The Syndicate Matter: Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar (March 24, 1953)

“The Syndicate Matter” is an episode of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, the old-time radio show, first broadcast March 24, 1953. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Johnny Dollar arrives in the oil boom town of Tupelo to investigate four murders of oil field workers, all beaten to death and insured under a company group policy. The victims are newcomers who had been unemployed for months before arriving, and each received injuries a week before being killed. Dollar goes undercover as a laborer to infiltrate the operation and uncover the pattern behind the murders.

The De Pella oil field near Tupelo, Texas, during an oil boom; also Dallas offices of the Cooperative Group Insurance Company

Characters: Johnny Dollar, Wilbur Runyon, Mrs. Gonzales, Bullferal, Frankie Robling

Listen for: The revelation of why the four murdered men were targeted, and whether the loan shark Frankie Robling is connected to the killings or the syndicate Johnny suspects

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.