Product ID: CWDR
Control Number: 7513449
Columbia Workshop 335 Episodes
Columbia Workshop was one of the most innovative and experimental programs of the golden age of radio, created to showcase the artistic possibilities of the medium. Produced by the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS), the series became a laboratory for new writing, sound techniques, and dramatic forms. Rather than focusing on commercial appeal, Columbia Workshop was devoted to pushing boundaries—blending music, sound effects, poetry, and drama into groundbreaking productions that helped define radio as an art form.
Ambitious, imaginative, and highly influential, Columbia Workshop remains a landmark in the history of American broadcasting.
The Stars
The program regularly featured talented radio actors and guest performers, including:
Orson Welles
Agnes Moorehead
Burgess Meredith
Everett Sloane
Karl Swenson
In addition to actors, the show gave writers, directors, and composers the freedom to experiment. Notable contributors included Norman Corwin, one of the most celebrated radio dramatists of all time, and sound engineers who pioneered audio effects and production techniques still admired today.
Key Dates
• Columbia Workshop premiered on July 25, 1936, on CBS Radio.
• It ran in various forms until 1947, with a revival in 1956.
• The series aired in multiple formats, ranging from 15 minutes to one hour, depending on the story and production needs.
Other Information
Unlike most commercial radio dramas, Columbia Workshop had no fixed format or genre. Episodes could be experimental plays, literary adaptations, poetry readings, documentary-style dramas, or even audio experiments testing the limits of sound. Famous productions included adaptations of Archibald MacLeish’s “The Fall of the City” and early works by Orson Welles, who used the program as a platform before creating The Mercury Theatre on the Air.
The series was celebrated for its creative use of sound. It experimented with audio montages, overlapping dialogue, abstract soundscapes, and the blending of music and effects to create atmosphere. This pioneering spirit earned it a reputation as “radio’s workshop,” a place where artists were free to explore the possibilities of the medium.
Though never as widely popular as mainstream anthology dramas, Columbia Workshop was hugely influential, inspiring later experimental series such as CBS Radio Workshop in the 1950s. Its legacy lives on as one of the most important contributions to radio as an art form, rather than just a commercial medium.
Today, Columbia Workshop is remembered as the creative heartbeat of early radio drama, a groundbreaking program that demonstrated how sound could tell stories in ways no other medium could.
Suggested Retail Price: $29.99
Mice Price: $23.29
Width: 335
Weight: 0.0500 pounds
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