The radio broadcast of an execution recorded in 1955, including the vivid sound of a creaking rope as the prisoner was hanged, met with a generally positive reaction from listeners, Nippon Cultural Broadcasting Inc. said Wednesday.

Broadcast at 10 a.m. Tuesday, the 55-minute program, titled "Shikei Shikkou" ("Execution of a Death Sentence"), featured the half-century-old recording made by the Osaka Detention House for educational purposes.

It was the first recording of an execution ever broadcast by a Japanese radio station, NCBI said.