The Big Story
The Thirteenth Key
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The Big Story dramatizes real cases drawn from newspaper reporting, bringing the work of journalists and the events they uncovered to radio. This recording presents “The Thirteenth Key,” based on the Snook-Hix murder case of 1929, a widely covered crime involving a college professor and a young woman with whom he was having an affair.
Reporter James Fusco introduces the broadcast with opening comments. The recording is described as an aircheck and appears to preserve a rebroadcast of the program; it begins with the closing music of Mr. District Attorney, which preceded The Big Story in the NBC schedule. The account connects the case to Fusco’s work as a reporter and columnist for the Columbus Citizen.
The result combines a dramatized account of a notorious case with the perspective of the journalist associated with its reporting. Its surviving broadcast details offer a glimpse of how real newspaper stories were adapted for radio, while the opening remarks give this presentation a direct link to the reporting behind the drama.
This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.