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Nightbeat, Volume 3 - 10 hours [Download] #RA154D
Nightbeat, Volume 3
 

10 hours - Digital Download


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Nightbeat
Volume 3



"Hi, this is Randy Stone. I cover the nightbeat for the Chicago Star..."

Frank LovejoyIn the postwar years, a new style of filmmaking began to emerge. Inspired in part by the moody and avant-garde expressionistic school that the Germans brought to the medium in the last days of the silent era, American mystery and detective films began adopting a dark and shadowy look, as well as an air of anxiety, pessimism, and suspicion in both plot and characterization. To critics, it became known as "film noir" -- literally "black film" or "black cinema" -- a style that would also quickly make its way to radio in such hard-bitten, downbeat series as "The Adventures of Philip Marlowe" and "Broadway's My Beat."

One of the top proponents of this style - and arguably the best of radio's various newspaper-based dramas - was "Nightbeat," the story of hard-nosed Chicago Star newsman Randy Stone and his quest for the human news behind the headlines. Starring Frank Lovejoy in the leading role, Stone came to vivid life thanks to expert scripts by experienced scribes like Russell Hughes (who would also write similar stories for "Box 13" and "Richard Diamond"), E. Jack Neumann, John Michael Hayes (who would later go on to write the Hitchcock film classics "To Catch a Thief" and "Rear Window"), and Larry Marcus. Lovejoy's distinctive voice and manner, combined with performances by veteran radio performers like Lurene Tuttle, Peter Leeds, Jeff Corey, and Jerry Hausner, gave "Nightbeat" an unusual and engrossing style - literally film noir for the mind. One week the story would be lighthearted and tongue-in-cheek, the next an emotional tragedy with a downbeat ending; there would be suspenseful races for time and quiet reflections on everyday life among the masses. Through it all, Randy Stone, in a hard-boiled yet sensitive portrayal by Frank Lovejoy, would narrate the story and comment on it from beginning to end -- often with a hard-edged cynicism that long-time fans knew was a cover for Stone's personal sense of fairness and morality.

Though generally popular with listeners, "Nightbeat" spent most of its two-year run bouncing around the NBC schedule -- usually without a sponsor and sustained by the network. Fans of the series often complained that they didn't know from week to week when (or if) it would be on at all. As a result, radio enthusiasts of today have probably heard more "Nightbeat" programs that most listeners heard when it was first broadcast over fifty years ago. But you'll never have a problem knowing when you can hear "Nightbeat" with this third Radio Archives collection, which features twenty more full-length NBC broadcasts originally aired between 1950 and 1952.


The Black Cat
Friday, November 3, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Fear
Friday, May 25, 1951 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

The Will of Mrs. Orloff
Friday, June 1, 1951 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

The Search for Fred
Friday, June 8, 1951 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Otto, the Music Man
Friday, June 15, 1951 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Sanctuary
Friday, June 22, 1951 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

A Byline for Frank
Friday, June 29, 1951 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

The Bill Perrin Amnesia Case
Friday, July 6, 1951 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Antonio's Return
Friday, July 13, 1951 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Pay Up or Die
Thursday, May 1, 1952 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Long Live the Clown
Thursday, May 8, 1952 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

The Death of Riley
Thursday, May 15, 1952 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Target for a Week
Thursday, May 22, 1952 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

The Jockey Brothers
Thursday, May 29, 1952 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

The Marvelous Machine
Thursday, June 5, 1952 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Railroaded
Thursday, June 19, 1952 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

The Old Itch
Thursday, July 3, 1952 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer

Flight from Fear
Thursday, July 31, 1952 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Ellen
Thursday, September 4, 1952 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Policy Wheel Racket

Thursday, September 18, 1952 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining


Average Customer Review: Average Customer Review: 5 of 5 5 of 5 Total Reviews: 5 Write a review

  0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 
5 of 5 MORE PLEASE! May 25, 2022
Reviewer: Gonzalo Esquibel from Ammerndorf, BY Germany  
Night Beat is right up there with my OTR favorites. I hope you can find some more episodes soon!

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  1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
 
5 of 5 Nightbeat May 24, 2022
Reviewer: Jim Meals from Lakeside, CA United States  
Boy, you called this one right, Tom! Nightbeat is noir radio at its best! Frank Lovejoy was a fine actor and Randy Stone is the part he was born to play. NBC ruined this show by constantly moving it around. Listeners had trouble finding it. Yes, Nightbeat didn't have a sponsor but neither did Gunsmoke for a year or more. But Bill Paley at CBS knew a good thing when he heard it. Sadly, there was no one with Paley's instincts at NBC.

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  3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
 
5 of 5 Eagerly Await Further Offerings May 24, 2022
Reviewer: Suzanne Siegel  
I just wanted to tell you how pleased I am with my recent orders. The sound quality of your CDs is superb and a pleasure to listen to. I look forward to ordering additional sets and eagerly await further offerings. Thank you for the care you put into restoring these wonderful shows, and for shipping them so very quickly!

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  2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
 
5 of 5 "Goodbye My Fancy" May 24, 2022
Reviewer: Richard McLeod from RIVERSIDE, CA United States  
Frank Lovejoy was very active in both motion pictures and also his radio work. While starring as Randy Stone on NIGHTBEAT, he was also very active in making films at Warner Bros. Studios.  Many of these films are promoted at the end of each show in the NIGHTBEAT series and they change as the Volume and shows progress.

During this Volume III, "Goodbye My Fancy" in which Frank Lovejoy starred with Joan Crawford and Robert Young is mentioned several times at the shows end.  There are also other radio shows mentioned which were created at the time. These promotional advertisements for other NBC radio shows are generally at the close of each NIGHTBEAT episode.

The Radio Archive staff has restored each of these shows back to the original audio and tonal quality that is probably as good if not better that when initially aired.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

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  0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
 
5 of 5 May 24, 2022
Reviewer: John Hubbard from Atkinson, NH United States  


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