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The Big Story

44 episodes · 1947–1954 · NBC, Armed Forces Radio Service · Detective

Play The Big Story on Radio Days

Dramatized true stories of crimes solved by working newspaper reporters, each named on the air. Heard on NBC, mostly for Pall Mall cigarettes, from 1947.

Sources: RadioGOLDINdex

Episodes

Tap a title to play it on Radio Days.

1947

• The Thirteenth Key James Fusco June 4, 1947 · 25 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• COT Cornered Cat September 17, 1947 · 30 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• The Case of the Counterfeit Coins October 1, 1947 · NBC · 30 min
  Jack Adams of the Los Angeles Examiner and his big story.
• The Bobby-Sox Kid from Bayonne October 15, 1947 · NBC · 29 min
  Dorothy Kilgallen of the New York Journal-American uncovers the truth behind a mother-and-daughter story.
• The Case of the Unfinished Love Song November 26, 1947 · NBC · 29 min
  Howard Beaufait of the Cleveland News helps free an innocent man from prison.
• The Case of the Final Curtain December 10, 1947 · NBC · 30 min
  Aubrey Maddock of the Hartford Courant: a retired actor in a nursing home learns he is going to be poisoned.
• The Case of the Ambitious Hobo December 17, 1947 · NBC · 30 min
  Russell Wilson of the Des Moines Tribune covers a young drifter hungry for fame and money.

1948

• Manhunt in Manhattan January 7, 1948 · NBC · 30 min
  Ted Prager of the New York Daily News and his big story.
• Pillars of Society May 5, 1948 · NBC · 30 min
  William Miller of the Cleveland Press is asked by a mother to prove her son didn't kill an elderly couple in a robbery.
• The Deadline Murder May 19, 1948 · NBC · 30 min
  Rolf Mills of the Minneapolis Morning Tribune: a woman's body found at the city dump.
• The Lottery Racket Keeler Mc Cartney July 21, 1948 · 29 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists this date as “Reporter Gambles His Life to Clean Up Lottery.”
• Blind Date with Murder AFRTSMyst Thea September 22, 1948 · 26 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.

1949

• The Murderous Kid January 5, 1949 · NBC · 30 min
  Al Aronson of the Louisville Courier-Journal: a teenager who has killed four people and lives in a piano crate.
• Jig Saw Joseph Wirges January 26, 1949 · 28 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists this date as “Liquidating Partnership by Liquidating Partner.”
• Respected Chemist Dead March 9, 1949 · NBC · 30 min
  Ike McAnally of the Cleveland News looks into a chemist killed in a car explosion, or was he?
• The Bitterest Man on Earth June 8, 1949 · NBC · 30 min
  Julian Houseman of the Richmond News-Leader: a man serving forty years for a murder someone else committed.
• The Poison Pen Murders July 20, 1949 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 25 min
  Tom Mercer of the Cincinnati Enquirer and the murder of a man everyone hated.
• The Loneliest Man on Earth Ray Sprigle October 12, 1949 · 28 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• The Corn Cob Killer October 26, 1949 · 29 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Three Golden Coins That Spelled Death December 14, 1949 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 25 min
  Nolan Bulloch of the Tulsa Tribune: a bootlegging racket turns to murder.

1950

• Murder and a Frustrated Father Sam Melnick January 4, 1950 · 26 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Gambling, Divorce and Murder January 11, 1950 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 26 min
  Frank McCulloch of the Reno Gazette: a seemingly wealthy real estate man is found murdered.
• Twenty Six Years to Explode Frame-up Ralph Goll March 1, 1950 · 25 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists this date as “New Facts About a 26 Year Old Frame-Up.”
• Death in the Family William Noble June 21, 1950 · 26 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists this date as “Mommie Shot Me.”
• Hunch That Paid Off Bill Griffith July 12, 1950 · 26 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists this date as “A Shot Gun and a Fatal Accident (A Hunch Pays Off).”
• Cornered Rats Always Squeal AFRS August 16, 1950 · 26 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Puritan Morality and Violent Death Albert I Prince October 18, 1950 · 26 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• The Bobby-Soxer Story November 8, 1950 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 24 min
  Paul Schoenstein of the New York Journal-American tracks down the den behind a teenage crime wave.
• A Dead Certainty November 15, 1950 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 26 min
  Kenneth McCormick of the Detroit Free Press and his big story.
• Triple Murder November 29, 1950 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 23 min
  T.R. Johnson of the Salt Lake Tribune and a triple killer with the mind of a child.
• The Missing Wife December 6, 1950 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 27 min
  Bernard Beckwith of the Denver Post looks for a bride who vanished four months after the wedding.

1951

• Poker Game Ends in Death April 4, 1951 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 24 min
  William Doherty of the Chicago Sun-Times and a poker game that ended in murder.
• More Tragic Than Murder AFRS (dead mother in trunk) April 25, 1951 · 25 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Wife Poisoned July 25, 1951 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 24 min
  Bus Bergen of the Cleveland Press has forty minutes to check a story and becomes convinced an accused husband is innocent. A cocker spaniel helps.
• Man Who Wanted What He Couldn't Have November 14, 1951 · 26 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.

1952

• To Avenge a Murder March 19, 1952 · NBC · 29 min
  Allen Cowperthwaite of the Helena Independent Record tracks down the two men who killed his best friend.
• Body Found on Tamiami Trail William H Adams aka-Hot Lead Catches October 8, 1952 · 25 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.

1953

• The Three Gangsters Don Morrisey aka-The Biggest Catch February 4, 1953 · 25 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• The Miracle Phone Call April 1, 1953 · 26 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• Back from the Dead September 30, 1953 · 26 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.

1954

• Too Terrible to Be Believed January 27, 1954 · Armed Forces Radio Service · 27 min
  Arthur Mielke of the Washington Times-Herald investigates a child's death at a nursery.
• A Search that Saved a Life AFRS February 10, 1954 · 26 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• A Witness to Violence and Death John Cahlan March 24, 1954 · 25 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists the same title on this date.
• The Deadly Sound of Laughing Sid Hughes October 20, 1954 · 26 min
  Jerry Haendiges' Vintage Radio Logs lists this date as “A Trap for a Killer with Reporter as Bah.”