The run
- Network
- Mutual
- Years active
- 1940–1950
- Surviving broadcasts
- 53
- Genre
- detective
THE BLACK MUSEUM Opening in 1875, the Crime Museum at Scotland Yard is the oldest museum in the world purely for recording crime. The name "Black Museum" was coined in 1877 by a reporter from "The Observer", a London newspaper, although the museum is still referred to as the Crime Museum. It is this museum that inspired The Black Museum radio series, produced in London by Harry Alan Towers. From Jay Hickerson's "The Ultimate History of Network Radio Programming and Guide To All Circulating Shows" , the earliest US broadcast date was January 1, 1952. Thirty nine shows, from the full syndication of fifty two shows, aired over Mutual stations from January 1, 1952 through June 24, 1952 and September 30, 1952 through December 30, 1952. This may be the earliest broadcast of the series worldwide. It was later broadcast over Radio Luxembourg starting May 7, 1953. Digitised by the Old Time Radio Researchers and streamed from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Black_Museum_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
0 dated broadcasts across 11 years on the air, with 11 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from NaN, in original transmission order.
- 1. Orson Welles Biography · Date unknown
- 2. A Can Of Weedkiller · Date unknown
- 3. The Faded Tartan Scarf · Date unknown
Orson Welles Biography
Date unknown · 6 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
A Can Of Weedkiller
Date unknown · 26 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
The Faded Tartan Scarf
Date unknown · 30 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
A Jar Of Acid
Date unknown · 26 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
A Piece Of Iron Chain
Date unknown · 25 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
The Tan Shoe
Date unknown · 24 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
The 22 Caliber Pistol
Date unknown · 29 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
The Gas Receipt
Date unknown · 25 min
Broadcast on Mutual. Transferred from the Internet Archive's Old Time Radio Researchers collection (public domain).
Also on Mutual
Mutual in 1940–1950
Other series the network carried while The Black Museum 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 The Black Museum
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
Chosen by the same editors.
