Title:

NBC University Theater

Type:

Drama anthology

Length:

60 minutes

30 minutes

Broadcast history: All shows on NBC network.

July 30, 1948 - Aug 27, 1948 Friday at 9:00 PM for 60 minutes.

Sept 3, 1948 - Sept 17, 1948 Friday at 9:00 PM for 30 minutes.

Sept 26, 1948 - June 12, 1949 Sunday at 2:30 PM for 60 minutes.

June 18, 1949 - Sept 3, 1949 Saturday at 6:30 PM for 60 minutes.

Sept 25, 1949 - Sept 24, 1950 Sunday at 2:00 PM for 60 minutes. The name was changed

To NBC Theater from Oct 2, 1949 - April 16, 1950.

Oct 1, 1950 - Oct 22, 1950 Sunday at 3:00 PM for 30 minutes.

Nov 2, 1950 - Nov 9, 1950 Thursday at 10:00 PM for 60 minutes.

Nov 12, 1950 - Nov 19, 1950 Sunday at 10:30 PM for 30 minutes.

Dec 2, 1950 - Dec 9, 1950 Saturday at 6:30 PM for 30 minutes.

Dec 27, 1950 - Feb 14, 1951 Wednesday at 10:30 PM for 30 minutes.

This program was devised by the NBC Education Department and offered dramatizations of famous novels combined with college credit. It was initially cast with well-known Hollywood actors such as Beulah Bondi,
Angela Lansbury, Preston Foster, Herbert Marshall, and David Niven. Later in its run it used well-known radio actors like Paul Frees, John Dehner, Shep Menken, Alma Lawton, Gloria Ann Simpson, etc.

NBC contacted several universities to develop their "college by radio" idea. It was viewed skeptically at first but after the first scripts proved uniformly excellent the idea moved forward. A correspondence course was developed at such schools as the University of Louisville, the University of Tulsa, and Washington State College, among others. Students had to use the supplied study guides and send in reports of what they had learned from each broadcast. Intermissions in the shows showcased famous authors or literary critics discussing the work being dramatized and its author.

The program was very critically acclaimed but never became popular outside its intended audience - college students. NBC changed the programs name in 1949 - 1950 hoping that a less acedemic-sounding name would increase ratings but it didn't help. While the program failed to reach a large public audience it was well received by its target audience. Libraries reported that after a work was featured, library users depleted the books from their shelves. The University of Louisville received 250 calls a day when the show was at its peak.

Sources:

On the Air - John Dunning

The 2^nd Ultimate History…. - Jay Hickerson