The Sod-Buster: Gunsmoke (May 28, 1961)

“The Sod-Buster” is an episode of Gunsmoke, the old-time radio show, first broadcast May 28, 1961. 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

When Sedge Wilter and his daughter Bessie Mae arrive in Dodge City, they seem like ordinary travelers passing through town. Marshal Matt Dillon returns from a two-week pursuit with a dangerous prisoner, Cliff Matters, wanted for murdering an entire family. As tensions simmer between the newcomers and the town, unexpected complications begin to unfold.

Dodge City, Kansas; the Dodge House hotel, the Long Branch Saloon, and the marshal's office and jail

Characters: Matt Dillon, Doc Adams, Sedge Wilter, Bessie Mae Wilter, Miss Kitty, Chester, Cliff Matters

Listen for: The arrival of the Wilter family in Dodge City and Matt's return with prisoner Cliff Matters; Bessie Mae's mysterious activity at the jail with a buggy prepared outside

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.