William Gargan, who also played the better known television (and radio) detective Martin Kane, was the voice of New York eye Barrie Craig while Ralph Bell portrayed his associate, Lt. Travis Rogers. Craig's office was on Madison Avenue and his adventures were fairly standard PI fare. He worked alone, solved cases efficiently, and feared no man. As the promos went, he was "your man when you can't go to the cops. Confidentiality a specialty."

Dr. Kildare was produced for syndication in 1949 at WMGM, New York.It was based on the popular Dr. Kildare movies of the late 1930's and early 1940's, and brought to the microphone the stars of that series, Lew Ayres and Lionel Barrymore.Ayres played the young, idealistic Dr. James Kildare; Barrymore, ever in character, was the crusty, loveable diagnostician, Dr. Leonard Gillespie.

The Adventures of Ellery Queen is a radio detective program in the United States. Several iterations of the program appeared on different networks, with the first one broadcast on CBS June 18, 1939, and the last on ABC May 27, 1948.

The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet launched on CBS on October 8, 1944, making a mid-season switch to NBC in 1949. The final years of the radio series were on ABC (the former NBC Blue Network) from October 14, 1949 to June 18, 1954. In total 402 radio episodes were produced.

Dragnet was an American radio series, enacting the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners. The show took its name from the police term "dragnet", meaning a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects.

Dragnet is perhaps the most famous and influential police procedural drama in media history. The series gave audience members a feel for the boredom and drudgery, as well as the danger and heroism, of police work. Dragnet earned praise for improving the public opinion of police officers.

Mel Blanc's success on The Jack Benny Program led to his own radio show on the CBS Radio Network, The Mel Blanc Show, which ran from September 3, 1946 to June 24, 1947. Blanc played himself as the hapless owner of a fix-it shop, as well as a wide range of comical support characters.
Other regular characters were played by Mary Jane Croft, Joseph Kearns, Hans Conreid, Alan Reed, Earle Ross, Jim Backus, Bea Benaderet and The Sportsmen Quartet, who would supply a song and sing the Colgate Tooth Powder commercials.

Our Miss Brooks is an American situation comedy starring Eve Arden as a sardonic high school English teacher. It began as a radio show broadcast on CBS from 1948 to 1957. When the show was adapted to television (1952-56), it became one of the medium's earliest hits. In 1956, the sitcom was adapted for big screen in the film of the same name.

Ripley's Believe It or Not
founded by Robert Ripley, was brought to  radio in 1930.  each episode is about one minute long and tells stories of strange and unusual events from all over the world.

The Jack Benny Program, a weekly radio show which ran from 1932 to 1948 on NBC and from 1949 to 1955 on CBS. It was consistently among the most highly rated programs during most of that run.

Throughout the early 1940s on American Radio, Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce performed as Holmes and Watson, respectively, in several series of canonical and original Sherlock Holmes stories on the The New Adventures of Sherlock Holmes radio show. These broadcasts were loosely based on Doyle's cases. When Rathbone finally departed the role before the 1947 season

Mystery House was a 1940s radio show created by Dan and Barbara Glenn, the owners of Mystery House Publishing Firm, located in New York City. They created the show to test novels they were about to publish.

Each radio broadcast was a short adaptation of a Mystery House novel cleverly acted out by the publishing company staff. Everyone pitched in for the effort, whether they made sound effects or acted as a main character.

This series is not to be confused with House of Mystery or Mystery Playhouse, hosted by Peter Lorre.

Theater Five was ABC's attempt to revive radio drama during the early 1960s. The series name was derived from its time slot, 5:00 PM.Running Monday through Friday, it was an anthology of short stories, each about 20 minutes long. News programs and commercials filled out the full 30 minutes.There was a good bit of science fiction and some of the plots seem to have been taken from the daily newspaper.Fred Foy, of The Lone Ranger fame, was an ABC staff announcer in the early 60s, who, among other duties, did Theater Five.

The Sealed Book was a radio series of mystery and terror tales, produced and directed by Jock MacGregor for the Mutual network. Between March 18 and September 9, 1945, the melodramatic anthology series was broadcast on Sundays from 10:30pm to 11:00pm.

