Bringing Down Father: Gunsmoke (March 11, 1956)

“Bringing Down Father” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast March 11, 1956. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

Listen to Gunsmoke free, live around the clock: every episode, in the order it first aired. No sign-up.

What happens

A young drover named Andy Gilden comes to Marshal Dolan reporting that an unarmed man has been shot at the Star M cattle camp upriver. The trail boss Harley Burke admits to shooting the man, named Hodges, claiming self-defense after Hodges kicked him in the head during a rainstorm. Dolan arrests Burke and leaves young Andy in charge of the herd, but suspects Burke is hiding something about what really happened.

Dodge City and the Star M cattle camp upriver, during a rainstorm

Characters: Matt Dolan, Chester, Doc, Andy Gilden, Harley Burke, Jack Roman, Hodges

Listen for: The mystery of what really happened between Burke and Hodges, and why Burke is not telling the full story about the shooting

Written from the episode itself; it never gives away the ending. Every recording is remastered for the stream: cleaned of rumble, hiss and mains hum (and the old TV whine where we found it), then levelled in two passes to steady broadcast loudness, so one show is never quieter than the next.