Famous Jury Trials (radio program)

Famous Jury Trials took a listener into an actual courtroom so that he or she could hear a trial as it proceeded. At the beginning of each episode, the judge was heard as he instructed the jury, "Be just and fear not, for the true administration of justice is the foundation of good government." The judge sat on a high bench with the witness chair to his left and the clerk at a desk in front. Adding to the effect of realism for listeners, the program was "delivered flat, without music." they resulted from thorough research. A 1942 newspaper article noted, "The legal fireworks are checked for scriptural realism" by attorney and law historian Martin H. Young. Among the well-known trials featured were those of Captain Kidd, Benedict Arnold, and Aaron Burr. Famous Jury Trials introduced the device of having a reporter provide an account of an event from history, a technique that a review in Radio Mirror magazine called one of the program's "novel devices." The technique was used 15 years later in You Are There. ==Characters and Cast==

As an anthology series, Famous Jury Trials had few regular cast members. Maurice Franklin starred as the judge. Roger DeKoven and DeWitt McBride were reporter-narrators. ==Broadcast History==

Famous Jury Trials originated at WLW in Cincinnati. It was created by Ed Byron, a staff writer at the station. As of September 27, 1937, it was also being carried by WOR in New York City and WGN in Chicago. The program was also heard on WFIL in Philadelphia and KWK in St. Louis, identified as "stations of the WLW line." By 1938, the program was being broadcast from New York City. A summary of Famous Jury Trials's time on network radio is provided in the following table: Source: On the Air Within a year, the popularity for all but Dangerous Assignment had increased even more. An ad for "The 4 Biggest Mysteries in the U.S." indicated that Famous Jury Trials and the other three were carried on 125 stations. A version of Famous Jury Trials was broadcast in Australia in the 1950s. It was described in a newspaper article as "worthy of special recommendation." == References ==