FEAR ON 4 is the British Broadcasting Corporation's continuation of a tradition of horror shows dating back to 1943. Back then, the BBC offered APPOINTMENT WITH FEAR, the title given to ten series of programs running from 1943 to 1955. The Man in Black returned to radio again in 1988, this time played by Edward de Souza. FEAR ON 4, airing on BBC Radio Four, continued in the tradition of its predecessors.

Four series were produced from 1988 through 1993 with a fifth series in 1997.

Beyond Midnight was a South African (English) radio horror anthology series that ran from 1968 to 1970 on  Springbok Radio. The program "was a replacement series for SF'68. Michael McCabe served as producer, and adapted stories for both series'. Unlike its sci-fi predecessor, Beyond Midnight served up stories with a supernatural bent."

Lights Out is an American old-time radio program devoted mostly to horror and the supernatural.Created by Wyllis Cooper and then eventually taken over by Arch Oboler, versions of Lights Out aired on different networks, at various times, from January 3, 1934 to the summer of 1947 and the series eventually made the transition to television. Lights Out was one of the earliest radio horror programs, predating Suspense and Inner Sanctum.

Philo Vance was the detective creation of S. S. Van Dine first published in the mid 1920s. Vance, in the original books, is an intellectual so highly refined he seems he might be ghostwritten by P. G. Wodehouse. Take this quote from The Benson Murder Case, 1924, as Vance pontificates in his inimitable way: "That's your fundamental error, don't y' know. Every crime is witnessed by outsiders, just as is every work of art. The fact that no one sees the criminal, or the artist, actu'lly at work, is wholly incons'quential." Thankfully, the radio series uses only the name, and makes Philo a pretty normal, though very intelligent and extremely courteous gumshoe. Jose Ferrer played him in 1945. From 1948-1950, the fine radio actor Jackson Beck makes Vance as good as he gets. 

The Strange Dr. Weird was a supernatural radio series that aired on Mutual Broadcasting on 1944. It had the same theme and narrator as another terrifying radio show called The Mysterious Traveller, which aired on the same network for 1943 to 1952.  Maurice Tarplin, a well-known radio personality and novelist, served as the show's narrator.

According to the author Ernest Dudley, the character began life in 1940 during World War Two air raids, as he was trying to think up a "different" kind of detective while also providing a comic role for the actress Jane Grahame, who was also his wife. The result, originally heard on the radio show Monday Night at Eight, involved the acerbic criminal psychologist Dr. Morelle and his eager-but-less-than-helpful secretary Miss Frayle. In the 1957 series, Dr. Morelle was played by the English comic actor Cecil Parker, and Sheila Sim played the long-suffering and devoted Miss Frayle.

Lux Radio Theatre was indisputably the biggest, most important, most expensive drama anthology program on radio. It ran from October 14, 1934 until June 7, 1955, then continued on television as Lux Video Theatre until 1957. In all, some 926 episodes were broadcast, providing a record of the most important entertainment events in American theatre and, later, film.

In 1960, entertainers Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney teamed together for The Bing Crosby – Rosemary Clooney Show on CBS. This was a 20-minute show aimed at female listeners and was broadcast at 11:40 a.m. daily.

Crosby and Clooney would tape the dialogue weeks in advance and songs from the substantial library built up with Buddy Cole and his Trio would be interpolated. The songs would usually feature the singers singing separate solos and often a duet. Songs were repeated on many occasions. Murdo MacKenzie served as the producer. The shows commenced on February 29, 1960 and continued without a break until September 28, 1962 officially ending Crosby's 31-year association with radio

NBC's Mystery Theatre began airing with much fanfare on September 7, 1943. The series promised stories from the greatest classical and contemporary mystery authors -- and production values to match. And it kept its promise. It was aided from the outset by the addition of an 'annotator'-- as it was described in the 1940s --named Geoffrey Barnes. The annotator served in the role of expositor, filling in on the plot development as necessary and providing a back-story when needed. The apparent distinction made between a narrator and an annotator, was a matter of degree. Mr. Barnes, a distinguished and celebrated amateur criminologist in his own right, was apparently on hand to help the listener analyze and understand the various mysteries and their underlying crimes within each script.

