+ Mathew Slade: Private Investigator was a featured, half-hour mystery presentation by The Pacifica Players of Pacifica Radio of Berkeley, California and the Pacifica Foundation of North Hollywood, California. It premiered as a Starlight Mystery Theater production on July 5, 1964 over Pacifica Radio affiliate stations. Initially announced for alternating Sundays, the program soon began airing in erratic installments from August through November of 1964. Starring William Wintersole as Mathew Slade, the program was billed as a radio mystery revival series from the outset, presented in recognition of the hundreds of popular detective mysteries that had aired throughout The Golden Age of Radio. At least twelve of the Mathew Slade: Private Investigator installments from Starlight Mystery Theater were selected by The Armed Forces Radio and Television Service (AFRTS) for transcription and rebroadcast to both the Armed Forces Network (AFN) in Europe in 1966 and The Far East Network (FEN) in 1968. Mathew Slade, or 'Mat' Slade, was a private investigator in the Philip Marlowe, Richard Diamond, Sam Spade, and Michael Shayne tradition--hard-boiled, hard-drinking, hard-loving, Radio Noir. The inaugural presentation, Day of The Phoenix, was announced as a three-part arc, to be aired on alternating Sundays for the first six weeks of the run. Day of The Phoenix was clearly an homage to Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon--in this instance it's a statuette of a Jade Phoenix that's missing. Times have changed, however, and Mathew Slade isn't a '$50.00 a day man'. 1964's Mat Slade asks $200.00 per day -- plus expenses. Unfortunately, as Pacifica Radio fans are well aware, their programming schedule was highly fluid--to be charitable. Given the fluidity of the scheduling, as announced in KPFK Folio, The Pacifica Radio house organ and listing schedule, the listings soon degraded to generic announcement listings during several issues for the remainder of its original season. Principal Actors: The Pacifica Players: William Wintersole, Sylvia Walden. Norman Belkin, Joyce Reed, Michael Fox, Barton Heyman, William O'Connell, Mary Kate Denny, John Anniston, Maureen Mcllroy, Valora Noland. Stuart Levin. Joyce Reed, Barton Heyman, Ed Cooper, Karl Swenson, Edward Ashley, Bob Legionnaire, Lou Krugman, Sondra Rodgers Click here to read more about Matthew Slade, Private Investigator