The run
- Network
- CBS
- Years active
- 1940–1956
- Surviving broadcasts
- 75
- Genre
- western
MELODY RANCH "Hard-riding, sweet-singing, cowboy picture star Gene Autry" was heard each Sunday evening on radios across America via CBS, the Columbia Broadcasting System. Gene's Melody Ranch radio show aired for an unprecedented 16 years (between 1940 and 1956), featuring songs, comedy and action filled drama. Throughout the run, the show's sponsor was cool, refreshing Doublemint Gum. OTRR Certification Information: Series Name: Melody Ranch Certification Status: OTRR Certified Accurate Certification Date: September 14, 2011 Certification Version: Version 1 Number of CDs: 2 From the Old Time Radio Researchers Group. See "Note"…
Source collection
Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
3 dated broadcasts across 17 years on the air, with 14 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1940, in original transmission order.
- 1. Gene Autry Gene Gets Discovered promo for Doublemint gum dealers · 4 Jan 1940
- 2. Gene Autry The Caleb Hooten Story First Song Ragtime Cowboy Joe · 30 Sep 1950
- 3. Gene Autry Church in Willow Valley First Song Tweedle O Twill · 20 Sep 1953
Gene Autry Gene Gets Discovered promo for Doublemint gum dealers
4 Jan 1940 · 12 min
Broadcast 4 January 1940. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
Gene Autry The Caleb Hooten Story First Song Ragtime Cowboy Joe
30 Sep 1950 · 27 min
Broadcast 30 September 1950. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
Gene Autry Church in Willow Valley First Song Tweedle O Twill
20 Sep 1953 · 28 min
Broadcast 20 September 1953. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
Gene_Autry_56-xx-xx_Pat_Buttram,_Private_Eye
Date unknown · 23 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Melody_Ranch_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
Convict Looking for a Job
Date unknown · 22 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Melody_Ranch_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
Gene Helps Mark Meet His Mortgage
Date unknown · 23 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Melody_Ranch_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
High Water Prices
Date unknown · 24 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Melody_Ranch_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
Maisie Clark Runs a Roulette Wheel
Date unknown · 25 min
Transferred from the Internet Archive item “OTRR_Melody_Ranch_Singles”, part of the Old Time Radio Researchers public-domain collections.
Also on CBS
CBS in 1940–1956
Other series the network carried while Melody Ranch was on the air.
Same seasons
western on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
The adult western
Gunsmoke was sold as the first adult western: moral ambiguity, weather, silence. Serialised folk horror and long-form fiction inherited its patience.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of Melody Ranch
Modern series carrying this form forward.
If you liked this
More to explore
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