Cops like shows on the radio - the history?

[hrhwebmaster]

A local history blogger has come across some tapes of an early Cops like show on KATL, Houston (1590) in 1951, featuring Marvin Zindler. At the time, Zindler was a Deputy with the Harris Co. Sheriffs Department, but he always had an eye for the nearest microphone. Zindler later became famous as the looooong running Consumer Affairs reporter on KTRK-TV, Channel 13, whose exploits were the inspiration for The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

I was struck in listening to the tapes how graphic and gruesome some of the reports are compared to the depictions of mayhem and violence in movies of the era; Zindler is on-scene, sometimes arriving before cops or other emergency personnel, interviewing victims, sometimes as they groan in agony, grilling people, suggesting lines of investigation to the cops.

I was wondering if anyone knows the history of this sort of on the scene reporting on radio - where did Zindler get the idea?

If you want to listen, here's a link to the series:

http://blogs.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/the_roving_mike/

There are supposedly at least two more installments plus the blogger has told me there are tapes that are mostly just music; I think he plans to post excerpts of one of those, later, too.

 

[Icangelp]

Interesting. Thanks.

You have to think this was a popular show. Popular shows get copied, although this is the first time I have heard anything quite like this.

Imagine walking up to some poor kid who just got hit by a car and interviewing him. When I thiink about it, I don't doubt today's reporters would do the same if they could get away with it.

 

[Prais]

What you have is cool but here is something BETTER;

In the 1930's WGN, Chicago, 720 am, pioneered POLICE CALLS BROADCAST LIVE on the radio station. This led to "police radios" of
today. They discontinued it because people would rush to "the scene of the crime."

This went on for a couple of weeks, before it was discontinued, but
it actually DID take place.

They have my admiration. Nobody has the guts to experiment like that, today.

 

[hrhwebmaster]

Actually that was quite common and a lot earlier than the 30s. Detroit - WCOP, NYC - WLAW, both in the early 20s, I think. WRR, Dallas was started by the communications division of the fire and police departments and broadcast fire and police calls in the early 20s, actually inspired by a major fire on one side of town and the lack of any way to advise the companies on the scene when another fire broke out on the other side of town. An early Houston station, WGAB, was owned by the fingerprint expert of the HPD and broadcast police calls, if it happened to be on the air (this was 22-23, when there were only 2 frequencies and all stations were share-time). From its beginning in 1925, KPRC Houston interrupted regular broadcasts for police calls and bragged about it. In the 30s, the HPD actually had two AM radio stations for police calls. This was in the days before 2-way radios - police units just had to have a regular AM radio.