Old Radio

A happy birthday this time, not to an actor or a commander of the microphone, but to a writer and producer, William Spier.  Lovers of Adventures of Sam Spade and Suspense have enjoyed the good work of Spier. Born today in 1906, Spier started his writing career as a critic for the magazine Musical America.  After foraying into radio in 1929, he decided he'd like to stay in the medium a bit longer. He got a job as a director of the news show The March of Time .  It began as a WLW (Cincinnati) program that gave voice to material from Time magazine.  It eventually evolved into The March of Time , on which talented actors dramatized the day's big news stories.  Spiers got a chance to work with huge stars such as Everett Sloane, Orson Welles, Lionel Barrymore , Nancy Kelly, and Joseph Cotten . From there, it was a stint as the chief of the writing department at CBS , a gig that led to his producership of Suspense and then The Adventures of Sam Spade . So let...