Hagley is pleased to announce the release of 40 newly digitized radio episodes of The Ohio Story. This scripted radio and television program was broadcast live to a network of stations across Ohio from 1947 to 1961. Running for 15 years, it is believed to be the longest-running regional scripted program in the United States. By the time it concluded, the series had produced 1,309 radio episodes and 175 television episodes.
The radio series debuted in 1947 as a three-times-per-week evening broadcast from the WTAM studios in Cleveland, reaching listeners across the state. Episodes addressed historical, cultural, scientific, and industrial topics related to Ohio and its people.
Prior to Hagley’s work, only a single radio episode was available online. The surviving shows—originally recorded on acetate discs held by the Ohio State Library—were digitized with support from John Culley, Jim Culley, and Jon Siedel. Mr. Siedel’s father, Frank Sieidel, authored the majority of scripts during the program’s long run on both radio and television. In the photograph on the right, Frank Seidel is pictured with his Ohio Story scripts.
Click to listen to full episodes of the The Ohio Story radio series
FURTHER RESOURCES
A selection of The Ohio Story television episodes
The Frank Siedel digital collection
Scripts from all 1309 radio episodes via the Ohio State Genealogical Society
Kevin Martin is the Chief Curator of Library Collections and Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Audiovisual and Digital Collections