An interesting radio program, which ran for a short period of time, was NBC Presents Short Story. The series featured contemporary short stories from a who’s who of American authors including William Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Shirley Jackson. While the stories were excellently produced, and the show was relatively popular, the series only ran from February of 1951 to May of 1952.
Many horror writers have claimed H.P. Lovecraft as a major inspiration but Shirley Jackson is nearly always mentioned in the same breath. Ramsey Campbell and Stephen King are among Jackson’s most ardent admirers. Jackson also penned what is possibly the most famous of all American short stories, The Lottery. The tale is a true slow burn with a twist many readers never saw coming.
Here’s The Lottery as it aired on NBC Presents Short Story March 14th, 1951.
Turn out the lights and give a listen.
Download the show for on the go right here.
On a quick side note, most visitors to TGG probably don’t know I ran an old time radio website quite a few years back and I have tens of thousands of radio shows in my collection. Each of the programs I’ll share during the Spooktacular have had their audio personally cleaned up by me to remove many of the pops, crackles, and hisses so common with old time radio recordings. These aren’t pristine by any means but keep in mind the original broadcasts you’ll be hearing are anywhere from fifty to eighty years old…
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