Death Claim: The Whistler (October 4, 1953)

“Death Claim” is an episode of The Whistler, the old-time radio show, first broadcast October 4, 1953. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

Dick Addison and his older companion Jensen drink in a crowded Panama City cantina when a killing in a back alley forces them to flee. Addison, using the name Vic Adams, learns that his companion Harvey, actually Harry Crane, is believed to have died in a plane crash seven years earlier, and the two men plan a trip to San Francisco before a large insurance payment is due to Crane's wife, Nora. Adams visits Nora to deliver the news that her husband is alive, and her reactions raise questions about her intentions. The story follows Adams as he moves between the two of them, weighing where his own interests lie.

Panama City and San Francisco, in the years after a presumed plane crash in Central America.

Characters: Dick Addison, Harry Crane, Nora Crane, Jensen, Javier

Listen for: Listen for how Adams keeps his own plans hidden from Harry and Nora as the three of them grow more suspicious of one another.

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.