The Big Story: A Dead Certainty (EP4997)

The Great Detectives of Old Time Radio| Daily Mystery Dramas

Adam Graham

Performing Arts, Drama, Fiction, Arts

4.4 • 2K Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | Apple Podcasts | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today's Mystery: When a 69-year-old factory worker is found beaten to death in his ransacked bungalow, police quickly focus on a suspicious stranger seen in the neighborhood. But reporter Kenneth McCormick notices a series of small inconsistencies that lead him to question whether the obvious suspect is really the killer.

Original Radio Broadcast: November 15, 1950

Originating in New York

Starring Bill Smith as Kenneth McCormick.Also featuring Kathleen Cordell, Louis Van Rooten, Bob Dryden, Bill Lipton, and Leon Janney.

Based on the reporting of Kenneth McCormick of the Detroit Free Press.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	The Welcome to the great detectives of Old Time Radio from Boise, Idaho.
0:35.9	This is your host, Adam Graham. In a moment, we're going to bring you
0:40.8	this week's episode of The Big Story. But first, I want to encourage you if you're enjoying the
0:47.8	podcast to please follow us using your favorite podcast software. And I also want to encourage you to check out our other podcast,
0:57.3	and I want to highlight the old-time radio snack wagon at snackwagon.net.
1:03.4	Currently, we are featuring a series of programs honoring the 250th birthday of the United States of America.
1:12.2	And you can find those over at snackwagon.net, along with all of our other podcast.
1:18.7	That's the old-time radio snack wagon, wherever you get your podcast from.
1:23.1	But now, from November 15th, 1950, here is a dead certainty.
1:31.4	The Big Story
1:32.9	You think?
1:46.0	You think because I'm an old man, I can't hold my own?
1:48.2	Well, I'll, I'll show you.
1:50.9	Don't, don't hit me there again.
1:52.6	No, no, don't.
1:53.8	Oh, no, don't. Detroit, Michigan.
2:06.0	From the pages of the free press, the story of a sneaking suspicion that became a dead certainty.
2:18.6	Detroit, Michigan.
2:21.2	The story is it actually happened.
2:24.3	Kenneth McCormick's story, as he lived it.
2:37.8	You've seen it before, Ken McCormick of the Detroit Free Press.
2:42.5	In 20 years of reporting, you've seen it lots of times.
	...

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