The Great Detectives Present Mathew Slade – Details, episodes & analysis

The Golden Age of Radio is usually viewed as having concluded on September 30, 1962. Yet the meaning of the date is often overstated. It marked the cancellation of the last two remaining network radio shows, Suspense and Yours Truly Johnny Dollar. 

However, it is often misstated as "the day radio drama died." Radio drama never went away entirely, even in the United States.The only American detective show launched during the 1960s was The Starlight Mystery Theater, featuring Mathew Slade (often spelled with the more common "Matthew" Slade). It aired over the small Pacifica Radio Network on a bi-weekly basis, with a feature-length opener, Day of the Phoenix, which was based on an unfilmed screenplay.

The series was based on a Canadian radio series that aired from 1957-1960. The creative team had high hopes of testing out Slade radio scripts and expanding them into film or even a television series, with Slade as an international troubleshooter, to cash in on the popularity of the James Bond franchise. None of these came to fruition.

However, an eleven-episode run over the Pacifica radio network was resyndicated further as a thirteen-episode offering by breaking the featuring length first episode into a three-part story. The series was syndicated by the American Forces Network, specifically the Far East Network of the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, among others.

The series starred up-and-coming actor William Wintersole as Slade, Norman Belkin as Sergeant Sid Dinelli, and Sylvia Walden as his secretary, Jonesy. In many ways, the series was quite similar to programs of a decade previously, with typical private investigator fare. The series is often viewed as an homage to the earlier series.