Showing results by author "Original Radio Broadcast" in All Categories

Cases of safe-cracking, gambling, kidnapping, car theft, and murder - police across the nation are tracking small-time crooks and big-time trouble. This landmark series of Philips H. Lord, arguably responsible for the entire idea of reality-based police dramas, featured true stories that played like fiction. A novel idea for the time, and one that is still powerful today. After the story was told, and the crooks were apprehended, listeners heard bulletin style updates of other criminals at large and helped bring hundreds of them to justice.

With a crash and and a thump and a tumble and a bang, open up the closet door for another hilarious visit with Fibber McGee and Molly! Head down to Wistful Vista with Jim and Marian Jordan for 20 zany radio comedy classics! Bill Thompson is heard as The Old Timer and Wallace Wimple, with Gale Gordon as Mayor LaTrivia and Foggy Williams, Arthur Q. Bryan as Doc Gamble, and Harlow Wilcox announcing in these entertaining episodes from 1948.

Philo Vance, America's most popular fictional detective of the 1920s and 1930s, moved from S. S. Van Dine's novels onto the silver screen and later radio. The aristocratic amateur sleuth was portrayed in more than 100 radio broadcasts by Jackson Beck, the versatile actor who had previously starred as the Cisco Kid and announced The Adventures of Superman. Return to the scene of the crime in 18 classic whodunits, costarring Joan Alexander (radio's Lois Lane) as Ellen Deering and George Petrie as District Attorney Markham.

Racketeers and robbers, crap-shooters and kidnappers, hit men and hard cases - watch out! Joe Friday's on the job, and he isn't here to fool around! Join Jack Webb for 20 gritty true-life tales of urban crime from the files of the Los Angeles Police Department. Ben Alexander, Martin Milner, Jack Kruschen, Virginia Gregg, June Whitley, Stacy Harris, and more co-star as the city's cops, concerned citizens, and cold criminals.

Saboteurs and spies! Con artists, kidnappers, and interstate felons galore! They're all fair game for Special Agent Jim Taylor, steely-eyed G-Man in This Is Your FBI! Produced with the full cooperation of Director J. Edgar Hoover himself, here are 16 radio dramas of crime and scientific investigation drawn from actual case files! Firm-jawed, firm-voiced Stacy Harris stars as Taylor, cracking down on swindlers and bunco artists, bank robbers and blackmailers, safe crackers, extortionists, and double-crossers with an air of quiet authority.

Here are Western stories with an adult sensibility - complex tales of difficult choices and moral dilemmas played out against the backdrop of frontier America. William Conrad is Marshal Matt Dillon in 20 thoughtful, exciting episodes of Gunsmoke!

Actor and singer Dick Powell, after many musicals for the Warner Brothers and Fox studios, embarked on a new career as a hard-boiled tough guy. Powell got the opportunity to further flex his new tough-guy muscles in the medium of radio, starring in the role of investigator Richard Rogue in the crime drama Rogue’s Gallery. In this collection, Powell portrays Rogue with a charming lack of care and refusal to take things too seriously, all while delivering solid entertainment for detective and crime drama fans.

William Bendix stars as Chester A. Riley in producer Irving Brecher's outstanding radio comedy series The Life of Riley. Co-starring with Bendix is Paula Winslowe as Riley's long-suffering wife, Peg, and John Brown performing in two roles, that of Riley's pal Gillis and, most memorably, as the hilarious "friendly undertaker" Digger O'Dell. This collection features 16 classic radio episodes, including rare and previously unavailable selections, all digitally remastered and restored for your listening enjoyment.

Lum and Abner are facing off against Squire Skimp and find themselves in a bit of legal hot water. Lum considers several changes of profession, and Abner aims to take over the Jot 'Em Down Store on his own. Will Squire finally get his comeuppance? Will the Edwards-Peabody partnership end for good? Are synthetic diamonds the answer to their troubles? What changes are afoot in Pine Ridge? Come listen to Chester Lauck and Norris Goff in 36 consecutive episodes from the winter of 1943 to 1944 and find out!

John Dehner stars as J.B. Kendall, a reporter for the London Times who writes and fights his way through the Wild West. Roaming the territories in search of "colorful and unusual accounts", he has regular brushes with both the famous and the infamous. This 10-compact disc collection features 21 episodes of the classic adult Western created, produced, written, and directed by radio legend Antony Ellis - including the series' audition recording, starring Ben Wright in the lead role.

