Category: Western

Frontier Town

520926_e01 Return To Dos Rios

Originally aired September 26, 1952

In the first show of the series, Chad returns to his roots to take revenge on his father’s killers — and clear the name of the innocent Indian who was lynched for the crime.

The late forties and early fifties saw an increasing demand for syndicated radio drama. With the Federal Communications Commission having imposed a freeze on the issuance of new television licenses, radio remained the major source of entertainment across small-town America well into the early 1950s, and local stations displayed an insatiable appetite for programming to make up for revenues lost by cuts in network compensation to affiliates. Producers of recorded programming therefore found it difficult to keep up with the demand for new series.

Jeff Chandler Hollywood was quick to take note of this thriving market, and an increasing number of name stars realized that there was fast, easy money to be made in syndicated radio. This led to a barrage of new series built around marketable celebrities – series such as “Frontier Town.”

Recorded in Hollywood in 1952-53 and distributed by Broadcast Producers Syndicate, “Frontier Town” features up-and-coming action star Jeff Chandler in a role far removed from his best-known radio role as Mr. Boynton, the goofy biology teacher boyfriend of Eve Arden on “Our Miss Brooks.” Credited as “Tex” rather than “Jeff,” Chandler is heard here as Chad Remington, a tough-but-dedicated lawyer in the rough and tumble frontier town of Dos Rios. Chandler filled the lead role for twenty-three episodes before being replaced for the remainder of the series by veteran movie tough guy Reed Hadley. Remington fights for justice with the aid of his windbag snake-oil selling sidekick Cherokee O’Bannon, portrayed in a voice redolent of W. C. Fields by character comedian Wade Crosby. The series was written and directed by Paul Franklin, taking a break from his usual role as a top radio comedy writer, and features original organ music by Ivan Ditmars and Bob Mitchell, with Bill Forman announcing.