Calling All Cars // Episode 2 Burma White Case // OTR Crime Radio Classics

🚨🌃 Before Dragnet made police radio famous nationwide, Calling All Cars was already putting listeners on the streets with one of the first great police dramas of the golden age of broadcasting. Built around dramatized LAPD cases, this classic old time radio series delivered crime, pursuit, arrest, and courtroom wrap-up in a format that feels like an early blueprint for the modern police procedural.

Originating on the West Coast over CBS and later also carried on the Mutual-Don Lee Network, Calling All Cars ran from 1933 to 1939 and became known for its official law-enforcement framing, with Chief James E. Davis of the Los Angeles Police Department serving as host. The series was written and produced by William N. Robson, with additional writing by Mel Williamson and Sam Pierce, and direction by Robert Hixon. It dramatized real-style criminal cases from investigation through arrest, then often closed with a recap of how justice was carried out.

That structure is a huge part of what makes the show important. Calling All Cars wasn’t just another crime title — it helped establish the sound and rhythm of radio police storytelling years before later titles perfected the formula. It also earned serious recognition in its own day, including the Institute of Audible Arts Trophy for the most consistently excellent program broadcast in the western United States during 1938.

If you love classic radio crime, vintage police drama, old time radio, and the roots of the procedural storytelling that later dominated radio and television, Calling All Cars is essential listening. It’s fast, historical, influential, and a real look at how crime radio found its badge and flashlight. 🔥📻