Sears Radio Theater was a radio drama anthology series which ran weeknightly on CBS Radio in 1979, sponsored by the Sears chain. Often paired with The CBS Radio Mystery Theater during its first season, the program offered a different genre of drama for each day's broadcast.

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Monday was "Western Night" and was hosted by Lorne Greene. Tuesday was "Comedy Night", hosted by Andy Griffith. Wednesday was "Mystery Night" with Vincent Price as host. Thursday was "Love And Hate Night" with Cicely Tyson doing honors as host. Finally, Friday brought "Adventure Night", first hosted by Richard Widmark and later by Howard Duff and then by Leonard Nimoy.

Nightfall is the title of a radio drama series produced and aired by CBC Radio from July 1980 to June 1983. While primarily a supernatural/horror series, Nightfall featured some episodes in other genres, such as science fiction, mystery, fantasy, and human drama.

An interestingly different show, Sleep No More offers dramatic readings of thriller stories (often two or three per show) rather than dramatizations by a full cast. Nelson Omstead reads the thrill chills with backup spooky music and fantastic sound effects. This series ran from 1952 to Nov 1956 as 15 minute shows and then on as 30 minute shows. 

The Secrets of Scotland Yard was a successful crime drama series, initially airing internationally between 1949 and 1951. Selected episodes finally came to a US radio network for a brief run much later in 1957 over the Mutual Broadcasting System.

My Favorite Husband is the name of an American radio program and network television series. The original radio show, starring Lucille Ball, evolved into the groundbreaking television sitcom "I Love Lucy". 

You're walking alone on the street at night, but then you hear another set of footsteps and a haunting tune being whistled by an unseen stranger. Fritz Lang used an similar premise in his 1930s German movie with Peter Lorre playing M, a psychopathic murderer of children. But the American radio series was even creepier. The unseen Whistler didn't kill anyone (that we know of), but he certainly loved watching murders take place, narrating them for us, and chuckling at the suffering of others instead of doing anything to stop it. Unlike M, he was never caught. He kept walking the streets every week for thirteen long years, whistling his ominous thirteen notes and telling us another tale of bizarre fate. 

The Price of Fear is a horror/mystery radio serial produced by BBC Radio during the 1970s. The host and star of the show was Vincent Price.  The complete series comprising 21 episodes.

Suspense is a radio drama series broadcast on CBS Radio from 1942 through 1962.

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Quiet, Please! was a radio fantasy and horror program created by Wyllis Cooper, also known for creating Lights Out. Ernest Chappell was the show's announcer and lead actor. Quiet, Please debuted June 8, 1947 on the Mutual Broadcasting System, and its last episode was broadcast June 25, 1949, on the ABC. A total of 106 shows were broadcast, with only a very few of them repeats.

The Black Museum was a radio crime-drama program produced by Harry Towers in London. It was broadcast in Europe on Radio Luxembourg, a commercial radio station, and was not broadcast by the BBC until 1991.

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The Saint was a radio adventure program in the United States that featured a character ("a swashbuckling, devil-may-care Robin Hood type who, in his attempt to help people, remained just one step ahead of the police and crooks—both of whom he combatted") created by author Leslie Charteris. As the program's introduction said, The Saint (the alias of Simon Templar), was "known to millions from books, magazines, and motion pictures."  Several versions of the program appeared on different networks.

Chet Chetter's Tales from the Morgue is a series of short stories as told by an old obliging morgue attendant, licensed embalmer and resident story teller named Chet Chetter to a passing stranger of the night played by you the listener. The stories Chet relates to us are all quite fanciful. They deal with topics that would be classified supernatural and science fiction. They border on outrageous but that is how they are meant to be.

The Aldrich Family, a popular radio teenage situation comedy (1939-1953), was also presented in films, television and comic books. This middle class American family comedy is built around the life of the Aldrich family of Elm Street, Centerville. In particular, the show focuses on the adventures of Henry, the Aldrich's high schooler son.

