Originally broadcast on NBC, 2 June 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- CBS
- Years active
- 1952–1954
- Surviving broadcasts
- 66
- Genre
- detective
Crime Classics came to CBS September 30, 1953 and was a neat little series of "true crime stories". The show introduced itself succinctly: "Crime Classics, a series of true crime stories from the records and newspapers of every land, from every time.
1954 · 191953 · 21
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Clean transfer · 36 of 40Listenable · 1 of 40Rough but complete · 3 of 40
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_Crime_Classics_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
12 dated broadcasts across 3 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
1952
1953
1954
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1953, in original transmission order.
- 1. Crime Classics 1953-07-13 The Terrible Deed of John White Webster · 13 Jul 1953
- 2. Crime Classics 1953-07-20 The Death of a Picture Hanger · 20 Jul 1953
- 3. Crime Classics 1953-07-27 The Final Day of General Ketchum, and How He Died · 27 Jul 1953
Untitled Broadcast
30 Jun 1954 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 30 June 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Crime Classics 1954-06-30 Good Evening, My Name is Jack the Ripper
30 Jun 1954 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 30 June 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Crime Classics 1954-06-16 The Death of a Baltimore Birdie and Friend
16 Jun 1954 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 16 June 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Crime Classics 1954-06-09 The Assassination of Leon Trotsky
9 Jun 1954 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 9 June 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Crime Classics 1954-06-02 Mr. Jonathon Jewett; How Most Peculiarly He Cheated the Hangman
2 Jun 1954 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 2 June 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Crime Classics 1954-05-26 The Lethal Habit of the Marquise De Brinvilliers
26 May 1954 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 26 May 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Crime Classics 1954-04-28 Widow Magee and the Three Gypsies; A Vermont Fandango
28 Apr 1954 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 28 April 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Crime Classics 1954-04-14 James Evans, Fireman; How He Extinguished a Human Torch
14 Apr 1954 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 14 April 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Same night on the air
2 Jun 1954
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 2 Jun 1954.
Originally broadcast on NBC, 2 June 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Also on CBS
CBS in 1952–1954
Other series the network carried while Crime Classics 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 Crime Classics
Modern series carrying this form forward.
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