- 2 years ago
"Ranger Bill" is a classic Christian radio program from the 1950s, produced by Moody Radio.
The show features over 200 episodes and stars Miron Canaday as Ranger Bill, a forest ranger in the fictional town of Knotty Pine, located in the Rocky Mountains. Alongside his friends Stumpy Jenkins and Grey Wolf, Ranger Bill tackles various adventures and moral dilemmas, often with a strong Christian message.
The show remains a beloved piece of old-time radio history and is still enjoyed by many fans today.
Listen to our radio station Old Time Radio https://link.radioking.com/otradio
Listen to other Shows at My Classic Radio https://www.myclassicradio.net/
Entertainment Radio | Broadcasting Classic Radio Shows | Patreon
Remember that times have changed, and some shows might not reflect the standards of today’s politically correct society. The shows do not necessarily reflect the views, standards, or beliefs of Entertainment Radio
The show features over 200 episodes and stars Miron Canaday as Ranger Bill, a forest ranger in the fictional town of Knotty Pine, located in the Rocky Mountains. Alongside his friends Stumpy Jenkins and Grey Wolf, Ranger Bill tackles various adventures and moral dilemmas, often with a strong Christian message.
The show remains a beloved piece of old-time radio history and is still enjoyed by many fans today.
Listen to our radio station Old Time Radio https://link.radioking.com/otradio
Listen to other Shows at My Classic Radio https://www.myclassicradio.net/
Entertainment Radio | Broadcasting Classic Radio Shows | Patreon
Remember that times have changed, and some shows might not reflect the standards of today’s politically correct society. The shows do not necessarily reflect the views, standards, or beliefs of Entertainment Radio
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FunTranscript
00:00Ranger Bill, warrior of the woodland, struggling against extreme odds, traveling dangerous
00:23trails showing rare courage in the face of disaster, in the air, on horseback, or in
00:42a screaming squad car. Ranger Bill, his mind alert, a ready smile, unswerving, loyal to his
01:00mission. And all this in exchange for the satisfaction and pride of a job well done.
01:13Howdy, Jack. Come on in. Hi, Stumpy. Hello, Ranger Bill. Glad to see you, Jack. What brings
01:27you to Ranger Headquarters today? Just looking around for some excitement. Is Henry around? No,
01:32if he's not, he's up at Central City at that 4-H convention. Won't be back till next week. Oh,
01:38yeah, forgot about that. Well, I guess I'll be going then. I'll see you in church Sunday. There's
01:43no need to rush off. If you don't have anything else to do, you're welcome to stick around for a
01:48while. Could I? Hey, that'd be great. I can't promise you any excitement, though. There's not
01:54a thing happening here right now. Wait a minute. See two fellas just driving up in a pickup truck.
02:02I wonder who they are. Well, we'll soon find out. Yes, sir? You the Ranger here? Yes, I'm Bill
02:22Jefferson. Come on in. These are my friends, Stumpy Jenkins and Jack Harris. I'm Sam Smith,
02:30and this here's my son Danny. We'd like your permission to go rattlesnake hunting in these
02:36parts. Rattlesnake hunting? What on earth do you want to do that for? Danny and I catch poisonous
02:43snakes and sell them to the Florida Springs Reptile Institute. We make pretty good living
02:48at it, too, don't we, Danny? Yeah, that's right, Dad. Well, we sure don't have any use for them.
02:53You'd be doing us a big favor if you got rid of some of our snake population, especially now that
02:59the tourist season is almost here. Yep. Every summer when the woods is full of campers, Bill
03:06and me do a lot of worrying about rattlers. I've had so much else to worry about this spring,
03:11though. I just ain't had time to start worrying about snakes. I never have known you to lose any
03:18sleep over it, old-timer. It's true, though. Every spring we have to go out and try to get rid of the
03:25snakes around the campsites. If it's okay with you, then we'll start hunting in the morning. We'll
03:31probably be around these parts about a week. We'd like to get about 50 or 60 rattlers, wouldn't we,
03:37Danny? Yeah, we sure would. Hey, do you suppose I could go with you tomorrow? We're studying reptiles
03:43in zoology now, snake hunt. Boy, that'd be perfect for the report I have to give in class next week.
03:49It's not child's play, young fella. It can be pretty dangerous. I know that, but I know these
03:56woods pretty well, and I've tangled with rattlers myself a couple times. Jack really is an experienced
04:02woodsman. Most of our kids here in Naughty Pine spend a lot of time hiking and camping out in
04:07the woods. Well then, young fella, you ask your dad's permission, and if it's all right with him,
04:12it's all right with me. We'll be starting out about five o'clock tomorrow morning. Danny,
04:19we'd best be going. We've got to get our hunting equipment in working order.
