 13 different times she performed SWN.

These four ads appeared in the February 28, 1944 newspapers for Fresno, Oakland, San Diego, and Seattle. It's interesting that they don't mention SWN but instead promote Moorehead's appearance. It's likely that the mere mention of her name was enough to let everyone know it was another performance of SWN.


Cobalt's fearless leader, Seamus, protector of life, liberty, and OTR downloads, fierce enemy of tape hiss, volume overmodulation, and encode distortion, has created a "thank you" button for many new Cobalt Club posts. He (and I) hope that this feature, which was a favorite of the old CC site, will get back into use as a means of gauging interest levels in what's going on at the various CC threads. Please use it whenever you visit each day's post.

link error
8026 This link has been deleted by the owner.

Link fixed -- not sure why that happened

Thanks Greybelt
Best regards

Art

Suspense_1944-11-16_TheDeadOfTheNight_wRobertCummings UPGRADE-6.mp3
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Newspaper clippings for this episode were posted earlier.

Thanks Greybelt
Best regards
Art

Suspense_1946-10-03_ThreeTimesMurder_wRitaHayworth UPGRADE-3.mp3
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Newspaper clippings for this episode were posted earlier.

Thanks Greybelt

Best regards

Art

Suspense_1946-10-24_DameFortune_wSusanHayward UPGRADE-4.mp3
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Newspaper clippings for this episode were posted earlier.

Thanks Greybelt
Best regards

Art

Suspense_1947-01-30_Three_Blind_Mice_wVanHeflin UPGRADE-3 (14m after gavel 'Does defendant wish to make').mp3
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There is another version that has been posted here in the past that has 'The defendant will rise' at the 14 minute mark after the gavel noise. There is no way to determine which is east or west coast, but that is likely the reason for the difference. The script was changed between performances.

Newspaper clippings for this episode were posted earlier.

Thanks Greybelt
Best regards
Art

Suspense_1947-02-13_The_Thirteenth_Sound_wAgnesMoorehead UPGRADE-3.mp3
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Newspaper clippings for this episode were posted earlier.

Thanks Greybelt

Best regards

Art

Suspense_1947-02-27_Three_Faces_At_Midnight_wWilliamBendix EC (FBIiP&W mentioned at end) UPGRADE-2.mp3
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Newspaper clippings for this episode were posted earlier.

Thanks Greybelt

Best regards
Art

Suspense_1947-05-15_Death_At_Live_Oak_wRobertMitchum (EC mentions FBIiP&W) UPGRADE-3 Cresta Blanca ad at end.mp3
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Newspaper clippings for this episode were posted earlier.

Thanks Greybelt
Best regards
Art

Suspense_1949-12-29_The_Bullet_wIdaLupino UPGRADE-2.mp3
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Writer Larry Marcus scripted many programs but his best radio work was probably for Night Beat.
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Thanks Greybelt

Best regards

Art

Suspense_1955-06-28_The_Holdout_wHarryBartell (no op cl) UPGRADE-3 (still LQ).mp3
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I've never been able to find a newspaper listing for this episode.

The complete recording of this episode with opening and closing intact has never been found. I did work on this copy a little to make it "less worse."

This episode was probably inspired by a famous television broadcast. The Holdout was aired less than a year after Reginald Rose's play Twelve Angry Men was broadcast on TV's Studio One in September 1954. A restored version of that episode can be found at YouTube. The teleplay became a very popular stage play and a successful movie.