Originally broadcast on NBC, 29 April 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- CBS
- Years active
- 1950–1953
- Surviving broadcasts
- 79
- Genre
- detective
With the smash success of Dragnet , many networks and producers began to play follow the leader. On NBC, Dragnet was followed up with Tales of the Texas Rangers which dramatized real life tales from the Texas Rangers. CBS countered with The Line Up , later 21st Precinct followed by Nightwatch .
1953 · 41952 · 351951 · 6
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Clean transfer · 17 of 45Listenable · 27 of 45Rough but complete · 1 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_Line_Up_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
15 dated broadcasts across 4 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
1950
1951
1952
1953
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1951, in original transmission order.
- 1. The Frivolous Forger Fracas · 11 Oct 1951
- 2. The Nicely Nixed Nixon Case (aka-Loan Office Robbery and Murder · 18 Oct 1951
- 3. The Jolted Justice Job Case · 1 Nov 1951
That Takes Care of Everything
18 Feb 1953 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 18 February 1953. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Good Enough to Eat
11 Feb 1953 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 11 February 1953. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Once Upon a Snow-Plow
7 Jan 1953 · 26 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 7 January 1953. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Cowardly Castro
2 Jan 1953 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 2 January 1953. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Two Tough Thugs Thing
19 Dec 1952 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 19 December 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Gasoline Bandit Case
12 Dec 1952 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 12 December 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Matthews-Murray Mish Mosh Case
26 Nov 1952 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 26 November 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Modern Sounds Case
19 Nov 1952 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 19 November 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Same night on the air
29 Apr 1952
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 29 Apr 1952.
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 29 April 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Originally broadcast on CBS, 29 April 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Originally broadcast on Mutual, 29 April 1952. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Also on CBS
CBS in 1950–1953
Other series the network carried while The Line Up 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 Line Up
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
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