Suspense Resources

Links for fans and researchers into "Radio's Outstanding Theater of Thrills" that aired on CBS Radio from 1942 to 1962

Suspense may be the most recorded and listened to program of radio's golden and silver ages, first with its initial broadcasts, and then rebroadcasts for decades over the Armed Forces Radio Service, giving it an audience around the world. Through the efforts of fans, nearly all 900+ episodes have been saved in some way. There is still much work to be done to find improved recordings of the series, especially for the years 1957 to 1962. We are always seeking upgraded disc recordings, airchecks, home recordings, scripts, AFRS discs and recordings, and especially information about the few remaining missing episodes.

Contact us at suspenseOTR@gmail.com

The short URL that can be used for this page is https://tinyurl.com/DrJoeSuspense

This is a research site (c)2024, Joseph W. Webb, Ph.D. Please publicize this site to classic radio fans far and wide to increase the interest and enjoyment of this legendary radio series and the golden age of radio era.

The Suspense Project daily blogposts with series history, background about each episode from the failed pilot to the final episode, and more, are at https://suspenseproject.blogspot.com/

Episodes are being posted in chronological order. The project will be completed by the end of 2025 with the posting of 1962-09-30 Devilstone.

All of the audio files in lossless FLAC and mp3 files are available at The Internet Archive. Go to https://archive.org/details/@the_suspense_project There is a separate page for each episode.

The Old Time Radio Researchers is posting each of the Suspense Project recordings as they are released on their YouTube channel. The Suspense playlist can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlUoyloCGlWxgMciNFl_AWMvWswI5HUgJ

2022 was the 80th anniversary of Suspense! Click here for information access to archived online observances and events! Listen to interviews, recreations of missing episodes, and marathons with special (and amusing) introductions by Dr. Joe Webb and international voice artist and entertainer Keith Scott.

Do you know where the 1947 Boris Karloff performance of Wet Saturday is?
Read the fascinating story... https://sites.google.com/view/1947-wet-saturday/karloff-on-suspense

The Suspense presentation from SPERDVAC 2019 is available on YouTube and as downloads

Learn about the eras of Suspense, the CBS Blacklist and how it affected the series, the allegorical episodes about it, two fascinating Suspense scriptwriters (a high school teacher... and a San Quentin inmate!), and the strange history of the 60-minute episodes.

Click on the arrow in the image for YouTube or click here

PDF of slides
mp3 audio files: 32kps 64kps 128kps
FLAC audio file (125mb)
WAV audio file (280mb)
mp4 video file (1.03gb)

The Suspense Log Project Continues!

This project is almost 20 years old, and now enough is established to the point where a log that captures many of the behind the scenes changes and episode characteristics that show how special the series is. Check out the draft log by clicking here. It will never be truly finished -- updates are being made every day -- but it's so rich with information that it can mesmerize a Suspense fan for hours. It's amazing what new things we've learned about schedule changes, title revisions, changes to casting, and backstories. ENJOY!

Keith Scott's AMAZING Suspense Log is available for download at the Internet Archive.

View it online or download a PDF -- just click here.

It has a great overview of the series, plot descriptions with casts for all episodes. It's been in the works for 30+ years. A marvelous achievement with the latest in research about the series. The Suspense Project uses Keith's cast information in its daily posts, and is also assisting in the preparation of a major log update.

His Escape log is also excellent! View it online or download a PDF -- click here.

Suspense discussion on YesterdayUSA in January 2020 ... details are at https://sites.google.com/view/dr-joe-on-yesterdayusa/home with supporting information, documents, and episode downloads. It's a fun, 2-hour, leisurely discussion... about the Hollywood Blacklist and producer Bill Robson's experience (download the letter he wrote to Edward R. Murrow where he asks for help!), how Yellow Wallpaper was adapted from a highly controversial short story that challenged the late-1800s practices of psychology, the quirky Suspense scripter Edgar Scott Flohr who was a safe-cracker and forger, and much more. ENJOY!!

A new edition will be published in late 2026 after the conclusion of "The Suspense Project." The 2020 edition is still available at Amazon.

