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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!

Oct 29, 2025

Trick or treat! It’s time for the annual Down These Mean Streets Halloween Special! In this king-sized bonus show, we’ll hear a parade of stories - both spooky and silly - designed to get you in the spirit of the season. First, big screen horror legend Boris Karloff lends his voice to “The Corridor of Doom,” a...


Oct 26, 2025

With Halloween right around the corner, we delve into the spooky side of sleuthing with mysteries involving voodoo, curses, and other hexes. Nick Carter’s new client believes her physician practices black magic instead of medicine in “The Drums of Death, or Nick Carter and the White Witch Doctor” (originally aired...


Oct 19, 2025

The skies are unfriendly this week as three old time radio heroes face danger in the air. First, Boston Blackie is due in with evidence to send a notorious gangster to the chair…but his airplane disappears! Richard Kollmar stars as the gentleman thief turned gumshoe in this syndicated mystery. Then, Orson Welles...


Oct 12, 2025

The Maltese Falcon premiered in movie theaters eight eighty-four years ago this month, and we're celebrating the anniversary of one of Hollywood's best mystery pictures with a showcase for its stars - Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, and Sydney Greenstreet. We'll hear each of them headline a radio mystery, and...


Oct 5, 2025

We're saluting the 105th anniversary of the birth of William Conrad - the radio acting legend who brought law and order to Dodge City as Matt Dillon on Gunsmoke and who racked up hundreds of credits on detective shows, thrillers, comedies, and dramas. Conrad stars as Philip Marlowe in "The Anniversary Gift" (originally...