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The 60 Greatest Old-Time Radio Shows of the 20th Century, selected and introduced by Walter Cronkite.

Or, rather, 24 of them, since I haven't had time to listen to the rest. Standouts, i.e., ones I remember clearly enough to comment on them:

The Adventures of Philip Marlowe: Red Wind, 06-17-1947. A serviceable adaptation of the classic noir detective.

The Baby Snooks Show: Report Card Blues, 05-01-1951. Truly horrible. A whiny, self-righteous brat and two incompetent parents who lie to each other and other adults as well as to their kid. How did anyone manage to grow up listening to such dreck without being scarred for life?

Escape: Leinengen vs. the Ants, 01-14-1948. A classic macho jungle-adventure tale, told to good effect. Billions of army ants are on the march, devouring everything in their path. Stubborn plantation boss Leinengen vows not to evacuate, but to defend his property against the unstoppable horde. Will he succeed? And will there be enough left of him to fill a teacup afterward?

Fibber McGee and Molly: I Can Get It For You Wholesale, 12-09-1941. The progenitor of ten thousand family sitcoms in which someone hatches crazy money-making schemes that always go wrong. Yes, the famous closet makes an appearance. (So to speak).

On a Note of Triumph, 05-13-1945. A firsthand glimpse into history: a "you are there" moment, listening to a triumphal May 1945 broadcast reviewing the history of the war in Europe. Nazi Germany has just surrendered. What should be done with captured and surrendered Nazis? At the time of broadcast, no one knew what decision would be made.

Suspense: Sorry Wrong Number, 08-21-1943. Classic tale of suspense. It's been made into a movie also, but the subject matter -- a bedridden woman who accidentally overhears a mysterious and threatening telephone conversation -- remains particularly appropriate to radio storytelling.

Grand Central Station: Miracle for Christmas, 12-24-1949. The best part of this show is the introduction. The story itself is impossibly sappy, something about a mysterious doctor who shows up for work on Christmas Eve and goes around miraculously curing everyone in sight. Then at the end we find out -- shock! awe! -- that the doctor died in a wreck earlier that night. Gosh, says the cynical ambulance driver, that means.... he must be... (fade into celestial music.) Followed by the sound of Your Humble Correspondent gagging on glurge.

Philco Radio Time: The Road to Hollywood, 01-29-1947. Bing Crosby, Bob Hope and Dorothy Lamour yuck it up telling an improbable tale about how the three of them came to be in Hollywood, with occasional self-aware, half-mocking references to the show's corporate sponsors. Irony isn't a modern invention. Neither is commercial co-opting of irony.

The Saint: The Corpse Said Ouch, 08-06-1950. Vincent Price is a suave Simon Templar. He has Eyebrows Of Power, just like another famous Simon Templar. You can't see them on radio. But you can hear them.

Have Gun, Will Travel : From Here to Boston, 11-27-1960. A western with a touch of gritty detective noir. In this episode, an alluring lady and her brother lay sinister plans for lonely hero Paladin. Will he realize the danger he's in before it's too late? Unfortunately, the radio show does not feature the theme song used for the television program, which ranks among my favorite such songs.

Lum and Abner : Christmas Show, 12-19-1948. Cloying, stereotypical country bumpkins with really annoying exaggerated cornpone accents.

Arthur Godfrey Time, 10-21-1953: Please, can we move the clock forward to escape this vacuous, pointlessly-prattling snob? If not, can someone break a champagne bottle over his self-absorbed head? Did Americans in 1953 really think that this represented "sophistication"?

The Walter Winchell Show, 03-20-1949. The man has become a legend and a stereotype recognized by "Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea", even if few now recognize his name. He's the prototype of the pompous, aggressive, egotistical broadcaster whom we all know and loathe. His fast-paced, rushing style of "Flash!" news stories, one piled on top of another with scarcely time to breathe in between, is the prototype for the teasers run by today's more superficial news and celebrity-gossip programs. They titillate the listener while never supplying quite enough information, always leaving the audience wanting more as he jumps -- "Flash!" -- to the next three-second soundbyte.

Unfortunately, I didn't have time to listen to the radio versions of Nightfall, the origin stories of Superman and The Lone Ranger, The Martian Chronicles, or the episodes of I Love Lucy and The Shadow that appear on other tapes. Perhaps some other time.