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Set in Dodge City, Kansas, during the thriving cattle days of the 1870s, the Gunsmoke radio show was routinely called by radio drama enthusiasts “the best show of any kind and any time”. For nine years from 1952 to 1961, Gunsmoke dominated the airwaves as it portrayed the epic legend of the American West. The lead character of Marshall Matt Dillon, as played by William Conrad, was called the “Philip Marlowe of the Old West”. Besides Conrad, the superb supporting cast included Parley Baer as Chester, Howard McNear as Doc Adams, and Georgia Ellis as Miss Kitty.

Radio westerns were aimed at kids until 1952 when Gunsmoke hit the radio airwaves. Produced for adult listeners, the stories were grim, the deaths brutal and life on the plains was harsh. Radio audiences had never heard anything like Gunsmoke and they made it the #1 western on radio. It soon made a successful transition to television becoming the longest-running dramatic series in TV history.

Dodge City and frontier Kansas come to life on the limitless plain of your imagination in 20 intense western dramas. In these gritty and poignant stories, originally broadcast in 1955, making a wrong call about whether or not to trust a man could cost you your fortune…or your life.

There are no black hats or white hats in Dodge City, Kansas. Gunsmoke gives you Western stories for grown-ups, with hard-hitting tales set against the rugged majesty of the American frontier. Producer/director Norman Macdonnell and writer/editor John Meston bring you gripping accounts of folks who have come to Dodge to leave the past behind…and those who come to Dodge because they can’t. William Conrad stars as US Marshal Matt Dillon, with Parley Baer as Chester, Howard McNear as Doc, and Georgia Ellis as Kitty in 20 half-hours of radio drama at its best.

Presented here are Western stories of unparalleled realism and uncompromising emotional complexity. Marshal Matt Dillon (William Conrad) doesn't revel in violence, but he uses it because he lives in a violent place at a violent time, where only the violent can survive.