Originally broadcast on NBC, 27 May 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- NBC Blue
- Years active
- 1935–1956
- Surviving broadcasts
- 38
- Genre
- talk
America's Town Meeting of the Air was broadcast from New York's Town Hall from 1935 to 1956, first on NBC Blue and later ABC. Each week a panel argued a question of the day — labour, the New Deal, the Supreme Court, the coming war — and the studio audience was invited to put unscreened questions to the speakers. It is one of the earliest surviving records of live, unmoderated public argument on American radio. Recordings here are public domain, digitised by the Old Time Radio archives.
1952 · 11949 · 21948 · 21947 · 41946 · 31941 · 11940 · 61939 · 71938 · 31936 · 51935 · 4
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Clean transfer · 3 of 38Listenable · 34 of 38Rough but complete · 1 of 38
Source collection
Internet Archive audio collections
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: ATMOTA
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
28 dated broadcasts across 22 years on the air, with 11 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1935, in original transmission order.
- 1. Will The Demands Of Organized Labor Promote Recovery · 14 Jun 1935
- 2. Has The New Deal Promoted Or Retarded Business Recovery · 5 Dec 1935
- 3. Personal Liberty And The Modern State · 12 Dec 1935
Will The Demands Of Organized Labor Promote Recovery
14 Jun 1935 · 59 min
Originally broadcast on NBC Blue, 14 June 1935. Transferred from the Internet Archive's America's Town Meeting of the Air collection (public domain).
Has The New Deal Promoted Or Retarded Business Recovery
5 Dec 1935 · 1h 0m
Originally broadcast on NBC Blue, 5 December 1935. Transferred from the Internet Archive's America's Town Meeting of the Air collection (public domain).
Personal Liberty And The Modern State
12 Dec 1935 · 59 min
Originally broadcast on NBC Blue, 12 December 1935. Transferred from the Internet Archive's America's Town Meeting of the Air collection (public domain).
Should We Plan For Social Security
19 Dec 1935 · 59 min
Originally broadcast on NBC Blue, 19 December 1935. Transferred from the Internet Archive's America's Town Meeting of the Air collection (public domain).
The Supreme Court And The Constitution
19 Mar 1936 · 1h 0m
Originally broadcast on NBC Blue, 19 March 1936. Transferred from the Internet Archive's America's Town Meeting of the Air collection (public domain).
Will Unionization Promote Industrial Recovery
2 Apr 1936 · 59 min
Originally broadcast on NBC Blue, 2 April 1936. Transferred from the Internet Archive's America's Town Meeting of the Air collection (public domain).
Will The Machine Dominate Man
16 Apr 1936 · 58 min
Originally broadcast on NBC Blue, 16 April 1936. Transferred from the Internet Archive's America's Town Meeting of the Air collection (public domain).
Public Opinion And The Town Meeting Idea
5 Nov 1936 · 1h 0m
Originally broadcast on NBC Blue, 5 November 1936. Transferred from the Internet Archive's America's Town Meeting of the Air collection (public domain).
Same night on the air
27 May 1952
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 27 May 1952.
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 27 May 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Originally broadcast on CBS, 27 May 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Also on NBC Blue
NBC Blue in 1935–1956
Other series the network carried while America's Town Meeting of the Air was on the air.
Same seasons
talk on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
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