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78recordings
1950–1953catalog years
Old Time Radio Program Guide

The Line Up

A police procedural centered on criminal investigations, lineup interrogations, and the work of San Francisco detectives.

Program Guide

Program History

A police procedural centered on criminal investigations, lineup interrogations, and the work of San Francisco detectives.

Realistic CBS police procedural set in an unnamed great American city. Bill Johnstone played Lt.

The run breaks into several distinct periods: Guthrie and Greb era (July 6, 1950 to December 27, 1951) on CBS Radio Network and Guthrie and Karger era (1952-01 to February 20, 1953) on CBS Radio Network.

Names that turn up again and again in the surviving run include Eddie Dunstedter (music, composer, and conductor), William Johnstone (performer), Jaime del Valle (producer, director, and transcriber), Howard McNear (performer), Virginia Gregg (performer), Hy Averback (performer), and Wally Maher (performer).

Across its run, the surviving broadcasts are tied to CBS Radio Network, Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, Armed Forces Radio Service, and WCBS.

The stories often return to murder and homicide, robbery and theft, police investigation and procedure, suspect lineups and identification, automobile and traffic crime, and narcotics and drug crime.

The show also sits in a wider radio history that includes Post-Dragnet realistic police procedural trend, Unnamed-city radio setting, Radio-to-television transition, and Feature-film continuation.

If you are following the same actors and creative circles, related programs worth opening next include Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, Escape, Lux Radio Theatre, Richard Diamond, Private Detective, and Broadway Is My Beat.

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Episodes & Recordings

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78 results
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The Silver Swan Case

· Episode 26

Police focus on a man suspected of murdering a young woman, but his repeated denials force detectives to devise a trap that exposes what he knows.

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The Molly About Seven Case

· Episode 27

After a key witness is murdered, police stage a dangerous deception to make the killer expose the crime boss they are really trying to reach.

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The Check Killer Case

· Episode 28

The murder of a salesman and a batch of stolen blank checks lead detectives into a forgery scheme whose operators are willing to kill to protect it.

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The Lapinish Lighter-Upper Case

· Episode 31

A wealthy couple appears to have an airtight alibi for an elderly woman's murder, until detectives connect small inconsistencies to the killing in the park.

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The Red Shirt Case

· Episode 41

A young suspect blames a mysterious man in a red shirt for a store owner's shooting, but his changing story gives detectives the leverage for a calculated confrontation and confession.

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