Broadway's My Beat, a radio crime drama, ran on CBS from February 27, 1949 to August 1, 1954. With music by Robert Stringer, the show originated from New York during its first three months on the air, with Anthony Ross portraying Times Square Detective Danny Clover. John Dietz directed for producer Lester Gottlieb.
 

Macabre is a very interesting show. It was basically written and directed as a labor of love by radio employees who were not professional writers or actors, and yet, it aired worldwide during the period of OTR. (It slipped in just under the wire in 1962). The driving force behind the program was William Verdier, an Assistant Production Director for the FEN (Far East Network). He was a former NBC and CBS radio employee who ended up working in Japan for the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS). Drawing on his previous involvement with other radio dramas while working for NBC (Inner Sanctum, Suspense, and Ellery Queen), Verdier wrote seven out of the nine dramas for the new horror series, most of which he also directed. Other staff and local talent joined in the fun. The series actually began as the result of a contest between the FEN and the AFRTS in Germany. Both networks sent tapes to the AFRTS headquarters in Los Angeles, and FEN Toyko won (Digital Deli Too).

The Mysterious Traveler was an anthology radio series, a magazine, and a comic book. All three featured stories which ran the gamut from fantasy and science fiction to straight crime dramas of mystery and suspense.

Written and directed by Robert Arthur and David Kogan, the radio series was sponsored by Adam Hats. It began on the Mutual Broadcasting System, December 5, 1943, continuing in many different time slots until September 16, 1952.

This series went on the air on July 7, 1943 and lasted until April 22, 1955. A total of 431 episodes were broadcast.

Casey, whose first name was never revealed, was the major crime photographer at the fictional Morning Express newspaper. With the help of reporter Ann Williams, he tracked down criminals and solved numerous crimes on this popular mystery-adventure series. Often a picture snapped at a crime scene led Casey to play detective.

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The premise of the program was that Dan Holiday was an author who wrote mystery novels. To get ideas for his novels he placed an advertisement in a newspaper saying "Adventure wanted, will go anywhere, do anything, Box 13." The ads always brought fun adventures of all kinds: from racketeer's victim to psychotic killer looking for fun. Most of the episodes were based on Dan Holiday replying to a letter he received at Box 13.

Escape brings together everything that was good about old-time radio drama rolled into one. The title itself almost sums up the very essence of what radio drama is all about. Each of the episodes was a micro drama carefully planned to capture the listeners attention for thirty minutes. Over two-hundred episodes were made and almost all of them are as good today as they were over half a century ago. 

Murder at Midnight was an old-time radio show featuring macabre tales of suspense, often with a supernatural twist. It was produced in New York and was syndicated beginning in 1946. The show's writers included Robert Newman, Joseph Ruscoll, Max Ehrlich and William Norwood, and it was directed by Anton M. Leder. The host was Raymond Morgan, who delivered the memorable lines of introduction over Charles Paul's effective organ theme: "Midnight, the witching hour when the night is darkest, our fears the strongest, and our strength at its lowest ebb. Midnight, when the graves gape open and death strikes."

An Evening with Groucho is a look at the life of Groucho Marx and the Marx Brothers, as told by Groucho.Born: October 2, 1890 in New York City, New YorkDied: August 19, 1977 in Los Angeles, California

The Weird Circle was a 30-minute, syndicated, supernatural/fantasy series that ran from 1943 through 1945. There were 78 episodes produced.

CBS Radio Mystery Theater (a.k.a. Radio Mystery Theater and Mystery Theater, sometimes abbreviated as CBSRMT) was a radio drama series created by Himan Brown that was broadcast on CBS Radio Network affiliates from 1974 to 1982, and later in the early 2000s was carried by the NPR satellite feed.

Dark Fantasy was a short series with tales of the weird, adventures of the supernatural, created for you by Scott Bishop. The series aired as a horror drama on NBC between 1941 and 1942.

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The anthology series featured stories of mystery, terror and suspense, and its tongue-in-cheek introductions were in sharp contrast to shows like Suspense and The Whistler. The early 1940s programs opened with Raymond Edward Johnson introducing himself as, "Your host, Raymond," in a mocking sardonic voice. A spooky melodramatic organ score (played by Lew White) punctuated Raymond's many morbid jokes and playful puns.

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