Calling All Cars is an old-time radio police drama in the United States. It was broadcast on the CBS West Coast network[1] and on the Mutual-Don Lee Network[2] November 29, 1933 - September 8, 1939 and carried by transcription on stations in other areas. The program was notable for being one of the first police dramas on radio.

Format[edit]Calling All Cars dramatized cases that had been handled by the Los Angeles Police Department. A typical episode began by relating the facts of a particular crime, then introducing individuals who were associated with the case. A dramatization followed, climaxing in the arrest of the criminal. The outcome of a trial wrapped up the story.

In On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio, radio historian John Dunning described the program as "a crude forerunner of a type that reached its zenith years later on Dragnet: the tedious routine of tracking killers and robbers, often with a postshow recap telling how justice was meted out.