Category Archives: Podcasts

Revisiting the radio series O’Hara

I recently received an email from old time radio researcher extraordinaire, Stewart Wright, whose contributions to the old time radio community have proved invaluable.  He has researched the series I presented several podcasts ago about the foreign correspondent cum detective Bob O’Hara and produced a radio log on the series which can be found at http://www.old-time.com/otrlogs2/ohara_sw.log.pdf. According to Stewart, there… (more…)

Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 234 – Easy Money

A short lived detective-magician series heard over NBC Radio in the early fifties starring Larry Haines (left). The series was not very good, though the production was quite good. Only five episodes seem to be in circulation and were created by George B. Anderson, and ad executive for The Chicago Tribune, who also wrote radio plays. Produced out of Chicago,… (more…)

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Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 233 – Escape: Papa Benjamin

Besides his fictional noir crime stories, author Cornell Woolrich under the pseudonym, William Irish, also explored exotic noir creating stories from the bayou among other locales. With Music From the Dark, aka Papa Benjamin, he created dark stories of voodoo and cult. The CBS radio series Escape under William N Robeson and Norman MacDonnell, took Irish’s story and added smokey,… (more…)

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Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 232 – O’Hara

When Rocky Jordan initially left the air in 1950, lead actor, Jack Moyles, found himself afloat.  He committed to the audition program you will hear in this podcast as the freelance foreign correspondent for a mythical San Francisco news organization. He was based in Hong Kong and would find himself covering stories of unusual character which often placed him in… (more…)

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Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 231 – The McCoy

In 1947, the House Committee for UnAmerican Activities held nine days of hearings into alleged communist influence within Hollywood. Soon this expanded into other entertainment media including radio. Soon, more than 300 artists were boycotted by the studios. On the list was Dashiell Hammett. When this expanded to the McCarthy Hearings in the early fifties, Howard Duff also appeared on… (more…)

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Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 230 – Deadline at Dawn

Though there are not always good examples, “Deadline at Dawn” as heard over Suspense in 1948 was a shining example of radio noir. Taking a story from the father of noir fiction, Cornell Woolrich (William Irish), and adaptation by one of the best noirish scriptwriters, Irving Ravetch, it was the perfect marriage of true audio noir. One must also not… (more…)

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Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 229 – The Saint

A rare audition recording of the radio series The Saint which was made prior to the NBC version starring Edgar Barrier. This particular audition instead stars actor and writer, Denis Green, in the role of Simon Templar. Green is best known as part of the duo of Anthony Boucher and Denis Green, who wrote many non-canonical Adventures of Sherlock Holmes… (more…)

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Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 228 – The Adventures of the Thin Man

In celebration of the 73rd anniversary of the premier of the Adventures of the Thin Man on radio, a rarely heard episode from 1942 – the earliest available. This one is from an Armed Forces Radio disc as part of their “Frontline Theater.” While the radio series was not as good as the films, they are still enjoyable to listen… (more…)

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Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 227 – The Adventures of Christopher London

A little heard series since only 3 episodes exist of actor Glenn Ford starring as detective for hire Christopher London. This was on the air briefly at the height of his popularity in film. The first episode of this short-lived series. Music under is Nicholas Payton with the theme from the film Chinatown.

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Radio Detective Story Hour Episode 226 – Matthew Slade, Private Investigator

By 1963 all dramatic radio had abandoned American radio broadcasting going the way of music and talk programs. With the rise of television, the networks and sponsors didn’t want to invest in radio drama. The model in this country called for dollars coming in from sponsors to support dramatic radio. Pacifica Radio, a West Coast network of Public Radio stations… (more…)

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  • Jim Widner

  • Jim Widner

  • A former educator and current radio historian, writer and big fan of detective, suspense, and mystery fiction.