2462
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea
A Dream of Armageddon
A God Named Smith
A Gun for Dinosaur
A Logic Named Joe
A Pail of Air
A Study in Wax
The Abominable Snowman
The Adaptive Ultimate
Almost Human
An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
+Alternate Version
Ancient Sorceries
Bathysphere
Beware of Tomorrow
Beyond the Wall of Sleep
The Big Brain
The Black Door
Bloodbath
The Bottle Imp
Burn, Witch, Burn
The C-Chute
The Captain of the Polestar
Casting the Runes
     The Castle of Lavoca
Chicken Heart
Chain of Command
Cold Equations
+Alternate Version
Confession
Conqueror's Isle
The Convict
The Country of the Blind
The Dance of the Devil Dolls
Death Robbery
     Devil Car
Diary of a Madman
The Discovery of Morniel Mathaway
Donovan's Brain - Part 1
Donovan's Brain - Part 2
Door of Gold
The Dunwich Horror
Earth Abides - Part 1
Earth Abides - Part 2
     The Eel
The Fall of the City
First Contact
The Flying Saucers
Four Went Home
Fugue in C Minor
Ghost Hunt
The Gibbering Things
Gold of the Adomar
The Golden Snake
     Graveyard Mansion
He Who Follows Me
The Headless Dead
The Hole
The Hole in Empty Space
The Horla
Hostess
The House in Cypress Canyon
The House of Purple Shadows
The Hungry One
Johnny Got His Gun
     The Judge's House
Kaleidoscope
The Knightsbridge Mystery
Land of the Living Dead
The Last Objective
Leiningen vs. the Ants
The Lights on Precipice Peak
The Lodger
The Log
The Lost Race
The Lottery
Mad Monkton
     The Man in Black
The Man Who Could Work Miracles
The Man Who Stole a Planet
The Man Who Would Be King
The Map Makers
Mars Is Heaven
+Alternate Version
The Martian Death March
+Alternate Version
The Masks of Ashor
Men Call Me Mad
Mungahra
Murder Castle
The Mystery of the Strange Thing
The Ninth Volume
Northern Lights
The Old Die Rich
     The Outsider
The Parade
The Pharoah's Curse
Plan X
Planet of Geniuses
Pollock and the Porroh Man
     Pond Water
The Potters of Firsk
The Power of Hammer
     Present Tense
Report on the Barnhouse Effect
Resident Killer
The Return
The Return from Death
Return to Dust
The Ring of Thoth
The Roads Must Roll
Sam, This Is You
Saucer of Loneliness
The Search for Life
The Second Door
Secret of the Incas
     The Sentinel
The Seventh Order
The Shadow People
Shanghied
She
Something for Nothing
Sorry, Wrong Number
Taboo
The Talkers
     The Tell-Tale Heart
The Temple of Huizilipochle
Terror Out of Space
That Real Crazy Infinity
The Thing on the Fourble Board
The Thirteenth Truck
Three Skeleton Key
Time and Time Again
The Time Machine
+Alternate Version
     To the Dark Star
The Track of the Cat
The Treasure Chest of Don Jose
     Tunnel Under the World
The Undead
     The Undecided Molecule
Universe
+Alternate Version
Vital Factor
We Are All Alone
The Weapon
What Was It?
Yellow Wake
The Yellow Wallpaper
+Alternate Version
Zero Hour

Episode Details

Show Descriptions
The OTR Plot Spot
Recommendations

Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Ambrose Bierce, Algernon Blackwood, Robert Bloch, Ray Bradbury, Fredric Brown, John Brunner, Arthur C. Clarke, L. Sprague de Camp, Guy de Maupassant, Arthur Conan Doyle, H. Rider Haggard, Robert Heinlein, Shirley Jackson, M. R. James, Fritz Leiber, Murray Leinster, H. P. Lovecraft, Archibald MacLeish, H. Beam Piper, Edgar Allan Poe, Frederik Pohl, Robert Sheckley, Robert Silverberg, Curt Siodmak, Carl Stephenson, Robert Louis Stevenson, Bram Stoker, Theodore Sturgeon, Dalton Trumbo, H. Russell Wakefield, Stanley Weinbaum, H. G. Wells, Jack Vance, Jules Verne, Kurt Vonnegut & Roger Zelazny

