The Weird Circle Radio Program

Background

The Weird Circle is yet another backwater gem from The Golden Age of Radio that has been woefully mis-documented. The premise is noteworthy: an anthology of classic, supernatural mystery thrillers from the pens of the world's best known and respected supernatural fiction authors. The scripts--with rare few exceptions--acquit themselves well for the genre.

The supernatural thriller genre was highly popular throughout the mid-1930s, right on through the mid-1950s over Radio. In the larger scheme of things, The Weird Circle fell in about the mid-range of the thrillers of the period:

• 1930 The Shadow
• 1931 The Witches Tale
• 1932 Fu Manchu
• 1932 Witching Hour
• 1936 The Hermit's Cave
• 1936 Lights Out!
• 1937 The Black Chapel
• 1938 The Devil's Scapbook
• 1939 Arch Oboler's Plays
• 1941 Dark Fantasy
• 1941 Inner Sanctum
• 1941 Lew Loyal
• 1942 The Whistler
• 1943 Horror, Inc. with Eva Le Galliene
• 1943 The Mysterious Traveler
• 1943 Weird Circle
• 1944 Creeps By Night
• 1944 The Haunting Hour
• 1944 The Strange Dr. Weird
• 1945 Stay Tuned for Terror
• 1945 Illusion
• 1945 The Sealed Book
• 1945 With Book and Pipe
• 1946 Murder At Midnight
• 1947 Quiet! Please
• 1947 The Unexpected
• 1948 Cabin B-13
• 1951 The Whisperer
• 1952 The Black Book
• 1953 Nightmare Theater
• 1956 Sleep No More
• 1961 AFRTS' own AVN-produced Macabre.

The Weird Circle was an RCA-syndicated feature from RCA Recorded Program Services, the independent programming production division of RCA Victor. Its sound quality, voice talent, and production values meet traditionally high RCA standards. As a consequence of those standards, the resulting recordings have stood the test of time--a huge bonus for Golden Age Radio transcriptionists, preservationists and collectors.

The program was reportedly recorded out of RCA's New York Studios, and almost immediately licensed to both NBC-Red/RCA [WEAF] and the Mutual Broadcasting System [WOR and W-G-N], consisting of two, 39-script seasons of 25-minute productions, for local sponsors and networks alike. As illustrated in the Provenances section, NBC [RCA] created their own set of transcription disks as well, as did the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS).

Sponsors varied as the series was picked up throughout affiliate stations across the U.S. One incarnation of note was Ogden Fine Cut Tobacco's sponsorship of The Weird Circle, packaged as the Odgen's Playhouse. Ogden's Playhouse didn't air the run in transcription order over U.S. stations. It aired other features under the Ogden's Playhouse banner as well. In Canada however, Ogden's Playhouse aired The Weird Circle series weekly without other intervening productions. Other sponsors of note were the Farr Ice Cream Company [West Coast], 7-Up [Arizona], and Remar's Bread [West Coast].

The Weird Circle's earliest airing appears to have been over Chicago's W-G-N, a founding Mutual Broadcasting System station, as a sustaining program for its first season (the program aired as two syndicated seasons of productions). Previous difficulty in nailing down the program's episode sequence and earliest broadcast run are probably contributing factors in the poor results of past efforts to document this otherwise highly collectable program.

As continuing attempts to fully document this program evolve, we're certain that other Golden Age Radio collectors will grow to appreciate this all-too-often overlooked program as much as we have.

Series Derivatives:

Notes on Provenances:

All above cited provenances are in error in one form or another. The most helpful provenances were newspaper listings, and the records of Ben Kibler.

The Weird Circle was a syndicated program, therefore specific dates, times and episodes were always subject to change, depending on the affiliate market over which the program aired. Thus, as we've done with other programs, we'll provide our best reconstruction of a complete chronological run, followed by a separate list of script titles.

