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May 16, 2025
2 new products and 6 featured products from Radio Archives this week!
All new and featured products are discounted the first week.
Featured: previously released
Volume 5
Crime does not pay...but, during the Great Depression, some might have argued that it DID pay - and pay very well, too. After the 1929 stock market crash, bank failures, Midwestern crop disasters, and mass unemployment became a daunting part of everyday life, resulting in the rise of the bank robber and gangster as folk hero rather than criminal threat. It would take the election of Franklin Roosevelt and the appointment of such charismatic crime fighters as Melvin Purvis, J. Edgar Hoover, and Elliott Ness to finally turn the tide against the criminal element, turning lawmen into heroes and, eventually, the common man against the criminal element.
In the 1930s, radio played a part in stemming the tide against crime - and never more so than in "Calling All Cars", one of the earliest and most influential police procedural shows. Dramatizing true crime exploits and introduced by real-life law enforcement officials, "Calling All Cars" offered the gritty details of criminal activity in true "ripped from the headlines" style. Led by writer/director William N. Robson, the weekly series gave listeners the audio equivalent of a tough, down in the streets Warner Brothers crime drama, complete with car chases, low-life gunmen, high-crime bosses, frightened victims, and criminal cases that often hit very close to home. Kidnappings, petty thefts, murders, prison breaks, bunco schemes...all were raw materials for the creators of each show and details of all these crimes and more were used as the basis for the realistic dramas presented.
The influence of "Calling All Cars" extended far beyond its six-year run, acting as a blueprint for such later-day radio series as "Dragnet" and "This is Your FBI". And, although this seventy-year-old series may seem a bit primitive to modern-day audiences, listening to the programs today instantly brings to mind such timeless movie classics as "The Public Enemy", "Little Caesar", and "Scarface".
For its entire run, "Calling All Cars" was sponsored by the Rio Grande Oil Company and their patented brand of "cracked" gasoline. Luckily, thanks to the limited and expensive network lines of the 1930s, recordings of all of the programs were made for redistribution to the Southwestern states. This is marvelous news for radio buffs, since it means that almost the entire run of "Calling All Cars" still exists for us to enjoy today. Earlier, Radio Archives issued four volumes of the series, with all of the programs transferred directly from the original transcription recordings. Now, we're proud to offer "Calling All Cars, Volume 5", a six hour set which, like our other collections, has been professionally restored for impressive audio fidelity. These rare and exiting shows are sure to occupy a special place in your personal library.
Featured: previously released
Volume 6
With the change in format to a five-day-a-week, quarter-hour program beginning October 5, 1953, radio stalwart "Fibber McGee & Molly" had to face the challenge of working within a smaller production budget without sacrificing the reputation for comedic quality which stars Marion and Jim Jordan insisted upon. Though financial concerns required the departure of many mainstays - bandleader Billy Mills, vocal group The King's Men, performers Gale Gordon and Richard LeGrand, and announcer Harlow "Waxy" Wilcox - the budget did allow two veteran regulars to continue on the show: the versatile Bill Thompson, as the Old Timer and Wallace Wimple, and Arthur Q. Bryan, as Doc Gamble.
And yet, even though the population of Wistful Vista did get a bit smaller, "Fibber McGee & Molly" still depended on a host of distinctive performers to play various roles, utilizing actors and actresses from the talented pool known as "Radio Row." Listening to these quarter-hour programs, it's often surprising and amusing to hear familiar voices like Parley Baer, Joseph Kearns, Mary Jane Croft, William Conrad, and Virginia Gregg turn up as denizens of the sleepy Illinois town inhabited by the McGee's. One frequent player had a longer resume with the program than her fellow radio colleagues, having first appeared on the show as a saleslady on April 4, 1939. Elvia Allman, born September 19, 1904 in Enochville, North Carolina, made "Fibber McGee & Molly" one of the many notches in her radio belt while performing as a character actress and voice-over artist for over fifty years.
