Nightbeat
Volume 2


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

In 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 second Radio Archives collection, which features twenty more full-length NBC broadcasts from 1950.

The Girl from Kansas
Monday, June 5, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Wheaties

The Football Player and the Syndicate
Monday, June 12, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Wheaties

Vincent and the Painter
Monday, June 19, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Wheaties

The Juvenile Gangster
Monday, June 26, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Wheaties

Marty
Monday, July 3, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Wheaties

'Twill Be the Death of Me
Monday, July 10, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Wheaties

Molly Keller
Monday, July 17, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Wheaties

The Devil's Bible
Monday, July 24, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Wheaties

The City at Your Fingertips
Monday, July 31, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sponsored by Wheaties

Old Blind Pop
Monday, August 7, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Gunner's Last Fight
Monday, August 14, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

The Doctor's Secret
Monday, August 21, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Old Home Week
Monday, September 4, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

The Hunter Becomes the Hunted
Monday, September 11, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Wanna Buy a Story?
Monday, September 18, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

A Case of Butter
Monday, September 25, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

The Kenny Day Amnesia Case
Friday, October 6, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Einar Pierce and Family
Friday, October 13, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

Judge Arnold's Daughter
Friday, October 20, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining

The Doctor's Daughter
Friday, October 27, 1950 - 30:00 - NBC, sustaining