Welcome to the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio! A podcast featuring the best vintage detective radio programs. Each week from Monday through Saturday, we feature six of Old Time Radio's great detective series from the beginning of the show to its very last episode. And as a bonus, twice a month we also post a public domain movie or TV mystery or detective show video.
Along the way, I'll provide you my commentary and offer you opportunities to interact.
Subscribe to the show by clicking your favorite podcatcher in the sidebar.
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- Your host, Adam Graham
Listen to "The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio" on Spreaker.
Currently Featuring
YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR THE FALCON DANGEROUS ASSIGNMENT DRAGNET MR. CHAMELEON SQUAD ROOM… and more!
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Recent Posts
OTR Detective, Podcast, Richard Diamond, Syndicated
EP2033: Richard Diamond: Diamond’s Severest Critic
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Sick of Diamond’s singing, one of Helen’s grouchy neighbor contracts an unethical private detective to make sure Diamond doesn’t sing tonight.
Original Air Date: November 5, 1945
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Gentlemen Detectives, NBC, OTR Detective, Podcast, Private Files of Rex Saunders
EP2032: The Private Files of Rex Saunders: High Dividends…Or Shallow Graves
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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A wealthy man calls in Rex Saunders when his nephew is kidnapped.
Original Air Date: May 30, 1951
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
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NBC, Nightbeat, OTR Detective, Podcast
EP2031: Night Beat: The Elevator Caper
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Lucky Stone’s friend is killed and he sets out to use his newspaper column to imply an infamous gangster is behind it. When he is roughed up by some of the gangster’s men, he gets a gun to hunt him down.
Audition Date: January 13, 1950
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Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article
Audio Drama Review: Tom Swift and His Motorcycle
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
When I was growing up, I’d say I read Tom Swift books from the library. That wasn’t exactly true. I checked out 1950s books about the atomic age adventures of Tom Swift, Jr. and a 1990s reboot. Tom Swift, Jr. was an inventor and tech genius extraordinaire who had far out adventures with atomic age technology. His dad was a supporting character as the CEO of Swift Labs. Little did I know, he’d had adventures of his own, adventures that had started the whole Tom Swift craze all the way back in 1910.
The original Tom Swift series was forty children’s books published between 1910 and 1941, and the first of twenty-five of which have fallen into the public domain. Colonial Radio Theatre recently adapted the first of these, Tom Swift and His Motorcycle.
In it, Tom Swift lives with his inventor father Barton Swift in upstate New York. Tom repairs a motorcycle and plans to drive his father’s patent plans as well as a model of his father’s latest invention to the attorney’s office but is waylaid by a gang of robbers who steal the invention. Tom ends up trying to get them back and foils the robbers.
This story is a basic boys adventure story, the type which was so popular for much of the twentieth century but made accessible for modern listeners. It paints a picture of a transitional time in American history as technology such as the telephone and the motor car were making inroads but weren’t universal particularly not in Swift’s upstate New York stomping ground. The story highlights that these technologies were like the wifi hotspots and natural-gas powered cars of their day, so it’s a fascinating look at their era that I don’t think I’ve seen explored in any modern works.
Tom (Colin Budzyna) is the perfect hero for this sort of story: loyal, honest, and a compulsive tinker who has to fix anything he sees that’s broken.
The play is well acted and charming with some dialogue that’s unique and unintentionally hilarious to twenty-first century ears. One character is constantly prefacing his sentence with phrases beginning with, “Bless my-” such as, “Bless my liver….” and “Bless my very existence.” That gives it a nice period feel.
Overall, this is a fun treat. Colonial took an obscure and less-remembered book and has skillfully brought it to life, creating a play that’s enjoyable for both kids and those who remember what it was like to be kids. In doing so, they manage to capture a less remembered era in literature and America History. And Bless my iPod, that’s an accomplishment.
Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0
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Dragnet, NBC, OTR Detective, Podcast, Procedural
EP2030: Dragnet: The Big Lease
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Friday and Romero search for a missing man who disappeared three months previously.
Original Air Date: November 1, 1951
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CBS, OTR Detective, Podcast, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, YTJD Add
EP2029: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Fancy Bridgework Matter
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Johnny returns to Florida to find out if an insured person was murdered or committed suicide.
Original Air Date: November 22, 1959
When making your travel plans, remember http://johnnydollarair.com
Boston Blackie, OTR Detective, Podcast, Syndicated
EP2028: Boston Blackie: Amnesia Victim
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A man who had a case of amnesia asks Blackie determined whether he killed a man during the period he can’t remember.
Original Air Date: November 8, 1945
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
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