Home

Bob Bailey & Virginia Gregg in front of an old Microphone

Bob Bailey & Virginia Gregg

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.

Amazing World of Radio

The War

OTR Superman Show

Detective Video Theater

Recent Posts

EP0250: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: The Calgary Matter

Edmond O'Brien

Johnny Dollar is called into a robbery case by a friend of the robber

Original Air Date: July 13, 1950

For great deals on Travel, go to http://www.johnnydollarair.com

Call the show at 208-991-4783

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

EP0249: Sherlock Holmes: The Adventure of the Blarney Stone

Basil Rathbone

A hated businessman tries to win 10 pounds by kissing the Blarney Stone, but instead falls to his death and Holmes must found out who caused it.

Original Air Date: March 18, 1946

Try Netflix for two weeks free of unlimited movie rentals… http://netflix.greatdetectives.net/

Take our listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net
Click here to download, click here to add this podcast to your Itunes, click hereto subscribe to his podcast on Zune, click here to subscribe to this feed using any other feed reader

EP0248:Let George Do It: The Four Sided Triangle

 

Bob Bailey

George is hired by a Canadian writer to investigate a mysterious death.

Original Air Date:March 21, 1949

Try Audible and get a free audiobook… http://audiblepodcast.com/oldtimeradio

Cast your vote for the show at http://podcastalley.greatdetectives.net

Take our listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net

Cast your vote for the show at http://podcastalley.greatdetectives.net
Call in at 208-991-GR8D (4783)
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.

EP0247: Jeff Regan: She’s Lovely, She’s Engaged, She Eats Soybeans

*Regan is sent to protect a lovely bathing suit model who dabbles in health food.

Original Air Date: July 9, 1950

Try Netflix free for a month. Go to http://netflix.greatdetectives.net

Leave a voice mail…208-991-GR8D (4783)

Take our listener survey at http://survey.greatdetectives.net

Cast your vote for the show at http://podcastalley.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.

EP0246: Box 13: Archimedes and the Roman

Alan Ladd

A letter from a young boy leads 250 miles from home where he’s held hostage in an observatory by a jewelry robbery.

Original Air Date: December 8, 1948

Get a free Audiobook. Try Audible for two weeks free, learn more at http://audiblepodcast.com/oldtimeradio

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.

50 Years of Yabba Dabba Do

It’s rare for a TV show that turns 50 years old to be remembered, yet alone to make the front page on Google, but that’s what happened to the Flinstones.

The show began in 1960 on ABC and has spawned numerous TV spinoffs, movies, and one-shot TV specials. Some of these efforts have been of dubious quality, but what keeps the remakes and spinoffs coming is that the show has so many fans that anything with the Flinstones in it will have an instant appeal.

The 1960-66 original TV run remains the bedrock (pun intended) for the Flinstones franchise. The show is in the same style of other classic “everyman” sitcoms such as The Life of Riley and The Honeymooners.  The show was lead by veteran radio and cartoon actors Alan Reed and Mel Blanc. It was strengthened by good writing that took advantage of the show’s fantastic setting and the opportunities presented by cartoon physics.

What has made the show so popular for so long?

The first key is animation. Parents introduce their kids to cartoons such as Looney Tunes and Disney’s gigantic cartoon collection.  They’re the type of shows that parents have no problem introducing their kids to. And the grown up nature of the Flintstones helps to keep kids fans after they’ve grown up, even if they don’t advertise it. They just buy the DVDs for the kids.

The second thing is the fantastic stone age setting. With pet dinosaurs instead of pet dogs, cars that move by the passengers and driver running, stone-age Television, and all the conveniences of living in Bedrock make the setting timeless, and help make the show as enjoyable and accessible today as when it first aired.

The Jetsons, which launched two years after the Flintstones, has endured, but with far fewer spin-offs and less prominence. The reason The Jetsons has enjoyed a lesser success is that it’s set in the future and its vision of the future often seems dated. After all,  2062 is only 50 years away and its unlikely to be the world the creators of the Jetsons imagined.

The other advantage that The Flintstones has is the relationship between the Rubbles and the Flintstones. The friendship and love between the classic characters makes the show speak to every generation.   

Shows about the present and the future become dated far more easily than shows about a fantastic past, and shows that feature great friendships will last the longest of all.

Links:

Watch the Flinstones at AOL Video.

EP0245s: Candy v. Nero: The Results

A brief podcast releasing the results of the Candy v. Nero fan vote.

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