Encounter the death who walks, rats, descents into madness, ghosts, mad scientists, crimes against nature, and much more in this classic collection presenting 22 tales of the supernatural from authors such as Mary Shelley, Bram Stoker, Charles Dickens, and Ambrose Bierce. Features performances from Peter Lorre, Hal Holbrooke, Boris Karloff, and the work of many leading radio directors, writers, and actors of the day. Also included are episodes from Strange, a rarely heard series narrated by Walter Gibson, creator and author of The Shadow.

The Phil Harris-Alice Faye Show was one of radio’s brightest lights; a hilarious situation comedy featuring a friendly sardonic and sarcastic edge that set it apart from its contemporaries. Featuring Phil Harris, fresh off plying his comedic and musical talents on The Jack Benny Program, and his movie star wife Alice Faye. The show also starred Elliott Lewis as the remarkable Frankie Remley - one of radio’s most unforgettable characters - a humorously irresponsible con-artist with an endless thirst for the good stuff.

In 1940, America was still staggering its way out of the Great Depression, and war clouds were rolling in from Europe. The upcoming Presidential campaign spotlight turned to perhaps the unlikeliest, but certainly the most entertaining, candidate of all - Gracie Allen. Politics was perfect for Gracie's particular brand of logical illogic. Join the hilarity, and the throngs of supporters, as George Burns, Gracie, and their entire cast embark on a whistle-stop tour all the way to the Surprise Party's national convention in Omaha, Nebraska.

Radio Spirits is pleased to present 20 classic episodes of Suspense, one of radio's longest running and best mystery anthology series. This collection features programs from the early 1950s as produced and directed by Elliott Lewis. Suspense was well-known for its guest star performers and the shows presented here are no exception, featuring appearances by Dana Andrews, Joseph Cotton, Richard Widmark, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, Alan Ladd, Dennis Day, Fred MacMurray, Agnes Moorehead, William Bendix, Ronald Colman, Joan Crawford, Phil Harris and Alice Faye and more.

Jack Webb and Barton Yarborough star as Joe Friday and Ben Romero - just a couple of cops doing their job. Follow them step-by-step through 20 true-to-life cases, drawn from the files of the Los Angeles Police Department. Their dialogue was never clichéd or exaggerated, and their cases never relied on jumped-up action sequences to deliver impact. Whether they were on the trail of a car thief with violent tendencies, a fast-moving gang of safecrackers, a kidnapper, a mail thief, or a murderer, their job was the same: Get 'em.

When Phillips H. Lord created his long running Gang Busters radio series in January of 1936, crime was rampant and criminals (both actual and fictional) were being glamorized in movies and newspapers. In response, Lord brought the public this police procedural series, dramatizing stories of real cops who kept real counterfeiters, safe crackers, and killers off the streets - and even broadcasting alerts for criminals known to be at large.

Tough, yet compassionate - and a first-class detective besides - that's Boston Blackie. The infamous safe cracker turned private eye will lead you through 16 hard-hitting crime classics from 1947-48! Richard Kollmar stars as Blackie, with Lesley Woods as Mary Wesley, and Maurice Tarplin as Inspector Faraday. The race is on for our hero to capture the killers, recover the diamonds, and clear his own name!

Our Duffy's Tavern: Volume One is the very first in our Archives collection. Once again these fantastic episodes from the 1951 season are available - along with a bonus track: the series' 1940 audition performance on Forecast. Come on back to the place where "the elite meet to eat", and visit with Archie and the gang. There is never a dull moment at the tavern on New York's 3rd Avenue.

Radio Spirits brings you classic tales of mystery, crime, and suspense featuring everyday individuals caught in a web of their own making and tripped up by a twist of fate in the end. And heard throughout each radio play, as the events become a tangled web of crime, is that shadowy voice-of-fate, your host, The Whistler! Dripping with sarcasm, The Whistler follows the murderers’ slow descent into destruction while cautioning listeners about the futility of the criminal act they just heard.

Mr. and Mrs. Piper are at it again - navigating the ebb and flow of postwar suburbia in The Couple Next Door. The head of the household takes up a new hobby, navigates changes at work, and faces a few domestic dilemmas - all while his lovely wife stands by...and stands her ground! Peg Lynch and Alan Bunce star in 32 consecutive episodes from 1959, featuring Margaret Hamilton as Aunt Effie!