The Line Up Presented by the Great Detectives of Old Time Radio|Police Radio Drama
With the smash success of Dragnet, many networks and producers began to play follow the leader. On NBC, Dragnet was followed up with Tales of the Texas Rangers which dramatized real-life tales from the Texas Rangers. CBS countered with The Line Up and later 21st Precinct, and then Nightwatch which while following an actual policeman in the field was as realistic as it got in a show that was pre-cursor to modern police reality dramas like Cops. The Line Up was a hard-boiled drama of police action. Like Dragnet, it realistically showed police doing their jobs. Unlike Dragnet, it was not based on “cases taken from police files.” Rather The Line Up made its fictional cases seem realistic, from kidnappings and murders to thefts and obscene phone calls. The Line Up radio show was not set in any particular city. However, when the series moved to television, it was set in San Francisco. The series starred William Johnston as Lieutenant Ben Guthrie and began with Wally Maher playing the role of Sergeant Matt Grebb. After Maher's passing in 1951, Jack Moyles took over the supporting role as Sergeant Pete Karger. The Line Up, as the title indicates, centered around the police line up. The show always began with one. The Sergeant in charge of line would say, “May I have your attention please? You people on the other side of the wire in the audience room, may I have your attention please.” He would then give his name and say, “I’ll explain the line up to you. Each of the suspects you will see will be numbered. I’ll call out their number, their name, and charge. If you have any questions or identifications, please remember the number assigned to the prisoner as I call his name. At the end of each line when I ask for questions or identifications, call out the number. If you’re sure or not too sure of the suspect, have him held. The officers who took your name will assist you, they’re seated among you. Please be prompt with your questions or identifications. When the prisoners leave here, they are sent to the washroom and dressed back into their jail clothes. It makes it quite difficult to bring them back after they leave here. The questions I ask these suspects are merely to get a natural tone of voice so do not pay too much attention to their answers as they often lie. Bring on the line. ”While the line up was rarely the key to solving the case, it did give the show a rhythm and it also allowed for humor in the interrogation of the suspects by the sergeant. The series began as a Summer Replacement for The FBI in Peace and War in 1950, but quickly got its own time slot and would remain on radio until the Spring of 1953 before becoming TV only.
Episodes
Guthrie investigates a series of brutal muggings that have targeted elderly victims.
Original Air Date: February 8, 1951
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
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Guthrie investigates of a woman found murdered soon after announcing her engagement.
Original Air Date: January 4, 1951
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
GIve us a call at 208-99...
Guthrie and Grebbs investigate the seemingly senseless death of a 60 year old woman.
Original Air Date: December 28, 1950
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
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Guthrie and Grebb search for a gang who committed a $100,000 bank robbery and shot a guard.
Original Air Date: December 21, 1950
Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net
Support the show on a one-time basis at https://support.greatdetectives.net
Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Give us a call at 2...
Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net
Support the show on a one-time basis at https://support.greatdetectives.net
Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Give us a call at 208-991-4783
Take the listener survey at https://s...
An undercover narcotics cop is killed and the entire force searches for the killer.
Original Air Date: November 30, 1950
Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net
Support the show on a one-time basis at https://support.greatdetectives.net
Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Give us a call at 208-99...
An investment advisor is murdered and suspicion falls upon his jilted fiancée.
Original Air Date: November 23, 1950
Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net
Support the show on a one-time basis at https://support.greatdetectives.net
Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Give us a call at 208-991-478...
Guthrie and Grebb try to cut through conflicting identifications to find out who committed a robbery/murder.
Original Air Date: November 16, 1950
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Guthrie and Groebs try to catch a gang that’s been holding up local all-night stores and gas stations. The chase intensifies when they commit a murder.
Original Air Date: September 23, 1950
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Guthrie searches for a man who committed a murderer while robbing a gas station.
Original Air Date: September 16, 1950
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Gi...
A suspect is identified in the line-up and then during questioning, he collapses dead of poisoning.
Original Air Date: August 10, 1950
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Give ...
On the surface, the death of two young women appear to be hit and runs, but Guthrie suspects murder.
Original Air Date: August 3, 1950
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Give us a c...
A man is murdered and Guthrie suspects that the perpetrator is another man who claimed to be robbed at the time of the murder.
Original Air Date: July 27, 1950
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, ...
All the evidence suggests a young hood named Eddie Gaynor is behind a gangland killing but Lieutenant Guthrie’s not so sure.
Original Air Date: July 20, 1950
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Bois...
A young man is picked out of a line-up leading Guthrie to reopen the case of a young man about to be executed.
Audition Date: May 27, 1950
Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net
Support the show on a one-time basis at https://support.greatdetectives.net
Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Giv...
Guthrie and Karger look for the source of an outbreak of botulism.
Original Air Date: February 13, 1953
Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net
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Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Give us a call at 208-991-4783
Ta...
Guthrie finds himself on the trail of a serial killer A year after a woman is murdered during a blizzard, another young woman dies in a similar storm in the exact same way.
Rehearsal of program that aired January 9, 1953
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...
Two crooks from Indiana move to town and a business is held up and it was employed by another man from Indiana who was in prison with the two thugs.
Rehearsal of Program that Aired January 2, 1953
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Guthrie and Karger find fresh clues in a year old case of robbery and murder.
Original Air Date: December 19, 1952
Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net
Support the show on a one-time basis at https://support.greatdetectives.net
Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Give us a call at 208-991-...
Guthrie searches for the perpetrator of a series of service station robberies.
Original Air Date: December 12, 1952
Support the show monthly at https://patreon.greatdetectives.net
Support the show on a one-time basis at https://support.greatdetectives.net
Mail a donation to: Adam Graham, PO Box 15913, Boise, Idaho 83715
Give us a call at 208-991-4783...
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