Unshackled!
Encyclopedia
Unshackled! is a radio drama
series produced by Pacific Garden Mission
, in Chicago, Illinois, that first aired in 1950. It is the longest-running radio drama in history and one of very few still in production in the United States. The show is aired over 6,500 times around the world, each week, on over 1,550 radio outlets and is translated and re-dramatized into eight languages on six continents.
As of March 2008, over 3,000 episodes have been produced, each 30 minutes in length. Unshackled! is produced in the same way that shows during the Golden Age of Radio were produced. Shows are transcribed (recorded) live before a studio audience. An organist provides live incidental music and a sound-effects person provides sounds in real time as the show progresses. The show has retained a consistent and distinctive quality throughout its years of production, established by the 40-year tenure, from 1950 to 1990, of Jack O'Dell as producer/director.
, sometimes involving a visit to Pacific Garden Mission
, or through hearing Unshackled! on the radio. Radio episodes include the life stories of baseball-great-turned-evangelist Billy Sunday
, who is a Pacific Garden Mission
convert, and Dominic Mance, an international banker who became a homeless vagabond nearly overnight. Past cast and crew range from current actors to Golden Age of Radio personalities such as Bob O'Donnell, Jack Bivens, Stan Dale and Russ Reed.
The scripts are derived from actual testimonies and actual events, in the same way that Dragnet
, a radio series that began its broadcasts around the same time that Unshackled! began broadcasting, is based upon actual police reports.
Beginning in the 1950s, comic book
versions of Unshackled! stories have also been produced; and they, along with the radio shows themselves, are said to be highly influential on the works of Jack Chick
.
Radio drama
Radio drama is a dramatized, purely acoustic performance, broadcast on radio or published on audio media, such as tape or CD. With no visual component, radio drama depends on dialogue, music and sound effects to help the listener imagine the characters and story...
series produced by Pacific Garden Mission
Pacific Garden Mission
Pacific Garden Mission is a homeless shelter in the South Loop section of Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1877, by Colonel George Clarke and his wife, Sarah. It has been nicknamed, "The Old Lighthouse." It is the oldest such shelter in Chicago...
, in Chicago, Illinois, that first aired in 1950. It is the longest-running radio drama in history and one of very few still in production in the United States. The show is aired over 6,500 times around the world, each week, on over 1,550 radio outlets and is translated and re-dramatized into eight languages on six continents.
As of March 2008, over 3,000 episodes have been produced, each 30 minutes in length. Unshackled! is produced in the same way that shows during the Golden Age of Radio were produced. Shows are transcribed (recorded) live before a studio audience. An organist provides live incidental music and a sound-effects person provides sounds in real time as the show progresses. The show has retained a consistent and distinctive quality throughout its years of production, established by the 40-year tenure, from 1950 to 1990, of Jack O'Dell as producer/director.
Characters and stories
Each episode dramatizes the testimony of someone who converts to ChristianityChristianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
, sometimes involving a visit to Pacific Garden Mission
Pacific Garden Mission
Pacific Garden Mission is a homeless shelter in the South Loop section of Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1877, by Colonel George Clarke and his wife, Sarah. It has been nicknamed, "The Old Lighthouse." It is the oldest such shelter in Chicago...
, or through hearing Unshackled! on the radio. Radio episodes include the life stories of baseball-great-turned-evangelist Billy Sunday
Billy Sunday
William Ashley "Billy" Sunday was an American athlete who, after being a popular outfielder in baseball's National League during the 1880s, became the most celebrated and influential American evangelist during the first two decades of the 20th century.Born into poverty in Iowa, Sunday spent some...
, who is a Pacific Garden Mission
Pacific Garden Mission
Pacific Garden Mission is a homeless shelter in the South Loop section of Chicago, Illinois, founded in 1877, by Colonel George Clarke and his wife, Sarah. It has been nicknamed, "The Old Lighthouse." It is the oldest such shelter in Chicago...
convert, and Dominic Mance, an international banker who became a homeless vagabond nearly overnight. Past cast and crew range from current actors to Golden Age of Radio personalities such as Bob O'Donnell, Jack Bivens, Stan Dale and Russ Reed.
The scripts are derived from actual testimonies and actual events, in the same way that Dragnet
Dragnet (series)
Dragnet is a radio and television crime drama about the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners...
, a radio series that began its broadcasts around the same time that Unshackled! began broadcasting, is based upon actual police reports.
Beginning in the 1950s, comic book
Comic book
A comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
versions of Unshackled! stories have also been produced; and they, along with the radio shows themselves, are said to be highly influential on the works of Jack Chick
Jack Chick
Jack Thomas Chick is an American publisher, writer, and comic book artist of fundamentalist Christian tracts and comic books...
.