The Shiver Show

Gentlemen, put on your snap-brim fedoras and ladies, practice your best sashay! The Shiver Show brings you a spine-tingling dive into old time radio crime with The Plantagent Matter, from the legendary Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar series. This week, we unseal the case files of America’s most "action-packed insurance investigator with the most action-packed expense account.” Played brilliantly by Bob Bailey, Johnny Dollar is hot ...

A dark stormy night, a killer on the loose, and car problems! This week on the Shiver Show, we're taking you on a journey of suspense with a classic radio drama that will keep you on the edge of your seat—On a Country Road (1950). Featuring the incomparable voice talents of Cary Grant and Cathy Lewis, this episode is a masterclass in tension. On a Country Road was the only radio play that Walter Bazar wrote, but it became a ti...

Step into the thrilling world of The Ben Justin Murder Case from the iconic Broadway's My Beat series. This 1950 episode has been remastered at Time Warp Studios and includes commentary by Mary Labrie and Greg Flynn.  Broadway Is My Beat, was a detective radio show that ran from 1949 to 1954 on CBS. 

Larry Thor stars as Detective Danny Clover, a homicide detective working in Manhattan’s 16th Precinct, which Clover declares is, ...

Step into the mystery, suspense, and horror of old time radio drama, Behind The Locked Door.  This chilling episode, from the iconic Mysterious Traveler radio series, originally broadcast in 1949. It was so popular that it was rebroadcast many times over the years. 

The episode tells the story of an archaeologist, his friend, and a Native American guide who enter a cave with a violent history.  As the explorers go deeper into the ca...

You've seen the iconic Hitchcock film from 1963, and perhaps you've read Daphne Du Maurier's chilling story. Now, experience The Birds like never before in this spine-tingling radio drama, produced by The Lux Radio Theatre (1953).

This immersive horror production delivers edge-of-your-seat suspense with stellar voice performances, including the incomparable Herbert Marshall, and bone-chilling sound effects. What makes...

Get ready for an unforgettable journey to the year 2495! The Shiver Show brings you the 1956 radio drama, Brave New World, introduced and narrated by the visionary author Aldous Huxley.

Originally published in 1932, Brave New World is one of the most provocative and influential novels of all time. Ranked among the top 100 greatest novels ever written, this dystopian classic paints a chilling picture of a society where technology, co...

This week, The Shiver Show serves up a suspenseful love triangle called, The Lonely Road. Gregory Peck plays Steve, a handsome young man, married to a wealthy, older woman (Cathy Lewis). When Steve becomes fatally attracted to the new housekeeper (Maria Palmer), he begins to forget his wedding vows.
Written by Mary North and produced by William Spier, The Lonely Road first aired in 1946 on the Suspense series, and it's a ...

In this week’s episode of The Shiver Show, we go back to 1949 for an old time radio crime classic, Murder Through the Looking Glass. 

Gregory Peck stars as Jeffrey Bruno, a man caught in a web of murder, mystery, and mind games. With Peck’s masterful performance, you'll be on the edge of your seat as he tries to understand whether he has committed a murder.

Michael Venning or Craig Rice are the names credited with writing this d...

Prick up your ears and listen to The Thing on the Fourble Board', a chilling old-time radio play that will keep you on the edge of your seat from start to finish! This 1940 episode from the Quiet Please horror radio series, masterfully blends the suspense of an oil rig in the fields of California with a terrifying mystery that grows with each passing moment.

A couple of oil drillers working the night shift have their ...

The Hitchhiker is a chilling horror drama that aired on the Suspense series in 1942 and has gripped listeners ever since. Written by the brilliant Lucille Fletcher and featuring haunting music by Fletcher's husband, Bernard Herrmann, this timeless tale is a masterclass in tension and atmosphere. Orson Welles delivers a tour-de-force performance as Ronald Adams, a young man on a cross-country road trip who encounters something ...

Who isn't fascinated with the idea of time travel? This episode of the Shiver Show features, The Time Machine, an episode that first aired on the Escape Series in 1950.  The Time Machine was written by H.G. Wells in 1895, when he was only twenty-nine. 
This episode has superb performances by Jeff Corey (as Doctor Dudley) and Eric Rolf (as Fallen) and a terrific music score by Wilbur Hatch.  
Mary and Greg talk about th...

Time for a change of mood with this terrific 1947 romantic comedy, The Philadelphia Story, based on the 1939 Broadway play of the same name by Philip Barry. 
Spy Magazine wants to get an exclusive story on the wedding of a socialite Tracy Lord, but can't get their journalists 'inside'. Enter ex-husband, Dexter, who has unresolved feelings for Tracy. He helps the journalists get invitations to the wedding, and th...

This week on The Shiver Show, we're taking you on a thrilling journey to Mars and back with The Martian Chronicles—an unforgettable episode from the Dimension X radio series (1950)! This series of tales by Ray Bradbury chronicles humanity's first attempts to colonize the Red Planet. The stories are told from the human and the Martian perspective, making this story unique for its time. Originally aired during the height of...

On the The Shiver Show,  we usually dive into crime, horror, and science fiction, but in this episode, we're bringing you a classic tale of doomed love in the exotic city of Casablanca. Get ready to grab a tissue box—this one’s a tear-jerker!

Released in 1942, the film Casablanca was politically charged, coinciding with the Allied invasion of North Africa. The 1943 radio episode of Casablanca was produced to support the war eff...

In our last episode for 2024, Greg and Mary look back over the year and pick their favourite old time radio episodes in the four genres of Crime, Horror, Science Fiction and Suspense. 
If you're looking for tips on what to listen to, Greg and Mary have chosen the 'creme de la creme' of old time radio dramas in terms of compelling story-telling, immersive music and sound effects, and superb voice acting. 

Listen no...

The Picture of Dorian Gray is a 1974 episode of the CBS Radio Mystery Theater, based on the 1891 novel by Oscar Wilde.  George Lowther adapted and condensed the story, which spans eighteen years, into a tight, fifty-minute episode  You will hear strong performances from voice actors Nick Pryor as Dorian Gray,  Norman Rose as Basil, and Roger DeKoven as the decadent Sir Henry.

Oscar Fingal O’Fflahertie Wills Wilde (yes, th...

Our Shiver Show episode this week is the horror classic, Dracula, from an 1949 episode on CBC Radio. This drama serves a feast of vampire lore, a creepy music score, and wonderful performances by actors Lorne Green as Count Dracula, Lister Sinclair as Van Helsing, Bud Knapp  as Doctor Stewart and Naver Moore as Renfield. 

This adaptation for radio by Greg Salverson manages to remain faithful to the original novel in a tight episode ...

Few stories have inspired film, television and radio as much as Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. This 1952 old time radio drama from the Suspense series condenses Shelley's novel into a tight thirty minute episode.

This production has wonderful performances by the lead voice actors, Hebert Marshall and Joseph Kerns, and immersive sound effects, especially in Victor's spooky laboratory.

Mary...

A ship, full of convicts, bound for Australia in the late 1700's, makes its way through rough seas.  As supplies run low, and tensions rise, Captain Gore and first mate Finch become wary of their shackled passengers. An enterprising convict named Jonathan Abbey proposes to the captain that Abbey can disarm the convicts, but the captain must let him go free. The captain accepts, but will the plan work?
There is much to enjo...