The Condon Ransom: Boston Blackie (February 12, 1946)

“The Condon Ransom” is an episode of Boston Blackie, the old-time radio show, first broadcast February 12, 1946. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

When wealthy Marjorie Condon is kidnapped, her husband Harry appeals to Boston Blackie for help despite the ransom note's warning against involving police. The kidnappers demand $50,000 and instruct that the money be dropped from an airplane over the remote Waseka Mountains, making it nearly impossible for authorities to intercept them. Blackie takes charge of the delivery alone, but when he arrives at the drop point, he discovers the case is far more complicated than a simple ransom scheme.

A city and surrounding countryside with ransom instructions involving the Waseka Mountains, seen from an airplane and from a small country village.

Characters: Boston Blackie, Mary Wesley, Harry Condon, John White, Inspector Faraday, Pilot

Listen for: The clever mechanics of the ransom scheme involving airplane delivery and radio contact; Blackie's ingenious use of a telephone exchange to trace the kidnappers' location; the surprising revelation of who actually orchestrated the kidnapping.

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.