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| Newspaper Ad for the Blue Valley Junior Detectives from the Cleveland Press, February 13, 1931. From Newspapers.com. |
Recently, my research article on the lost Junior Detectives radio series was published in the September-October edition of the Old Radio Times.
https://otrr.org/FILES/Times_Archive_pdf/2025_05%20September-October.pdf
Junior Detectives (1931) was a popular, but short lived radio children's series that I believe to have been the first juvenile detective program in broadcasting history. In other words , the first program in any broadcast medium with young detectives or the first mystery program geared to a child audience. It predates the radio series Dick Tracy, Chick Carter Boy Detective and by decades the TV programs Ghostwriter, The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries, Scooby-Doo Where Are You? and many others.
No scripts or audio from the series are known to exist today, but it was possible to create a log from newspapers listings. As printed in my article, the log was compressed with errors. One section of dates I gave were from Sundays instead of Saturdays when the series aired.
Log For the "Junior Detectives" Radio Series - 1931. NBC Network.
All broadcast dates were on Saturdays at various times. "Unknown" refers to missing information about episode titles and stories.
1931-01-31 Premiere. unknown
1931-02-07 unknown
1931-02-14 unknown
1931-02-21 unknown
1931-02-28 unknown
1931-03-07 unknown
1931-03-14 "Stolen School Funds". Title from press releases.
1931-03-21 "Stolen School Funds" Title from press releases.
1931-03-28 unknown
1931-04-04 unknown
1931-04-11 unknown
1931-04-18 unknown
1931-04-25 "The Hoodlum's Hideout". Title from press releases.
1931-05-02 unknown
1931-05-09 unknown
1931-05-16 unknown
1931-05-23 unknown
1931-05-30 unknown
1931-06-06 unknown
1931-06-13 unknown
1931-06-20 unknown if broadcast, news about removal from air after this date
1931-06-27 unknown if broadcast
1931-07-04 unknown if broadcast, last date in newspaper radio logs.
