The Shadow Radio Show

The Shadow Knows!
Radio Programs: 1930-1954

On July 31, 1930, a sinister voice introduced "The Detective Story Magazine Hour," a weekly radio program that dramatized stories from the pages of Street & Smith's Detective Story Magazine.

The mysterious narrator claimed; "The Shadow knows" and then announced the story from the current issue of the crime magazine with a menacing laugh.

Though the program was canceled after 52 episodes, The Shadow became an immediate hit with the listening audience and continued on with his own magazine.

The Shadow came back to the airwaves to narrate other crime programs, such as, "Blue Coal Mystery Revue and a handful of his own short lived shows that aired on CBS in 1932 and 1934.

John La Curto, Frank Readick, Jr. and Robert Hardy Andrews voiced the character during these earlier attempts when the invisible avenger proved that, "Crime does not pay." 

On September 26, 1937, Street & Smith finally gave The Shadow a central role, and a long-time radio residence, on the Mutual Broadcasting System network. The first show, starring Orson Welles, was titled "The Death House Rescue." The last radio program featured Bret Morrison portraying the mysterious sleuth. It was titled "Murder by the Sea," and aired on December 26, 1954.

Bret Morrison and Grace Matthews, as Margot Lane, recorded two final episodes for a special record released in 1968.

Below is "The Shadow" radio show disambiguation page. It serves to clarify the difference between several of the radio programs in which The Shadow either narrated or starred in as a central character.

Radio Shows Featuring The Shadow

The Detective Story Magazine Hour (CBS)

Blue Coal Radio Revue (CBS)

Blue Coal Mystery Revue (CBS)

The Shadow Radio Show (1932) ("Perfect-O-Lite")

The Shadow Radio Show (1934-1935) (CBS)

The Shadow Radio Show (1937-1954) (Mutual Broadcasting System)

The New Adventures of The Shadow (Pulp-Pourri Theatre)

Audio Releases Featuring The Shadow:

The Shadow Radio Show (8-Track Tapes)

The Shadow Radio Show (Cassettes)

The Shadow Radio Show (Albums)

The Shadow Radio Show (CDs)

Old-Time Radio Fanzines & Books Featuring The Shadow:

The Shadow: The History and Mystery of the Radio Program (by Martin Grams Jr.)

Radio Nostalgia #4 (article about The Shadow (1940 Movie), not much about the radio show)

Memories: Old Time Radio Club of Buffalo #3 (has a list of the cast and a brief history of the radio show)

Old Time Radio Digest #22 (has an 8-page article about the radio show by Will Murray)

The Great Radio Shows (The Shadow Special Edition) (reprints "The House That Death Built")