The John Rand Murder Case: Broadway Is My Beat (July 4, 1953)

“The John Rand Murder Case” is an episode of Broadway Is My Beat, the old-time radio show, first broadcast July 4, 1953. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Detective Danny Clover investigates the death of John Rand, a wealthy cotton importer, when an autopsy reveals he died of alkaloid poisoning despite his doctor's initial reluctance to perform one. Suspicion falls on Bonnie Ward, Rand's young nurse who recently received a bequest in his will, but she flees when she learns of the poisoning discovery. A desperate situation develops when Ward is spotted on a twelfth-floor ledge threatening to jump.

New York City, from police headquarters to the homes and streets of Broadway and surrounding neighborhoods, during a hot summer day.

Characters: Danny Clover, Mugglin', Dr. Sinsky, Dr. Montoya, John Rand, Mrs. Rand, Bonnie Ward, Angela Kenny

Listen for: The atmospheric opening describing Broadway at noon, the tense interrogations of Mrs. Rand and Angela Kenny about Bonnie Ward's whereabouts, and the climactic emergency call about a woman on a ledge threatening to jump.

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.