More Old Time Radio—Return to Those Thrilling Days of Yesteryear

I’ve been listening to more old radio Westerns as I’ve travelled back and forth between Chicago and St. Louis.

Luke Slaughter

This gritty 1950’s Western is clearly trying to capture the same spirit as Gunsmoke and Have Gun Will Travel had tapped. It’s okay but it’s not up to the standards of those two.

Red Ryder

Here we’re getting back to the days of my youth. Somehow Red Ryder seemed better then.

Roy Rogers

If you’ve seen the television program, you’ve pretty much got the idea of this pasteurized, homogenized radio western.

Six Shooter

Jimmy Stewart managed to make every project he touched a little bit better and this western is no exception. I plan to get ahold of the rest of this series.

Sky King

This series preceded the kids’ television show based on it. It’s interesting for a number of reasons. It has a modern day setting. The aviation element. Interestingly, this is just about the last regular aviation-based radio drama to be produced. The announcer/narrator was a talented kid named Mike Wallace. I wonder if he ever went anywhere in show business.

Straight Arrow

This is sort of an adaptation of Superman as a western. Mild-mannered Steve Adams transforms into Indian superhero Straight Arrow. I loved this as a kid and I still like it.

Tom Mix

I actually found the ads for Ralston cereal and promotions for various tie-ins—badges, whistles, etc.—more interesting than the program itself. One of the things I’ve noticed about the kid-oriented radio programs is that there’s a lot less sugar in what they’re advertising than in the ads in today’s kids’ television programs. Signs of the times.

Wild Bill Hickok

This series appeared at the same time as the television series with the same cast, Guy Madison and Andy Devine.