This is Your FBI

Crime Drama (1945 - 53)

These were fact-based dramas that told the story of FBI cases from the agent's point of view. Producer/director Jerry Devine had previous radio experience on the show Mr. District Attorney, which was a solid and responsible pro-law enforcement radio drama.

J. Edgar Hoover himself endorsed Devine's development of the new show, and obviously the FBI's story would be told in the best possible way. Divine worked with the FBI in Washington, DC, planning programs to highlight the latest developments in criminal laboratory and surveillance techniques worked in to solid, exciting old time radio shows.

Crackdowns on organized crime, and well-known criminal cases of the day were featured, as well as stories of individual lawbreakers. A fictitious agent, Jim Taylor, handled West Coast cases involving fraud, petty crime and professional crooks. The stories shifted during the half-hour between the criminal's actions and the agent's account of the investigation follow-up.

A narrator profiled the action along the way. Frank Lovejoy did it early in the show's run, then Dean Carlton. Lovejoy, also a well-known film and TV actor, starred in the radio drama Nightbeat. This long running series also starred legendary actress, Betty White.

This is Your FBI had counterparts on the other networks. The FBI in Peace and War also told stories of the FBI, although some were not authentic. Earlier on, Gangbusters, and the previously mentioned Mr. District Attorney gave the authentic crime treatment to their stories. And Dragnet, and Tales of the Texas Rangers, took the idea on as well. Crime, especially true crime, was a genre in the magazines early on, with the Police Gazette and its predecessors in England printing lurid true crime stories prior to radio. This is Your FBI took the idea, and made it realistic, exciting and even informational.

For more law enforcement excitements see Nightwatch and Police Headquarters. See also: Federal Agent, True Adventures of Junior G-Men.