Originally broadcast on ABC, 20 February 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- Mutual
- Years active
- 1942–1949
- 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.
1949 · 111948 · 211947 · 91945 · 5
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
14 dated broadcasts across 8 years on the air, with 4 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1942
1943
1944
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. The Secret History Of The War · 5 Feb 1945
- 3. Anything Can Happen · 12 Feb 1945
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).
The Secret History Of The War
5 Feb 1945 · 28 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 5 February 1945. Transferred from the Internet Archive's The Author Meets the Critics collection (public domain).
Anything Can Happen
12 Feb 1945 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 12 February 1945. Transferred from the Internet Archive's The Author Meets the Critics collection (public domain).
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).
Brainstorm
28 Feb 1945 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 28 February 1945. Transferred from the Internet Archive's The Author Meets the Critics collection (public domain).
Belvedere
3 Aug 1947 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 3 August 1947. Transferred from the Internet Archive's The Author Meets the Critics collection (public domain).
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).
Vespers In Vienna
17 Aug 1947 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 17 August 1947. Transferred from the Internet Archive's The Author Meets the Critics collection (public domain).
Same night on the air
20 Feb 1949
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 20 Feb 1949.
Originally broadcast on NBC, 20 February 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Originally broadcast on NBC, 20 February 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 20 February 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Also on Mutual
Mutual in 1942–1949
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.
If you liked this
More to explore
Chosen by the same editors.
