Re-Imagined Radio Remembers Johnny Dollar, Fabulous Freelance Insurance Investigator -06/03/24

VANCOUVER, Wash. – Known as “the man with the action-packed expense account,” freelance insurance investigator Johnny Dollar starts another case on Re-Imagined Radio’s June episode. Dollar was the lead character of the program “Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar,” which ran for 14 years—1949 to 1962—on CBS. He was known for investigating an insurance claim anywhere, as long as the client would pay his expenses and any reward offered.

“Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar: The McCormick Matter” premieres at 1 p.m. June 17 on KXRW-FM (99.9), Vancouver, and KXRY-FM (91.1 and 107.1), Portland. Subsequent broadcasts and streams will be provided by local, regional and international broadcast partners.

“The McCormick Matter,” from which the Re-Imagined Radio episode is drawn, was a five-part story originally broadcast in 1955. It centers around a request from a dying prison inmate that puts Johnny on the trail of stolen jewelry. Bob Bailey stars as Johnny Dollar. He was one of eight actors who portrayed Dollar, and many consider him the best. 

“The McCormick Matter” marked Bailey’s first appearance as Dollar and also introduced a new format for the show—15-minute episodes, five times a week—so that a story evolved over five days. The new format shook up the competition and established Johnny Dollar as the best in an overcrowded field of detective shows. “By electing to continue the Johnny Dollar series when many other radio programs were moving to the new television medium, CBS kept radio drama flourishing a few more years,“ said John Barber, host and producer of Re-Imagined Radio and faculty member of WSU Vancouver’s Creative Media and Digital Culture program.

Re-Imagined Radio premieres episodes on the third Monday of the month on community radio stations KXRW-FM and KXRY-FM. Each episode is streamed globally and is then available as a podcast. Information and listening opportunities are available at reimaginedradio.fm. 

Community Partners

Re-Imagined Radio draws on community voice actors, Foley artists, musicians, sound artists and engineers. Partners include KXRW-FM, KXRY-FM, Fuse Audio Design, the Electronic Literature Lab at WSU Vancouver, Marc Rose and Holly Slocum Design, with Sidney Nguyen.

About Re-Imagined Radio

Re-Imagined Radio was begun by John Barber in 2013 to celebrate radio storytelling.  ”We select, produce and perform classic and contemporary stories across a spectrum of radio genres, from dramas to comedies, from oral to aural histories, from documentaries to fictions, from soundscapes to sonic journeys, from radio to sound art,” Barber said. 

About WSU Vancouver

As one of six campuses of the WSU system, WSU Vancouver offers big-school resources in a small-school environment. The university provides affordable, high-quality baccalaureate- and graduate-level education to benefit the people and communities it serves. As the only four-year research university in Southwest Washington, WSU Vancouver helps drive economic growth through relationships with local businesses and industries, schools and nonprofit organizations. 

WSU Vancouver is located on the homelands of the Cowlitz Indian Tribe and Peoples of the Lower Columbia Valley. We acknowledge their presence here. WSU Vancouver expresses its respect towards these original and current caretakers of the region. We pledge that these relationships will be built on mutual trust and respect. 

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