Dead or Alive: Tales of the Texas Rangers (September 9, 1950)

“Dead or Alive” is an episode of Tales of the Texas Rangers, the old-time radio show, first broadcast September 9, 1950. Listen free on Stupid Potato.

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What happens

A massive explosion at the Texas City harbor in 1947 kills hundreds, leaving many bodies unidentified. Texas Ranger Jace Pearson helps families identify victims at a makeshift morgue, but a shocking discovery suggests a wanted criminal may have used the disaster to escape his past. Days later, a safe robbery in nearby Landstone threatens to confirm that assumption.

Texas City and Landstone, Texas, April 1947; includes the Texas City High School Gymnasium used as a temporary morgue and a mercantile store in Landstone.

Characters: Jace Pearson, Bud Kurtz, Vance Young, Mrs. Young, Sheriff Joe Pastrone, Captain Stinson

Listen for: The connection between the Texas City explosion and a mysterious safe robbery that may reveal whether a supposedly dead criminal is still alive.

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.