2020 edition chapters

IntroductionA Collector’s Brief History of Suspense REVISEDCollector Resources REVISEDThe Best Unfair and Superficial History of Suspense You’ll Ever Need NEWThe Missing Shows REVISED AND EXPANDEDThe 60-Minute Suspense Episodes: How Roma Left and Auto-Lite Saved the Day REVISED AND EXPANDEDThe Search: The Long-Sought Missing Segment of the Hour-Long Episode NEWWhat Kinds of Ratings did Suspense Have? NEWSuspense MagazineSuspense Facts You Never Knew REVISED AND EXPANDEDEast and West: When Did Suspense have Separate Live Performances for the Coasts? NEWSuspense in the Movies REVISED AND EXPANDEDThe First Summer of Suspense, 1942Fury and Sound, A Most Curious Missing Episode of Suspense REVISEDMysterious Authors: Who are They? REVISEDSorry, Wrong Number: The Famous Suspense Episode that Spanned the Media and the Generations REVISEDEpisodic Curiosities REVISED AND EXPANDEDSuspense and Escape Shared ScriptsThe Sad Case of John Garfield and the Concerto for Killer and Eyewitnesses NEWThe Robson Era NEWSuspense on Television NEWA Special Word to New OTR Collectors and Fans: Join in the Hunt!About the Author

Resources by Dr. Joe Webb

Latest collection list (click here)

The most recent list of the recordings in this Suspense research effort.

The Suspense log

with lots of information about changes to titles, casts, schedules, and so much more (click here for the Google spreadsheet)

List of missing recordings of all types (click here)
AFRS disc number spreadsheet resource (click here)

Recordings of Suspense from Armed Forces Radio Service transcriptions have played a critical role in the preserving of the series, and in providing improved sound recordings for many episodes that existed as sub-par home recordings. There are still AFRS transcriptions around the world in record shops and warehouses still waiting to be discovered. Suspense was a popular offering on the Armed Forces networks through the 1980s, years after it left the air in 1962. Each AFRS disc has a number on its label that can help identify the episode. This spreadsheet is very helpful in that it lists all of the found and/or documented AFRS programs by their assigned number; a separate page lists the AFRS numbers (documented and "calculated") of selected missing programs.

Suspense TV show spreadsheet (click here)

Suspense was a popular TV program from 1949 to 1954. About a third of the episodes have survived, with many posted online at YouTube. This spreadsheet links to those episodes on YouTube and also identifies which of the programs were adapted from radio scripts. There is a collection of more than 60 videos at archive.org

Suspense Fall 1958 show date correction research (click here)

For many years, dates of programs from September through November 1958 were uncertain. This spreadsheet documents various resources and verifies the research done in the mid-1990s by late collectors Randy Eidemiller and Chris Lambesis.

Roma Wines 2x/week log (December 1943 to September 1944) (click here)

When Roma Wines began its sponsorship of Suspense, there was no broadcast time available on a single day for the new east and west coast broadcasts. For a few months, the East (East and Central time zones) had their broadcasts on Thursdays and the West (Mountain and Pacific) had theirs on Mondays. There are only a few presentations for which both recordings exist.

The same day Suspense East and West Coast broadcasts (click here)

Suspense had separate East and West broadcasts only during its sponsorship by Roma Wines. The early Roma Wines broadcasts were on Thursday for the East and Monday for the West. Those are documented in a separate spreadsheet noted above. Beginning in September 1944, there were broadcasts on a single day. In some cases, recordings are labeled as to their East or West origin because the transcription discs were labeled so and that information was carried into the file names of the recordings. For others, recordings were not labeled as to their East or West origin. In other cases, the mention of the upcoming broadcast of The FBI in Peace and War identifies the East version (details are noted below -- scroll down to a special section about it). There are also programs with differences in their closing announcements or the pace of their reading. Most single recordings, however, have no identifiers. There are many cases where we have identified two different broadcasts but do not have any means of identifying which recording was intended for which coast.

William N. Robson era had more repeats than new productions

Click here to see the image of the table that explains it. There were 147 productions, with 74 repeats. 51 were from Suspense, 19 from Escape, 2 from Romance, 1 from On Stage, and 1 from a show Robson produced for Mutual, Modern Adventures of Casanova.

NEW! Suspense and the Blacklist

Click here for information about how the Red Channels blacklist affected appearances of actors John Garfield (Concerto for Killer and Eyewitnesses) and Howard Duff (Murderous Revision) and future Suspense producer William N. Robson. Who was the CBS blacklist enforcer? Why was the blacklist used? A new effort in research about this topic has changed my thinking about it. This page will be updated often and will become a new section in the 2021 edition of the book.

How many performances of Sorry, Wrong Number were there?... and more!

The number's not what you might think! Click here to see the detailed list and learn about the east and west coast performances, the Philco Radio Hall of Fame, and the Decca Records release of SWN. The missing 1952 performance has some intriguing aspects about the series and its production that can be seen from the script cover page and a news report of the performance.