On "Fibber McGee & Molly", Allman's characterizations ran the gamut from secretaries (she was heard as Mayor La Trivia's assistant, Miss Himmler - also known as Miss Gimlet - and Aunt Sarah's social secretary Miss Longfeather) to nurses to society matrons. After a few one-shots in the matron game (including Miss Rhoda Dendron, President of the Wistful Vista Peony and Petunia Club) she was assigned the part of Mrs. Albert Clammer in January 1950, ostensibly to fill the void left by Bea Benaderet, who had played Miss Millicent Carstairs upon the departure of Abigail Uppington, played by Isabel Randolph. As the doyenne of Wistful Vista's elite social set, she gave Fibber and Molly the same amount of disapproval as did Carstairs and Uppington -- but, unfortunately, Mrs. Clammer had a skeleton in her closet: in the past, she had worked as a dance-hall hostess! Mr. Clammer no longer hung his hat in Wistful Vista; it seemed that he had gone out for cigars in 1938...and never came back. By the time the quarter-hour shows were being produced, Elvia continued to make sporadic (if no less memorable) appearances playing various waitresses and shop clerks.
The Golden Age of Radio introduced fans to a wealth of experienced comedic performers who, though not big household names, nevertheless possessed distinctive vocal talents that made them instantly recognizable to fans. You'll have the chance to listen to these supporting actors and actresses in this sixth volume of "The Fibber McGee and Molly Show," a new series of collections transferred from the long-lost original NBC Reference Recordings of the show. Radio Archives invites you to listen to forty more full-length programs that, for the most part, have not been heard since they originally aired over fifty years ago. An additional bonus is their sparkling audio quality; thanks to the innovations of the digital age, these classic shows can now be heard at a level of clear and crisp high fidelity that far exceeds what was available to the average listener in 1954 and 1955. The result is shows that sound - and are - just as bright, fresh, and entertaining as they were when first heard, a real tribute to the time, talent, and devotion to quality that went into their production.
Featured: previously released
March 1941
Read by Mark Finfrock
The Paladin of Law and Order!
The Red Mask! When he dons his crimson mask with the white skull and crossbones, he becomes the shrewd, implacable foe of gangsterism and vice, whom the whole underworld soon learns to fear and hate.
Unknown to the world at large, the Red Mask is Perry Morgan, owner of the Jefferson Hotel. Gloria Chalmers, his fiancé and secretary is the only person who knows the secret identity of crimedom's nemesis, the Red Mask.
The pulp magazine, Red Mask Detective Stories made its debut with the March 1941 issue. After the second issue in May 1941, the magazine changed its name to Red Hood Detective Stories for the July 1941 issue. That was the final issue of the adventures of Perry Morgan, the Red Mask. Red Mask Detective Stories returns in these vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s listeners.
6 hours - MP3 regular price $11.99
Featured: previously released
Spawn of Death
by Robert Wallace
Forged in war, The Phantom Detective wages a one-man battle on crime! Solving impossible mysteries and delivering his own justice, he is the underworld’s masked nightmare!
Follow the Phantom Detective on a perilous trail of murder in the wake of the dreaded fer-de-lance in this mystery of blood-curdling crimes perpetrated by a sinister band of fiendish killers! Among the underworld’s greatest foes is Richard Curtis Van Loan — The Phantom Detective! Pitted against diabolical forces dedicated to deeds so dastardly, daring and destructive that only he can stop them!
Desperate to find his place in the world and to help others, millionaire and war veteran Richard Curtis Van Loan follows a suggestion made by Frank Havens, his father’s friend, solving a crime that local police can’t seem to unravel. Inspired by his success, Van Loan sets himself on a path to become the world’s greatest crimefighter. Following a regimen of his own design, Van Loan not only trains himself to be in excellent physical shape, he also pursues the skills necessary to deal a crushing blow to the underworld. Learning all that he could about crime detection and the various sciences associated with investigating it, including forensics and psychology, Van Loan turned himself into a master detective. He also went to great lengths to become an expert in both escaping any situation and in concealing his identity through disguises, making him a veritable phantom, impossible to identify. Hence, The Phantom Detective was born, although he was referred to only as ‘The Phantom’ in the stories. After undertaking several cases that were as much adventures he survived with luck and disguises and then delving into mysteries that tested his abilities, The Phantom became world renowned amongst men on both sides of the law.
‘Spawn of Death’ was originally published in the September 1934 issue of The Phantom Detective Magazine and is read with pulse pounding intensity by award winning voice actor Milton Bagby.
Featured: previously released
Midnight in Hell’s Cathedral
by Chuck Miller
Read by Mark Finfrock
Attack of the Zombies
Once again Mobile, Alabama’s mysterious crime-fighter, the Bay Phantom, finds himself battling a criminal mastermind known only as the Kraken. The villain has the power to turn people into mindless puppets and have them do his bidding, leaving chaos and destruction in their path.
