1928–1933 · NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
The nightly serial before anyone knew serials would work
Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll had been doing a two-man nightly strip on WGN as Sam 'n' Henry since 1926; when the station would not let them syndicate it they moved to WMAQ in 1928 under new names. Within two years Amos 'n' Andy was the most listened-to programme in the United States, cinemas stopped their films to pipe it in, and the fifteen-minute nightly serial became the basic unit of American radio. What survives from these first years is fragmentary — home recordings, station discs, later reissues — and it is the closest thing we have to hearing the form being invented in real time.
35 recordings · Chicago
Amos 'n' Andy began on WMAQ Chicago in 1928 and moved to NBC Blue in 1929, running six nights a week in fifteen-minute instalments. These are among the earliest surviving episodes of any American serial. Transferred from the Internet Archive item 'Early_Amos_And_Andy'.
17 July
1928
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
6 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
17 July
1928
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
6 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
14 January
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
15 January
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
17 January
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
21 April
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
23 April
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
25 April
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
26 April
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
27 April
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
19 May
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
20 May
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
21 May
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
23 May
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
29 May
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
8 June
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
9 June
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
16 June
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
9 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
17 June
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
3 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
18 June
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
20 June
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
21 June
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
22 June
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
20 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
23 June
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
24 June
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
20 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
25 June
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
8 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
27 June
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
21 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
28 June
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
18 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
29 June
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
7 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
2 July
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
10 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
5 July
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
10 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
22 November
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
3 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
22 November
1929
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
3 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
4 April
1930
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
3 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.
22 February
1933
NBC Blue / WMAQ Chicago
7 min
The surviving 1928–1933 quarter-hours from radio's first nightly serial, recorded when the form itself was being invented.