There was not a "correct" Sorry, Wrong Number west coast broadcast in 1943

This "urban legend" has persisted among radio program collectors for decades. Suspense did not have east and west productions until Roma Wines sponsored the series later that year (free PDF at Scribd.com)

Suspense-specific resources

Suspense Magazine PDFs at archive.org (click here)

Suspense Magazine only lasted four issues. Scans saved as PDFs of each short story, adapted from the show scripts, and dated with the first performance of those scripts, are available for online viewing or download.

RadioGoldindex Suspense page (click here) and search for "suspense"
Christine Miller's Escape-Suspense blog (click here)

Christine has not posted new items in a while, but the site is still up. The work she did to identify original works in short stories, novels, articles, and other source materials used to create Suspense scripts inspired much of the research here, especially for missing episodes.

Old Time Radio Review - Suspense pages (click here)

These are reviews by a UK fan of the series, arranged alphabetically. About one-third of the episodes are reviewed. Though I may disagree with some of the comments, I always find them fascinating, thought-provoking, and worth pondering. A highly recommended site, especially for new Suspense fans.

Blue Hours Productions Suspense new programs

John C. Alsedek created new drama productions in the spirit of the original Suspense and also expanded Suspsense into new areas. Listen to our interview of him (click here). The recordings of the episodes are not online at this time (2024).

American Radio Theater recreations of missing recordings (click here)

ART is a fine group of radio drama enthusiasts who recreate new and old radio plays. This links to their Suspense recreations, some of which have been from scripts of missing shows.

Radio Spirits currently available CD sets of Suspense (click here)

Radio Spirits has issued many CD sets of Suspense that are high quality audio that have been processed using today's digital audio technologies from the original transcription discs recordings. Many sets, especially earlier releases, can be found in public libraries or as used copies for sale at Amazon or eBay. It is essential that our hobby support Radio Spirits in their quest for missing episodes, their efforts to improve the sound quality of existing recordings, and their interest in conducting research about this series and many others. Their efforts, through their sets, syndicated radio program, and SiriusXM satellite channel, draw new fans and listeners to become old time radio enthusiasts.

Old Time Radio Researchers 2015 Certified Suspense Set at archive.org

This is a set of the series as the collection was in early 2015. NOTE: THE SUSPENSE PROJECT FILES HAVE UPGRADES TO ALL OF THESE EPISODES. The collection is out of date, but is still a good set for the series. Since then, many better sounding programs have been found or released, as have some new versions. If you're just interested in streaming shows online, go to the individual episodes link and start there. If you're new to the series, this is a good place to start. Individual episodes (click here) 36 .zip files, each .zip file has the amount of files that fills a single CD-ROM. The link is on the right hand side of the page (click here)

Martin Grams' Suspense: Twenty Years of Thrills and Chills (Amazon)

Now more than 20 years old, this favorite collectors book is back in print. Written in 1997 when Martin was a senior in high school, it is a great resource, especially for newcomers to the series. Please note that it was written years ago and did not have the benefit of new research available since that time. This book has not been updated since its original release, but it is still a very worthwhile investment.

What Suspense Day Is It?

Here's the list by calendar date of all Suspense episodes (click here)

Suspense at the Movies

Click here for a page that links to movies and television broadcasts that have some connection with the radio version of Suspense.

Collector online gathering places

Cobalt Club (click here)

A free online forum where collectors post OTR research and programs, and where Suspense is updated or researched nearly every day; a great place for veteran collectors, and an even better place for new collectors to deepen their interests; free registration.The Suspense upgrades and episode information is at http://cobaltclubannex.forumotion.com/t180-suspense-upgrades; just go to the highest numbered page for the latest postings.

Old Time Radio Researchers Facebook page (click here)

Free to join after answering simple screening questions. Very active group, posting of rare recordings, discussions of history, personalities, recording technology, and more.

Interviews of collectors by Joe Webb (click here)

Many interviews with fellow collectors and researchers about the hobby, Suspense, and other series

Interview of RadioClassics SiriusXM channel host Greg Bell (click here)

This interview of Greg Bell was conducted on the July 2019 Radio Spirits cruise on the Royal Caribbean Adventure of the Seas. Greg discusses his career, how streaming audio has raised the profile of the channel at SiriusXM, the selection of programs, the tyranny of the clock in terms of what is played on the channel, and much more. The interview is about 35 minutes.

Mid-Atlantic Nostalgia Convention, Hunt Valley, MD (click here)

Annual Fall convention of general nostalgia, with Saturday morning usually devoted to OTR recreations and panel discussions.

