THE BIG PAPER and THE BIG TEST DRAGNET

🎙️ 1001 RADIO CRIME SOLVERS SHOW NOTES — DRAGNET Starring Jack Webb as Sgt. Joe Friday "Just the facts, ma'am."

Dragnet's radio run (1949–1957) set the standard for police procedural storytelling. Each episode was based on real LAPD case files, dramatized with documentary precision and delivered with Jack Webb's trademark deadpan realism. Below are complete show notes for THE BIG PAPER and THE BIG TEST — two strong entries from the mid‑1950s era.

⭐ THE BIG PAPER Original Air Date: February 23, 1954

Series: Dragnet (NBC Radio)

Cast: Jack Webb – Sgt. Joe Friday

Ben Alexander – Officer Frank Smith

Supporting cast: Herb Ellis, Harry Bartell, Ralph Moody, and others

Writer/Director: Jack Webb

Production: James Jewell, producer Walter Schumann, music

Episode Summary In The Big Paper, Friday and Smith tackle a case involving a forged check ring operating across Los Angeles. What begins as a routine fraud complaint quickly expands into a multi‑layered investigation involving:

a forged payroll check

a phony business address