Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 5 March 1961. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- CBS
- Years active
- 1952–1961
- Surviving broadcasts
- 477
- Genre
- western
First Show: Jun 26, 1952 Last Show: Jun 18, 1961 Number Shows: 480 shows, 2 auditions, 5 hour tribute Audition Shows: Jun 11, 1949, Jul 13, 1949 Series Description: Gunsmoke is one of those long-running classic Old-Time Radio shows that everyone knows and remembers.
1961 · 171960 · 411959 · 32
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Clean transfer · 1 of 90Listenable · 82 of 90Rough but complete · 7 of 90
Source collection
Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: OTRR_Gunsmoke_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
29 dated broadcasts across 10 years on the air, with 7 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1952
1953
1954
1955
1956
1957
1958
1959
1960
1961
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1959, in original transmission order.
- 1. Sarah's Search · 22 Feb 1959
- 2. Big Tom · 1 Mar 1959
- 3. Maw Hawkins · 8 Mar 1959
Doc's Visitor
11 Jun 1961 · 24 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 11 June 1961. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Sod-Buster
28 May 1961 · 23 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 28 May 1961. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Chester's Rendezvous
21 May 1961 · 23 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 21 May 1961. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The Lady Killer
14 May 1961 · 23 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 14 May 1961. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Ma's Justice
7 May 1961 · 23 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 7 May 1961. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Ex-Urbanites
30 Apr 1961 · 24 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 30 April 1961. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Father and Son
23 Apr 1961 · 20 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 23 April 1961. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Hangman's Mistake
9 Apr 1961 · 24 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 9 April 1961. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Same night on the air
5 Mar 1961
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 5 Mar 1961.
Originally broadcast on CBS, 5 March 1961. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Also on CBS
CBS in 1952–1961
Other series the network carried while Gunsmoke 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 Gunsmoke
Modern series carrying this form forward.
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