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New Day Cafe: the History of the True Crime Genre [1]

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Date: 2024-02-15  

True crime podcasts have become incredibly popular, but as JSTOR points out, they have a long lineage in true crime radio: daily.jstor.org/…

From their piece,

“Over the past several years—particularly following the premiers of Serial and Criminal in 2014—true crime podcasts have become a core element of the mediascape. Although podcasts themselves are typically considered “new media,” the detailed focus on crime and its investigation for entertainment purposes isn’t new at all. In fact, dramatizations of true crime were an essential part of popular culture between 1926 and 1950, the “golden age” of network radio.

In addition to numerous shows featuring crime fiction, from 1929 to 1930, listeners could—and did—tune in to listen to True Detective Mysteries, based on a magazine of the same name. In 1947, they heard investigations unfold on Call the Police, Deadline Mystery, and Did Justice Triumph?, all purporting to at least be inspired by actual criminal cases. And in between, they listened and responded to the detailed reenactments broadcast on Gang Busters, a true crime drama that often featured bandits as the main characters.

Running from 1936 to 1957, Gang Busters was notable for its sympathetic portrayals of people who had turned to a life of crime out of desperation. The broadcasts often featured “poor bandits, witnesses, and victims,” with plots that targeted an audience that came from a similarly impoverished background. As historian Elena Razlogova writes,

Gang Busters appealed most to working-class and nonwhite men and children. Among ten thousand Minnesota men questioned in December 1936 and January 1937, only 20 percent of professionals but 45 percent of “slightly skilled” workers listened to Gang Busters. A California survey found that while wealthy kids preferred historical plays and middle-class kids soap operas, low-income “Oriental” and Mexican children favored crime and mystery stories like Gang Busters.

At the behest of advertisers, producers, and the network, the writers of Gang Busters were told to warn the listeners that committing crimes was not something to be encouraged. “

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[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2024/2/15/2223437/-New-Day-Cafe-the-History-of-the-True-Crime-Genre

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