CBS' Columbia Workshop - The Silent Witness (Aired July 14, 1957)

The Silent Witness (July14, 1957)

Beginning with CBS' Columbia Workshop from 1936 to 1947, CBS set out to experiment with Radio--to push that invisible envelope of the speed of sound, the speed of light, and to capitalize on the human listeners' comparitively narrow band of audible sound. Not so much experiment in terms of hardware technology, as in Radio's earliest efforts in 'broad casting' radio transmissions, but in concept, engineering, scoring and production technique. The most well-known and widely acclaimed proponent of these techniques was Norman Corwin. Corwin was so critically and popularly successful in experimental broadcasts that CBS gave him virtual carte blanche to produce whatever projects he deemed of possible interest--at least until the HUAC years anyway. Corwin's well-deserved acclaim aside, the various other CBS experimental programming efforts over the years very much set the bar for other networks.
 

THIS EPISODE:
 
July 14, 1957. CBS network. "The Silent Witness". Sustaining. An excellent tour-de-force trial drama. Done with only one voice, that of the only performer on the show, Raymond Burr. All other roles on this courtroom drama are played by the listener's imagination. This was what radio was all about! Raymond Burr. 24:09. Episode Notes From The Radio Gold Index.