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Welcome to Down These Mean Streets, a weekly trip back to the Golden Age of Radio where we rub elbows with the era's greatest private eyes, cops, and crime-fighters. Since 2013, I've been podcasting everything from cozy mysteries to police procedurals, spotlighting characters ranging from hard boiled gumshoes to amateur sleuths. 

Be sure to tune in each Sunday for adventures of a radio detective and the behind-the-scenes stories of their shows. Join me as we spend time with Sam Spade, Johnny Dollar, Sgt. Joe Friday, and more!

Jan 30, 2022

Gentleman thieves - both reformed and otherwise - step into the spotlight this week. First, Chester Morris is Boston Blackie - enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend - in "The Missing String of Pearls" (originally aired on NBC on August 11, 1944). Then, Orson Welles reprises his Third...


Jan 23, 2022

Our heroes this week have sharp deductive minds to match their physical heft. Criminals may misjudge them by their size, but having some extra pounds doesn't slow them down when it comes to closing cases. We'll hear Sydney Greenstreet as Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe in "The Case of the Midnight Ride" (originally aired on NBC...


Jan 16, 2022

Steve Dunne had big shoes to fill when he was cast as Sam Spade. Dashiell Hammett's private eye had been thrilling listeners since 1946 in weekly adventures starring Howard Duff, but accusations of Communist sympathies cost Duff the gig. Dunne played a younger-sounding, less serious Sam for the final run of episodes....


Jan 9, 2022

The cops of the radio era are on the beat in three old time radio procedural dramas. First, Dan Duryea is the intense, two-fisted Lt. Lou Dana in "The Donald Shelberger Case" from The Man from Homicide (originally aired on ABC on July 9, 1951). Then, we'll hear an Armed Forces Radio Service rebroadcast of The Line-Up...


Jan 2, 2022

We're starting 2022 off with Bob Bailey as "the man with the action-packed expense account!" Bailey stars in a five-part adventure of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar - "The Chesapeake Fraud Matter" (originally aired on CBS between October 17th and 21st, 1955).