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Radio Mystery Theater: Eighth Season



December 8, 1980

CBS RADIO THEATER’ BEGINS EIGHTH SEASON JAN. 12;
DRAMAS HAVE BROUGHT LAURELS TO NETWORK, HI BROWN


The creaking door that opens CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER on Monday, Jan. 12, also will open the eighth season of the Network’s much-praised drama series. CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER premiered in January 1974 on 79 stations. Today, the number of stations broadcasting the weekday series on the CBS Radio Drama Network has more than tripled.

Richard M. Brescia, CBS Radio Network Vice President and General Manager, says this success “ is a testimony to the skill of Hi Brown, MYSTERY THEATER creator and Executive Producer, and to the great actors who preform in the series.

“Several other radio drama formats have been attempted during the seven-year period we’ve been presenting MYSTERY THEATER,” Brescia comments. “However, only the MYSTERY THEATER has been able to stand up to the test of time imposed by both the listener and the affiliate. I hope more developments in radio drama will be tried. We believe that drama can play a vital role in future programming.”

Hi Brown, whose seminal role in radio drama has spanned packaging and acting in “The Rise of the Goldbergs” to his present spot producing and directing MYSTERY THEATER, notes:  “We begin our eighth year with the greatest excitement because the entire form of the theater of the imagination, radio drama, has literally become alive in the last eight years. Listener response to MYSTERY THEATER has been overwhelming.”

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The most gratifying thing about that response, Brown says, is that much of it is from young people “who never have had the experience of radio drama as we knew it. They are our greatest listeners. This is especially exciting to me,” Brown explains. “To me, the written word and the spoken word are the same, and with the many MYSTERY THEATER adaptations of the great writers -- Oscar Wilde, de Maupassant, Hawthorne, Henry James, Edith Wharton and of course our Shakespeare programs, to name just a few --  we have helped teach a generation to read, by dramatizing the excitement of these wonderful authors.

“For instance, last year, the National Education Association gave MYSTERY THEATER their seal of approval,” Brown adds.

Brown also stresses the importance of CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER as a showcase for young actors, citing Russell Horton, Tony Roberts, Kristofer Tabori, Patricia Elliot, Paul Hecht, Amanda Plummer, Roberta Maxwell and John Lithgow as some of the talented cast members heard regularly on MYSTERY THEATER productions. “We have created another world of expression for these actors with our eighth season of the series,” he says. “I feel very happy about that.”

Acclaim for CBS RADIO MYSTERY THEATER and Hi Brown has been enthusiastic since its first broadcast. The series has been honored with coveted Peabody and Mystery Writers of America awards, among others. Brown himself has received “Broadcaster of the Year” accolades from San Francisco State University, Brigham Young University and Texas Tech, and was recently singled out by New York City’s The New School with a special commendation for his contributions to radio drama for the past half-century.


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Contact:  Pam Haslam

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