Episode 169 - Radio's Most Wanted (Somebody Knows)
Down These Mean Streets (Old Time Radio Detectives)
Jack Mooney
4.5 • 1.1K Ratings
🗓️ 15 May 2016
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
For eight weeks in the summer of 1950, Somebody Knows dramatized unsolved murder cases with the goal of solving the crimes. A reward of five thousand dollars awaited any listener who had evidence that could lead to the capture and conviction of the killer. Hosted and directed by Jack Johnstone, Somebody Knows boasted a cast of veteran radio players in its dramatic true crime recreations. We'll hear "The Unsolved Murder of Elizabeth Short - The Black Dahlia," originally aired on CBS on August 24, 1950.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The And the Wherever you live, you live, chances are your police or local news have some form of crime stoppers, offers of cash rewards to encourage tips to help solve active cases. |
| 0:37.0 | The concept dates back to the Golden Age of Radio, when in the summer of 1950, somebody knows and listed the aid of a national radio audience |
| 0:47.0 | to try and solve eight murder cases. |
| 0:50.0 | In this well-produced documentary series, The facts of the crimes were dramatized in the hopes of eliciting new evidence that would bring the guilty parties to justice. |
| 1:01.0 | To sweeten the deal, a reward of $5,000 was offered for any evidence leading to the conviction of the killers. |
| 1:09.0 | In the history of radio drama, somebody knows stands alone. |
| 1:13.6 | Certainly other shows dramatized actual police cases, |
| 1:17.1 | and other shows broadcast alerts for wanted fugitives. |
| 1:20.7 | But somebody knows attempted to identify the culprits and to actually solve a mystery. |
| 1:26.0 | The series was the brainchild of producer James L. Safier, a man who brought the saint to the airwaves. |
| 1:34.0 | Safir was inspired by a campaign in the Chicago Sun Times |
| 1:38.0 | and capturing murder suspects in the windy city. |
| 1:41.0 | The paper offered a reward and announced that no killer was truly unknown, |
| 1:47.0 | that somewhere somebody knows. The Sun Times gave Sathere both the concept and the title for his new program. He put up his own money, $40,000 to fund the rewards for identifying the guilty parties. In promoting the series, Safier said, I don't care. the The $5,000 reward offered by Somebody Knows translates to just about $50,000 in 2016. |
| 2:20.5 | Each episode of Somebody Knows dramatized an unsolved murder pulled from police departments nationwide, |
| 2:27.0 | Philadelphia, St Paul, Detroit, Boston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. |
| 2:33.0 | Research for the series was done by Maurice Simm, |
| 2:36.2 | and scripts were penned by Sidney Marshall, |
| 2:38.8 | a writer who'd worked on the man called X. |
| 2:42.3 | Somebody Knows came to CBS as the summer replacement for |
| 2:45.9 | suspense and it aired to critical acclaim and rating success. The cast were |
| 2:51.5 | filled out by top West Coast radio talent including Harry Bartel, Gerald Moore, Stacey Harris, and Parley Bear. |
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