Show Notes

Superhero serials were big on radio. There were famous ones like Superman, Flash Gordon, Tom Corbett and Jack Armstrong the All American Boy, to name a few. Many shows like these were also known as cliffhangers, leaving you in suspense during the last minutes of the show. So, of course, you HAD to keep tuning in to the next installment! A little known show, The Planet Man, was syndicated in 1950. Palladium Productions was behind this syndicated series, but there's little else we know about it today other than it was well produced action-packed serial.

This classic 1947 detective episode DIDN'T EXIST before our friends at Project Audion recreated it from the script! Their production came to life just this past week.
That, plus during our first hour, a little heard Suspense episode (from much later in 1961) will be heard...but we're just getting started:
In addition we'll feature the Orson Welles Campbell Playhouse production of "A Christmas Carol" starring Lionel Barrymore (Drew's great uncle) as Scrooge (from his original film role).

A selection of themed episodes first originally broadcast during the month of December.
Broadway's My Beat, Gunsmoke Christmas episode, two episodes of Suspense from different years as well shows to satisfy hardcore mystery fans: two episodes never heard on WHFR: Murder Clinic and The Whistler..tonight 9PM - 12 Midnight ET 12/01/2024 whfr.fm 89.3

Tonights Halloween spectacular continues as we bring you Inner Sanctum, Suspense and Lights Out (Everyb0dy). Project Audion's recreation of Arch Oboler's Lights Out script Burial Services -- not heard since 1936 -- is TONIGHT during the 11:00 hour along with other original Lights Out plays. WHFR's Sunday Night Mysteries 9:00 12:00 midnight 89.3 FM Dearborn Detroit or whfr.fm everywhere.

Our Hallowe’en Scare-a-thon continues all month as we hear the cream of the crop of mysteries and spook shows – some for the first time ever – both from the Archive and important people to the world of Radio Drama.

SUSPENSE – Hear many hand picked shows from the legendary series that aired for 20 years on CBS Radio – including a major audio upgrade to Vincent Price and Ida Lupino’s appearance in “Fugue in C Minor. “This is an eerie story of a widowed man who has built a huge pipe organ in his home and his kids think he murdered the mom and hid her in the pipes.

Sunday Night Mysteries 10/13/2024
This weekend, Sunday Night Mysteries continues our series of spooky stories, beginning with a pair of Suspense shows, “The Customer’s LIKE Murder” and “Last Night,” both from 1943.

More Detectives and Judy Garland on Suspense in continuing our "females on radio" series.
One of the very few radio detectives, Candy Matson, actually gets married on the last show they produced! We'll hear that episode along with a pair of adventures with Mr. & Mrs. North, Mr. Chameleon and the famous actress, Judy Garland in a tense Suspense episode called Drive-In. That and perhaps even less on WHFR'S Sunday Night Mysteries starting at 9PM ET to Midnight... Stream at whfr.fm or tune in on 89.3 FM.

Tonight on WHFR SUNDAY NIGHT MYSTERIES: MR CHAMELEON was the not-so-witty police detective who used disguises to help solve mysteries. Millionaires and mayhem are at the root of these adventures as Karl Swenson portrays a hard hitting and often terse detective who brings criminals to justice (and punishes the guility). Frank and Anne Hummert were responsible for this series as well as shows like Mr. Keen, Tracer of Lost Persons and some 40 other radio shows.

Tonight's mystery menu includes a full line-up of whodunnits including...
Broadway's My Beat The Celia Jordan mystery from 1950
Jeff Regan Investigator with Jack Webb probes the Little Man's Lament
Raymond Chandler's Phillip Marlow gets in the act as well with The Easy Mark starring Gerald Mohr
More with Jack Webb as Sgt Joe Friday in Dragnet in The Big Lay-Out which aired in 1953.
Let George Do It...George Valentine solves the Knock on Wood adventure
Finally, Gloria Swansorn stars in the Suspense broadcast, Murder By the Book from 1947

Tonights show includes a twin spin as we take a listen to Jack Webb in two more consecutive DRAGNET broadcasts. We also have the MOLLE MYSTERY THEATER which was originally sponsored by a shave cream. If you missed our William Conrad show, we have much more of his work in tonights show: A twin spin of GUNSMOKE, featuring Conrad, and a host of professional CBS actors, GUNSMOKE was the most famous (and beloved) adult western. It was actually more like a dramatic series with extensively developed characters.

You know the voice if you ever watched a Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoon or old enough to remember his role as a TV detective in Cannon or Jake and the Fatman. It's estimated, though, that he played some 7,500 roles in radio! That included narrator of the CBS series Escape and as Marshall Matt Dillon on radio's Gunsmoke...but that's not all!

It's not just nostalgia, it's hard core entertainment -- the proverbial Theater of the Mind...

On this weekend's Sunday Night Mysteries, we feature a series never heard on WHFR: The ADVENTURES OF FRANK RACE was heard toward the end of radio's dramatic years. The series was sort of cross between a detective adventure and James Bond, with plenty of action and intrigue. It was syndicated meaning it was distributed to stations on an individual basis. Less than 50 shows were produced between 1949 and 1950.

Tonight's WHFR Sunday Night Mystery program will feature SIX different programs of semi-related nature. Here's the rundown:
DRAGNET The Big Deal (1955)
FIRST NIGHTER Mystery of the Chinese Gong (1944)
MR. CHAMELEON The Forbidden Marriage Murder Case (1949)
THE WHISTLER The Hangtree Affair (1949)
HALL OF FANTASY The Twisting Weeds of Death (1954)
INNER SANCTUM No Rest For the Dead (1950)

It's the middle of January already (can you believe it!?), and we're not slowing down. Get ready for a couple of police adventures as we join Mr. Chameleon for another case, along with Joe Friday for that police drama with one of the most famous openings (DRAGNET). For those of who think it's still Halloween, we again give you a chance to turn OFF your lights. We are featuring two more INNER SANCTUM MYSTERIES episodes with Raymond your host (both from 1945). Finally, a full hour of MURDER AY MIDNIGHT directed by Anton M. Leader, who had also worked on SUSPENSE at one time.

TONIGHTS WHFR Sunday Mysteries, a triple threat of INNER SANCTUM featuring Raymond Edward Johnson, the original creepy host...followed by ESCAPE...3 Skeleton Key with Vincent Price (that story about the rats in the lighthouse).
Finally, a double dose of SUSPENSE A Murderous Revision...the Howard Duff version (much later with Raymond Burr, retitled Murder on Mike). The Duff version supposedly never aired.
Finally, (also from SUSPENSE) Elliott Reid in Return Trip -- the story of a bus caught in an avalanche -- and "Killer Greg" may be one of the passengers.

On this weeks show (November 20), another 3 hours of "anything dramatic or mysterious will do."
BEFORE COVID, we ran ran a superhero series called THE PLANET MAN. On this weeks show, we go back to the early 50s, for a similar show that ran on both radio & TV...TOM CORBETT, SPACE CADET.

In 1993, we re-united the TOM CORBETT cast at the Friends of Old-Time Radio convention for a recreation and meet and greet. Jackson Beck, the original announcer for SUPERMAN also did TOM CORBETT along with other characters. We'll be hearing "The Space Station of Danger" on Sunday.

Featured on our November 13 show are six tales of detective adventures.
All are from the CBS Network.

We start with a series that has only become available during the past couple years and had been extremely rare previously. Now we have over 40 episodes. MR. CHAMELEON is the police officer who uses disguises to trap criminals played by Joseph Kearns.