What happens
Joe, Jack and Jim, three former singers running a music publishing business, take fees from hopeful songwriters across the country and deliver little in return. Waldo Pilly, a young poet from Simmons Corners, sends them his song and borrows against his belongings to pay the fee. When he arrives in the city broke and discouraged, he is picked up by Officer Doyle for peddling music on a street corner and collapses from hunger. Star reporter Lowry hears of the case and brings it to publisher Britt Reid, whose newspaper work has grown dull. Reid is drawn to the racket, and he begins to plan a way to confront the three men.
A music publishing office and a newspaper office in a large city, with a sleek black car hidden in a converted stable.
Characters: Joe, Jack, Jim, Waldo Pilly, Doyle, Lowry, Britt Reid, Kato
Listen for: The three partners arguing over a contract and their plan to pitch song ads nationwide, Waldo Pilly's pleas for money, and Officer Doyle finding Pilly on the street.
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.