July 10, 2022
Candy Matson, YUkon 2-8209
The Cable Car Murder - in which Candy Matson, San Francisco detective, finds that the guy sitting next to her on the cable car when she gets to the end of the line is dead, and he wasn’t when she sat down.
An OTR recreation by the One Act Players.
Black Jack Justice in No News Is Good News
Jack Justice and his partner, Trixie Dixon, Girl Detective, were on a different case at the time, but when their friend didn’t show up with the information he promised, they decided maybe it was important to find out what happened.
DecoderRing Theater presents another in the lengthy series by Gregg Taylor. Characters created by Martin Bracknell. July 17, 2022
A Pledge Drive Show – be sure to support Community Radio and Sound Affects.
H-Street Heat
The Washington (D.C.) Audio Theater offers up this tale. It seems someone is taking over the rackets down on H-Street, and the new guys seems to be a lot rougher than the previous operators. Stash Force detective agency gets more than he hired on for on this case.
Gas Town Mystery - Murder By Meteorite
Five fast episodes involving a most unusual crime. From the One Act Players. July 24, 2022
The Martian Crown Jewels
Poul Anderson wrote the original story in 1959 when it was still possible to believe in a native civilization on Mars. Here it is performed by Seeing Ear Theater, a project of the SyFy Channel. Earth Inspector Gregg needs the assistance of Mars’ greatest detective, Syaloch, a 7-foot biped who looks sort of like a stork, and is adept at methods made famous by Sherlock Holmes. Featuring film and TV actor, Bronson Pinchot as the Martian detective.
Maxwell Morgan, Crime Cabbie
David Ossman stars in his own script, very much in the Old Time Radio style, full of colorful and expansive dialogue. Featuring KFAI’s own Charles Brin as a policeman. Presented at the Midwest Radio Theatre Workshop back about 1981 or so.
July 31, 2022
Repeat of July 24 program. August 7, 2022
Forward Into The Past
Time Out For Bill Lizard
Bill Lizard is a detective, and this very old guy pops out of a vortex and hands him a mobile phone, and then disappears again. Bill seems to be the only person around who hasn’t seen the vortex guy before. And then things start to get really weird.
Written and produced by Roger Gregg, of Crazy Dog Audio Theater. There seems to be a large number of actors in this piece, but you could never tell that ALL of them are played by Roger Gregg. This and other Bill Lizard tales are available On YouTube.
Vince Washburn in “If You’ve Got The Time”
Vince, the New Age Detective, is hired to help a beautiful woman find her lost brother, who is missing in San Francisco – in 1905. And little Jimmy Knox keeps sneaking in and pushing buttons that shouldn’t be touched.
We heard the first episode of Vince Washburn earlier in the series, as performed at the Midwest Radio Theater Workshop. This second episode was done by the Shockwave crew at a Minicon Science Fiction convention. Take note of character names and see if they don’t seem familiar, if you live in Minneapolis. August 14, 2022
Tricks of the Detective Trade
The Adventure of the Mazarin Stone – A Sherlock Holmes Mystery
No discussion of detectives in any medium would be complete without mention of Sherlock Holmes. This is one of his famous tales as performed by Hosiprog, a radio network in Europe aimed at entertainment for those in Hospital and the hearing impaired.
Holmes lays a clever trap for a diabolical criminal, with the aid of his faithful friend, Dr. Watson.
Abra Cadaver
The local police detective thinks he has figured out who killed the man at his own party. It seems that everyone there has a motive. But then the phone rings, and new evidence comes to light.
Another fine example of language play in radio detective stories, coming from the Champaign-Ubrana Audio Theater.
A Case of Oversight – A Five Minute Mystery
A short mystery setup, and a pause to let the listener solve it. A recreation of an old time radio program, and you can watch it all being made in the studio in this YouTube Video. Perpetrators unknown.
August 21, 2022
Hearing is Believing
Blues For Johnny Raven
The Atlanta Radio Theater Company sends us this remarkably inventive story. The detective tale is very good in itself, but the characters all live in a very “audio” world called The Loop, and they know it every day. The story ambience part of the plot, and it is part of the conversation, too.
