The run
- Network
- NBC
- Years active
- 1949–1956
- Surviving broadcasts
- 673
- Genre
- detective
Dragnet , the brainchild of Jack Webb, may very well be the most well-remembered, and the best, radio police drama series. From September, 1949 through February 1957, Dragnet 's 30 minute shows, broadcast on NBC, brought to radio true police stories in a low-key, documentary style.
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Source collection
Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
12 dated broadcasts across 8 years on the air, with 4 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1949, in original transmission order.
- 1. Production 2 aka Homicide aka The Nickel Plated Gun · 10 Jun 1949
- 2. Eric Kelby - Body Buried In Nursery · 3 Sep 1949
- 3. The Big Man Part 1 (Narcotics) · 12 Jan 1950
- 01
Production 2 aka Homicide aka The Nickel Plated Gun
10 Jun 1949 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Dragnet_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 02
Eric Kelby - Body Buried In Nursery
3 Sep 1949 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Dragnet_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 03
The Big Man Part 1 (Narcotics)
12 Jan 1950 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Dragnet_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 04
The Big Knife
11 May 1950 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Dragnet_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 05
Dragnet 50-08-17 ep062 Big Youngster
17 Aug 1950 · 29 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 06
Dragnet 50-12-07 ep078 Big Picture
7 Dec 1950 · 29 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
- 07
The Big Saint
26 Apr 1951 · 29 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Dragnet_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
- 08
Dragnet 51-08-23 ep115 Big In-Laws
23 Aug 1951 · 28 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Also on NBC
NBC in 1949–1956
Other series the network carried while Dragnet 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 Dragnet
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
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