On Ron’s Amazing Stories this week, you asked for it… and that’s exactly what you’re going to get.

This episode is built around listener emails and questions. We bring back an old RAS favorite, Johnny Is It True, with four stories from the history of the podcast. Elena wants to know if creepy listener stories are coming back. Caleb asks if Ron is real, how he researches the show, and whether he actually has a radio background.

And Gideon has a request. After hearing a clip during our recent episode about sound effects, he wanted to hear the entire Gunsmoke story about the white buffalo. So we’re making that happen.

In This Episode

• Johnny Is It True Returns — Four stories from the history of Ron’s Amazing Stories. Some involve listeners, some involve Ron doing questionable things behind a microphone… and at least one isn’t quite what it seems.
• Are Listener Stories Coming Back? — Elena from Savannah, Georgia asks about the old creepy listener stories and whether These Are Your Stories might someday return.
• Q&A With Ron… Sort Of — Caleb from Boise, Idaho asks if Ron is an AI voice, how he researches the podcast, and what kind of radio background he actually has.
• Around The Bend — A familiar RAS song makes an appearance before we say goodbye.

Featured Story

Gunsmoke — “The Buffalo Killers” (June 7, 1952)

Gideon from Burlington, Vermont heard part of this early Gunsmoke episode during our recent look at old-time radio sound effects and asked to hear the whole thing. William Conrad stars as Marshal Matt Dillon in a story involving two murdered buffalo hunters and one very unusual clue — a white buffalo pelt. It’s an action-packed early episode of Gunsmoke, but listen closely to the sound effects. The horses, doors, footsteps, background sounds and, yes, plenty of gunfire help create a Dodge City you don’t simply hear… you can almost see.

Ron’s Amazing Stories Is Sponsored by: Audible – You can get a free audiobook and a 30 day free trial at audibletrial.com/ronsamazingstories.

Your Stories: Do you have a story that you would like to share on the podcast or the blog? Head to the main website, click on Story Submission, leave your story, give it a title, and please tell me where you’re from. I will read it if I can. Links are below.

Music Used In This Podcast: Most of the music you hear on Ron’s Amazing Stories has been composed by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0. Other pieces are in the public domain. You can find great free music at FreePd.com which is a site owned by Kevin.

Program Info: Ron’s Amazing Stories is published each Thursday. You can download it from Apple Podcasts, stream it on YouTube or on the mobile version of Spotify. Do you prefer the radio? We are heard every Thursday at 10:00 pm and Sunday Night at 11:00 PM (EST) on AMFM247.COM. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

Social Links:
Main Podcast Site by LibSyn
The Blog Site by WordPress
Facebook Link
Twitter Link

Contact Links:
Email
Story Submissions
Contact Ron

On Ron’s Amazing Stories this week, we’re taking a trip through history — although perhaps not the kind you remember from school.

We’ll begin with the return of an old RAS segment, Not So Important Times in History. This time, we look at an international crisis that happened practically in my own backyard that nearly started a war between the United States and Great Britain.

Then Suspense puts its own fictional spin on history with A Friend to Alexander, a strange tale involving dreams, Aaron Burr, Alexander Hamilton, and a famous duel.

Finally, we climb aboard the old-time-radio time machine with You Are There. CBS reporters take us back to July 11th, 1804, to cover the Burr-Hamilton duel as though it were happening live.

And somewhere along the way, we may even find out what happened to a pig.

In This Episode

• Not So Important Times in History: The Pig War — The strange 1859 incident that brought American and British forces face-to-face over the shooting of a pig.

• Suspense: A Friend to Alexander — A man’s dreams about Aaron Burr begin taking on some disturbingly familiar faces. Originally broadcast August 3rd, 1943.

• You Are There: The Burr-Hamilton Duel — CBS turns one of America’s most famous historical events into a live radio news report. Originally broadcast January 11th, 1948. Our surviving recording is incomplete.

Featured Stories

A Friend to Alexander from Suspense — August 3, 1943

History provides the inspiration for this unusual Suspense story about a man whose dreams carry him into the world of Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. But when the people in those dreams begin resembling people from his own life, history and reality start getting a little too close for comfort.

The Burr-Hamilton Duel from You Are There — January 11, 1948

You Are There had a wonderful idea: take CBS radio reporters and send them into the past to cover history as breaking news. This time the microphones are waiting in Weehawken, New Jersey, as Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr prepare for their famous duel.

Ron’s Amazing Stories Is Sponsored by: Audible – You can get a free audiobook and a 30 day free trial at audibletrial.com/ronsamazingstories.

