Originally broadcast on NBC, 24 December 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- ABC
- Years active
- 1942–1953
- Surviving broadcasts
- 68
- Genre
- adventure
The old time radio espionage and thriller, David Harding Counterspy , was brought to life by radio legend Phillips H Lord. Lord was an old time radio powerhouse, responsible for such shows as Gangbusters , Mr. District Attorney , We the People , and many more.
1953 · 11952 · 21951 · 31950 · 231949 · 16
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Clean transfer · 35 of 45Listenable · 1 of 45Rough but complete · 9 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_Counterspy_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
15 dated broadcasts across 12 years on the air, with 7 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1949, in original transmission order.
- 1. Cold Blooded Professor Pt1 · 30 Aug 1949
- 2. Cold Blooded Professor Pt2 · 1 Sep 1949
- 3. Arrogant Arsonist · 6 Sep 1949
The Case of the Diamond Thieves
21 Dec 1953 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 21 December 1953. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Case of the Corrupt Counselor
23 Nov 1952 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 23 November 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Fight Against Narcotics
14 Feb 1952 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 14 February 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Case of the Double Crossing Defender
21 Jan 1951 · 28 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 21 January 1951. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Case of the Captured Contact
14 Jan 1951 · 24 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 14 January 1951. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Case of the Kleptomaniac Clues
7 Jan 1951 · 28 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 7 January 1951. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Case of the Pretty Plant
24 Dec 1950 · 28 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 24 December 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Case of the Invisible Insurrectionist
17 Dec 1950 · 28 min
Originally broadcast on ABC, 17 December 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Same night on the air
24 Dec 1950
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 24 Dec 1950.
Originally broadcast on CBS, 24 December 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Originally broadcast on NBC, 24 December 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Originally broadcast on NBC, 24 December 1950. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Also on ABC
ABC in 1942–1953
Other series the network carried while Counterspy was on the air.
Same seasons
adventure on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
The case file, read aloud
Dragnet's promise — the story you are about to hear is true, only the names have been changed — is the entire premise of modern true crime, four decades early.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of Counterspy
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
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