Dragnet 1949-1957 (Digitally Restored) - Old Time Radio

Category: Full Cast, Radio Productions, Thriller
Language: English
Keywords: Celebrity Narrated Crime dragnet dramatized Full Cast Jack Webb Police Procedural Thriller

Written by Old Time Radio
Read by Full Cast, Various, Jack Webb, Celebrity Narrated
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 128 Kbps
Unabridged

This series was broadcasted from June 3, 1949 to February 26, 1957 on NBC at various times and days, starring Dragnet starred Jack Webb as Detective Sergeant Joe Friday. Various partners throughout the show’s run were Sergeant Ben Romero (Barton Yarborough), Ed Jacobs (Barney Phillips), and Officer Frank Smith (Ben Alexander). Webb was the creator/Director of the series and wanted everything to be as authentic as possible, down to the last sound effect. The stories were based on actual police files and “the names were changed to protect the innocent”.

Dragnet broke a few radio taboos as well, such as dramatizing sex crimes. Children also were killed on occasion as in the episode “Twenty-Two Rifle For Christmas”. The series eventually went to television and ran there for many years. The familiar DUM DE DUM DUM, the first four notes of the opening theme composed by Walter Schumann, became a pop culture legend and was forever associated with Dragnet.

Dragnet is an American radio series, enacting the cases of a dedicated Los Angeles police detective, Sergeant Joe Friday, and his partners. The show took its name from the police term “dragnet”, meaning a system of coordinated measures for apprehending criminals or suspects.

Dragnet gave audience members a feel for the daily work of police officers and earned praise for improving the public opinion of police officers.

Actor and producer Jack Webb’s aims in Dragnet were for realism and unpretentious acting. He achieved both goals, and Dragnet remains a key influence on subsequent police dramas in many media.

The show’s theme music, Danger Ahead, with its distinctive ominous, four-note brass and tympani introduction, was composed by Walter Schumann. It is derived from Miklós Rózsa’s score for the 1946 film version of The Killers. Another Dragnet trademark is the show’s opening narration: “Ladies and gentlemen: the story you are about to hear is true. Only the names have been changed to protect the innocent.”