GENERAL OTR RESEARCH RESOURCES

RadioGoldindex home page (click here)

This resource is now hosted by University of Missouri - Kansas City and is in a new format. This video can help you navigate the site https://youtu.be/KGKvSEy9O1c

Search Billboard magazine (click here)
Jerry Haendiges program logs page (click here)
OTRR log links; link goes direct to list without need to go to otrr.org (click here)
OTR logs (click here)

Downloadable logs of many series. Look especially for the logs prepared by researcher Stewart Wright which provide much background information about the radio era and its production processes; his logs are done with exceptional care with sturdy, reliable, hands-on research.

Andrew Steinberg's OTR Errors page (click here)

When OTR collecting's digital age began, there were many sets of mislabeled, misdated, and miscategorized recordings. This site notes those errors. The efforts of OTRR to organize and document collections have made the need for this site less urgent, but it's still a worthwhile visit because many of those old sets still linger.

OTRR home page (click here)

Links to many resources such as magazines, fanzines, scripts, and more, and the OTRR's own publication

New OTRR home page (click here)

This is a new format home page that many fans may find a lot easier to navigate. It has links to the group's Facebook and YouTube pages.

OTRR First Lines Project (click here)

Outdated, incomplete, still extraordinarily useful for many series with unannounced episode titles

OTRR radio magazines and fanzines collection (click here)

PDF scans of many magazines from the radio era, and a collection of scanned OTR fanzines

OTRR Library (click here)

An easy and convenient way to listen to radio programs. The completeness and quality of programs can be a little erratic as it is volunteer-based is not subject to regular maintenance. This is a good way to take a test-listen to different series, and if a series piques one's interest, fans can pursue programs from any of the many collector-dealers and especially sources like Radio Spirits or their download site Radio Vault.

Search industry magazines with the Lantern search engine

The site is maintained developed by the University of Wisconsin (click here)

Thom Whetston's AFRTS Archive blog (click here)

Thom served in Korea and Panama and worked in AFRTS in the 1970s. While he's most interested in 1970s and 1980s AFRTS programs and history, he has been a great friend of OTR and has shared many recordings he has found in his efforts.

Harry MacKenzie The Directory of the Armed Forces Radio Service Series (click here)

This directory about AFRS radio series was published in 1999 by Greenwood Publishing. The link goes to a searchable Google Books version of the document. It has brief descriptions of the series and lists some of the program numbers and episodes that were known at the time of publishing.

Newspaper timetables as Acrobat PDF files (mainly WI State Journal) (click here)
Timetables for NY Times, Chicago Tribune, LA Times, Washington Post (click here)
John Dunning's Tune In Yesterday PDF download

This book was published in 1975 and changed the nature of collecting, especially for young collectors who were born after the radio era. His later book, On the Air, is more complete, but TiY is still a favorite. A PDF copy can be downloaded at the American Radio History site (click here).

OTR Plot Spot (click here)

A website with hundreds of plot summaries of radio programs, including Suspense, as well as fan comments

Program Ratings 1926-1956 (click here to download PDF)

A compendium of Hooper and Nielsen ratings of radio programs as researched and published in 1958; compiled by Harrison B. Summers; download is from the American Radio History site

Books about the golden age of radio (click here)

The American Radio History website has many scanned out-of-print books about the era for free download, all in Adobe Acrobat PDF format.

My site about the series The Big Story (click here)

This was a big budget series that dramatized career-making stories of newspaper journalists in a fictional manner. Each week, a reporter's big story would be featured and the reporter would receive a cash payment that was equal to winning a Pulitzer Prize! Because of legal concerns, and the need to fit the story into an approximate 22-24 minute time for the episode, names were changed, persons involved were consolidated into one or two characters, and events were altered to move the plot along. Some reporters felt that their original story was changed beyond recognition! This site identifies the actual stories used, summarizes the real events and supplies names, dates, and other essential information. Reading the summary prior to listening to the program helps one appreciate the tough job the scriptwriters had.

Status of the missing Suspense episodes: TWO missing episodes found!

The recent discovery of Fury and Sound AND The Eavesdropper reduced the number of missing single performance episodes from 14 to 12. There are other missing broadcasts (18), but those scripts were used at other times in the series. (Click here for more information on the very unusual Fury & Sound episode)

Scripts for all 12 remainingmissing episodes have been acquired through the dedicated work of researchers such as Don Ramlow, Martin Grams, OTR clubs, and various archives. They give us an opportunity to study and appreciate those episodes even if we cannot hear them. It is hoped that some of the missing episodes will be recreated.

The many eras of Suspense

Suspense went through many discernible and different periods that reflected the visions of its producers and directors, the needs of advertisers, the production technologies available, and the tastes and preferences of the radio audience. Because the program lasted 20 years, the changing nature of radio's role in the entertainment industry can also be understood in a grander media context.

