Jan 14 2007 30 mins 1
clickhere Visit the Radio America Store web site.Buy your 50 mp3 for &5.00 Affordable Web Hosting $5.99 A month 24 hour radio streaming MacDonnell and Meston wanted to create a radio Western for adults, in contrast to the prevailing juvenile fare such as The Lone Ranger or The Cisco Kid. Gunsmoke was set in Dodge City, Kansas during the thriving cattle days of the 1870s. Dunning notes that "The show drew critical acclaim for unprecedented realism." He also writes that among old-time radio fans, "Gunsmoke is routinely placed among the best shows of any kind and any time." (Dunning, 304) The show's cast, writing and sound effects have received much praise. The radio series, which first aired April 26, 1952, and ran until June 18, 1961, on CBS, starred William Conrad as Marshal Matt Dillon, Howard McNear as the ghoulish, brittle Doc Charles Adams, Georgia Ellis as Kitty Russell and Parley Baer as Dillon's assistant (but not his deputy) Chester Proudfoot. (On the television series, Doc's first name was changed to Galen, and Chester's last name was changed to Goode.) Chester's character had no surname until "Proudfoot" was ad libbed by Baer during a rehearsal early on, while Doc Adams was named after cartoonist Charles Addams. In a 1953 interview with Time, MacDonnell declared, "Kitty is just someone Matt has to visit every once in a while. We never say it, but Kitty is a prostitute, plain and simple." (Dunning, 304) William Conrad was actually one of the last actors who auditioned for the role of Marshal Dillon. He was already one of radio's busiest actors and had a powerful and distinctive baritone voice. Though Meston championed him, MacDonnell thought that Conrad might be overexposed. During his audition, however, Conrad won over MacDonnell after reading just a few lines. The show was distinct from other radio westerns, as the dialogue was often slow and halting, and due to the outstanding sound effects, listeners had a nearly palpable sense of the prairie terrain where the show was set. The effects were subtle but multilayered and utilized very well, given the show's spacious feel. Dunning writes, "The listener heard extraneous dialogue in the background, just above the muted shouts of kids playing in an alley. He heard noises from the next block, too, where the inevitable dog was barking." (Dunning, 305)
