Author: Yours Truly Johnny Blogger

EP0173: Let George Do It: Who Is Sylvia?

A businessman asks George to help him confirm suspicions about his wife. George doesn’t do those type of cases, but his curiosity is peaked when the businessman commits suicide-apparently, the second husband to die of poisoning.

Original Air Date: November 22, 1948

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

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.

EP0172: Jeff Regan: The Guy From Gower Gulch

Regan is hired by a movie cowboy named Davy Crockett to retrieve an item from an alley.

Quotes of the show:

“My place is furnished with war surplus—from the Spanish American War.”

“Things were starting to move like a hula dancer with the Hot Foot.”

“The whole thing blew up like a hoop skirt in a high wind.”

Original Air Date: November 13, 1948

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

For all your web hosting needs, try the World’s #1 web host 1and1, http://hosting.greatdetectives.net

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

EP0171: Box 13: Sealed Instructions

A man sends Dan Holiday to the Philippines with half a map to retrieve an item, promising $10,000 in return. When Holiday arrives, the man he’s supposed to meet is dead.

Original Air Date: August 25, 1948 

Get a free audiobook when you try Audible. 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.

Nostalgic for Art

I don’t view myself as a Nostalgia show host. I love old radio detective shows because of their quality, rarely touched in modern attempts, either in the fiber of the characters, or in the quality of the stories. They don’t make them like that anymore.

However, there are some shows that fill me with a nostalgic sense, and a great example of this is the radio and later TV hit, People are Funny. After the recent death of Mr. Art Linkletter, who I’d only seen from archive footage from his House Party days, I put five episodes of his game show where he gave out cash and prizes while challenging his audience to do stunts. People went along with the gag for the fun of it, more than for the prizes.

The show had something very gentle about its humor. While the idea of paying people money to do stunts isn’t unusual, today such stunts often involve doing things that are immoral or dangerous (see Temptation Island), and creating artificial hatreds and tensions with greed as a fuel for treachery (Survivor), as well as exploiting people’s real emotions, dreams, and feelings for high ratings (too many shows to list.)

Art Linkletter’s game show thought people were funny, but it also showed a respect for people. The stunts might cause some temporary embarassment like when Linkletter dispatached a man to sell Goat’s Milk door to door in a ritzy hotel, but they weren’t really going to hurt people in the long run. There was no attempt to gain ratings by exploiting people. There was a sense that the show was all in good fun, and audience, host, and guests were laughing together.

Of course, this isn’t to say that all was perfect in America during the 1950s. I’ll be the first to admit that the country was far from perfect back then (as the world always was), and these shows will have reminders of things we were better off leaving behind.

However,one part of the 1950s I am nostalgic about is the grace and class of Art Linkletter. Sadly, they don’t make many like that anymore.

A Look at Our Listeners

Well, we’ve been collecting Listener Surveys since the show started and even though I’ve not mentioned them for a while, they’ve accumulate at a nice pace. So who’s listening?  What type of folks are interested in Old Time Radio Detectives?  A few quick facts:

  • Men make up a solid majority of our listeners: Our listener base is 64% Male, but this is quite a bit less than the 71% male listener base over on Dragnet.
  • The Audience is well-educated: 60% of the Audience has at least a Bachelor’s degree with 29% having post-graduate degrees.
  • The Audience is a mix of ages: One would expect that most listeners would be people reliving the days they’d heard radio. While some are, the numbers suggest that there are plenty of younger listeners. 47% of the listeners were under 45 and 96% are under 65. This means we’re bringing old time radio to a new generation, as well as a few who are reliving it. This would seem to suggest that there’s a future in the past.
  • Where in the World: Blubrry tracks where our downloads are coming from. Most (90.6%) come from the U.S. However, our neighbors to the North contribute 6.2% of the downloads, followed by the U.K. at 1.8%, also showing up for downloads this month are Australia, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, and Sweden,
  • Popular Shows: The shows rank as follows: 1) Johnny Dollar, 2) Box 13, 3) Jeff Regan, 4) Let George Do it, 5) Sherlock Holmes. 

EP0170: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: Stuart Palmer, Writer

Edmond O'Brien

Also known as, “The Man Who Wrote Himself to Death.”  Johnny Dollar is off to Chicago to investigate the case of a recently insured man whose involvement in the underworld could lead to a very early insurance payoff.

Rehersal of Show That Aired: March 14, 1950

Remember the name http://johnnydollarair.com when you plan your travel.

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.

EP0169: Sherlock Holmes: The Double Zero

While in the South of France at a Casino, death comes to two local gamblers and it’s up to Holmes to find the truth.

Original Air Date: November 19, 1945

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

EP0168: Let George Do It: Murder, It’s a Gift

A pious old man calls George in to help him dispose of his most prized possession-a Wittenberg Bible worth $20,000. But does one of his potential heirs want it enough to kill for it?

Original Air Date: November 8, 1948

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

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.

EP0167: Jeff Regan: The Lady With Too Much Hair

Jack Webb

A woman hires international to escort her daughter when she returns home from college, but murder comes into play when a red-haired man becomes bald after being murdered.

Quotes of the show:

“It was all crazy, like an Eskimo with a popsicle.”

“He was shaking like a polar bear in a French bathing suit.”

Original Air Date: November 6, 1948

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

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 reade

EP0166: Box 13: Mexican Maze

Dan Holiday goes to Mexico to help a man who says his life is in danger.

Original Air Date: August 18, 1948

Get a free audiobook when you try audible… 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.

EP0165: Yours Truly Johnny Dollar: Eighty-Five Little Minks

Edmond O'Brien

*Johnny Dollar goes back to Boston to investigate the disappearance of eighty-five valuable mink coats.

Original Air Date: March 14, 1950

Remember the name http://johnnydollarair.com when you plan your travel.

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.

EP0164: Sherlock Holmes: The Speckled Band

A young woman whose sister died from a mysterious poisoning asks Holmes and Watson to help, fearing her step father may kill her next.

Original Air Date: November 12, 1945

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

EP0163: Let George Do It: The Flower Smells of Murder

A woman attending college under the G.I. Bill calls George and Claire in to investigate because she suspects someone is out to kill her botany professor.

Original Air Date: November 1, 1948

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.

EP0162: Jeff Regan: The Lost Lady

A woman hires Regan to find her missing sister, but Regan’s not buying it.

Original Air Date: October 16, 1948

Get a free audiobook with a 2 week trail to Audible… http://audiblepodcast.com/oldtimeradio

Original Air Date: October 16, 1948

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 reade

EP0161: Box 13: Tempest in a Casserole

*A restaurant owner turns to Dan Holiday to help him find out why he’s being pressured to sublet his restaurant.

Original Air Date: August 11, 1948

Get a free audiobook when you try Audible. 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 reade