Gang Busters

It seems I'm on a bit of a roll... This week I just discovered four shows from Gang Busters which were previously missing from the 98 episodes already existing on the site!

I added two on Monday and Tuesday, and I'll be adding another two on Friday and Saturday.

Following on from my Broadway Is My Beat editorial last week, Gang Busters is another well-loved detective series on RUSC.  

The series premiered on January 15th 1936, and was billed as "the only national program that brings you authentic police case histories." However, it was actually a 'sequel' to its predecessor, G-Men, which had been broadcast on NBC Radio from July to October 1935.  

The G-Men episodes were written, produced and directed by Phillips H Lord (pictured), in association with FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, and featured only closed FBI cases. However, there was some creative conflict between the two, with Hoover insisting on downplaying the action, whilst Lord could see that the shows needed to be sensational, entertaining and exciting to succeed. 

When the first Gang Busters series debuted, it was clear that the whims and restrictions of J Edgar Hoover were a thing of the past, with the opening seconds featuring a plethora of exhilarating sound effects!

Also absent was the strict adherence to the use of FBI cases, with each episode now boasting of true, interesting and dramatic accounts of crime cases taken from police blotters from the towns and cities all over the country, brought to listeners as exciting dramas. 

Gang Busters mentioned actual facts, names and places - bringing to life the criminal cases which had been read about in the daily newspapers, as well as actual police cases of brutal killings, and bank robberies of flag waving racketeers. 

"In cooperation with police and federal law enforcement departments throughout the United States..."

The subliminal message was that crime does not pay - even for the smartest criminal - and the listener would hear what factors led to the crime, and at the end of each case, the conclusions of vital importance.

I can't tell you how thrilled I was to discover these missing episodes. If there are any other series we have on RUSC where you believe we may have some shows missing, do let me know. In the meantime, I will continue searching the RUSC archives to see what other treasures I can find!

Happy listening my friends,