Nick Carter, Master Detective
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 5 September 1948. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- Mutual
- Years active
- 1945–1949
- Surviving broadcasts
- 46
- Genre
- talk
The Author Meets the Critics began on the Mutual Broadcasting System in December 1942. The format was fixed and combative: one critic attacked the week's book, another defended it, and then the author was brought in to answer both. Guests included William L. Shirer, Eleanor Roosevelt, Arthur Miller, Al Capp and John Dos Passos. The surviving broadcasts are public domain and stream from the Internet Archive.
1948 · 71947 · 31945 · 2
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Listenable · 46 of 46
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: The-Author-Meets-the-Critics
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
10 dated broadcasts across 5 years on the air, with 2 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1945, in original transmission order.
- 1. The Troubled Midnight · 29 Jan 1945
- 2. Youngin' · 19 Feb 1945
- 3. Richer By Asea · 10 Aug 1947
- 01
The Troubled Midnight
29 Jan 1945 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 29 January 1945. Transferred from the Internet Archive's The Author Meets the Critics collection (public domain).
- 02
Youngin'
19 Feb 1945 · 14 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 19 February 1945. Transferred from the Internet Archive's The Author Meets the Critics collection (public domain).
- 03
Richer By Asea
10 Aug 1947 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 10 August 1947. Transferred from the Internet Archive's The Author Meets the Critics collection (public domain).
- 04
Star Spangled Mikado
31 Aug 1947 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 31 August 1947. Transferred from the Internet Archive's The Author Meets the Critics collection (public domain).
- 05
Or Forfeit Freedom
5 Oct 1947 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 5 October 1947. Transferred from the Internet Archive's The Author Meets the Critics collection (public domain).
- 06
A Guide To Confident Living
11 Jul 1948 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 11 July 1948. Transferred from the Internet Archive's The Author Meets the Critics collection (public domain).
- 07
The Comics, Very Funny
8 Aug 1948 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 8 August 1948. Transferred from the Internet Archive's The Author Meets the Critics collection (public domain).
- 08
Gertrude Stein
5 Sep 1948 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 5 September 1948. Transferred from the Internet Archive's The Author Meets the Critics collection (public domain).
Same night on the air
5 Sep 1948
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 5 Sep 1948.
The Roy Rogers Show
Broadcast 5 September 1948. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
Box 13
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Under Arrest
Broadcast 5 September 1948. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
Also on Mutual
Mutual in 1945–1949
Other series the network carried while The Author Meets the Critics was on the air.
Same seasons
talk on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
The roundtable of experts
Put clever people around one microphone, give them a question from a listener, and let the disagreement be the entertainment. Information Please and Town Meeting invented the format.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of The Author Meets the Critics
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
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