The First Nighter Program - 34 Episodes of the Old Time Radio Show

This upload contains 34 episodes of the old time radio show, The First Nighter Program.  Airing for 19 years on CBS from 1930-1949 (and another 2 years in repeats on NBC for a different sponsor from 1952-1953), the show brought you along with Mr. First Nighter as he attended opening night for hundreds of plays at the little theater just off Times Square.  The dramatic anthology starred a leading couple in plays written specifically for the show.  The leading men were Don Ameche (1930-1937), Les Tremayne (1937-1943) and Olan Soule (1943-1949). The leading ladies were June Meredith (1930-1935), Betty Lou Gerson (1935-1937) and Barbara Luddy (1937-1949).   The show was popular and helped make Don Ameche a major star in the early 1930s, leading to his transition to movies.  Although the show aired over 750 first-run episodes, sadly fewer than 40 appear to have survived.  The plays are well-written and well-acted, and one hopes that additional episodes will be discovered.   Initial Upload - 33 episodes (12/9/2020) 1st Update - July 2022 (1 episode - 2/18/1953 show) The dates, episode numbers and titles are believed to be correct based on available information, but any corrections are welcome.   Disclaimer: By uploading these files, I make no claim to ownership or copyright. These recordings have been acquired from publicly available sources on the Internet, and my goal has been to put together a collection of every available episode where possible. I will add to these collections if I discover new episodes or if any new episodes become available. Additionally, while I tried to put together a collection that contains the best version of each episode that I could, there may be better copies of some recordings available from collectors and dealers, and I encourage you to reach out to them if you are so inclined. We OTR enthusiasts owe a huge debt to those who have worked tirelessly to discover, acquire and preserve these recordings. My role here has been to organize the files I have, verify the dates, episode numbers and titles as best I could from available sources, and correct and rename the files accordingly. My goal is to ensure these excellent artistic expressions of our past are preserved for this and all future generations, and I hope that by uploading all of my files here in a uniform and organized system, they will be easily accessible for all.

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.