Adventure Old Time Radio Shows

Adventure comes in many forms, sometimes planned, other times occurring randomly. No matter how it comes about, part of what makes an adventure is the element of risk. The risk is what gives an adventure its spice, but it is not the only factor that makes an adventure.

Although there are plenty of adventures to be faced in our daily lives, an important defining element of adventure is that it is something that is out of the ordinary as well as being something that is worth talking about. An adventure can be planned but the results cannot be guaranteed. This leads to another important element of Adventure stories, personal growth.

For many listeners, Adventure Stories in Old Time Radio are all about escapism. In fact, that was the entire basis of CBS's great adventure anthology, Escape. Of course, there is a lot more to a great adventure than merely escaping the daily grind. However, focusing purely on escapism allows us to forget, or at least, partially ignore the importance of personal growth that comes from an Adventure.

There is an undeniable pleasure to be gained from traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or any other 'extreme' sport. However, if the participant gets nothing more than an adrenaline high from the experience, it is reduced from being an adventure to an exercise in self-indulgence.

One of the best things about listening to Old Time Radio is the medium's power to transport us out of our day-to-day boring lives. Unlike stories from the printed page or those presented in a video format, Radio Adventures can be enjoyed with your hands and eyes free while you are experiencing your own adventures.

Junior Adventures: Cereal Serials

If Adventures are defined by the personal growth of those engaging in them, then Adventure Stories for the younger set have an additional purpose of imparting beneficial life lessons to their audience.

This was not the reason that these stories became a staple of network radio; the shows were presented to sell cereal and other things that kids could talk their moms into buying! A rousing adventure was a great way to attract junior listeners and ensure that they would tune in for tomorrow's show.

• The Amazing Interplanetary Adventures of Flash Gordon Direct from the Funny Papers to the Living Room Radio, Flash Gordon follows the adventures of a Yale athlete who flies with Dr. Zarkov and Dale Arden to intercept the Planet Mungo which is about to collide with the Earth. Flash has many adventures as he tries to defeat the evil Ming, the Merciless.
• True Adventures of the Junior G-Men Although this sounds like a show about kids who work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the program actually presents stories of real FBI Agents in the hopes that they would inspire youngsters to let productive lives and become upright citizens.

Superhero Adventures: It Takes More Than a Cape and a Funny Suit

Superheroes are usually written off as being 'kid's stuff,' but the programs attracted a wider audience than just the afterschool crowd. 

Once removed from comic pages, colorful costumes lost their importance and a hero had to demonstrate his heroism on the merits of his character. The Supers who transitioned to Radio were generally up to the challenge because, at their core, most Superheroes were primarily crime fighters.

• The Green Hornet The creative team who brought The Lone Ranger to life brought their brand of crime-fighting to the modern city. Newspaper owner and renowned playboy Britt Reid fights for the little guy against gangsters and corruption.
• The Adventures of Superman The Man of Steel first appeared to the world on the cover of Action Comics #1 in June 1938 but many of the characteristics which would define Superman were developed on the TAoS radio program. Over the years, the Last Son of Krypton would go up against crooks, mad scientists, Femme Fatales, Nazis, even the KKK.

Adventures from Literature: Armchairs Adventures

The heroes who came from the pages of literature were much more acceptable than those from the comic books. For all their adventurous virtues, comic book Superheroes were relatively two-dimensional characters in comparison to those which short story writers had spent decades learning to develop.

Literature provided an endless variety of stories for adaption to radio plays. The best Adventure writers had learned how to keep an audience on the edge of their seats, an attribute that radio producers took advantage of to keep listeners tuning in each week.

• The Adventures of Ellery Queen Who says that writers just write about adventures? Ellery Queen wrote mysteries and got in and out of scrapes while solving them!
• Escape! Some of the most hairy-chested Adventure Tales from the pages of literature were adapted for this sister show to Suspense!

Cowboy Adventures: Horse Operas

The American Cowboy myth is just that, a myth. However, as fans of the Western genre are quick to point out, it is a very good myth. In reality, the noble cowboy who we picture astride his great horse was more typically an uneducated, usually dirty, agricultural worker, and even the greatest of real-life Western heroes were scoundrels at some level.

Post War America, which was on the cusp of both an incredible economic expansion and the baby boom, was desperate for heroes while trying to forget the horrors of foreign war. The Cowboy fit into this niche rather neatly. The frontier setting made him exotic while his decidedly American roots made him relatable.

The fact that the lone cowboy was a nearly completely fictional creation was no barrier. Facts need not burden a good myth.

• Tales From the Diamond K  Movie cowboy Ken Maynard's career began when he rode with Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show and moved from stunt rider to leading man in silent and talking Westerns. In this quarter-hour syndicated broadcasts Maynard shared exciting tales of the West.

• Western Adventures with Historical Figures Collection Despite being the subject of many tall tales, the Old West was populated with real people who had real adventures. Many of the legends are pure myths, but enough of the tales are true enough to give the stories real spice.

Nautical Old Time Radio: A Life at Sea

One of mankind's most universally recognized sources of adventure is going to sea. For centuries, seafarers have gone out to find glory and returned to their native ports with incalculable wealth. If, that is, they did, in fact, manage to return. Even in our modern times of satellite communication and Global Positioning System navigation, going to sea is a dangerous business.

Maritime adventurers need more than a standard measure of courage, but success at sea requires other virtues, such as intelligence and teamwork. Along with the intrinsic dangers of life afloat is the fact that if something does go wrong, and something is sure to go wrong, you and your shipmates are on your own because help is many wet miles away.

• Now Hear This An enlistment in the United States Navy affords young men and women the opportunity to find adventure at sea while serving their nation. The stories of courageous sailors are told by a steely-eyed Chief Bosun's Mate, the same sort of character who has guided many a Naval Recruit Seaman through their lives afloat.
• Sharks in Old Time Radio Collection Of all the hazards presented by a life at sea, few are as universal or primal as a sailor's aversion to sharks. Many superstitious sailors were taught to believe that learning to swim was the last thing they wanted to do; if you found yourself overboard, it would be better to drown than to live through an attack by one of these heartless predators.

Aviation Shows: A Life in the Air

Mankind's most enduring dream has been to fly like the birds. Even before the Wright Brothers devised a machine to make the dream a reality near the beginning of the Twentieth century, the realization was dawning that leaving the ground was an inherently dangerous undertaking.

Aviation brings its own rewards, but it got its greatest boost as nations harnessed airpower to dominate warfare. War is not an adventure as much as it is a tragedy, but those who fought in the air possessed the soul of an adventurer.

In the earliest days of Radio, aviation was still in its infancy but by the post-War era, it was moving into the jet age. This, and the wealth of former military pilots trying to keep flying only added to the romance of aviation adventures.

• Island Venture After the War, a pair of Navy Flying Heroes return to the Central Pacific to use the skills they learned in the Service to fly vital supplies to the outer islands. As peaceful as these exotic tropical islands seem, there is always plenty of adventure in store for our heroes.
• Smilin' Jack Another adventure that started in the Funny Papers, Zack Mosely's intrepid character could fly anything, be with any girl he wanted, and foil whatever bad guy who might cast a shadow across a runway.

Now, Get Ready to Enjoy Your Own Adventures

Several philosophers have put forward the notion that a life without adventure is a life that is not worth living. However, if you have the right attitude there is plenty of adventure to be found in the most humdrum of existence. 

We do not need to travel to far-off lands and risk our precious skins to find adventure. If we look at it the right way, the morning commute to the office can be filled with derring-do. Fortunately, if there are not enough thrills in our own lives, we can find vicarious adventure aplenty in Old Time Radio!

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