1950's Voyeurism using OTR and the internet!

A show like Night Watch or Unit 99 will provide real addresses to real calls to the police.

I took a random example of the first call I came across after I had this idea.

Using both Google Earth and Google Street Maps, I am able to pinpoint the house and provide a view from overhead:

You may find the street numbers have changed but Google is smart enough to remember THE OLD STREET NUMBERS!

Have fun.

Review: Night Watch

Night Watch is perhaps the most-unusual radio show you will ever hear.  It's much like the television show, Cops, except it's done via the radio and it was recorded live in the early 1950's

Things that would bypass most policemen today seem to draw a lot of attention then.  For instance, an older boy in his car follows two girls in their car.  They call the police and the word, "molested" is used twice - yet he never even got out of his car, according to his accusers.  He was simply following them.  Is it illegal to follow someone?  Is he a "molester" for doing so?  He didn't get arrested but was talked to sternly by officers.

Alcohol seems to have been the biggest problem then - much as it is now - as far as being the instigator for illegal activity.  So some things never change.

The horrors of marijuana are ramped up on the show,  A marijuana user is a 'dope addict;'  I guess they didn't know then that marijuana is about 10 times safer than alcohol and you can't get addicted to the evil weed.  I don't suggest anyone use marijuana but anyone who thinks marijuana is evil should at least say that 10 times when speaking of alcohol.  There is no comparison in my opinion.

But that's the early 1950's for you.  While shows like Dragnet and The 21st Precinct deal with the same manner of crimes and do in an orderly and exciting fashion, Night Watch bumbles along in the live format where something might or might not happen.  Sometimes the most exciting event is hearing the squeaking of the cop car door (and I'm not exaggerating) while other times the show is fascinating beyond words.  

The show was the first of it's kind and even had a later imitator (the show, Unit 99) and of course I already mentioned Cops which has been running to more than 20 years on television.

One thing for sure, the show is edited to go at a slow pace, with both the recorder (Donn Reed) and the cops being rather unexcited at all times.  The personalities of all the cops involved in the recording are rather bland.  This does not make the show boring but it makes it slow - and slow is not not a word you really want to use when describing entertainment.  With just one unit with a tape recorder, the action can be rare, so much so that one episode might just deal with a confession of an alcoholic pouring his heart out looking for help or a long argument between a mother and daughter.  Neither to me are as exciting as catching a couple of hoods red-handed breaking into a filling station, something which seems to happen often during the series.

For the most part, the sound is at least passable but I wouldn't go so far as to say the sound is great.  Interesting stuff usually: 2 and a half stars.

©Jimbo 2010/2011

One of the best: 21st Precinct

Everett Sloan as Captain Frank Kinnelly

One of my greatest joys in life is sitting down a cold afternoon in my warm abode, slipping on the headphones, sipping some hot cocoa and listening to The 21st Precinct.

The show is a lot like Jack Webb's Dragnet, but it has an east coast feel to it; it's smack in the middle of New York City. While Dragnet has a gritty, harsh, noir feel, The 21st Precinct seems more realistic - not some fictional tale.

The actors make mistakes and this lends to the realism. While most of the recordings we have are not in the best shape for this show, that somehow lends credence that we are dealing with history.

One of my favorite episodes was the one where this 14 or 15 year old boy had a "pet" copperhead snake and it had gotten loose somewhere. The kid, fearing for the safety of his snake refused to tell the coppers where he had hidden it.

Another episode that comes to mind instantly is the one where the kids stole some explosives and they had shot off several of them. While that doesn't sound like a horrible crime, you felt the sense of urgency the police had while you listened, as one kid had already been hurt by an explosion.

While the show is not Nightwatch (a reporter actually goes out with the police and records what really happens) this show is as close to real as it gets. It's definitely one of the better shows out there - and I suggest you download them now, if you don't already have them.

Find them here.

One of the best: Night Watch

Download Night Watch.