Adventures of Billy Swift, Boy Detective

The Joe Hehn Memorial Collection

(4.6 stars; 7 reviews)

The Adventures of Billy Swift, Boy Detective was a short-lived Saturday morning kids serial heard mainly on the West coast and in the Southwest in 1938 and 1939. Billy is a 15 year-old detective whose adventures take him around the world. The program was part of a larger series, Sunkist Time , sometimes known as California Sunshine Hour , sponored by the California Fruit Growers Exchange, known best for Sunkist oranges. The young star of the program was Frank Bealin, and the announcers were Ken Carpenter and Bill Goodwin. The announcers went on to have long and notable careers in radio. Not much is know about Frank Bealin, but some radio reference resources list him as appearing in the soap opera Young Doctor Malone . * * * These recordings are part of the Joe Hehn Memorial Collection. Mr. Hehn (1931-2020) was a pioneering collector of radio recordings when the hobby emerged in the 1960s. Digitizing his collection of reel tapes and discs is the effort of a wide range of North American volunteers, and includes assistance of some international collectors. The groups supporting this effort with their funds, time, technology and skills are the Old Time Radio Researchers and a small group of transcription disc preservationists who refer to themselves as the "The Knights of the Turning Table."

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.