Previously, radio Westerns were almost all kid shows. Producer Norman Macdonnell had been kicking around the idea of a Western for adults for a couple years, but when a slot in the schedule opened and he was given the go-ahead to fill it in a week, he was caught a bit flatfooted. In that week, he managed to have a script written, some actors casted, and some theme music composed. The show displayed a level of grittyness and realism previously unseen in radio Westerns. It ran 1952-1961 and managed to keep the same cast throughout. William Conrad was U.S. Marshall Matt Dillon, Parley Baer was his deputy Chester Proudfoot, Howard McNear was Doc Charles Adams, and Georgia Ellis was Kitty Russell (though only indicated by innuendo in the scripts, Macdonnell stated in an interview that Kitty was indeed a prostitute).

Alarm at Pleasant Valley

A newly arrived homesteader decides to have his family and himself move on when he gets word that a band of Indians are on the warpath.

Amy's Good Deed

An aged woman broken by life on the plains is trying to provoke Dillon into killing her.

Annie Oakley

Dillon investigates the death of a man killed on the prairie with a Sharps .50 at an incredible range judging by the shallowness of the wound.

The Army Trial

Dillon arrests and turns over a deserter from Fort Dodge and winds up getting more grief than he expected.

Beeker's Barn

An unforgiving rancher demands that Dillon evict his disinherited daughter and her husband from his barn, even though she's pregnant and about to go into labor.

Belle's Back

A woman who had gone off with an outlaw a few years back has returned to Dodge, claiming to have washed her hands of him. But the townsfolk and her family aren't convinced.

Big Broad

Big Girl Lost

Bloody Hands

The bloodshed that is part of his job is starting to get Dillon down, enough that he sends his resignation to Washington.

Box o' Rocks

Dillon is curious to find out why, at a prospector's funeral, the coffin turns out to contain ballast rather than a corpse.

Boy

A gambler who rubs Dillon the wrong way arrives in Dodge and purchases a saloon. He finds that his instincts were correct when a vengeful farmer comes and tells him the sordid details of the gambler's past.

Bringing Down Father

The trail boss of a herd heading for Dodge has apparently killed one of his underlings, even though he doesn't remember doing so. Dillon finds this all a bit fishy, so he does a bit of digging, even though no one's particularly cooperative.

Brother Whelp

A gunman who had left Dodge six years ago comes back, expecting his fiancée to be waiting for him. So he’s quite sore when he learns that she’s married his brother instead.

Brush at El Kader

Dillon tracks a killer up to the crossroads town of El Kader, where he finds himself quite unwelcome.

The Buffalo Hunter

A buffalo skinner is brought to Dodge having died from having had molten lead spilled on him. The way it was spilled makes it almost certain that it wasn't an accident.

Buffalo Man

The body of a buffalo hunter is found with his head chopped off. Dillon heads out to a nearby camp to find out what they know.

Review: While the ending is okay, the setup is so pathetically flimsy that the overall story has no credibility.- Webmaster

Bum's Rush

Two men that Dillon had caught readily admit to killing an express office clerk. But a stranger insists that they're innocent and that he'll resort to mob tactics to free them.

Bureaucrat

An inspector from Washington is unhappy about the state of things in Dodge and demands that a bunch of sissy Back East laws be enforced that Dillon considers inappropriate for a frontier town.

See also The Five Books of Owen Deaver (Have Gun, Will Travel).

Cain

A consumptive musician is dead set on killing a resident of Dodge even though they've never met before.

The Cast

Doc goes out to a ranch to operate on a woman who accidentally swallowed a nail but fails in his efforts. Her husband, who has always disliked doctors, doesn’t take it well and it looks like he might get violent.

Note: Paul Frees subbed for Howard McNear in the role of Doc.

Change of Heart

The recently arrived older brother of a local rancher claims some serious objections to his sibling marrying a saloon gal.

Cheap Labor

A Dodge local doesn't take kindly to his oppressed sister going out with a war veteran who has sworn off violence, so he intends to put a stop to it.

The Choice

Dillon learns that a man who has recently been hired to ride shotgun for a stagecoach is wanted for robbery in Oklahoma.

Christmas Story

While stuck out on the prairie on Christmas Eve, Dillon recounts to a drifter who has been out in the wilderness for several years the previous Christmas in Dodge.

Confederate Money

The Cover Up

Cow Doctor

A rancher who strongly disapproves of doctors summons Doc to treat a cow and, during a disagreement, knifes him.

