Dick Tracy

15 minute detective episodes

Two gunshots. "Calling all adventure fans. Calling all Dick Tracy fans. Stand by. Dick Tracy is on the air." Sirens.

This was the clarion call that drew thousands of eager children around their radios to listen to the latest adventure of "Dick Tracy, protector of law and order."

Begun in 1934, the Dick Tracy radio series was based on Chester Gould's extremely popular noir comic strip of the same name. However, where Gould's essentially police-procedural comic focused heavily on technology and forensic science, the writers of the radio series presented a more action-oriented, good guys vs. bad guys, guts 'n' glory show for its listeners.

Tracy implacably pursued evil-doers with the assistance of his loyal sidekicks, never deterred by such impediments as a bullet in the leg, which caused him to limp as he solved the mystery of the black pearl of Osiris. Like the comic strip, the radio series included colorfully-named characters, such as "The Unknown", "The Mogul", or "Number One."

The role of Dick Tracy was voiced by four different actors during the show's run: Bob Burlen, Barry Thomson, Ned Wever (who voiced Jor-El in the Superman radio series), and Matt Crowley.

Earlier episodes of the series were sponsored by Quaker Puffed Oats and Quaker Puffed Rice, "shot from guns", a neat tie-in to the gunshots that opened each episode.

The show aired its last episode in 1948.

All of our Old Time Radio Programs are in MP3 format. You can play them on your computer, you can transfer them to MP3 players (like the IPod), but, by and large, you cannot play them on stereos, walkmen, or car radios.

The sound quality of Old Time Radio Programs can vary greatly. Some episodes are excellent, others you have to turn up the volume a little and ignore the static. All of the episodes can be listened to and enjoyed. You can listen to our free samples to get a feel for how the programs sound.