This Is Your F. B. I. ran for 8 seasons (1945-53) on ABC Radio. As Dragnet would dramatize actual cases from the files of the Los Angeles Police Department, this series, with the approval of then F. B. I director J. Edgar Hoover, did the same for the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Actor Stacy Harris, who would become a member of Jack Webb's repertory company on television, was the star of This Is Your F. B. I. as agent Jim Taylor.
This Is Your F. B. I. had been on the air for a while before Webb launched Dragnet, so one can assume he got the idea for his show from this one. Just sayin', since I don't know all the facts.
Anyway, the series went through three narrators over the course of 8 seasons. Actor Frank Lovejoy was the first narrator, but lasted just a year. Bill Woodson joined the show in 1948, and is heard here in the episode, "Old Mother Larceny".
Woodson, of course, is better known to TV viewers for his narration of The Invaders, and the intro to The Odd Couple. Millions of children are familiar with him as the narrator of Super Friends (1977-85) and Battle of the Planets among his many cartoon credits.
In 1965, 12 years after This Is Your F. B. I. signed off, producer Quinn Martin launched The F. B. I. for ABC-TV. One wonders if Martin was a fan of radio.......
Rating: A.
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