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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!

May 11, 2025

Happy Mother’s Day! We’re celebrating moms with five old time radio mysteries where they play major roles. In “The Case of the Lucky Shilling,” Sherlock Holmes comes to the aid of a woman whose son is wiped out by a crooked gambler (originally aired on Mutual on January 14, 1948), and George Valentine tries to prove that a woman is not an unfit mother in “Problem Child” from Let George Do It (originally aired on Mutual on June 21, 1948). A woman hires Dan Holiday to prove her son’s death wasn’t an accident in “Suicide or Murder” from Box 13, and the mother of an escaped convict wants Richard Diamond to send her son back to prison (originally aired on NBC on October 4, 1950). Finally, the cops of Dragnet are on the trail of a serial shoplifter who only steals clothes for children in “The Big Little Mother” (originally aired on NBC on October 6, 1953).