What happens
The Pacific Story presents the Kurile Islands, a chain of volcanic islands stretching northeast from Japan toward Kamchatka. The narrator describes the islands' strategic value, their fog and weather, and their place between Russian and Japanese claims. Russian explorers arrive and are turned away by the Japanese, and the islands change hands through treaty and conflict. Sea otter hunters, a volcanic eruption, and Japanese military construction follow. The program was broadcast on April 9, 1944, by the National Broadcasting Company. Its writer and director was Arnold Markwith.
The Kurile Islands, a chain of fog-bound volcanic islands between Japan and Kamchatka in the North Pacific
Characters: Catherine the Great, Captain Brewster, Mr. Hawkins
Listen for: The narrator's account of how the Kurile Islands passed between Russian and Japanese control, and why they matter as Japan's first line of defense
Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.