Radioland Murders

In 1939, the new WBN radio network in Chicago launches its inaugural night. General Walt Whalen relies on his staff to impress sponsor Bernie King, including writer Roger Henderson, assistant director Penny Henderson, page boy Billy Budget, engineer Max Applewhite, conductor Rick Rochester, announcer Dexter Morris, director Walt Whalen Jr., and stage manager Herman Katzenback. After King commissions rewrites on the scripts, the writers grumble that they have gone unpaid for weeks.

Trumpet player Ruffles Reedy falls dead from rat poisoning, triggering a chain of alarming events. The sudden death casts a shadow over the broadcast and raises questions about who is behind the danger. The incident marks the start of a deadly night at WBN.

Director Walt Whalen Jr. is found hanged, and the killer makes it look like a suicide. The Chicago Police Department is drawn into the investigation while the nightly program goes on. The murder shocks the staff and sets off a cascade of further crimes.

Stage manager Herman Katzenback is killed when the main stage machinery malfunctions as he tries to fix it. The accident escalates tension and forces a reshuffle of the studio crew. The investigation widens as more secrets surface.

With Walt Jr. dead and Katzenback gone, Penny Henderson is promoted to stage manager and director. She must steer the show through mounting chaos while personal tensions swirl around her marriage to Roger. The change injects a new energy into the performances as the danger deepens.

Roger Henderson becomes deeply involved in solving the murders, much to the irritation of the Chicago Police Department led by Lieutenant Cross. He keeps showing up at crime scenes, making him a frequent presence in the investigations. The tension between Roger and the police thickens as the body count rises.

Roger and Billy predict that announcer Dexter Morris will be the next to die. Dexter ignores the warning and is fatally electrocuted during a broadcast, heightening the panic around the station. The police grow even more suspicious of Roger as the pattern of deaths continues.

Going through private documents in WBN's file room, Roger discovers that the victims all previously worked together at a Peoria radio station. He links these past collaborations to a hidden FCC scandal, which fuels his motive to expose the truth. The revelation shifts the investigation toward corporate and regulatory conspiracies.

Bernie King dies from a laughing gas mechanism, and General Walt Whalen falls down an elevator shaft, marking the next fatalities after Roger’s warning. The deaths deepen the police's suspicion of a single killer at work and intensify staff fear. The pattern suggests the danger is connected to the station itself.

After escaping custody, Roger uses Billy to communicate and send scripts to Penny. He remains determined to influence the nightly show and keep the investigation alive from the outside. The escape rekindles a fragile alliance with Penny as they navigate the danger together.

While rewriting the program Gork: Son of Fire, Roger crafts self-referential plot twists that expose the sound engineer Max Applewhite as the killer. Max's role becomes central to unraveling the mystery as he desperately tries to maintain control. The revelation pivots the investigation toward the studio’s inner workings.

Max explains that his killings were a revenge scheme tied to stockholders and patents, accusing others of copying his television invention. He traps Roger and Penny on the radio tower with a gun. A sudden biplane shows up and guns him down, ending his murderous campaign.

Impressed by the nightly performance, the sponsors decide to fund WBN, recognizing the station’s hard-won resilience and audience appeal. The financial backing secures the network’s future broadcasts. This turning point allows WBN to continue its programming with renewed confidence.

After the carnage and revelations, Roger and Penny reconcile their complex relationship and decide not to divorce. They commit to a future together, both personally and professionally, amid the station’s renewed success. The ending offers a sense of stability returning to WBN’s family.