The Big Broadcast

The Big Broadcast

The Big Broadcast is WAMU’s longest-running program. The show features a collection of  radio from the golden age, the 30s, 40s, and 50s, hosted by Tony-Award winning playwright, lyricist and director Murray Horwitz.

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The Big Broadcast
There Will Come Soft Rains & Zero Hour

The Big Broadcast presents: Summer of Sci-Fi
Episode 11: There Will Come Soft Rains, Zero Hour

Two classic Ray Bradbury short stories adapted by George Lefferts in a single 1950 broadcast of Dimension X; in “There Will Come Soft Rains,” we meet a house that keeps running after its family is gone, and in “Zero Hour,” children whose game of “Invasion” isn’t just pretend.

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About the Series: Summer of Sci-Fi

Hosted by Murray Horwitz, The Big Broadcast celebrates the best in vintage radio—and this summer, we’re exploring classic science fiction radio dramas from the golden age, with works by legendary authors such as Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein.

00:31:36
Aug 24, 2025 2:5 AM
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More Episodes

The Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast: August 24, 2025

The Big Broadcast: August 24, 2025

03:58:54
Aug 22, 2025 2:0 PM
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The Big Broadcast
End As A World

The Big Broadcast presents: Summer of Sci-Fi
Episode 10: End As A World

“This is the day the world ends!” declares a church sign in F.L. Wallace’s End As a World—but the truth isn’t what anyone expects. First aired on X Minus One in 1957, this Cold War–era broadcast looks at endings, beginnings, and the questions that haunt an anxious age.

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About the Series: Summer of Sci-Fi

Hosted by Murray Horwitz, The Big Broadcast celebrates the best in vintage radio—and this summer, we’re exploring classic science fiction radio dramas from the golden age, with works by legendary authors such as Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein.

00:18:46
Aug 22, 2025 3:33 AM
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The Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast: August 17, 2025

The Big Broadcast: August 17, 2025

03:58:55
Aug 15, 2025 1:25 PM
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The Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast: August 10, 2025

The Big Broadcast: August 10, 2025

03:58:47
Aug 8, 2025 2:58 PM
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The Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast: August 02, 2025

The Big Broadcast: August 02, 2025

02:59:35
Aug 4, 2025 6:55 PM
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The Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast: April 03, 2025

The Big Broadcast: April 03, 2025

03:59:19
Aug 1, 2025 1:56 PM
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The Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast: July 27, 2025

The Big Broadcast: July 27, 2025

03:58:58
Jul 25, 2025 12:46 PM
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The Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast: July 20, 2025

The Big Broadcast: July 20, 2025

03:58:49
Jul 20, 2025 6:13 PM
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The Big Broadcast
From the Earth to the Moon

The Big Broadcast presents: Summer of Sci-Fi
Episode 6: From the Earth to the Moon

This week, we aim for the stars—literally. In honor of the anniversary of the first lunar landing, The Big Broadcast returns to one of the earliest visions of space travel: Jules Verne’s From the Earth to the Moon.

Verne’s work inspired generations of dreamers—and coined the word “space-ship”. We'll hear the 1946 radio adaptation from Favorite Story, written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee (Inherit the Wind).

00:32:00
Jul 15, 2025 4:58 AM
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The Big Broadcast
Earth Abides & Kim Stanley Robinson

Host Murray Horwitz speaks with Kim Stanley Robinson about the roots of science fiction and its power in audio form. Then we hear Escape’s two-part adaptation of George R. Stewart’s Earth Abides—a post-apocalyptic story of survival, memory, and rebuilding.

01:22:31
Jul 15, 2025 3:57 AM
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The Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast: July 13, 2025

The Big Broadcast: July 13, 2025

03:58:38
Jul 11, 2025 2:39 PM
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The Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast: July 6, 2025

The Big Broadcast: July 6, 2025

03:58:55
Jul 2, 2025 2:40 PM
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The Big Broadcast
The Rocket

It’s the rich who have dreams and rockets!
Ray Bradbury’s deeply human tale The Rocket speaks of poverty, possibility, and the power of imagination. Originally published in 1950 and dramatized for radio's NBC Presents: Short Story in 1952, this profound story reminds us that even in a world where technology separates the haves from the have-nots, dreams still belong to everyone.

About the Series: Summer of Sci-Fi

Hosted by Murray Horwitz, The Big Broadcast celebrates the best in vintage radio—and this summer, we’re exploring classic science fiction radio dramas from the golden age, with works by legendary authors such as Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein.

00:29:46
Jul 1, 2025 3:50 PM
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The Big Broadcast
With Folded Hands

The Big Broadcast presents: Summer of Sci-Fi
Episode 3: With Folded Hands

Jack Williamson’s With Folded Hands imagines a future where humanoid robots are built to serve and protect—perhaps a little too well. Written in 1947, adapted for Dimension X in 1950, and inducted into the Science Fiction Hall of Fame in 1973, it’s been called “probably the best story ever written about robots.”

00:30:53
Jul 1, 2025 4:0 AM
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The Big Broadcast
Isaac Asimov and “Nightfall”

The Big Broadcast presents: Summer of Sci-Fi
Episode 1: Isaac Asimov and “Nightfall”

We launch our Summer of Sci-Fi with two Golden Age classics: a rare 1956 interview with Isaac Asimov and a radio adaptation of his landmark story Nightfall. Excerpts from NBC’s Biography in Sound spotlight Asimov reflecting on the power and purpose of science fiction. Then, the 1955 series X Minus One brings Nightfall to life—a story once voted the greatest science fiction tale of all time.

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About the Series: Summer of Sci-Fi

Hosted by Murray Horwitz, The Big Broadcast celebrates the best in vintage radio—and this summer, we’re heading to the stars, featuring classic science fiction radio dramas from the golden age, with works by legendary authors such as Jules Verne, Isaac Asimov, and Robert Heinlein.

00:44:27
Jun 29, 2025 3:30 AM
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The Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast: June 29, 2025

The Big Broadcast: June 29, 2025

03:58:54
Jun 27, 2025 2:52 PM
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The Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast: June 22, 2025

The Big Broadcast: June 22, 2025

03:59:04
Jun 23, 2025 3:4 PM
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The Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast: June 22,2025

The Big Broadcast: June 22,2025

03:59:04
Jun 20, 2025 2:53 PM
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The Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast: June 15, 2025

The Big Broadcast: June 15, 2025

03:58:46
Jun 13, 2025 1:57 PM
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The Big Broadcast
The Big Broadcast: June 8, 2025

The Big Broadcast: June 8, 2025

03:58:50
Jun 6, 2025 1:18 PM
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