Unit 99 is sometimes an overlooked but excellent old time radio police drama. There are some 40 plus circulating episodes that date from August 1957 through June 1958.
These old time radio shows feature Sacramento police Sgt Dan Meredith, who carried a tape recorder in his squad car, and provided tape recording coverage of actual Sacramento police call responses with his descriptive narration, witness interviews and the like.
These old time radio shows feature Sacramento police Sgt Dan Meredith, who carried a tape recorder in his squad car, and provided tape recording coverage of actual Sacramento police call responses with his descriptive narration, witness interviews and the like.
In Unit 99, Long time Sacramento Police Chief James Hicks was billed as the host and radio station KFBK chief announcer and special events director Tony Koester directed the program. Although this was a locally produced show I believe that KFBK was the local ABC affiliate at the time.
I think all police Departments of that era was influenced by Jack Webb's Dragnet. Dragnet was a radio and television show about the Los Angeles Police Department. Webb's Joe Friday was the epitome of a police detective as he dealt with crime. Joe Friday was a no nonsense man with no religion , no family , no sex life and as a matter of fact he battled against crime religiously. Dragnet depicted crime as just another ordinary affair with just the facts depicted. Dragnet won laurels for Chief William H. Parker(1950-1966) LAPD as police officers were depicted as ordinary men just doing their jobs to combat crime. There was another radio show in the 1950s called " Nightwatch and it was about a police reporter riding along with the Culver City Police Department. It was a precursor to the 1980s TV show "Cops" as it dealt with the police dealing with suspects , crooks , and helping citizens in need. I guess the Sacramento Police Department wanted to have a show about their police officers. These radio shows are a time capsule of dealing with crime in that era and are very good to listen to. It was the era of Pre Miranda Rights in the United States and you have listen to it within the context of its time.
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