The Do It Yourself Matter: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (February 11, 1962)

“The Do It Yourself Matter” is an episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, the old-time radio show, first broadcast February 11, 1962. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Johnny Dollar is called in by the Greater Southwest Insurance Company to investigate a series of nine fires that have occurred in Seamy Valley near Moore Park over six weeks. The company suspects arson, especially since a young, aggressive insurance agent named Harry Walterson has been capitalizing on the fires to sell new policies, though the claim payouts far exceed the premium income.

Seamy Valley and Moore Park, north of the San Fernando Valley in California, near the area recently devastated by the Bel Air and Pangar Canyon fires

Characters: Johnny Dollar, Mr. Harkins, Royal J. Hunter, Harry Walterson, Mrs. Hatcher, Mr. Pretty, Mr. Burton

Listen for: Johnny Dollar's investigation into whether homeowners themselves are setting fires to collect insurance or if arson is being perpetrated by someone else; Walterson's suspicious ability to sell policies following each fire outbreak.

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.