Your Stories: Do you have a story that you would like to share on the podcast or the blog? Head to the main website, click on Story Submission, leave your story, give it a title, and please tell me where you’re from. I will read it if I can. Links are below.

Music Used In This Podcast: Most of the music you hear on Ron’s Amazing Stories has been composed by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0. Other pieces are in the public domain. You can find great free music at FreePd.com which is a site owned by Kevin.

Program Info: Ron’s Amazing Stories is published each Thursday. You can download it from Apple Podcasts, stream it on YouTube or on the mobile version of Spotify. Do you prefer the radio? We are heard every Thursday at 10:00 pm and Sunday Night at 11:00 PM (EST) on AMFM247.COM. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

Social Links:
Main Podcast Site by LibSyn
The Blog Site by WordPress
Facebook Link
Twitter Link

Contact Links:
Email
Story Submissions
Contact Ron

On Ron’s Amazing Stories this week, we’re listening a little differently.

Our main focus is sound effects and the remarkable people who created them. On The RAS Signal, we explore how sound-effects artists could build an entire world using little more than everyday objects, ingenuity, and a well-placed microphone.

Then we head into the Inner Sanctum for a tale involving murder, revenge, thirty pieces of silver, and one very unusual clock. 

We’ll also bring back another old RAS favorite — Q&A with Ron — with listener questions about the changing podcast and how classic science-fiction radio created sounds for things that didn’t even exist.

In This Episode

• The RAS Signal: Sound Effects — A look behind the microphone at the artists, equipment, and techniques that helped listeners see with their ears.
• Inside the Inner Sanctum — We talk about producer Himan Brown, Raymond Edward Johnson, that famous squeaking door, and how commercials became part of the program itself.
• The Judas Clock — A classic 1945 episode of *Inner Sanctum Mysteries*, presented with its original Lipton Tea commercials intact.
• Q&A with Ron Returns — Mary and Brandon ask about the direction of the podcast, while Leo takes us back into the world of classic radio sound effects — including spaceships, magnetic tape, electronic circuits… and even a cow.

Featured Story

The Judas Clock — Inner Sanctum Mysteries (April 17, 1945)

Thirty years ago, a man was murdered using a strange clock said to require the thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas Iscariot for his betrayal of Jesus. Now the murdered man’s son has returned — and he has plans for The Judas Clock.

This episode includes its original commercials. Inner Sanctum often blended its advertising directly into the program, and removing the Lipton Tea spots would take away part of the character and atmosphere of the original broadcast.

Ron’s Amazing Stories Is Sponsored by: Audible – You can get a free audiobook and a 30 day free trial at audibletrial.com/ronsamazingstories.

Your Stories: Do you have a story that you would like to share on the podcast or the blog? Head to the main website, click on Story Submission, leave your story, give it a title, and please tell me where you’re from. I will read it if I can. Links are below.

Music Used In This Podcast: Most of the music you hear on Ron’s Amazing Stories has been composed by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Other pieces are in the public domain. You can find great free music at FreePd.com which is a site owned by Kevin.

Program Info: Ron’s Amazing Stories is published each Thursday. You can download it from Apple Podcasts, stream it on YouTube or on the mobile version of Spotify. Do you prefer the radio? We are heard every Thursday at 10:00 pm and Sunday Night at 11:00 PM (EST) on AMFM247.COM. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

Social Links:
Main Podcast Site by LibSyn
The Blog Site by WordPress
Facebook Link
Twitter Link

Contact Links:
Email
Story Submissions
Contact Ron

On Ron’s Amazing Stories this week, things get a little strange. Okay… maybe more than a little.

We’re bringing back an old RAS favorite, As Read By, with listener Franklin Paul taking us straight into the pages of a 1950s science-fiction pulp magazine. Then, on The RAS Signal, we turn our attention to one of the greatest voices of old-time radio — Agnes Moorehead.

And since we’re talking about Moorehead, why not hear her in action? We’ll finish with a classic episode of Suspense where a simple chain letter sets off a very unfortunate… chain of events.

In This Episode

• As Read By Returns — An old RAS segment is back, featuring stories straight from the pulp magazines.
• The RAS Signal: Agnes Moorehead — We look at the life and remarkable radio career of the woman behind one of old-time radio’s most unforgettable voices.
• Martian V.F.W. — Listener Franklin Paul reads a wonderfully strange science-fiction tale from 1959.
• The Chain — Agnes Moorehead and William Conrad star in a psychological thriller from the series Suspense.

Featured Stories

Martian V.F.W.

