The Zero Hour (U.S. radio series)

Audiocassettes cover

The Zero Hour (aka Hollywood Radio Theater) was a 1973–74 American radio drama anthology series hosted by Rod Serling.^[1][2] With tales of mystery, adventure and suspense, the program aired in stereo for two seasons. Some of the scripts were written by Serling.^[3]

Originally placed into syndication on September 3, 1973, the series was picked up by the Mutual Broadcasting System in December of that year. The original format featured five-part dramas broadcast Monday through Friday with the story coming to a conclusion on Friday. Including commercials, each part was approximately 30 minutes long. Mutual affiliates could broadcast the series in any time slot that they wished.^[4]

In 1974, still airing five days a week, the program changed to a full story in a single 30-minute installment with the same actor starring throughout the week in all five programs. That format was employed from late April 1974 to the end of the series on July 26, 1974.

Producer J. M. Kholos was a Los Angeles advertising man who acquired the rights to suspense novels, including Tony Hillerman's The Blessing Way, for radio adaptations. In some cases, the titles were changed. For example, the five-part "Desperate Witness" was an adaptation of The Big Clock by Kenneth Fearing. To create a strong package, Kholos followed through by lining up top actors, including John Astin, Edgar Bergen, Joseph Campanella, Richard Crenna, John Dehner, Howard Duff, Keenan Wynn, Richard Deacon, Patty Duke, Nina Foch, George Maharis, Susan Oliver, Brock Peters and Lurene Tuttle.

The opening theme music was by Ferrante & Teicher. Don Hills produced the series for StudioHouse, which also produced the Salvation Army's Heartbeat Theatre. Counting each five-part show as five episodes, there were a total of 130 episodes. It failed to find a large audience due to the initial weekly serial format and the lack of promotion and was canceled by Mutual in July 1974, though many Mutual affiliates continued broadcasting repeats for several months afterward. According to director Elliott Lewis, "They wanted as much name value as possible to help with sales. They forgot they had to sell it. Everybody sat in the office and waited for someone to call them up and buy the show."^[5]

Highbridge Audio released some of the five-part stories on audiocassettes.

Episodes - Series One

Episodes - Series Two

References

External links

• Jerry Haendiges Vintage Radio Logs: The Zero Hour
• Rod Serling's ZERO HOUR PROMO PODCAST - Original audio promo for the series from 1973. [When accessed on February 22, 2017, this link was no longer active]
• Libsyn podcasts First 7 programs; subsequent on subsequent pages. [When accessed on February 22, 2017, this link was no longer active]
• History of Mutual radio's Zero Hour and Rod Serling
• The Digital Deli Too
• Glenhall Taylor: Before Television
• Times Past Old Time Radio Opening description on this page above appears to come from this site.
• Society to Preserve and Encourage Radio Drama, Variety, and Comedy Gus Bayes, sound man.