I imagine that the “glory days” of radio faded with the proliferation of TV, but that’s just a guess. Can anyone point to a specific date, and/or a specific station, when spoken-word radio shows were abandoned and all-music (excluding, of course, commercials, news & weather) became the norm?
If you want a specific date, I found this: “The final episodes of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and Suspense, airing on CBS, are often cited as the end of the Golden Age of Radio. The last episode of Johnny Dollar ended at 6:40 p.m. Eastern Time on September 30, 1962. Aside from Theater Five on ABC in 1964-65, that was the last new regularly broadcast network radio drama until CBS Radio Mystery Theater went on the air January 6, 1974.”
More generally, “In the late 1940s and early 1950s, television eroded the popularity of radio comedy, drama and variety shows. By the late 1950s, radio broadcasting took on much the form it has today — strongly focused on music, news and sports, though drama can still be heard, especially on the BBC.”
That’s a pretty good answer. I was going to say more vaguely that the advent of Rock & Roll and the portable transistor radio signalled the start of music radio.
WNEW-AM, 1130 AM in NYC claimed to be the first all-music station in the US. They had this all music format in the 1930s. They are now WBBR and ironically air Bloomberg Radio.
It is also thought they were the first station to introduce hourly newscasts.
I cannot find a cite, but it appears they went to the music format in 1935.
Jim