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.
And don't forget to follow me on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
- 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 THIN MAN… and more!
View all shows
Check out our other shows:
Recent Posts
CBS, Podcast, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar
EP0924: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Molly K Matter Part Five and Call for a Columnist Part One
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | TuneIn | RSS
Columnist Johnny Lane is getting tips on the plans of local crime bosses to thwart a committee which gets him in trouble with police and the mob.
Original Air Date: 1958
Captain Brawley is arrested by Johnny Dollar begins to suspect he got the wrong man.
Original Air Date: October 14, 1955
Save more and combine hotel and airline fare at http://www.johnnydollarair.com
Become one of our friends on Facebook…http://www.facebook.com/radiodetectives
Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net
Click here to download, click here to add this podcast to your Itunes, click here to subscribe to this podcast on Zune, click here to subscribe to this feed using any other feed reader.
CBS, Podcast, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar
EP0923: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Molly K Matter, Parts Three and Four
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | TuneIn | RSS
Captain Brawley tries to hinder Johnny’s investigation as he finds there’s more than meets the eye for the sinking of the Molly K.
October 12 and 13, 1955
Save more and combine hotel and airline fare at http://www.johnnydollarair.com
Become one of our friends on Facebook…http://www.facebook.com/radiodetectives
Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net
Click here to download, click here to add this podcast to your Itunes, click here to subscribe to this podcast on Zune, click here to subscribe to this feed using any other feed reader
Frank Race, Podcast, Syndicated
EP0922: Frank Race: The Adventure of the Night Crawler
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | TuneIn | RSS
Race takes on a whimsical case of dying worms threatening a partnership that sells canned worms. The mob gets involved and murder follows soon after.
Original Air Date: November 26, 1949
Become one of our friends on Facebook… http://www.facebook.com/radiodetectives
Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net
Give us a call 208-991-4783
Follow us on Twitter @radiodetectives
Click here to download, click here to add this podcast to your Itunes, click here to subscribe to this podcast on Zune, click here to subscribe to this feed using any other feed reader.
CBS, Podcast, Yours Truly Johnny Dollar
EP0921: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Molly K Matter, Part One and Part Two
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 1 Comment
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | TuneIn | RSS
A freighter was sunk and Johnny doubts the accident story.
Original Air Date: October 10 and 11, 1955
Save more and combine hotel and airline fare at http://www.johnnydollarair.com
Become one of our friends on Facebook…http://www.facebook.com/radiodetectives
Take the listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net
Click here to download, click here to add this podcast to your Itunes, click here to subscribe to this podcast on Zune, click here to subscribe to this feed using any other feed reader
Golden Age Article
Radio’s Most Essential People Countdown #5: Virginia Gregg
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 3 Comments
Previous Posts 6,7, 8,9, 10, 12-11, 14-13, 16-15, 18-17, 20-19,22-21, 24-23, 26-25, 28-27, 30-29, 33-31, 36-34,
39-37,42-40, 45-43, 48-46, 51-49, 54-52, 57-55, 60-58, 65-61, 70-66, 71-75, 76-80,
5) Virginia Gregg
Virginia Gregg was many things over radio. She landed recurring roles most often playing detectives’ girlfriends and girl Fridays. She was Nicki Porter to Lawrence Dobkin’s Ellery Queen, Clarie Brooks to Bob Bailey’s George Valentine, she was Helen Asher to Dick Powell’s Richard Diamond, and then she was Betty Lewis to Bob Bailey’s Johnny Dollar. She was also Miss Wong, the Chinese Girlfriend of Ben Wright’s Hey Boy on Have Gun Will Travel.
As impressive as these numerous recurring and ongoing rolls were, it barely touches on the depth of what she contributed. She was a true artist, a character actress par excellence. She could play a dozen femme fatales opposite Jack Webb’s Pat Novak for Hire, but also old ladies, heart broken mothers, busybodies, and little girls.
Virginia Gregg was the type of actress that made radio work. She was the type of professional that radio depended on. She could counted on to play any role and play it to the hilt. Jack Webb on Dragnet could call on Gregg to be tough as nails, quirky, or heartbroken, and she’d do it. During the Yours Truly Johnny Dollar serials, Gregg appeared regularly. One week she’d play a girl gone wrong, the next she’d play a big and rowdy Irishwoman who ran a dive.
Certainly Gregg wasn’t the only actress who could do this. But she was one of the most prolific, and she was the best. Without her performances, the Golden Age of radio wouldn’t have shined near as much. So she is clearly one of radio’s most indispensable people.
If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.
CBS, Podcast, Procedural, The Line Up
EP0920: The Line Up: The Silver Swan Case
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | iHeartRadio | Email | TuneIn | RSS
Guthrie and Grebb try to solve a murder that took place near a dance hall.
Original Air Date: February 22, 1951
Become one of our friends on Facebook….http://facebook.com/radiodetectives
Take our listener survey: http://survey.greatdetectives.net
Become one of our friends on Facebook… http://www.facebook.com/radiodetectives
Click here to download, click here to add this podcast to your Itunes, click here to subscribe
Book Review, Golden Age Article, Nero Wolfe
Book Review: Three Witnesses
by Yours Truly Johnny Blogger • 0 Comments
This Nero Wofe novella collection published in 1956 contained Nero Wolfe stories originally published in 1954 and 1955.
“The Next Witness” finds Wolfe called as a witness to a peripheral matter in a murder trial. While being out and watching the trial, he becomes convinced that the prosecution’s case is wrong and leaves the courtroom with Archie, with going on the run from the law while Wolfe tries to find the truth.
“The Next Witness” is truly a top notch story and it shows Wolfe at his wiliest and most resourceful as he’s forced to stay in a strange house, travel around in a car, and question witnesses in strange places. The payoff scene in the courtroom is a brilliant strategem.
Rating: Very Satisfactory
“When a Man Murders”-
This is Nero Wolfe’s Enoch Arden case as a millionaire husband returns from after being declared Killed in Action in the Army. However, the wife has a new husband and needs Wolfe’s help in trying to reason with the old one. When the old husband’s found murdered and suspicion falls on the couple that benefits most, Wolfe is hired to investigate. The Enoch Arden plot has been done quite a bit in mystery fiction. This one is fairly well thought out.
Rating: Satisfactory
“Die Like a Dog”
A man accidentally takes Archie’s coat rather than his own. Archie goes to switch coats and finds homicide crawling detectives all over the scene and given his history, he leaves. However, a dog follows him home. Wolfe bends over backwards to try and keep the dog while making Archie the one to blame for it. However, Inspector Cramer throws a monkey wrench it when its revealed the dog belongs to the man murdered at the apartment.
This one is good for the characterization as Wolfe’s interplay with the dog is definitely a humanizing factor. The solution seems pretty simple in retrospect but if you read the whole story with everyone walking around it, it seems clever by the time you reach it.
Rating: Satisfactory
The last two stories are above average but the Next Witness is enough to carry the collection to:
Rating: Very Satisfactory
You can find all the Nero Wolfe books in Kindle, Audiobook, and book form on our Nero Wolfe page.
If you enjoyed this post, you can have new posts about Detective stories and the golden age of radio and television delivered automatically to your Kindle.
Share this:
- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
- Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)
- Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
- Click to print (Opens in new window)