As if that wasn’t enough for the Phantom to deal with, his friend, Tom Dart, is about to be executed in state prison for crimes he did not commit. Can Maribelle Darcy devise a plan to rescue Dart before the fatal hour arrives?
Then a certain Federal Agent named Elliot Ness arrives in town with the goal of capturing the Bay Phantom.
Once again pulp scribe Chuck Miller weaves a zany, madcap pulp thriller like no one else can. This is action-adventure with a Southern Twist not to be missed.
6 hours - MP3 regular price $11.99
 New eBook
Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
The Masked Rider — Robin Hood outlaw of the range — was a masked, cloaked combination of Zorro and the Lone Ranger. But, who is that masked man... that vigilante of justice... known far and wide as the Masked Rider? Only Blue Hawk, warrior of the Yaqui tribe and the Masked Rider's faithful companion, knows that his friend often takes on the disguise of Wayne Morgan, a wandering cowpuncher. But even Blue Hawk doesn't know the true identity behind the face of Wayne Morgan. That was the secret of the Masked Rider alone. The two rode the old West, The Masked Rider on his black stallion Midnight, Blue Hawk on his sorrel El Acedero, fighting lawlessness, battling for the innocent, for a total of 100 pulp stories published between April 1934 and April 1953. The Masked Rider Western returns in these vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
 New eBook
Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine.
Death strikes in the night! Murder inside a locked room! For thrills, chills and action galore, readers of the 1930s, 1940s and into the 1950s clamored for a pulp magazine by the name of Thrilling Detective. Thrilling Detective magazine was one of the earliest pulp answers to America's insatiable appetite for mystery and detective tales. It was the first of Ned Pines's long line of pulp magazines, starting in 1931 and running for an amazing 213 issues before closing down in the Summer of 1953. Thrilling Publications was responsible for other long-running pulps such as Startling Stories, The Lone Eagle, Black Book Detective and Thrilling Wonder Stories. Famous pulp characters The Phantom Detective, Captain Future, the Black Bat and Captain Danger, all appeared in other Thrilling publicaions.
Each Thrilling Detective magazine started off with a book-length mystery novel, and then was followed up by a half-dozen or so shorter stories of thrills and danger. Appearing solely in Thrilling Detective were recurring characters like Doctor Coffin, The Green Ghost, Craig Kennedy, Raffles, G-Man Jones, Mike Shayne, Race Williams and Mr. Death. Some of America's most foremost writers took up their pens to write for the magazine. Names like Arthur J. Burks, Wayne Rogers, H.M. Appel, George Allan Moffatt, Norman A. Daniels, Johnston McCulley, George Fielding Eliot, L. Ron Hubbard, Paul Ernst, Emile C. Tepperman, Edmond Hamilton, Laurence Donovan, Ralph Oppenheim, Robert Sidney Bowen, Henry Kuttner, Murray Leinster, Fredric Brown, Brett Halliday, Carroll John Daly, Louis L'Amour and Bruce Elliott. Thrilling Detective returns in these vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
Featured eBook
by Frederick C. Davis writing as Curtis Steele
Total Pulp Experience. These exciting pulp adventures have been beautifully reformatted for easy reading as an eBook and features every story, every editorial, and every column of the original pulp magazine. As a special bonus, Will Murray has written an introduction especially for this series of eBooks.
Jimmy Christopher, clean-cut, square-jawed and clear-eyed, was the star of the most audacious pulp magazines ever conceived — Operator #5. Savage would-be conquerors, creepy cults, weird weather-controllers and famine-creating menaces to our mid-western breadbasket... these were but a few of the fiendish horrors that Jimmy Christopher was forced to confront. Operator #5 returns in vintage pulp tales, reissued for today’s readers in electronic format.
Radio Archives Pulp Classics line of eBooks are of the highest quality and feature the great Pulp Fiction stories of the 1930s-1950s. All eBooks produced by Radio Archives are available in ePub and Mobi formats for the ultimate in compatibility. If you have a Kindle, the Mobi version is what you want. New Kindle's use ePub. If you have an iPad/iPhone, Android, or Nook, then the ePub version is what you want.
Comments From Our Customers!
Greg Burton writes:
It's been a while since I have written, and I want to drop a brief note about the Preservation Library transcriptions. I have discovered so many programs that I would otherwise not be aware of. Thank you once again for making these available. I look so forward to the first of each month to see what new jewels will be uncovered.
If you'd like to share a comment with us or if you have a question or a suggestion send an email to [email protected]. We'd love to hear from you!
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