The run
- Network
- NBC
- Years active
- 1954–1955
- Surviving broadcasts
- 46
- Genre
- detective
This upload contains 45 aired episodes and 1 audition episode of the old time radio show, Nightwatch. The show, which aired from 1954-1955, was reality radio, highlighting a real ride-along with Culver City, CA police on actual calls and the subsequent arrests and details of the cases. As the show makes clear, these are not actors, but real police doing their job. The show aired for 52 weeks, with 45 episodes (plus the audition) currently available. The dates, episode numbers and titles are believed to be correct based on available information, but any corrections are welcome. Disclaimer: By uploading these files, I make no claim to ownership or copyright. These recordings have been acquired from publicly available sources on the Internet, and my goal has been to put together a collection of every available episode where possible. Digitised by the Old Time Radio Researchers and streamed from the Internet Archive item “nightwatch_202010”; these recordings are in the public domain.
Source collection
Internet Archive audio collections
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 2 years on the air. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1954, in original transmission order.
- 1. Nightwatch 1954-01-07 (Aud) Audition Show · 7 Jan 1954
- 2. Nightwatch 1954-05-10 (4) Peanut Butter Part 1 · 10 May 1954
- 3. Nightwatch 1954-06-11 (8) Paper Hanger · 11 Jun 1954
Nightwatch 1954-01-07 (Aud) Audition Show
7 Jan 1954 · 25 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 7 January 1954. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Nightwatch 1954-05-10 (4) Peanut Butter Part 1
10 May 1954 · 28 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 10 May 1954. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Nightwatch 1954-06-11 (8) Paper Hanger
11 Jun 1954 · 27 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 11 June 1954. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Nightwatch 1954-07-10 (12) Hammer 211
10 Jul 1954 · 26 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 10 July 1954. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Nightwatch 1954-08-07 (16) Three Time Loser and Shotgun Boy
7 Aug 1954 · 27 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 7 August 1954. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Nightwatch 1954-09-04 (20) Fence 447 and Western Union Raid
4 Sep 1954 · 27 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 4 September 1954. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Nightwatch 1954-10-14 (25) Triangle and Peacemaker
14 Oct 1954 · 27 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 14 October 1954. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Nightwatch 1954-11-11 (29) Kidnap
11 Nov 1954 · 27 min
Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 11 November 1954. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Also on NBC
NBC in 1954–1955
Other series the network carried while Nightwatch 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 Nightwatch
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
Chosen by the same editors.
