Theater of the Mind
Night Watch
46 episodes · 1954–1955 · CBS · Detective
Play Night Watch on Radio Days
No actors and no script: reporter Donn Reed rode along with the Culver City, California, police with a tape recorder, and CBS broadcast what he caught. Burglaries, holdups, family fights, lost children and people in crisis, recorded as they happened. Real people in real trouble; not for children.
Sources: RadioGOLDINdex
Episodes
Tap a title to play it on Radio Days.
1954
- Night Watch No. 1
The first show: an actual night in a police car, with no actors and no script. The first call is a burglary in progress. - Night Watch No. 2
An indecent-exposure call takes the officers to another city to make an arrest, and the man's wife and the suspect himself are heard. - Night Watch No. 3
A burglar is caught on the air inside a gas station. He turns out to be a tearful fifteen-year-old begging to be let go. - Night Watch No. 4
A car found on its roof, a boy with a stolen newspaper, and a $190 armed robbery by two young men. One suspect is caught on the air, and a lineup is held. - Night Watch No. 5
A shoplifting suspect who is then held on a narcotics charge, a prowler who turns out to be a drunk, and the questioning of a market holdup suspect. - Night Watch No. 6
Two children left alone while the adults drink in a bar, and a man standing in traffic trying to take his own life. - Night Watch No. 7
Stolen explosives with a fifteen-year-old suspect, and a family fight with a drunken stepfather. Reporter Donn Reed rides with the Culver City, California, police. - Night Watch No. 8
A bad-check suspect held at a gas station, a reported suicide attempt that turns out to be drunk driving, and a razor-blade attack. - Night Watch No. 9
A woman given a marijuana cigarette, where Donn Reed's tape recording brings a confession, and a motel shooting that proves to be a suicide. - Night Watch No. 10
An eight-year-old boy is missing and a big search begins. Later a woman brings a phonograph into the station and starts playing records. - Slugger
Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date. - Night Watch No. 12
A liquor store holdup in which the clerk is attacked with a hammer, and marijuana found in a jacket brought to the cleaners. - Night Watch No. 13
Three men found asleep in a car, and a domestic fight where children may have been left alone. - Night Watch No. 14
A woman's third complaint about a neighborhood boy, and two men arrested behind a gas station. - Night Watch No. 15
A little lost boy whose parents aren't home when he's brought back, a house fire set on purpose, and a domestic violence call. - Night Watch No. 16
A bad-check passer who turns out to be a three-time loser, and a young boy picked up with a shotgun. - Night Watch No. 17
A woman attempts suicide, and a drunk turns up with $150 in cash and two water pistols. - Night Watch No. 18
A woman has escaped from care and may become violent. - Night Watch No. 19
Two women fighting in a bar, an elderly movie actress hit by a car, and a prowler caught in a backyard. The program receives an award as outstanding new radio program. - Night Watch No. 20
A gambling raid set for midnight, the questioning of a Western Union holdup suspect, and a drunk picked up. - Night Watch No. 21
A traffic accident leaves a woman injured. - Night Watch No. 22
Two suspects are caught stripping a car. - Night Watch No. 23
A burglar caught stealing towels and bedding from a motel, and a young girl locked out of her house. - Night Watch No. 24
Two men try to pick up girls waiting at a bus stop. - Night Watch No. 25
A man is reported to have molested two women at a gas station. - Night Watch No. 26
A drunk who tried to kick Donn Reed in the teeth the night before comes back to the station on his own. - Night Watch No. 27
A drunk at the station wants to telephone Mississippi and says someone may be using narcotics. - Night Watch No. 28
An elderly woman is lost and doesn't want to go home. - Night Watch No. 29
A young man on marijuana, followed by a kidnapping case. - Night Watch No. 30
A man in a white coat is walking down the street with a butcher knife. - Night Watch No. 31
"Unknown trouble": a woman calls for help and drops the phone. - Night Watch No. 32
A beating victim won't sign a complaint. - Night Watch No. 34
A traffic accident and a fight in front of a bar. - Night Watch No. 35
A liquor store holdup. - Night Watch No. 36
A burglary on Washington Place.
1955
- Night Watch No. 38
A couple's argument brings the police. - Night Watch No. 39
A hit-and-run by a white sedan. - Night Watch No. 40
Officers are called to help a five-year-old with polio. - Night Watch No. 41
An armed robbery suspect. - Night Watch No. 42
"Unknown trouble": a scream and the sound of a body falling in the dark. - Night Watch No. 43
A narcotics pusher is arrested. - Night Watch No. 44
A woman with a black eye who has been choked. - Night Watch No. 46
A man taking flash pictures at a bus station, and an eight-month-old baby beaten by his seventeen-year-old mother. - Night Watch No. 47
A woman at the booking desk, either drunk or unwell. - Night Watch No. 48
A little girl is crying because her cat is in the washing machine. - Night Watch No. 49
"Unknown trouble" that turns out to be a drunk reported by his wife, and a burglary interrupted at a bottling plant. Culver City's police chief, W. N. Hildebrand, tells how the cases came out.