The Coward

Some cowardly weasel gunning for Dillon shot a man mistaken for him in the back. Naturally, Dillon's feeling a bit jumpy.

Crack-Up

A notorious hired killer whose target is unknown comes to Dodge, but he seems to be a lot more jumpy than the stories about him suggest.

Crow Bait Bob

An impoverished stable hand on his deathbed wills the contents of a box to Kitty. Assuming it contains something valuable, his previously indifferent relations go out of their way to make sure that they get it.

Custer

Dillon and Chester come across a deserter from the 7th Cavalry who tortured and murdered a rancher with a reputation for being a miser to find out where he hid his alleged fortune.

Cyclone

Dillon is suspicious about the recent sale of the Cyclone Ranch due to the fact that, since the alleged transaction, no one has seen anything of the previous owners.

Daddy-O

A man claiming to be Kitty's father arrives in Dodge and suggests that she sell her interest in the Long Branch and invest it in his shipping business.

Dirt

A well-to-do rancher receives an anonymous letter from someone who threatens to kill him if he carries out his current plans for marriage.

Doc Quits

Doc becomes full of self-doubt after a patient dies on him. He's further aggravated when a new doctor sets up shop in Dodge.

Doc's Revenge

Doc's Reward

When an outlaw holds up Doc Adams on his way to a house call and results in the outlaw's death, his brother comes to Dodge to take exception.

Drop Dead

During a drought, a miserly rancher has fenced off the only pond that hasn't dried up. The cowhands of a passing herd take exception to this and Dillon finds that he's legally obliged to side with the morally dubious end of the argument.

The Executioner

A gunman kills a local rancher but he gets off because he didn't draw first, though he goaded the other. The brother of the victim is determined to see justice done one way or another.

Fawn

A woman who had been captured by the Cheyenne several years back is allowed to return to her husband in Boston. But he isn't receptive to her desire to bring along her half-breed daughter.

Flashback

The F.U.

The Gambler

A riverboat gambler arrives in Dodge intent on killing a peaceable sodbuster who he has never actually met.

General Parcley Smith

A compulsive liar goes about claiming that Dodge's newest banker is a crook who plans to vamoose with the deposits he receives.

Going Bad

Gone Straight

Dillon is issued a warrant to arrest a former member of Billy the Kid's gang who is believed to be in Tacosa. His resolve to do so falters when he learns that his quarry is now a respectable man.

Gonif

Dillon refuses to let himself be goaded by a gunman at the price of appearing to be all bluster, no action to the citizens of Dodge.

Good Girl, Bad Company

The payroll shipment for Fort Dodge is robbed and a soldier is killed in Dodge City. The fort's C.O. gives Dillon an ultimatum that he's got forty-eight hours to discover who's responsible before the Army takes more direct action.

Grass

A greenhorn claims that he's being harassed by Indians at night, even though what he describes to Dillon isn't typical Indian behavior.

The Guitar

Two of Dodge’s more obnoxious citizens give a meek drifter a hard time because he had been a member of a unit they fought against during the Civil War.

Gun for Chester

Chester is convinced that a recent arrival in Dodge has come to kill him, but he won't tell anyone why.

Gunsmuggler

Dillon tracks down a smuggler who has sold rifles that use an uncommon caliber bullet to a Pawnee tribe so that they'll have to go to him for ammunition.

Hanging Man

A tanner is found to have presumably hung himself, but Dillon finds evidence that it was murder. He keeps this little fact to himself in hopes that the killer will get careless and show his hand.

Helping Hand

Hickok

Famed law man Wild Bill Hickok telegrams Dillon from Abeline requesting that he keep an eye on two gunmen heading to Dodge and keep them there until he arrives with a witness, but not arrest them.

Home Surgery

Dillon and Chester come across a homesteader who has injured his leg and has gotten gangrene. With no doctor available, Dillon has to resort to sawing it off himself.

The Horse Deal

A man comes to Dodge claiming that several horses that had been sold to various locals real cheap had been stolen from him.

How to Cure a Friend

Dillon is worried about some rumors flying about that a gambler he once knew runs a crooked game.

How to Die for Nothing

After Dillon kills a drunk cowpoke who was feeling trigger happy, the dead man's brother threatens to gun him down. After locking him up, his trail pards get ready to level Dodge if he isn't released.

How to Kill a Friend

Dillon has two gamblers who were planning to set up a crooked game get the Hell out of Dodge. It's not too long before they come back with a hired gun who Dillon once knew and has become a touch neurotic since then.

