Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Review: Counterspy

One of radio's great innovators was a man named Phillips H. Lord.  Among his many contributions to radio were the crime series, Gang Busters,  Mr. District Attorney and other shows.

Counterspy fits right in there with them all, although it was about the war and espionage.

In the episodes I have listened to, various charcters are in Europe, helping to defeat the Axis powers.  Whether this meant using radio propaganda piped in to interrupt a Hitler speech or a political kidnapping or what-have-you.

It was different characters every week on the show; a group of capable but no-name New York actors taking turns seemingly and doing a pretty good job of it. 

Counterspy took the war espinoage headlines and turned them into compelling radio.  Not historic and missing or adding various details to make the show exciting, the stories weren't as directly from the headlines as they may have you believe.

The radio action also takes place in the Pacific, where espionage is enacted against the then-hated Japanese.

A fine program that stretches history a bit, but then again, doesn't all media?

©Jimbo 2010/2011

2 comments:

  1. In contrast to Bold Adventure, I have never heard this show. There are so many shows to listen to, so this one gets left off for me. I would take Bold Adventure over this one. Shame on me for doing that as how can you put down a show you never have heard???

    ReplyDelete
  2. Counterspy is way better than Gang Busters or shows of that ilk. This has an OSS feel to it/WWII feel to it.

    I would choose this over Bold Venture.

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