This is a snippet from Breaking Walls Episode 91: The Hollywood Radio Western Renaissance (1954 - 1980).

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After Have Gun, Will Travel went off the air in November of 1960 and production of Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, and the revived Suspense had shifted to New York, Gunsmoke was the last prime time radio drama originating from Hollywood. The end was near.

On Saturday April 29th, 1961, the Gunsmoke crew gathered for the last time to record episodes for the series. They did not know the show was to be cancelled. The final episode aired on June 18th, 1961.

Although Gunsmoke’s TV version with its different crew aired into the mid 1970s, the most influential radio western of the last decade of the Golden Age was over.

There was now no network dramatic radio originating from Hollywood.

If there is a silver lining, its that because Gunsmoke came to radio in 1952 after transcription became wide-spread, many episodes exist today in good to master quality. A new listener can begin with the first episode, “Billy the Kid” and listen straight through.

The following year, on September 30th, 1962, CBS cancelled Johnny Dollar and Suspense. The network would have no dramatic shows in their programming block until 1974.