04:23Young fella, you wear some high boots tomorrow. That'll give you some protection in case we meet
04:34up with some real lively snakes. Mr. Smith, you mean you're gonna capture live snakes? Yep. They're
04:51no good to me dead. How are you gonna do it? Oh, there's a couple of ways. Sometimes we just dig
04:58them out of their holes with a shovel. I'm gonna show you a more interesting way, though. First,
05:03we'll have to scout around for a likely-looking hole. Sometimes you find them in an old gopher
05:12hole. Poke your flashlight down this hole, Danny. Nope, don't see any marks. Try this hole over here.
05:21Yeah, that kind of looks like snake tracks. Sometimes, if we're lucky, we find four or five
05:30of them bunched up in one hole. Are you gonna try to catch them with that pole with a noose on the
05:35end? Yeah, that's my snake pole. I'm the pole man and Danny's a shovel man. I try to catch the snake
05:41in this noose and then put him in a canvas bag. In case we get a real lively snake that I can't
05:46catch, or if two come out at once and I can't catch them both, Danny's ready with a shovel
05:51there to whack their heads off. You got that link to hose and the gasoline can ready, Danny? Yeah,
05:56here they are. I got the canvas bags ready, too. Well, if everything's ready, then I'll just stick
06:02the end of the hose in the hole here, pour some gasoline through the funnel into the hose, and
06:08then we'll blow on it. Yeah, I hope they come out one at a time, nice and polite. There's one in
06:22there all right, Dad. Yeah, he's coming out, too. Get ready. Here he comes. There's one snake in the bag.
06:37Here comes another one. I got him. Here come two at once. You get that one with a shovel, Danny. I
06:45can't handle both. That's three in the bag. One dead, not bad. Danny, you did a real good job chopping
06:57off that snake's head with your shovel. Yeah, you'd better get that head buried right away. Why do you
07:03have to bury the head, Mr. Smith? Well, even a dead snake's fangs can be dangerous, Jack. They could
07:09punch a hole right through a thin sole shoe. I don't think it's too likely that anyone would step
07:15on it, but I don't like to take chances. Say, I've been wondering, what does a reptile institute do with
07:21snakes you catch? Well, mostly they keep them and milk the venom out of their fangs. They use it to
07:28make antivenom. That's what they use to treat snake bite with. I sure hope I haven't been bothering you
07:34too much with all my questions, Mr. Smith. I'm really enjoying watching you catch snakes, and I'm
07:39getting lots of material for that zoology report. You haven't been any bother at all, kid. Now, next hole
07:45we try, you can help with, and cut out that Mr. Smith stuff. Sam's the name. Down around home, they
07:53call me Rattlesnake Sam. I can see why. You're welcome to come out hunting with us tomorrow, too,
07:59if you want to. I'd sure like to, but I can't tomorrow. Tomorrow's Sunday. I'll be going to Sunday school
08:05and church. Why don't you come to church with me? Rattlesnake Sam go to church. That'd be the day.
08:12Me and Danny, we don't have time for that kind of stuff, do we, Danny? I guess that's right, Dad. I would
08:21like to go to church, though. I used to go regular. Now, Danny, you remember what I told you when you
08:27first started going snake hunting with me. Well, I'll tell you how it is, Jack. The way I figure
08:33things, that religion stuff just makes a man soft. And in the business we're in, there ain't room for
08:39no softies. It's a mighty rough and tough game. I know what you mean. Must take real nerve to stand
08:46there with a shovel like you do. Basically, Danny just ready to kill a snake as he looks at him. I
08:51sure don't see what you mean, though, about religion being for softies. Bill and Stumpy go to church
08:57every Sunday, and there's nothing soft about either one of them. You say them rangers are
09:02churchgoers? Sure. It's kind of surprising to hear a fella talking like that. I wouldn't want to make
09:10fun of you either. It's a fine thing, but it's just not for me. I try to do right by everybody,
09:18and I think I'm as good as the next guy. That's all the religion I got, and that's all I need.
09:33Well, Jack, did you enjoy the snake hunt yesterday? I sure did. It was great. I really learned a lot,
09:42too. You don't say. Have some more bacon and eggs, Jack. Thanks. Sure, I'm hungry. If there ever comes a
09:50day when you're not hungry, young fella, you let me know. That I'd like to see. Don't let Stumpy
09:56bother you, Jack. We're glad you stopped by to have breakfast with us. Yep, sure are. Henry going
10:03out to Central City has been mighty quiet around here. Jack, do you think Sam and Danny really know
10:10their business? Wow, do they ever. I mean, they must have caught about a dozen live snakes yesterday.
