On Trial: The Man in the Middle

NBC Radio

With exceptional skill and understanding of the use of radio as a medium for relating the audience to the performer, Second Sunday has few equals. For this program, On Trial: The Man In the Middle, a departure from the usual format was made to stage a court trial. The person on trial is the symbol for the generation in America of the 1960s—the Silent Majority. He is John Doe, age 50, a suburban homeowner who works in a large city. His three college-age children are the plaintiffs. The jury, which is the radio audience, listens both to the prosecution and to the defense and, at the end of the program, they are told how to record their verdict. For an exceptional use of radio in educating the American public, a Peabody Award for radio education to NBC Radio for On Trial: The Man In the Middle.