It was not until the show moved to Hollywood under the full direction of William Spier that it became a star-driven powerhouse. When Roma discontinued its sponsorship at the end of 1947, the show was cancelled, but some CBS executives thought an hour-long format would work and also fill open air time on Saturday evening. It was a disaster, but William Paley was negotiating behind the scenes with Auto-Lite for a triumphant return to the half-hour format that summer under Tony Leader, followed by a return of Spier for one season. Elliott Lewis would take over the production, and then give way to Norman Macdonnell, followed by Antony Ellis. Radio legend Bill Robson led the series at a time when budgets were cut and over half of the broadcasts were new (and very good) productions of prior scripts. The big Hollywood stars were gone, for the most part, but some marvelous and highly skilled radio veterans took their place. Fans came to enjoy Robson's introductory comments for each episode. The show returned to New York, where it had started, for the Fall 1959 season until its final cancellation in September 1962 for some good shows mixed with some rather pedestrian others.

How many episodes have survived?

The count of Suspense broadcasts based on the log and research to this point is...

944 episodes (excludes the 1940 Forecast production, since Forecast was a regular CBS series and the format of that Suspense production was never used again)
1088 performances (east + west + national)
12 missing one-time episodes that still elude us to this day with 13 performances
18 missing episodes that were repeats, with 21 performances
0 missing episodes from the Roma 2x period, with 26 missing performances

Total missing episodes is 30, total missing performances is 60.

914 surviving episodes = 96.5% of the series
1028 found performances = about 95% of the east, west, and national performances

That is an amazing number of surviving recordings considering the length of the series and the various disruptions it had in its two decades because of management issues, sponsor uncertainty, format changes, change in recording and broadcast technologies, and changes in production locations.

Identified recordings in circulation to date that are verified East Coast performances because of the mention to listeners to stay tuned for The FBI in Peace and War.

1946-10-31 Lazurus Walks EC (mentions FBIiP&W)
1946-11-07 Easy Money EC (mentions FBIiP&W)
1946-12-12 They Call Me Patrice (mentions FBIiP&W)
1946-12-19 Thing In The Window EC (mentions FBIiP&W)
1946-12-26 Philomel Cottage EC (mentions FBIiP&W)
1947-01-09 Will to Power (mentions FBIiP&W) EC
1947-01-16 Overture In Two Keys EC (mentions FBIiP&W)
1947-02-13 The ThirteenthSound EC (mentionsFBIiP&W)
1947-02-20 Always Room At The Top EC (mentions FBIiP&W)
1947-02-27 Three Faces At Midnight EC (mentions FBIiP&W)
1947-03-13 You Take Ballistics (mentions FBIiP&W)
1947-04-03 Swift Rise Of Eddie Albright EC (mentions FBIiP&W)
1947-04-24 Win Place and Murder EC (mentions FBIiP&W)
1947-05-01 Lady In Distress EC (mentions FBIiP&W)
1947-05-08 Dead Ernest (mentions FBIiP&W)
1947-05-15 Death At Live Oak (EC mentions FBIiP&W)
1947-05-22 Knight Comes Riding EC (mentions FBIiP&W)
1947-06-12 Stand-In EC (mentions FBIiP&W)
1947-06-19 Dead Of Night EC (mentions FBIiP&W)
1947-07-24 Murder By An Expert EC (mentions FBIiP&W)

How to detect some East and West Coast Performances

From August 23, 1945 through August 7, 1947, FBI in Peace and War (and its summer replacements) followed Suspense in the East and Central time zones. Many Suspense broadcasts, if there was still time in the program, urged listeners to stay tuned for FBIiP&W. Hearing this indicates that this was an East broadcast, definitively. If there is no mention, it can be either East or West, because the announcement could be left out if the director believed time was running out. The image shows how it appeared in the script.

Note how it's referred to as the "early show," with no mention of geography affected. The announcement usually was made in the very last moments of the broadcast, but it has been heard earlier depending on where the concluding Roma Wines commercial was in the script. When you listen to Suspense in that August 1945 to August 1947 period, please keep an ear out for the announcement, and let us know if it's an addition to what we have found so far. The list of recordings we have identified so far with FBIiP&W mentions is supplied for your convenience.

Without an in-show identifier of some kind, the only other way to identify East and West is by having the transcriptions with their original labels for verification. There are many shows in circulation that were recorded from transcriptions and the E/W status is noted in the file names. We appreciate the thoroughness of those collectors in documenting that source.

The spreadsheet of a spot check of newspaper timetables for the NY Times and the LA Times can be found by clicking here

An analysis of all of the East-West episodes can be found by clicking here.

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