Preview Mode Links will not work in preview mode

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!

Happy Birthday, William Conrad

Sep 27, 2017

Even if you don’t know his name, chances are you know William Conrad’s voice.  You may know it from the jovial narrations of the adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle or the somber voice-over that followed Richard Kimble, The Fugitive.  Maybe you’ll recall his heavyset but still hard-nosed private eye Frank Cannon or...


Sep 24, 2017

On September 30, 1962, the Golden Age of Radio came to a close with the final broadcasts of Suspense and Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar. The man with the action-packed expense account solved crimes right up until the end of the era as he wrapped up a thirteen-year career of radio crimefighting. For those final years, Mandel...


"The man in the saddle"

Sep 20, 2017

"The man in the saddle is angular and long-legged. His skin is sun-dyed brown. The gun in his holster is gray steel and rainbow mother-of-pearl, its handle unmarked. People call them both 'the Six Shooter.'"

Today in 1953, James Stewart rode on to the radio range as Britt Ponset, the wandering plainsman and infamous...


Sep 17, 2017

Jeff Chandler trades the biology lab for the back alleys and swamps of New Orleans as Brett Halliday’s “reckless, red-headed Irishman” Michael Shayne. Chandler, known to radio fans as bashful science teacher Philip Boynton in Our Miss Brooks, gave radio one of its toughest, most two-fisted private eyes in a...


Happy Birthday, Edmond O'Brien

Sep 10, 2017

Academy Award-winning actor Edmond O’Brien was born September 10, 1915. In a career that spanned five decades, O’Brien was one of the all-time great character actors of the big and small screens. But to old time radio fans, O’Brien is best known as “the man with the action-packed expense account” – Yours...