Big Tar Baby

By: Dragnet

This Dragnet episode originally aired on October 12, 1954.

From 1949 to 1957, Dragnet pioneered new levels of realism on radio. Every crime investigated by Sergeant Joe Friday was taken from the actual case files of the Los Angeles Police Department, with only "the names changed to protect the innocent". There were multi-layered sound effects; the actors used accurate police lingo, abbreviations, and penal codes; and the show didn't shy away from stories about heinous crimes or stories that had unhappy endings. Created and produced by Jack Webb, Dragnet was much more than "just the facts".

Fact: you can download more episodes of Dragnet, or pick them up in collected volumes.©2006 Dragnet (P)2006 Radio Spirits Inc.

Critic reviews

"By far the most popular police/crime program of all time. It enjoyed enormous success on radio." (Jon David Swartz and Robert C. Reinehr, Handbook of Old-Time Radio)

Wife is kidnapped

Any additional comments?

Friday and Smith are working homicide and there is a man who calls to report his wife is missing. They discover that she comes to the bar they own each night at closing to pick up her husband. When she doesn't show the bar owner calls police to report her missing, knowing she must have been kidnapped.