Champion Caper: The Adventures of Sam Spade (August 7, 1949)

“Champion Caper” is an episode of The Adventures of Sam Spade, the old-time radio show, first broadcast August 7, 1949. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Private detective Sam Spade is hired by brokerage house owner Elliot Champion to locate Joe Josephs, a former employee recently released from San Quentin who has been making threatening phone calls. When Champion is shot and killed the same night, Spade investigates a tangled web of embezzlement, false testimony, and hidden connections that reveal the true circumstances behind Josephs' original conviction.

San Mateo, California in 1949; Champion's brokerage office, various city locations, and Josephs' apartment.

Characters: Sam Spade, Elliot Champion, Mildred Champion, Joe Josephs, Lemuel Drager, Anthony Spez, Lieutenant Manelli

Listen for: The shocking revelation of who really killed Champion and why; the truth about Josephs' original conviction and the frame-up behind it; Mildred's desperate search for justice.

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.