Showing results by narrator "Bill Johnstone" in All Categories

Welcome to The Lineup, "where under the cold, glaring lights pass the innocent, the vagrant, the thief, and the murderer". This tightly scripted radio series traced the activities Lieutenant Ben Guthrie (Bill Johnstone) and his Sergeants Matt Greb (Wally Maher) and Peter Carger (Jack Moyles). Ride along with the squad and follow the parade of arrests they make, through witness identifications, subsequent investigations, and the apprehension of additional criminals - all eventually culminating in the cracking (and closing) of the day's case.

He knows many things, for he walks by night! He knows the nameless terrors of which we dare not speak! He's radio's grim conscience: The Whistler! And he's back with another collection of tense, twisting tales featuring some of Hollywood's finest radio talent. Though Bill Forman is the actor best remembered as the series' ruinous raconteur, there were others who shared the role. Their voices are heard in these strange stories, including Gale Gordon, Joseph Kearns, Marvin Miller, and Bill Johnstone.

Lieutenant Ben Guthrie and Sergeant Matt Greb introduce lineups full of characters both heinous and hilarious. Go with them as they go after the most menacing of criminals in 16 gritty episodes from the 1950s, now in digitally restored sound. Radio greats Bill Johnstone, Wally Maher, and Jack Moyles are on the beat on the streets of a great American city. And things get tough when the witnesses are unreliable, unsure, unwilling - or dead.

The Lineup was a hard-boiled drama. Like Dragnet, it realistically showed police doing their jobs. The show always began with a police sergeant ordering suspects to stand at attention so that the victim, behind one-way glass, could try to identify the criminal. While the lineup was rarely the key to solving the case, it did give the show a rhythm and also allowed for humor in the interrogation of the suspects by the sergeant. The series began as a summer replacement for The FBI in Peace and War in 1950, but soon got its own time slot.

Two radio stalwarts, Ted DeCorsia and Ben Wright, give voice to the dignified, professional, and persistent Peter Black. Once on a case, he never relents until the suspect is behind bars. Black’s boss, Chief Inspector Harkness, is portrayed by Bill Johnstone - who also sets the tone each week as the powerful narrator of the series. Skillfully directed by William Robson and Elliott Lewis, and taughtly written by masters of the craft Antony Ellis, Morton Fine, and David Friedkin, this series is sure to capture your imagination.