[3] The change followed the listing of Sam Spade's star (Howard Duff) and creator (Dashiell Hammett) in the anti-Communist tract Red Channels.

Radio historian John Dunning wrote that the association of the two names with Communist activities was "making Spade sponsor Wildroot Cream-Oil increasingly unhappy.

"[1] However, representatives of both the Wildroot company and the advertising agency that had the account denied that the cancellation of Sam Spade was related to the stir caused by Red Channels.

Duff provided a transition between the two programs by appearing as Spade on the first episode of the new series with what Dunning called "a vocal telegram, wishing the new hero well.

Leon Morse wrote in a review in the trade publication Billboard that the program had "tough talk, vivid similies, a hard-guy hero and fantastic descriptions of females.