July 18, 1936: Debut of Columbia Workshop: A Live Experimentation

July 18, 1936: The Columbia Workshop aired the experimental theatre on CBS. That was their critical achievement.

The nature of this said experimental program can be attributed to the fact that the conceptual designer was an engineer with high fascination and hopes to develop new medium and enhancement for radio broadcasting.

Irving Reid’s idea was to use the program as a live experimentation wherein new ways of projecting sounds, removing noise, adding sound effects were being tested on air. The Columbia Workshop radio program wanted to get away from the mainstream media of using media celebrity and commercial-oriented shows. Thus, the program’s first show was Alice in Wonderland. Afterwards, they started airing news clips and were eventually followed by the usage of classical novels of Shakespeare, Poe, and more.

Enjoy this premier broadcast "Comedy of Dangerfield of God" from July 18, 1936:

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