Old Time Radio Scifi The Last Martian

MEVIOtoday

Jul 21, 2010 The Last Martian

X Minus One holds the record for the longest running SF radio series ever produced, airing on NBC for almost three years (1955-58) and spanning 113 episodes, and one revival show that had nothing to do with the original production. However, as successful as it was, the popularity of radio drama was on the wane as the juggernaut of television inexorably took over the home. Low budgets and increasingly disinterested sponsors made production difficult, but these adversities were somewhat counterbalanced by a direct tie-in with Galaxy magazine, a popular SF digest of the period. Most of the stories were culled directly from the pages of Galaxy, or remakes of stories produced for Dimension X (of which X Minus One was originally a revival series). Many of SF's most popular authors got mass exposure through this series, and even today X Minus One is still generally considered a cornerstone of radio drama.