This Is Your FBI was a radio crime drama which aired in the United States on ABC from April 6, 1945 to January 30, 1953 for a total of 409 shows. The show featured true cases from FBI, and told from an agent's viewpoint. FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover gave it his endorsement, considering it "Our Show" and calling it "the finest dramatic program on the air".
The shows would involve everything from crackdowns on organized crime, or stories of individual lawbreakers. Some were well know crimes being worked on during that time period. The agents handled cases involving fraud, petty crime and professional crooks, as well as clearing those falsely accused. The stories shifted during the half-hour between the criminal's actions and the agent's account of the investigation follow-up.
First appearing February of 1946, a fictitious agent, Jim Taylor played by Stacy Harris; however, he would not become the regular agent on air until the production moved from New York to Hollywood in 1948.
Producer-director Jerry Devine was given access to FBI closed case files by Hoover, who would dramatize the stories. Devine would keep up to date on the latest methods with twice a year trips to the FBI. Narration was handled by Frank Lovejoy, Dean Carleton and William Woodson. Members of the cast along with Harris were Betty White, William Conrad, Herb Ellis, Michael Ann Barrett, Carleton Young, Georgia Ellis, Jay C. Flippen, and many other stars of the time.
There were other shows which would dramatize crime investigations, such as Gangbusters, Mr. District Attorney, and The FBI in Peace and War; however, the Peace and War stories were not always authentic. Later shows which would take the idea of authentic treatment of a true story and tell it well were Dragnet and Tales of The Texas Rangers.
This Is Your FBI was sponsored during its entire run by the Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States.
Information for this synopsis was derived from numerous sources, including John Dunning's
Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio, and from
Wikipedia.From the Old Time Radio Researchers Group.
Listen to or download the entire series at https://archive.org/details/OTRR_This_Is_Your_FBI_Singles
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