2000 Plus
Arch Oboler's Plays
The Black Mass
CBS Radio Mystery Theater: 1 2 3 4
Columbia Workshop
Dark Fantasy
The Devil and Mr. O
Dimension X
Escape
  1947-1948
  1949-1950
  1951-1952
  1953
  1954
Favorite Story
The Hall of Fantasy
The Hermit's Cave
Inner Sanctum Mysteries: 1 2
  1941-1943
  1944
  1945
  1946
  1947
  1948
  1949: A B
  1950-1952
Lights Out
Murder at Midnight: 1 2
The Mysterious Traveler
Mystery in the Air
Quiet Please
The Shadow
NBC Short Story
Space Patrol
The Strange Dr. Weird
Suspense
Theater Five
The Weird Circle
The Witch's Tale
X Minus One

For many reasons, from imperfect source recordings to careless mp3 encoding, the audio quality of classic era radio plays available on the internet varies considerably. Fortunately, different versions of an episode are likely to exist, so a decent listenable one can usually be found.

RTSF strives to post links only to recordings with good audio quality. Occasional exceptions may be made if, for example, a hard to find episode features a particularly good story or performance, but not if it would mean having to endure a painful listening experience.

Note that music and loud and lengthy sound effects take the hardest hit. This is often the case regardless of the apparent overall sound quality of an episode. Expect this and be pleasantly surprised when, from time to time, the music and sfx do sound good.

Escape and Suspense!
QuietPlease.org
Internet Archive: Radio Program List
Internet Archive: OTR
OTR.Network Library
Tennessee Bill's
The Frequency of Fear
The OTR Plot Spot
Frank Passage's OTR Program Logs
OTRR
Sound Affects on KFAI
The Golden Age of Radio
Bradbury's Picks
Mark Time Awards
Mark Time SF Audio Hall of Fame
The 7th Dimension on BBC7
RTSF BBC Radio Drama Picks
Cosmic Hobo Productions
Big Finish Productions
Space Casey
Wormwood
SFFaudio
Audio Drama Talk
Spider on the Web

Each OTRR collection contains the most complete and accurate version of the series with the best possible sound quality.

Dark Fantasy complete series download (singles)
The Devil and Mr. O complete series download (singles)
Dimension X complete series download (singles)
The Planet Man complete series download (singles)
Theater Five complete series download (singles)
X Minus One complete series download (singles)

A Shipment of Mute Fate
Alley Cat
Ancient Sorceries
The Black Cat
Little Old Lady
The Lucky Lady
     Nobody Loves Me
The Queen of the Cats

Orson Welles on Suspense features The Hitchhiker by Lucille Fletcher, The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell, The Lost Special by Arthur Conan Doyle, Philomel Cottage by Agatha Christie, Lazarus Walks by Robert Richards, The Marvelous Barastro by Ben Hecht, The Dark Tower by Alexander Woollcott and George S. Kaufman, Donovan's Brain by Curt Siodmak and the Donovan's Brain parody (Orson Welles Radio Almanac). Music directed by Bernard Herrmann. Full zip and singles.

This feature is temporarily disabled.

Real Time
Shada by Douglas Adams
Scream of the Shalka

"Anyone who's ever listened to radio drama will testify to the fact that a play you hear will (remain) in your mind - twelve years later you'll remember it vividly. And the reason you'll remember it vividly is because you've done the work... it lives in your imagination."

- John Madden, Director, NPR Star Wars audio dramas

"What secret ingredient does audio theater possess that makes it so seductive...? The answer...lies not in a special ingredient, but in the lack of one. Audio is blind. Audio is the most intensely visual of media precisely because of its sightlessness."

- Yuri Rasovsky, The Well-Tempered Audio Dramatist

"I still think radio is probably the greatest entertainment medium ever invented. It made the audience work, and I think television audiences don't have to work—that's why they fall asleep half of the time.

"...what makes radio really exciting is the all-round creativity of it. The writer creates the original, then the director creates the ambiance for the actors, and the brilliant technicians who manipulate the tapes, dials, sounds and music create the atmosphere. But the most creative of all participants in the joys of radio are the listeners, the audience....The listener is set designer, costume designer, make-up man, and even the casting department. They 'see' the characters they hear, then put them into the drama quite literally, in make-up, into the set, the wardrobe, even the mood and atmosphere."

- Vincent Price, 1970 interview

"Science fiction is perhaps the most important audio theatre genre in the 21st century and if one includes the related genres of horror and fantasy, these works of creative imagination, technical prowess and infinite possibilities are the most entertaining artists in this field have to offer."

- David "Mark Time" Ossman, Firesign Theatre