[Master Zinja]

To do with the radio edition of Gunsmoke:

Dillon was played by William Conrad. Parley Baer was Chester (he was the mayor of Mayberry on Andy Griffith), Howard McNear was Doc (he was Floyd The Barber on AG), and Kitty was Georgia Ellis. The first season or two was a little rough, but not bad. By the end of the second season, the scripts were great, the characters fleshed out & it was incredible. I listened to every episode - 480! - from October last year until June this year. In many ways superior to the TV version (and many scripts were later used on TV as well).

[Eric in the Ozarks]

I listened to Gunsmoke on Armed Forces Radio, (the Far East Network, Tokyo) back in the 50s. I loved William Conrad's voice.

[nathanbedford]

I agree with every observation in your post. The radio version was much better than the television version and the television version was quite good for its time. I might add that many of the television shows were remakes of scripts that at first had appeared on radio.

The lead into the radio show went like this, "a Way out West there is only one way to handle the killers and spoilers that's with the US Marshall and the smell of… Gunsmoke! (Sound of firearm discharge and ricochet)"

Great stuff when you're a kid.