The Ogden's Playhouse run of The Weird Circle series over Canadian stations aired weekly on either Monday or Tuesday evenings, depending on the Province and regional CBC station. The Odgen's Playhouse run premiered on August 17th 1943 with The Fall of the House of Usher. Almost all of the 1943 Odgen's Playhouse-sponsored The Weird Circle were accompanied by spot ads citing the title and author of the night's presentation

OTRisms:

The Vintage Radio Place's The Weird Circle commercial catalog inaccurately cites the New York Times as the earliest run. The Vintage Radio Place's statements about the New York Times listings and its log of The Weird Circle are simply inaccurate. The New York Times listings for station WNEW's run cite their earliest broadcasts from August 1943, forward--as only grid listings. The earliest broadcasts of Weird Circle were at least two months earlier. WNEW was the 'WLS' of the New York area. An independent, WNEW was one of only a handful of independents to broadcast NBC programming without a formal NBC affiliation, hence the NBC Thesaurus [RCA] label for that run of Weird Circle.

Our research has disclosed at least one earlier run over W-G-N Chicago--a founding Mutual Broadcasting affiliate, which serves as the basis for our log--and its limitations. At the very least, the W-G-N run disclosed actual titles. W-G-N, given its Mutual affiliation would in all likelihood not have been airing NBC Thesaurus [RCA] transcriptions. Terry Salomonson also cites the later WNEW New York Times listed run as the earliest, though to his credit, he allows for the possibility of an earlier run having aired--though we remain at a loss as to how he determined his dating and sequencing. The Hickerson Guide, Martin Grams' Radio Drama, and the OTRR logs offer the same misinformation. In all fairness, we realize that a large body of otr collectors simply dismiss the vast majority of our own findings as heresy, misinformation, or rubbish. Believe whom you will.

All other currently circulating 'as broadcast' catalogs (e.g., dated) of The Weird Circle are currently misrepresented, without any historical foundation whatsoever. Nor can we substantiate any original air dates beyond broadcast No. 54 on October 13, 1944. What you see below is all that can be honestly reconstructed as of this writing.

Our lists below attempt to resolve as many of those spelling errors and author attribution inaccuracies as we could correct.

A note on radioGOLDINdex's transcription numbers and titles: The radioGOLDINdex's titles often bear no resemblance--or little resemblance--to the actual, scripted and spoken titles for the canon, which often brings into question the validity of many of the radioGOLDINdex's entries. Since we first wrote this article, the radioGOLDINdex has dramatically updated its transcription log. We've included the transcription numbers and corresponding titles they associate with those numbers below. The radioGOLDINdex also alleges that Transcription #3, The Vendetta, is the 'Audition Show' for the canon.

What you see here, is what you get. Complete transparency. We have no 'credentials' whatsoever--in any way, shape, or form--in the 'otr community'--none. But here's how we did it--for better or worse. Here's how you can build on it yourselves--hopefully for the better. Here's the breadcrumbs--just follow the trail a bit further if you wish. No hobbled downloads. No misdirection. No posturing about our 'credentials.' No misrepresentations. No strings attached. We point you in the right direction and you're free to expand on it, extend it, use it however it best advances your efforts.

We ask one thing and one thing only--if you employ what we publish, attribute it, before we cite you on it.

We continue to provide honest research into these wonderful Golden Age Radio programs simply because we love to do it. If you feel that we've provided you with useful information or saved you some valuable time regarding this log--and you'd like to help us even further--you can help us keep going. Please consider a small donation here:

We don't pronounce our Golden Age Radio research as 'certified' anything. By the very definition, research is imperfect. We simply tell the truth. As is our continuing practice, we provide our fully provenanced research results--to the extent possible--right here on the page, for any of our peers to review--or refute--as the case may be. If you take issue with any of our findings, you're welcome to cite any better verifiable source(s) and we'll immediately review them and update our findings accordingly. As more verifiable provenances surface, we'll continue to update the following series log, as appropriate.

All rights reserved by their respective sources. Article and log copyright 2009 The Digital Deli Online--all rights reserved. Any failure to attribute the results of this copywritten work will be rigorously pursued.

The Weird Circle Series Chronological Log

The Weird Circle Series [1943-1944 Ogden's Playhouse Run over Canadian Stations]

The Weird Circle Series Script Log

AFRTS END-808 (1965 Re-issue) 'Weird Circle' Log

The Weird Circle [RCA] Transcription Log [As represented by the radioGOLDINdex]