Originally broadcast on CBS, 16 May 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- Mutual
- Years active
- 1943–1954
- Surviving broadcasts
- 149
- Genre
- detective
Nick Carter first made an appearance in a pulp novel in 1886. His popularity lasted over 100 years until the last Nick Carter-Killmaster book was published in 1990. The master detective first ventured into radio on April 11, 1943 on the Mutual Broadcasting System as The Return of Nick Carter , a nod to his pulp fiction history.
1954 · 11949 · 31948 · 36
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Clean transfer · 39 of 40Listenable · 1 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_Nick_Carter_Master_Detective_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
14 dated broadcasts across 12 years on the air, with 9 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
1950
1951
1952
1953
1954
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1948, in original transmission order.
- 1. The Case of the Devil's Left Eye · 4 Jan 1948
- 2. The Case of the Graveyard Gunman · 11 Jan 1948
- 3. The Case of the Man Who Died Twice · 18 Jan 1948
The Case of the Haunted Burial Cave
16 May 1954 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 16 May 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Case of the Phantom Shoplifter
25 Dec 1949 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 25 December 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Case of the Vanishing Weapon
18 Sep 1949 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 18 September 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Case of the Perfect Alibi
19 Jun 1949 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 19 June 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Case of the Clue Called X
14 Nov 1948 · 26 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 14 November 1948. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Case of the Forgetful Killer
7 Nov 1948 · 25 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 7 November 1948. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Case of the Wrong Mr Wright
31 Oct 1948 · 26 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 31 October 1948. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Case of the Bull and the Bear
24 Oct 1948 · 26 min
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 24 October 1948. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Same night on the air
16 May 1954
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 16 May 1954.
Originally broadcast on CBS, 16 May 1954. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Also on Mutual
Mutual in 1943–1954
Other series the network carried while Nick Carter, Master Detective 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 Nick Carter, Master Detective
Modern series carrying this form forward.
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