All Presumed Dead: Tarzan (October 11, 1951)

Tarzan, old-time radio on Stupid Potato

“All Presumed Dead” is an episode of Tarzan, the old-time radio show, first broadcast October 11, 1951. Listen free on Stupid Potato: no sign-up, no app.

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What happens

Tarzan warns the people of the Miyugo village that a hurricane is coming and urges them to flee, but the young woman Anakia refuses to leave her post on a rock. Meanwhile, Captain Rex Haken pilots a DC-4 airliner through the storm, and his crew argues with him over the route. Later, Captain Lawrence of the governmental police arrives at the ravaged village to search for the crashed airliner, which the airline has presumed lost with all aboard. Together with Tarzan, he begins the search in the jungle, where the wreckage reveals unsettling details about how the crash happened.

The jungle of central Africa near the Miyugo village, during a hurricane and its aftermath, with a flight from Cairo to Accra.

Characters: Tarzan, Anakia, Captain Rex Haken, Captain Lawrence, Robert W. Guthrie, Kugodo

Listen for: Listen for the search of the wreckage, where Captain Lawrence and Tarzan examine the instrument panel and find a buried parachute.

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.