THE PRODIGAL DAUGHTER and THE LONESOME LADY CONFIDENTIAL INVESTIGATOR JEFF REGAN

Jeff Regan, Investigator, was one of countless private detective series that proliferated in the years following WWII. The series initially featured Jack Webb in the title role, who was coming off his work in Pat Novak for Hire, followed by Johnny Madero, Pier 23. The series premiered July 10, 1948, over the CBS network. Originally promoted as Joe Canto, Private Eye, the series was never actually broadcast under that name. However, Barton Yarborough, Jack Webb’s first partner in Dragnet, would make a guest appearance in the show playing a bit part named Joe Canto. The series was sometimes incorrectly called The Lyon’s Eye by collectors because Regan frequently opened each show stating “I’m Jeff Regan. They call me The Lyon’s Eye” or something similar.

The first run of Jeff Regan ran from July 10 to December 18, 1948. Webb continued to play a hard-boiled character as in previous roles, but this time with a better relationship with the police. Webb left the show after 24 episodes when CBS declined his request for a $15 per episode raise. He returned for a brief run on a revived Pat Novak for Hire before premiering on his signature program, Dragnet, in June 1949.

Welcome to 1001 Radio Crime Solvers - where you can enjoy the best radio detective stories from the golden age of radio. This was a time when TV was still in its infancy and radio was in its creative heyday- using top writers and top talent to capture huge audiences, and shows featuring hard boiled detectives like Sam Spade, Richard Diamond, Philip Marlowe, and Johnny Dollar competed for prime time with mental sleuths like Agatha Christie's Hercule Poirot, G.K. Chesterton's Father Brown, and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes. And here you'll find standouts -like Dragnet's Joe Friday, Vincent Price's 'The Saint', and Michael Waring's free-lance troubleshooting investigator 'The Falcon'- to name a few. We release new episodes every Sunday at 5pm ET.
We're a proud part of 1001 Stories Network. www.1001storiespodcast.com.

• No. of episodes: 215
• Latest episode: 2025-07-30
• Arts Performing Arts

Where can you listen?