Counterspy

The Joe Hehn Memorial Collection

Counterspy (sometimes known as David Harding, Counterspy ) was on radio from 1942 to 1957. David Harding was the chief of the "United States Counterspies," a fictitious intelligence organization created to disrupt or cease the operations of enemy agents and their enterprises, and bring them to justice. The program was created by Phillips H. Lord who developed the hit series Gang Busters . It was produced in New York. Harding was played by Don McLaughlin, and his assistant, Peters, was played by Mandel Kramer. McLaughlin had a commanding and authoritative voice, reassuring to listeners that the stories would all turn out well. Peters, on the other hand, while a skilled operative, seemed to get all the tasks that Harding did not want to do. It was clear that Harding and Peters were on the job 365 days a year, 24 hours a day, doing whatever it took to protect the country. The Counterspies seemed to have unlimited budgets and ability to secure transportation very easily to anywhere in the world, and access to communications technologies that no one else had. The series was highly successful and had an audience among adults and teenagers. It was broadcast twice a week in some years, allowing for same-week two-part stories. When it shifted to the Mutual network in 1953, the production values and the scripts suffered greatly, and the program was well below the standard it set for itself in its peak popularity in the mid-to-late 1940s and very early 1950s. Years later, Mandel Kramer would become the last actor to play Johnny Dollar , the final crime detection program of radio's golden age  to go off the air. Lord was a highly successful radio producer, and his agency contributed to the funding of the notorious Red Channels . Its publication led to the Hollywood Blacklist, which, paradoxically, included one of the directors of the Counterspy series, William Sweets. * * * 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.

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