BW - EP71: A Vintage Christmas Murder Mystery

Breaking Walls: The Podcast on the History of American Network Radio Broadcasting

In Breaking Walls Episode 71, we offer season’s greetings, glad tidings, and a preview of what our next episode (72) of Breaking Walls will be on January 1st. We've been getting a lot of traction with the golden age of radio mini-documentaries we've have been producing. If this is foreign to you, check out episode 70 which delves into the life and career of comedian Jack Benny, featuring show clips and interviews with Jack Benny and his supporting cast by Chuck Schaden, Dick Bertel, and the late Ed Corcoran. Our next episode of Breaking Walls will focus on a show called Yours Truly Johnny Dollar and the decline of the American radio drama. Johnny Dollar was a freelance insurance investigator with the "action packed expense account." The show came to radio in the late 1940s and featured three unremarkable runs before a 1955 reboot with a new star, under a new format. In 1955 CBS director Jack Johnstone cast radio actor Bob Bailey in the title role and rather than one weekly 30 minute show, the show aired mon-friday in a 15 minute serial format. So, the total runtime for the show each week was 75 minutes, allowing for great story and character development. As a lead-in for Episode 72, today we will feature the 5-part "Nick Shurn Matter," which aired on CBS at 8:15PM from 12/19 - 12/23/1955. It was that year's Christmas movie. We've remastered the audio and added new sound effects where applicable, while cutting each episode's epilogue so that this story runs as one feature movie. Happy Holidays! More episodes of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar can be found at the Old Time Radio Researchers Library at OTRRLibrary.org WallBreakers Links: Social Media - @TheWallBreakers URL - thewallbreakers.com Online Store - jamesthewallbreaker.com/shop/