What happens
Joe Porter, a mild-mannered office worker, is fired from his job after years of loyal service, and the news leaves him feeling diminished. At home, his wife Vera tells him she no longer loves him and has been seeing another man. Joe drifts through a bar, a street, and a stranger's apartment, falling into despair as each encounter wears down what remains of his self-worth. Part of the story is told through his inner reflections on his shrinking sense of himself. The Suspense radio drama Destruction was broadcast on CBS on July 27, 1954, and its cast includes John Dehner as Joe Porter.
A city in the mid-1950s, including the Porters' home, an office, a bar, and a city street at night.
Characters: Joe Porter, Vera Porter, Herb, Mr. Collins, Ellie, Mr. Stevens
Listen for: Joe's gradual collapse as he is fired, humiliated, and rejected at home, and the quiet, despairing tone of his inner monologue.
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.