The run
- Network
- NBC
- Years active
- 1944–1949
- Surviving broadcasts
- 390
- Genre
- detective
BOSTON BLACKIE Boston Blackie is a fictional character who has been on both sides of the law. As originally created by author Jack Boyle, he was a safecracker -- a hardened criminal who had served time in a California prison. Prowling the underworld as a detective in adaptations for films, radio, and television, the detective Boston Blackie was "an enemy to those who make him an enemy, friend to those who have no friend". The Boston Blackie radio series, starring Chester Morris, began June 23, 1944, on NBC as a summer replacement for The Amos 'n' Andy Show . Sponsored by Rinso, the series continued until September 15 of that year. Unlike the concurrent films, Blackie had a steady romantic interest in the radio show -- Lesley Woods appeared as Blackie's girlfriend Mary Wesley. Harlow Wilcox was the show's announcer. Digitised by the Old Time Radio Researchers and streamed from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Boston_Blackie_Singles”; these recordings are in the public domain.
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
6 dated broadcasts across 6 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 1944, in original transmission order.
- 1. The Rockwell Diamond · 23 Jun 1944
- 2. 45.12.13 - Murder at the Movie · 13 Dec 1945
- 3. 46.09.17 - The Apartment Swind · 17 Sep 1946
The Rockwell Diamond
23 Jun 1944 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 23 June 1944. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
45.12.13 - Murder at the Movie
13 Dec 1945 · 53 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 13 December 1945. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
46.09.17 - The Apartment Swind
17 Sep 1946 · 56 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 17 September 1946. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
47.05.21 - Blackie Breaks Into
21 May 1947 · 53 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 21 May 1947. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
48.02.18 - Five Bullets In Don
18 Feb 1948 · 25 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 18 February 1948. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
49.03.16 - Kidnapped Murderer
16 Mar 1949 · 59 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 16 March 1949. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Boston Blackie 46-05-28 (072) The Escaped Prisoner
Date unknown · 28 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Boston Blackie 48-06-30 (181) Professor Beasley Is Murdered
Date unknown · 29 min
Broadcast on NBC. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Also on NBC
NBC in 1944–1949
Other series the network carried while Boston Blackie 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 Boston Blackie
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
Chosen by the same editors.
