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"The Big Broadcast is a Sunday night tradition for families throughout the WAMU listening area. Each week, Big Broadcast host Ed Walker offers listeners priceless recordings of popular radio programs from the '30s, '40s and '50s. Priceless, especially, for a man whose first sentence as a child was, 'Turn the radio on.' "

Happy Sunday Night. Classic Radio Time.

No playlist released yet, so I'm guessing on the first three shows tonight:

March 7, 2010, 2010 (WARNING: Contains Spoilers)

07:00 p.m. Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
 10/24-25/56 "Phantom Chase Matter" Pts. 8-9 (Sus.)(CBS)(27:23) Bob Bailey, (First five episodes:) Virginia Gregg (Lola Chase), Michael Ann Barrett (Connie), Lawrence Dobkin (Pat McCracken), Forrest Lewis (George Emerson, Freddy Quintana), Peter Leeds, Barney Phillips, Tony Barrett, Victor Perrin ; (Last four episodes:) Michael Ann Barrett (Connie), Jack Edwards, Ben Wright (Inspector Witset), Virginia Gregg (Lola Chase), Don Diamond, Forrest Lewis (George Emerson), Richard Crenna (Thomas James Chase) ; Writer - Robert Ryf ; Producer/Director - Jack Johnstone ; Musical Supervisor - Amerigo Marino ; Announcer - Roy Rowan ; Expense Account Total = $ 1723 ; Nine part series ; "Ever chase a phantom? Well, believe me I have. And I will next week in the Phantom Chase Matter." Pat McCracken, Universal Adjustment Bureau, Hartford, calls Dollar about 38 year old Thomas James Chase who embezzled $120,000 from his high class New York City investment brokerage company, Emerson & Chase, and has now jumped bail. The 42 year old senior partner, George Emerson, is reluctant at first to believe Chase is guilty, and put up the bail money. Chase's wife is beautiful Lola, and the marriage seemed ideal. She says that Tom liked jazz music, and he had been working late at nights, and that he had sent her alone on a vacation to Martha's Vineyard, saying at the last moment that he couldn't go. George Emerson comes across a newspaper article about New Orleans jazz with a picture from a jazz bar called Ace's Castle, and he is sure that he sees Tom Chase in the background. Johnny heads for New Orleans. At Ace's Castle Johnny talks to blind trumpeter Pops Harker, who can provide no help. Then, a fellow named Freddy Quintana says he can tell Dollar where Tom Chase is hiding for $500. Quintana says Chase is going under the name of Tom James, and provides a sample of handwriting that Johnny verifies is authentic. Pops Harker tells Johnny that Quintana is a mean, bad actor. Lola Chase surprises Johnny by showing up at his hotel door. Quintana, in Lola's presence, tells Johnny to be at his apartment at midnight to get Chase. Johnny tells Lola she can go with him. They arrive 10 minutes early and wait a long time, but no one shows up. Johnny takes Lola back to her hotel. Then he goes back to Ace's castle. Lieutenant Lefevre, New Orleans police, sidles up to Dollar at Ace's Castle. He takes Dollar out in the alley to see Quintana's dead body. Chase looks to be the likely suspect for the murder. Lefevre calls Johnny with the news that they had found Chase's rooming house. In the waste basket they find a partially burned letter on Emerson & Chase stationery, with some legible numbers, 12 and 23. Dollar talks to Roger Carliss, rental agent for the rooming house. He says the room was rented a month in advance in cash for "James" by a very beautiful woman. Johnny sees the newspaper showing the harbor news and he wonders if maybe the numbers meant that a ship was departing pier 23 at 12 o'clock. Lefevre verifies that "The Caribbean Star" did leave pier 23 at 12 o'clock, bound for Trinidad, via Havana, and Haiti. A Tom James is booked among the passengers. Dollar gets to Haiti, and breaks into "James" room. It is empty. The purser tells Johnny that James left the ship in Havana, two days ago, heading for the airport. A Havana policeman, Lieutenant Escobar, tells Johnny that James booked a flight to Barbados, British West Indies. Johnny goes to Barbados. A woman, identifying himself only as Connie, approaches Dollar and says she knows about Tom Chase. She is his girlfriend and she wants out. For money, she will turn chase over to him. She says to be at the "Trade Winds Bar" in the rough waterfront district. As Dollar is approaching the bar, someone follows him and saps him. It is Tom Chase. A night watchman saves Johnny. Connie calls and says that she waited for Dollar to show. He agrees to meet her in the lobby. When he gets to the lobby she is gone. A clerk says that she left the lobby right after the phone call with a man that fits Chase's description. Dollar goes to the Colonial Police and meets with Inspector Witset. Next, Johnny goes back to the Trade Winds bar. Dollar makes eye contact with Connie, who immediately ducks out. Dollar catches up with her. She says that she is really not Chase's girl. She met him two days ago in Barbados. She is broke, stranded in Barbados and wants to get back to the States. She was hoping to get some money. She said that Chase talked for a long time to a fisherman on the waterfront. She takes Johnny to him. He says he was up all night with a passenger with lots of provisions to deserted Largos Island, three hours from Barbados, with one abandoned house. Lola Chase shows up in Barbados and gets a hotel room at Merisol Beach. Dollar calls Emerson who says that he is going to immediately come to Barbados and take Lola back to New York City. Johnny rents a boat , with radio call letters 6X3, to go to Largos Island and finds Lola stowed away on board. Johnny and Lola reach Largos Island. As they trudge toward the house shots ring out. Chase circles around and gets to Dollar's rented boat and takes it out to sea, stranding Dollar and Lola. They are rescued by Inspector Witset in a police boat. Back at Barbados, they see the boat Chase had taken from them - so he came back to Barbados. Dollar talks to George Emerson. Back at his hotel room Tom Chase is waiting. He says it is the end of the line for Dollar. He has a gun and he means business. Lola calls. It disorients Chase and he saps Dollar. He comes to with Lola and George Emerson tending to him. Later, Lola says that Chase wildly confronts her, and then heads into the mountains. She says he was acting crazy, saying that he wanted to see her one time "before". Johnny and Lola go after him. They see his car at the edge of a cliff. His dead body is smashed on the rocks below. Chase is buried in Barbados. Where is the money? Dollar checks Chase's last residence. He compares the writing of Chase with the sample given to him, and then he calls Pat McCracken for some information. Dollar has figured that instead of going to Martha's Vineyard Lola had gone to New Orleans to rent a room. Chase has been dead for two weeks. She killed Quintana. Emerson was the embezzler of the $120,000. Emerson says he is backing out, and fires a shot that wounds Lola, but Dollar overpowers him. The embezzled money was in a New York City safe deposit box. The real Tom Chase was buried on a deserted spot on Long Island.
07:30 p.m. Dragnet
8/10/54 "The Big Stand" Program# 259 Jack Webb (Joe Friday), Ben Alexander (Frank Smith) ; Announcer - George Fenneman ; Writer - John Robinson ; Matthew Denton has been shot on the street, right in front of a newsstand. The suspects are tall, lean, alcoholic radio thieves.
08:00 p.m. Gunsmoke
7/10/60 "Reluctant Violence" Program #431 William Conrad (Matt Dillon), Parley Baer (Chester Proudfoot), Howard McNear (Doc Adams), Georgia Ellis (Kitty Russell), Lawrence Dobkin, Anne Whitfield (Charity Gil), Joseph Kearns ; Director - Norman Macdonnell ; Writer - Kathleen Hite ; Music Composed and Conducted - Rex Koury ; Announcer - George Walsh ; Matt and Chester find a little girl in the ruins of a burned down cabin. It appears that her stepfather fell asleep while drinking a jug of whiskey and knocked over the kerosene lamp that started the blaze. All that is left of the man is "just a cinder". Matt takes 10 year old Charity Gil back to Dodge with him to find a good home. However, Charity wants to live with Matt. "She tags along like a little stray." To add to Matt's trouble, all the women in Dodge have gone to a women's suffrage meeting in Wichita. The only woman left in town is Kitty and she refuses to keep a little girl in the Long Branch saloon. Matt does not know what to do with little Charity.

