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Here are 12 episodes from the greatest detective shows ever broadcast during the golden age of radio, with the legendary stars that made them great. You'll hear Basil Rathbone as Sherlock Holmes and Nigel Bruce as Doctor Watson, Sydney Greenstreet as Nero Wolfe, Howard Duff as Sam Spade, Chester Morris as Boston Blackie, Dick Powell as Richard Diamond, and Jack Webb as Dragnet's Sergeant Joe Friday, plus more gumshoes like Philip Marlowe, Bulldog Drummond, Michael Shayne, and Johnny Dollar.

The Whistler was one of radio's top mystery programs, airing from May 16, 1942 until September 22, 1955. The Whistler was an ominous narrator who opened each episode with, "I am the Whistler, and I know many things, for I walk by night. I know many strange tales, many secrets hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak."

During the height of its popularity, almost the entire country listened to the fifteen-minute, Monday-through-Friday adventures of Amos and Andy. Department stores open in the evening piped in the broadcasts so shoppers wouldn't miss an episode; movie theaters scheduled their features to end just prior to the start of Amos 'n' Andy so they too could pipe it in. The characters were members of the Mystic Knights of the Sea Lodge, of which George Stevens was "the Kingfish."

This collection contains 13 of the greatest science fiction shows ever broadcast during the golden age of radio - including two episodes each of Dimension X, CBS Radio Workshop, and X Minus One, plus three episodes of Suspense and Escape. You'll be entertained by stories from such master science fiction writers as H. G. Wells, Aldous Huxley, Graham Doar, Mary Shelley, H. L. Gold, and George Steward.

This collection contains 12 amazing Sherlock Holmes adventures, starring Tom Conway and Nigel Bruce.

Radio Westerns were strictly for kids until 1952, when Gunsmoke hit the radio airwaves. The stories were grim, the deaths brutal, and life on the plains was harsh. Radio audiences had never heard anything like Gunsmoke, and they made it the number one Western on the radio. It soon made a successful transition to television, becoming the longest-running dramatic series in television history.

Dashiell Hammett created the character Sam Spade for his crime story The Maltese Falcon. Spade was a hard-boiled detective with cold detachment, a keen eye for detail, and an unflinching determination to exact his own justice. For most people, Spade is most closely associated with actor Humphrey Bogart, who played him in the third and most famous film version of The Maltese Falcon. In 1946 one of radio's top producers, William Spier, brought Sam Spade to the airwaves in a radio show starring newcomer Howard Duff.

Philo Vance is a fictional character featured in numerous crime novels written by S. S. Van Dine, published in the 1920s and 1930s, who was later revived in film and on radio and television. During that time Vance was immensely popular. He was portrayed as a stylish, even foppish dandy, a New York bon vivant with a highly intellectual bent - America's Sherlock Holmes. He worked closely with his secretary and right-hand woman, Ellen Deering, and his pal, John Markham, New York County district attorney.

Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll made their radio debut on January 12, 1926, as the comedic blackface characters Sam 'n' Henry. On March 19, 1928, they introduced Amos 'n' Andy, which went on to become one of the most popular and longest-running programs in radio history. During the height of its popularity, almost the entire country tuned in to their adventures.

Created by author Jack Boyle, Boston Blackie was a master safecracker and hardened criminal who served time in a California prison. Rehabilitated, he decided to use his knowledge of the underworld to fight crime as an amateur detective. Known as "an enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend", Boston Blackie's exploits were adapted to film, radio, and television.

Sam Spade was a hard-boiled detective with cold detachment, a keen eye for detail, and unflinching determination to achieve his own justice. The character of Sam Spade was created by writer Dashiell Hammett in 1930 for his crime story The Maltese Falcon, and for most people, the character is closely associated with actor Humphrey Bogart, who played Sam Spade in the third and most famous film version of the story. In 1946, William Spier, one of radio's top producers, brought Sam Spade to the airwaves.

This collection contains twelve of the greatest comedy shows ever broadcast during the golden age of radio. You'll hear Ozzie and Harriet Nelson in The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet, Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll as Amos 'n' Andy, Robert Young in Father Knows Best, Jim and Marian Jordan as Fibber McGee and Molly, William Bendix as Chester A. Riley in The Life of Riley, Lucille Ball in My Favorite Husband, and more.

Lucille Ball and Lee Bowman auditioned for the roles of a married couple in a radio pilot for a new comedy, My Favorite Husband, based on the novel Mr. and Mrs. Cugat by Isabel Scott Rorick. The concept was very well received and within a few weeks the weekly sitcom was established. Bowman was replaced by Richard Denning and during the first season, the Cugats were renamed the Coopers, who lived “in a little white two-story house” in the bustling, small suburb of Sheridan Falls.

"Countdown for blastoff...X minus five, four, three, two, X minus one.... Fire! From the far horizons of the unknown come transcribed tales of new dimensions in time and space. These are stories of the future - adventures in which you'll live in a million could-be years on a thousand may-be worlds." Thus began each episode of X Minus One, a half-hour science fiction radio series that was broadcast from 1955 until 1958.

Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve was a popular character appearing each week on the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show. On August 31, 1941, Gildersleeve landed his own situation comedy, The Great Gildersleeve, becoming radio's first spin-off. Gildersleeve moved from the town of Wistful Vista, where Fibber McGee and Molly lived, to Summerfield, where he oversaw his late brother-in-law's estate and took on the rearing of his orphaned niece and nephew, Marjorie and Leroy Forrester.

The Whistler was one of radio's top mystery programs airing from May 16, 1942 until September 22, 1955, sponsored by the Signal Oil Company. The Whistler was an ominous narrator who opened each episode with: "I am the Whistler, and I know many things, for I walk by night. I know many strange tales, many secrets hidden in the hearts of men and women who have stepped into the shadows. I know the nameless terrors of which they dare not speak."

Like its predecessor, Dragnet, Tales of the Texas Rangers adapted actual police cases for its broadcasts. Leading each week's investigation was Texas Ranger Jayce Pearson, portrayed by movie star Joel McCrea. Because the stories were set in the present, Pearson used the latest scientific techniques to identify criminals. Unlike Joe Friday, Pearson didn't have a regular partner, typically working with the local sheriff instead.

Conceived as a potential radio vehicle for Alfred Hitchcock to direct, Suspense was a radio series of epic proportion. It aired on CBS from 1942 to 1962 and is considered by many to be the best mystery drama series of the golden age. Often referred to as "Radio's Outstanding Theater of Thrills", it focused on suspenseful thrillers starring the biggest names in Hollywood.

Here are 12 of the greatest American comedy shows ever broadcast during the golden age of radio. You'll hear Ozzie and Harriet Nelson in The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet.

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