Project Audion Episode 44: The Lone Ranger #266(091023)

Project Audion is back with a legend! The Lone Ranger has got to be the single most famous fictional character to come out of old time radio...every generation knows him, even if they don't know his radio origins. And those radio origins go WAY back - the Masked Man has been around 90 years, since 1933! But because the first five years of broadcasts were never recorded, even Lone Ranger fans don't know how the Masked Man's early stories sounded. But thanks to historian Martin Grams, Jr., who provided us with copies of some scripts from way back in 1934, Project Audion actors have now recreated one. We selected episode #266 (October 22, 1934), a story of a cattle rancher, the coming of the railroad, and a "greasy half-breed" named Magdalena - yup, definitely less sensitive and streamlined than subsequent shows. You'll hear the show as we think it would have sounded in 1934...from the original 78rpm music cues to a period-accurate Silvercup bread commercial. Oh, and our cast even includes one actor who performed on Ranger radio shows during the 1950s! Now 93 years young, Chuck Daugherty is a living link to those thrilling days of yesteryear.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices