Editing Rod Serling (section)

===Radio===
Serling volunteered at [[WNYC]] in New York as an actor and writer in the summer of 1946.<ref name=Grams>{{cite web| last=Grams | first=Martin Jr. |author-link=Martin Grams, Jr. |title=The Radio Career of Rod Serling |publisher=Audio Classics Archive |url=http://www.audio-classics.com/mgarticle021.html |access-date=September 6, 2013| archive-date= January 8, 2009| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090108125208/http://www.audio-classics.com/mgarticle021.html| url-status=live}}</ref> The next year, he worked at that station as a paid intern in his Antioch work-study program.<ref name=Sander1992/>{{rp|57}} He then took odd jobs in other radio stations in New York and Ohio.<ref>Chicago radio personality [[Dick Biondi]] mentions Serling writing commercials for WINR in Binghamton, New York, in {{cite web|url=http://www.manteno.com/wcfl/biondi.html |title=Dick Biondi |first=Bill |last=Schenold |publisher=Manteno.com |year=1985 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030812235549/http://www.manteno.com/wcfl/biondi.html |archive-date=August 12, 2003 |quote=I went on to WINR in Binghamton.&nbsp;. ... At the same time, a guy by the name of Rod Serling was there working writing commercials. |url-status=dead }}</ref> "I learned 'time', writing for a medium that is measured in seconds," Serling later said of his early experiences.<ref name=Grams/>

While attending college, Serling worked at the Antioch Broadcasting System's radio workshop and was managing the station within a couple of years. He then took charge of full-scale radio productions at Antioch which were broadcast on WJEM, in Springfield. He wrote and directed the programs and acted in them when needed. He created the entire output for the 1948–1949 school year. With one exception (an adaptation), all the writing that year was his original work.<ref name=Grams/>

While in college, Serling won his first accolade as a writer. The radio program, ''[[Dr. Christian]]'', had started an annual scriptwriting contest eight years earlier. Thousands of scripts were sent in annually, but very few could be produced.<ref name=Grams/> Serling won a trip to New York City and $500 for his radio script "To Live a Dream".<ref name=Warrick>{{cite news | last=Warrick| first=Pamela| title=Serling the Storyteller and Master Dreamer | work =[[Los Angeles Times]] | date= October 3, 1999 | url = https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-oct-03-cl-18030-story.html| archive-date= December 23, 2012| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20121223142826/http://articles.latimes.com/1999/oct/03/news/cl-18030 | url-status=live}}</ref> He and his new wife, Carol, attended the awards broadcast on May 18, 1949, where he and the other winners were interviewed by the star of ''Dr. Christian'', [[Jean Hersholt]]. One of the other winners that day was [[Earl Hamner, Jr.]], who had also earned prizes in previous years. 
Serling's first job out of college was with WLW radio as copy writer. The position had just been vacated by Hamner who left to concentrate on his writing.
Hamner later wrote scripts for Serling's ''The Twilight Zone''.<ref name=Grams/>

In addition to earning $45 to $50 a week at the college radio station, Serling attempted to make a living selling freelance scripts of radio programs, but the industry at that time was involved in many lawsuits, which affected willingness to take on new writers (some whose scripts were rejected would often hear a similar plot produced, claim their work had been stolen, and sue for recompense).<ref name=Grams/> Serling was rejected for reasons such as "heavy competition", "this script lacks professional quality", and "not what our audience prefers to listen to".<ref name=Grams/>

In the autumn of 1949, Martin Horrell of ''[[Grand Central Station (radio)|Grand Central Station]]'' (a radio program known for romances and light dramas) rejected one of Serling's scripts about boxing, because his mostly female listeners "have told us in no uncertain terms that prize fight stories aren't what they like most". Horrell advised that "the script would be far better for sight than for sound only, because in any radio presentation, the fights are not seen. Perhaps this is a baby you should try on some of the producers of television shows."<ref name=Grams/>

Realizing the boxing story was not right for ''Grand Central Station'', Serling submitted a lighter piece called ''Hop Off the Express and Grab a Local'', which became his first nationally broadcast piece on September 10, 1949.<ref name=Grams/> His ''Dr. Christian'' script aired on November 30 of that year.

Serling began his professional writing career in 1950, when he earned $75 a week as a network [[Continuity (broadcasting)|continuity writer]] for [[WLW]] radio in [[Cincinnati, Ohio]].<ref name=Grams/><ref name=Rosenbaum/> While at WLW, he continued to freelance. He sold several radio and television scripts to WLW's parent company, [[Crosley Broadcasting Corporation]]. After selling the scripts, Serling had no further involvement with them. They were sold by [[Powel Crosley|Crosley]] to local stations across the United States.<ref name=Grams/>

Serling submitted an idea for a weekly radio show in which the ghosts of a young boy and girl killed in World War II would look through train windows and comment on day-to-day human life as it moved around the country. This idea was changed significantly but was produced from October 1950 to February 1951 as ''Adventure Express'', a drama about a girl and boy who travel by train with their uncle. Each week they found adventure in a new town and got involved with the local residents.<ref name=Grams/>

Other radio programs for which Serling wrote scripts include ''Leave It to Kathy'', ''Our America'', and ''Builders of Destiny''. During the production of these, he became acquainted with a voice actor, Jay Overholts, who later became a regular on ''The Twilight Zone''.<ref name=Grams/>

Serling said of his time as a staff writer for radio: {{cquote|From a writing point of view, radio ate up ideas that might have put food on the table for weeks at a future freelancing date. The minute you tie yourself down to a radio or TV station, you write around the clock. You rip out ideas, many of them irreplaceable. They go on and consequently can never go on again. And you've sold them for $50 a week. You can't afford to give away ideas—they're too damn hard to come by. If I had it to do over, I wouldn't staff-write at all. I'd find some other way to support myself while getting a start as a writer.<ref name=Grams/>}}

Serling believed radio was not living up to its potential, later saying, "Radio, in terms of&nbsp;... drama, dug its own grave. It had aimed downward, had become cheap and unbelievable, and had willingly settled for second best."<ref name=Sander1992/>{{rp|69}} He opined that there were very few radio writers who would be remembered for their literary contributions.<ref name=Sander1992/>{{rp|69}}