How to Sell a Ranch

A slightly senile rancher decides that he's tired of living alone on his ranch and plans to sell it. Dillon worries that he's making himself an easy target for a con man.

The Hunter

Indian Crazy

A couple newly arrived in Kansas are assured that they needn't worry about any Comanche raids on their property. Since Fate likes irony, the next time Dillon comes that way, he finds their place burned down and one of them scalped.

The Indian Horse

The C.O. at Fort Dodge requests that Dillon makes sure that there's no trouble started by civilians attending the races, but he's more concerned about trouble from some hotheaded junior officers.

Indian Scout

A Comanche scout is widely believed to have led a cavalry troop into an ambush. He doesn't help his case when he slits the throat of the primary antagonist.

Indian White

A white boy raised by the Cheyenne most of his life and recently reunited with his mother wants to run off when he hears his tribe is on the move.

Innocent Broad

While on a stage back to Dodge, Dillon meets a seventeen year old runaway who is going to meet her fiancé there, even though she doesn’t know much about him.

Jaliscoe

Jayhawkers

The trail boss of a Texas herd heading to Dodge requests Dillon's assistance against a gang of Jayhawkers that have been harassing them.

Jesse

A young hothead who has just arrived in Dodge intends to find out who killed his pa and return the favor. Naturally, the miscreant happens to be Marshall Dillon.

The Joke's On Us

A rancher gets lynched for horse thieving by some fellow ranchers who learn after the fact that he was innocent. It’s not long before those involved are being found shot.

The Kentucky Tolmans

A boozing rancher who suddenly has plenty of money gets nervous when he finds out his outlaw son has escaped from prison.

Kick Me

An elderly Kiowa scout is the victim of a sick joke. Dillon is forced to arrest him when one of the pranksters is found stabbed and scalped.

The Killer

Kite's Reward

Dillon convinces a lightning-fast drifter with no desire to kill to put up his gun before he gets a reputation, but trouble follows quickly.

Kitty

Dillon receives much social scorn when he takes Kitty to a dance.

Kitty Lost

After Kitty has seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth, Dillon attempts to locate the fancy-dressing Easterner she was last seen with.

Kitty's Outlaw

An acquaintance from Kitty's past arrives in Dodge and robs the bank while Dillon was on the other side of town with Kitty.

The Lamb

A seemingly inoffensive drifter who has just arrived in Dodge is believed to be a notorious gunslinger with the associated trouble following.

Land Deal

Dillon looks into a man who is scamming immigrants into paying him for land that he doesn't actually have the authority to sell.

Last Fling

Laurie Suiter

Legal Revenge

Doc alerts Dillon about a homesteading couple where the woman seems to be attempting to knife her husband.

Letter of the Law

Dillon receives a court order to evict a former badman gone straight who missed a bit of red tape when filing for his land.

The Liar from Blackhawk

A young gunslinger with delusions about his prowess builds his reputation in Dodge almost entirely through talk.

Lochinvar

A drifter returns to Dodge intent on renewing a romance and is displeased that the subject of his ardor is scheduled to marry another man in a few days.

Lost Rifle

A local troublemaker is found shot in the back and it's commonly believed around Dodge that a friend of Dillon's who was at odds with the victim did it.

Love of a Good Woman

The Lynching

Lynching Man

Two ranch hands string up a greenhorn and take his unbranded horse so as it'll look like a horse thief that got lynched.

Review: An excellent episode with an ending so full of irony that you could attract it with a magnet.- Webmaster

The Man Who Lives by the Sword

A gunslinger loses his nerve after getting beat up by Dillon for killing a tenderfoot.

The Man Who Would Be Marshall

An ex-soldier comes to Dodge desiring Dillon's job. Dillon agrees, but only on the condition that he hang around for a week first to see what being a U.S. Marshall is really like.

The Manhunter

A deputy from Arizona comes to town with a warrant to arrest a rather inoffensive citizen of Dodge for murder.

Matt Gets It

An ornery gunslinger with a short temper manages to inspire fear in the citizens of Dodge, even going so far as to gunning down Dillon.

Note: This story got used for the premiere episode of the TV version of the show.

The Mistake

A faro dealer at the Long Branch who is robbed and killed manages to give a description of his assailant before he dies. But the man described claims to have been with Doc at the time.

Monopoly

A businessman from St. Louis is buying out every freight company in Dodge. There's one that refuses to sell, but it's not long before misfortune is visited upon him.