Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 6 March 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- ABC
- Years active
- 1946–1949
- Surviving broadcasts
- 24
- Genre
- noir
Pat Novak, for Hire , is an old-time radio detective drama series which originally aired from 1946-1948, and revived in 1949. It started as a West Coast regional produced program at KGO in San Francisco. This regional version originally starred Jack Webb in the title role, with scripts by his roommate Richard L.
1949 · 181947 · 41946 · 2
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Clean transfer · 22 of 24Rough but complete · 2 of 24
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_Pat_Novak_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
9 dated broadcasts across 4 years on the air, with 1 year where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1946
1947
1948
1949
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1946, in original transmission order.
- 1. John St. John · 13 Oct 1946
- 2. Dixie Gillian · 24 Nov 1946
- 3. Johnny Brown Gambling Ring · 3 Aug 1947
Little Jake Siegel
25 Jun 1949 · 28 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 25 June 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Only Way to Make Friends Is to Die
18 Jun 1949 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 18 June 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Georgie Lampson
11 Jun 1949 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 11 June 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Agnes Bolton
4 Jun 1949 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 4 June 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Give Envelope to John St John
21 May 1949 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 21 May 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Geranium Plant
14 May 1949 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 14 May 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Shirt Mix-Up at the Laundry
7 May 1949 · 27 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 7 May 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Wendy Morris
30 Apr 1949 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 30 April 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Same night on the air
6 Mar 1949
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 6 Mar 1949.
Originally broadcast on NBC, 6 March 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 6 March 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Also on ABC
ABC in 1946–1949
Other series the network carried while Pat Novak, For Hire was on the air.
Same seasons
noir 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 Pat Novak, For Hire
Modern series carrying this form forward.
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