The Gunsmoke Blockade: Wild Bill Hickok (January 6, 1954)

Wild Bill Hickok, old-time radio on Stupid Potato

“The Gunsmoke Blockade” is an episode of Wild Bill Hickok, the old-time radio show, first broadcast January 6, 1954. Listen free on Stupid Potato: no sign-up, no app.

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What happens

Wild Bill Hickok and his partner Jingles ride a special train into Lonesome Valley after railroad builders are stopped by armed men. Mr. Hamilton, the railroad superintendent, hopes Bill can break the blockade that has halted construction. Bill and Jingles face gunfire near the valley's edge and then go looking for the gang's leader, a gigantic man with a large black beard. The episode is part of the Wild Bill Hickok series, which was broadcast on January 6, 1954, with Guy Madison as Wild Bill and Andy Devine as Jingles.

Lonesome Valley, Texas, in the American West, at the end of a railroad line and a nearby freight town

Characters: Wild Bill Hickok, Jingles, Mr. Hamilton, Blackbeard, Mac

Listen for: The sound of gunfire from the hills as the train reaches the valley's edge, and the moment Bill and Jingles confront Blackbeard at the freight office

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.