BBC bulletin, 1 September 1939. Preserved in the Internet Archive's 1939 radio news collection.
The run
- Network
- Syndicated
- Years active
- 1933–1939
- Surviving broadcasts
- 298
- Genre
- detective
Calling All Cars aired from 29 Nov 1933 until 8 Sep 1939 and originated on the West coast over the Columbia Broadcasting System. The show was sponsored by the Rio Grande Oil Company which was a part of the Sinclair Oil Corporation.
1939 · 361938 · 9
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Rough but complete · 45 of 45
Source collection
Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: OTRR_Calling_All_Cars_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
11 dated broadcasts across 7 years on the air, with 5 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1933
1934
1935
1936
1937
1938
1939
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1938, in original transmission order.
- 1. The Portuguese Crooner · 3 Nov 1938
- 2. The Glass Gun · 10 Nov 1938
- 3. The Four Lead Slugs · 17 Nov 1938
Murder in the Morning
8 Sep 1939 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 8 September 1939. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Six of a Kind
1 Sep 1939 · 34 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 1 September 1939. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The 10th Commandment
25 Aug 1939 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 25 August 1939. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Man with the Iron Pipes
17 Aug 1939 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 17 August 1939. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Missing Guns
10 Aug 1939 · 31 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 10 August 1939. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Body on the Promenade Deck
3 Aug 1939 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 3 August 1939. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Teardrop Charm
27 Jul 1939 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 27 July 1939. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The 26th Wife
20 Jul 1939 · 28 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 20 July 1939. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Same night on the air
1 Sep 1939
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 1 Sep 1939.
BBC bulletin, 1 September 1939. Preserved in the Internet Archive's 1939 radio news collection.
BBC bulletin, 1 September 1939. Preserved in the Internet Archive's 1939 radio news collection.
London Calling: BBC News at War
Evacuees Depart from Waterloo Station Seymour Joly de Lotbinire
1 Sep 1939 · 16 min
BBC bulletin, 1 September 1939. Preserved in the Internet Archive's 1939 radio news collection.
BBC bulletin, 1 September 1939. Preserved in the Internet Archive's 1939 radio news collection.
BBC bulletin, 1 September 1939. Preserved in the Internet Archive's 1939 radio news collection.
BBC bulletin, 1 September 1939. Preserved in the Internet Archive's 1939 radio news collection.
BBC bulletin, 1 September 1939. Preserved in the Internet Archive's 1939 radio news collection.
Also on Syndicated
Syndicated in 1933–1939
Other series the network carried while Calling All Cars was on the air.
Same seasons
detective on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
The private eye at the microphone
First-person narration, a case that walks in the door, and a city that talks back. Marlowe, Sam Spade and Johnny Dollar turned detection into a listening form.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of Calling All Cars
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
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