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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!

Dec 20, 2017

Haul out the holly - it's time for the "Down These Mean Streets" holiday special. We're wrapping up 2017 with Christmas capers from four old time radio sleuths. First, Natalie Masters is Candy Matson, the gorgeous girl detective of San Francisco, in "Jack Frost" (originally aired on NBC on December 10, 1949). Next, Dick...


Dec 17, 2017

Head down to 417 Cherry Street for a drink and a set from Pete Kelly and his jazz band. Jack Webb combines his love of jazz and his unique style of radio crime drama in Pete Kelly's Blues, a short-lived series from the summer of 1951. The show featured great tunes and downbeat stories of the Prohibition era, and it...


Dec 10, 2017

Two of old time radio's crime solving couples are on hand to mix marriage and mayhem in a pair of mysteries. First, Richard Denning and Barbara Britton are amateur sleuths Mr. and Mrs. North in "Too Late to Die" (an Armed Forces Radio Service rebroadcast of a show originally aired on CBS on December 15, 1953). Then,...


Dec 3, 2017

We’re running a special edition to salute the radio crime fighters of the Fourth Estate – three newsmen who used the power of the press to solve crimes and keep their cities free of corruption. First, Staats Cotsworth is Casey, Crime Photographer in “The Blonde’s Lipstick” (originally aired on CBS on November...