RUSC Updates on Radio Series Poll

RUSC announced the findings of over 1,800 nominations for the Best Ever Radio Series.

According to a release, the nominations covered everything from old-style detective radio shows through to classic comedy, drama, big band broadcasts and science fiction.

The radio show that received the most nominations was "The Jack Benny Program."

"It wasn't a surprise to see Jack Benny being voted the top series," said Ned Norris of RUSC.com, a site specializing in old time radio shows. "His popularity seems to have lived on through successive generations. It seems good entertainment will survive even with the radical changes in broadcasting and technology that we've seen over the last few decades."

The top ten radio shows of all-time accounted for roughly 50 percent of the voting, but there were nominations for over 190 radio shows, which goes to show the enduring popularity of radio, and particularly classic radio shows from the 1930s, '40s and '50s.

In second place in the poll was the classic western "Gunsmoke," which starred William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon. In third place was "Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar," a series about an insurance investigator that fits neatly into the hard-boiled detective genre that was so popular in the golden days of radio.

Other classic shows appearing in the all-time top ten included The Shadow, Fibber McGee and Molly, Suspense, Dragnet, Great Gildersleeve, X Minus One, and Amos and Andy.

"Some of the series you expected to see were conspicuous by their absence, such as Sherlock Holmes, Lux Radio Theater, and some of the big names of the day such as Phil Harris and Alice Faye, Burns and Allen, and even Bob Hope," said Norris.

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