What happens
Fred Allen hosts his Town Hall Tonight variety show on a Wednesday night in early January 1936, opening with comic bits about the Old Town Hall, a marriage doctor, and a parade of trivial news items from 1935. Later, Portland Hoffa visits Fred to discuss her mother's bridge club and a portable conscience service run by Miss Barr. The show then turns to a mystery melodrama, Murder at the Microphone, set in a radio studio during a live broadcast of Captain Benny's Robot Program. When Captain Benny is shot at the microphone, the studio is locked down, and Inspector Bongo begins questioning the cast, musicians, and audience members to find out who fired the shot.
The Old Town Hall variety show in New York on a Wednesday night in early January 1936, and then a radio studio during a live broadcast.
Characters: Fred Allen, Portland Hoffa, Mrs. Lucas, Harry, Peter, Minerva Pious, Kenny Delmar, Inspector Bongo
Listen for: Inspector Bongo's questioning of the witnesses in the studio, and the clues he picks up from the witnesses' statements and the telephone call.
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.