Oops.

08:00 p.m. Gunsmoke
7/10/60 "Reluctant Violence" Program #431 William Conrad (Matt Dillon), Parley Baer (Chester Proudfoot), Howard McNear (Doc Adams), Georgia Ellis (Kitty Russell), John Dehner, Sam Edwards, Joseph Kearns, Lawrence Dobkin, Barney Philips ; Director - Norman Macdonnell ; Writer - Marian Clark ; Music Composed and Conducted - Rex Koury ; Announcer - George Walsh ; Pitchmen - Edgar Bergen & Dennis James ; Commercials - Guardian Maintainence Service, Kellogg's All-Bran, Pepsi-Cola ; Homer Ladely is in Dodge preaching the seriousness and destructiveness of violence, and trying to get the citizens to give up their guns. Homer also happens to have sack full of gold! Zack and his buddy do not take kindly to Homer's suggestion and knock down the old man and kick him senseless. Matt steps in and sends the culprits on their way. Homer recovers and is determined to continue his ant-gun campaign, but Matt is afraid the old man will be greeted by violent opposition.

FYI for all you FReepers who like Old Time Radio (OTR) (I Do!) here's a link to a treasure trove of almost any OTR you could ever want:

http://www.archive.org/details/oldtimeradio

Just download the mp3 to your computer, put it in a logical place (i.e. a file) then import it into your iTunes or whatever you use.

Happy listening!