The Eight O'Clock Killer: Richard Diamond, Private Detective (June 7, 1953)

“The Eight O'Clock Killer” is an episode of Richard Diamond, Private Detective, the old-time radio show, first broadcast June 7, 1953. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

Listen to Richard Diamond, Private Detective free, live around the clock: every episode, in the order it first aired. No sign-up.

What happens

A mysterious caller threatens to murder someone at eight o'clock and makes good on his promise, killing a man on Broadway. When he calls again promising another murder at the same time that evening, Lieutenant Levinson and private detective Richard Diamond race to stop him—but another victim falls at Madison Square Garden, and then a wealthy man is killed near his home. As the killer continues his nightly murders and taunts the police, Diamond suspects the deaths may not be random.

New York City, including Broadway, Madison Square Garden, Grand Central Station, and Rockefeller Center

Characters: Richard Diamond, Lieutenant Levinson, Walt (Sergeant Otis), George Reeves, Abraham Weiss, Leon Ellis, Arthur Reeves, Mrs. Weiss

Listen for: The tension builds as each eight o'clock deadline passes with another murder, and Diamond pieces together a connection between the victims and the killer's identity.

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.