From the May 1959 issue of Amazing Science Fiction Stories, written by G. L. Vandenburg and read by listener Franklin Paul. A parade celebrating the International Geophysical Year already has floats, bands, rockets, and displays of life on other planets. Then the parade manager is approached by a six-foot-tall ant claiming to represent the Martian V.F.W. Who are these strange visitors… and what do they really want?

The Chain

Suspense — Originally broadcast March 9, 1958. Agnes Moorehead stars as a vindictive woman whose decision to send a superstitious chain letter to an immigrant neighbor’s wife begins a sequence of events that quickly spirals beyond her control. William Conrad also appears as Lieutenant Marsh. It’s superstition, fear, and unintended consequences in a story that proves sometimes it’s better to just throw the darn letter away.

Ron’s Amazing Stories Is Sponsored by: Audible – You can get a free audiobook and a 30 day free trial at audibletrial.com/ronsamazingstories.

Your Stories: Do you have a story that you would like to share on the podcast or the blog? Head to the main website, click on Story Submission, leave your story, give it a title, and please tell me where you’re from. I will read it if I can. Links are below.

Music Used In This Podcast: Most of the music you hear on Ron’s Amazing Stories has been composed by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Other pieces are in the public domain. You can find great free music at FreePd.com which is a site owned by Kevin.

Program Info: Ron’s Amazing Stories is published each Thursday. You can download it from Apple Podcasts, stream it on YouTube or on the mobile version of Spotify. Do you prefer the radio? We are heard every Thursday at 10:00 pm and Sunday Night at 11:00 PM (EST) on AMFM247.COM. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

Social Links:
Main Podcast Site by LibSyn
The Blog Site by WordPress
Facebook Link
Twitter Link

Contact Links:
Email
Story Submissions
Contact Ron

This week on Ron’s Amazing Stories, we’re trying something new.

We debut a brand-new segment called “The RAS Signal”, where I get behind the microphone and spend a little more time talking about the history, people, and ideas that made old-time radio so remarkable. For our first Signal, we’ll look at the writers and hear examples of how their words became pictures in the minds of millions of listeners.

That leads us directly to Richard Diamond, Private Detective, created by Blake Edwards and starring Dick Powell. Our story is The Oklahoma Cowboy Murder Case. Diamond is hired to investigate the suspicious death of an expert horseman whose fatal fall may not have been an accident after all.

And then there’s the music…. What!?!?

I wrote some lyrics for Ron’s Amazing Stories and wondered what they might sound like as a 1940s-style swing song.

It’s a Signal, a mystery, and even a song. Like I said, we’re trying something new.

In This Episode

• The premiere of The RAS Signal
• A look at the writers who helped create the golden age of radio
• Lucille Fletcher, John Meston, Blake Edwards, and the power of writing for sound
• The debut of Ron’s Amazing Stories — Around The Bend
• A few thoughts on AI, creativity, and turning an idea into music

Featured Story

The Oklahoma Cowboy Murder Case — September 27, 1950

Richard Diamond is hired by a wealthy Oklahoma man to investigate the death of his brother. The official ruling says he died after falling from his horse, but there’s a problem: the victim was an exceptional rider. If it wasn’t an accident, Diamond has a murder to solve—and horses aren’t exactly his specialty.

A New Signal

The RAS Signal is something I’ve wanted to try for a while: a place where we can go beyond simply playing old-time radio and talk about the people, history, craft, and occasional oddities behind it. This first edition is only the beginning, and I’d really like to know what you think.

Ron’s Amazing Stories Is Sponsored by: Audible – You can get a free audiobook and a 30 day free trial at audibletrial.com/ronsamazingstories.

Your Stories: Do you have a story that you would like to share on the podcast or the blog? Head to the main website, click on Story Submission, leave your story, give it a title, and please tell me where you’re from. I will read it if I can. Links are below.

Music Used In This Podcast: Most of the music you hear on Ron’s Amazing Stories has been composed by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) and is Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0. Other pieces are in the public domain. You can find great free music at FreePd.com which is a site owned by Kevin.

Program Info: Ron’s Amazing Stories is published each Thursday. You can download it from Apple Podcasts, stream it on Stitcher Radio or on the mobile version of Spotify. Do you prefer the radio? We are heard every Thursday at 10:00 pm and Sunday Night at 11:00 PM (EST) on AMFM247.COM. Check your local listing or find the station closest to you at this link.

Social Links:
Main Podcast Site by LibSyn
The Blog Site by WordPress
Facebook Link
Twitter Link

Contact Links:
Email
Story Submissions
Contact Ron