Written by Thomas E. Fuller. Producer, David Benedict sent us this live performance, and mentions that a studio version is available from their store, or from Audible.
Operation Opposition
A Mark Markheim Miniscule Mystery, full of alliteration and artful audio, from the One Act Players.
The Case of the Missing Ruby - A Five Minute Mystery
Another short setup, and you get to try to solve the mystery yourself. Watch this recreation of an Old Time Radio standard as it’s being performed in the studio, on YouTube, without any credits. August 28, 2022
The Shadow – The Little Man Who Wasn’t There
Three people have been robbed in public and no one could see who did it, which causes Commissioner Weston to wonder if the Shadow has gone bad.
A recreation by the Chatterbox Audio Theater from Memphis, TN, of a story originally aired in 1945.
A Gas Town Mystery – The Case of the Abducted Asphalt
The roads in Vancouver, BC have been stolen on the eve of the Canadian Grand Prix. Can PI Stanley Park find them in time for the race?
Five fast episodes from the One Act Players, alternated with five quick ones of…
Nick Danger – The Case of the Missing Shoe
The Firesign Theatre’s famous detective with the Third Eye is caught up in a case involving the telephone company, and they usually mean a mean business.
Taken from the Box of Danger collection, on the Shout Factory label. September 4, 2022
Midnight Cab – The Mystery of the Blue-Eyed Man
Canadian Broadcasting radio still carried a lot of audio drama in the 1990s, including several detective series. Walker Devereaux is a young man from a small town who is just learning the ways of the big city of Toronto, driving a cab at night. In the 35 episodes of the series he solves mysteries with the help of his girlfriend, and cab dispatcher, Krista Papadopoulos. Midnight Cab ran from 1992-96. This is the first episode in the series, written by James W. Nichol.
Pulp Radio – Diamonds of Death
The second in the Dan Turner, Hollywood Detective series of stories by Robert Leslie Bellem, published in Spicy Detective Stories in July of 1934. There were dozens of Turner tales over the next 15 years, all full of dainty damsels and hasty haymakers on the dimpled chin of one of the hardest of the hard-boiled.
This story was produced by Michael Packer at WGBU public radio in Grand Rapids, MI, as part of his Pulp Radio series. After the days of radio drama in the U.S. ended, Robert L. Bellem went on to write for television, including scripts for Superman, and Perry Mason.
September 11, 2022
Big Fun Radio Funtime!
Performed at the opening of Convergence in August of 2022, it’s Geek Flavored comedy radio sketches. Four of them are from this year’s chapter, and one left over from 2021.
Is It Right For Me? and In The Shop, by Brian Price and Jerry Stearns.
Spring Cleaning and After Party, Part 6 by Tim Wick.
Outsourcing Batman by Jason Krueger. September 18, 2022
Locally Sourced Audio Theater
Behind Her, Trailing Like Butterfly Wings
The Fancy Pants Gangsters present this episode of their RedShift podcast. Written by Daniela Tomova in Apex Magazine.
This is the tale of the people who wander the countryside in search of a mysterious woman, a journalist doing research on them, and a man who’s been on the search a long time and seen it all.
Lance Manley: Library Detective’s Case of the Drop Box Bank Job
The new cataloger is pestering Lance to join him on a case, but a Library Detective doesn’t often come across a crime involving more than overdue books. Then something literally drops into the library drop box that will take both of them to solve.
A brand new work, performed live in August by the Icebox Radio Theater, in a band shell in International Falls, MN. Watch the live performance on YouTube here.
September 25, 2022
The Best of Saratoga Springs, Part 1 (of 3)
A small and vibrant city in upstate New York; home of the first horse race track in the U.S., and where the potato chip was invented. This is the lives of the quirky characters and a bit of the history of Saratoga Springs, NY. Meet White Boy Rick, and Penny Nicholson-Dimes, and Lo Fat and many more delightful denizens of the city.
This ZBS series was originally broadcast on NPR in 91 short episodes. That’s a lot. So we’re choosing just a few of the best episodes over three weeks. It’s still all here, though.
