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.
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- Your host, Adam Graham
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Currently Featuring
YOURS TRULY, JOHNNY DOLLAR THE FALCON DANGEROUS ASSIGNMENT DRAGNET MR. CHAMELEON THIN MAN… and more!
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Audio Drama Review, Golden Age Article
Audio Drama Review: The Avengers: The Lost Episodes, Volume 3
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 1 Comment
Volume 3 of Big Finish’s Avengers: The Lost Episodes recreates four more lost episodes of Season 1 of the Avengers which featured John Steed (Julian Wadham) and Doctor David Keel (Anthony Howell).
The Springers: This story finds Keel undercover in prison as a notorious convict he hopes to impersonate. The story is a somewhat typical crime story but feels a bit more playful in places than some of the stories in the first box set. It’s a solid if unremarkable tale.
The Yellow Needle: An old friend of Keel’s is Prime Minister of an African nation about to declare its Independence from Great Britain. After an attempt on the Prime Minister’s life, Steed and Keel become involved in the case from several thousand miles away. The story reflects the process of breaking up the British Empire as former Colonies became Independent and the politics that often went into that. This gives it a definite historic value. Beyond that, it’s a taut and well-written political thriller.
Double Danger: Dr. Keel is kidnapped by desperate men who want him to treat a man they kidnapped so they can extract the secret of the location of stolen diamonds. This is set up like a traditional crime story but has a bit more going for it than many earlier stories. First of all, Keel’s adventures apparently have given him a bit of an edge of toughness as he’s far more calm than one would normally expect. There’s almost a hard-boiled aspect to some of the dialogue, and there’s more menace in the villains in this story than in many “thugs of the week” who have appeared before . The story moves at a fairly quick pace, and there’s a very effective use of humor with the old landlord.
The Toy Trap: This story takes a look at the seamier side of London life with a bit of a personal touch for Keel. Keel is to play chaperone to the wide-eyed innocent daughter of a friend, who has taken a job in London at a shop. They find one of her friends missing and that she’s been drawn off into a pornography racket exploiting naive young women. It’s a very well done crime story and it also introduces some genuine conflict between Steed and Keel. In the early going, Keel sharply disapproves when Steed starts doing his typical ladies man routine around his young charge, and then when Steed’s method for breaking the ring puts her jeopardy, Keel really lets Steed have it. Overall, this is probably my favorite episode in this series so far.
This collection contains some of the greatest Avengers Best Episodes Big Finish has produced and is my favorite of the four I’ve listened to.
Rating: 4.25 out of 5.0
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Dragnet, NBC, OTR Detective, Podcast, Procedural
EP1928: Dragnet: The Big Cliff
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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A sixty-three-year-old woman dies under mysterious circumstances, the coroner can’t determine a cause of death and suspicion falls on her elderly husband.
Original Air Date: June 28, 1951
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CBS, OTR Detective, Podcast, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar, YTJD Add
EP1927: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Will and a Way Matter
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Johnny is called back to Lake Mojave where the Fishing Guide Red is disputing the beneficiary on a friend’s policy.
Original Air Date: July 19, 1959
When making your travel plans, remember http://johnnydollarair.com
(more…)
Boston Blackie, OTR Detective, Podcast, Syndicated
EP1926: Boston Blackie: Sam Bellows is Dead
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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Boston Blackie needs to see a man who won’t answer the door. Blackie tells Farraday he killed the man in order to locate the man, but when the man actually turns up dead, Blackie has to clear himself.
Original Air Date: June 18, 1945
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NBC, OTR Detective, Podcast, Richard Diamond
EP1925: Richard Diamond: The Betty Moran Case
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 1 Comment
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A wealthy woman kills a man who blackmails her and then is shot herself. The police believe it was a murder-suicide, but her husband thinks otherwise and hires Diamond to find her Blackmailer’s partner.
Original Air Date: May 29, 1949
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(more…)
OTR Detective, Podcast, Syndicated, The Avenger, The Avenger and I.A. Moto
EP1924: The Avenger: Death Counts Ten
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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A boxer dies in the ring and it looks like homicide.
Original Air Date: April 12, 1946
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
(more…)
Amazing World of Radio
AWR0001: The Whistler: A Brief Pause for Murder
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
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A disc jockey plots to kill his wealthy wife but needs to find an alibi, and thinks he found it when an engineer with a past.
Original Air Date: August 9, 1946
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