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
12 dated broadcasts across 17 years on the air, with 8 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 Devils Saint First Song I Hate To Say Goodbye To The Prairie · 29 Jun 1947
- 3. Gene Autry Uncle Billy Harlow First Song Make The San Fernando Valley My Home · 19 Sep 1948
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 Devils Saint First Song I Hate To Say Goodbye To The Prairie
29 Jun 1947 · 29 min
Broadcast 29 June 1947. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
Gene Autry Uncle Billy Harlow First Song Make The San Fernando Valley My Home
19 Sep 1948 · 28 min
Broadcast 19 September 1948. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
Gene Autry The Story of Genes Guitar
20 Aug 1949 · 30 min
Broadcast 20 August 1949. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
Gene Autry Doc Reardon Is Tried for Murder
17 Sep 1949 · 27 min
Broadcast 17 September 1949. 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 Cody Bennett Dams up Lake First Song Gimme That Old Time Religion
16 Jun 1951 · 30 min
Broadcast 16 June 1951. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
Gene Autry 12th Anniversary Show First Song South
5 Jan 1952 · 29 min
Broadcast 5 January 1952. Public-domain transfer from the Old Time Radio Researchers certified set at the Internet Archive.
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.
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