10:16Hey, we'd better hurry up. We should leave for the church in about 15 minutes. And by the way,
10:21Jack, what are your snake hunting friends doing today? Oh, they're going hunting again. Sam has no
10:29use for Christianity. But Danny, well, I think he's a Christian. He's so quiet. He never did
10:35exactly say so, but that's the impression I got. I know Sam's wife's a Christian. So Sam's not a
10:41Christian, huh? I'll tell you what, fellas. Let's make Sam a matter of special prayer this morning.
10:51Hey, Jack, the mighty snake hunter, wait for me. Oh, cut out that snake hunter stuff, will you? I was
11:12just kidding. Hey, you gonna eat in the cafeteria? Yeah, I guess so. Sure is a nice day, though. Maybe
11:19I'll buy a sandwich and a carton of milk, take it outside to eat. Hey, that sounds like a great
11:22idea. No sense wasting the first warm day we've had this spring. Well, what are we waiting for? Let's
11:27get on down the cafeteria. Well, that really was a swell report about snake hunting you gave in
11:43zoology this morning, Jack. You know, don't you, that you're gonna make the rest of us look sick.
11:48I mean, just sick. What do you mean? Your report was full of action. You had all of us sitting on
11:54the edges of our chairs. My report's due tomorrow. Well, I've got stuff I copied out of the
11:59encyclopedia. Hey, what's old man Cobb doing down there? He's putting in a new fence down the road.
12:06No, no, that's not what I mean. He just picked up a big sack or something from the side of the road
12:11there. See? A sack. Hey, that looks like one of Sam Smith's sacks. Oh, no. Mr. Cobb, Mr. Cobb, don't
12:29open that bag, Mr. Cobb. Don't open it. Help! This bag's full of snakes. Help! Ouch! He bit me.
12:42Well, Danny boy, we sure had us a nice hunt this week. We must have got 50 or 60 rattlers. Yeah,
12:55sure is nice country there around Knotty Pine. I wouldn't mind going back there again sometime.
13:00Yeah, me neither. Plenty of nice people around there. Say, here's a gas station coming up on
13:06the right. We'd better fill up the tank and stretch our legs a bit. It's gonna be a long
13:10ride home. What'll it be, Mac? Fill her up. Regular. Right. Dad? Yeah, what's the matter? Well,
13:35didn't we have five bags of snakes back here? Yeah, I think so. Yeah, I know that's how many
13:42we had. We started out with half a dozen and we had one empty left over. Well, there's only four
13:48back here now. Huh? Are you sure? One, two, three, four. That's all there are. One must have bounced
13:59out somewhere along the way. Never had that happen before. Say, Dad, do you remember back
14:04there in Knotty Pine, just at the edge of town when we hit that big bump in the road? It was
14:09right by the school. By the school? I hope not. I sure hope not. Danny, you pay the man, get the
14:16truck turned around, headed for Knotty Pine. I got to put in a phone call to Ranger Bill.
14:20Ranger Headquarters, Bill Jefferson speaking. This is Sam Smith, Ranger Bill. Hello, Sam. What's on
14:39your mind? Bill, Danny and me just got a ways out of town and stopped for gas. We noticed that we
14:45was missing a bag of rattlers. What? Are you sure? Yeah, I'm sure. The only thing I can figure out
14:51is it bounced right off the back of the truck. Say, that's bad. You ain't heard the worst part yet.
14:57We came out of town on Route 30. Danny recalls that we hit a big bump in the road out at the
15:03edge of town, right by the school. Uh-oh. Stumpy and I'll get down there as fast as we can. If you
15:09find that bag, don't let anyone touch it. Keep everyone away from it till we get there. We're starting back right now.
15:27Mr. Cobb, that snake bit you, didn't he? Yep, got me on the hand. All that dirty tricks, throwing a sack
15:34of rattlesnakes right in front of a school. I'd sure like to know who did it. Watch out there, Jack.
15:40That rattler's headed right toward you. He's going to get you too, if you don't watch out. Hand me your
15:44shovel. Yeah, here. I don't know what you're going to try to do, but you be careful.
15:52I'll be. You cut his head right off, neat as can be. You'll have to have a shot of anti-venom right
15:58away. I'll flag down the first car that comes along and send you in to Doc White. He'll fix
16:03you up in no time. Yeah, it hurts like crazy. I guess I'm lucky you came along, though, Jack.
16:09You seem to know a lot about snakes. Well, to tell you the truth, most of what I know about snakes,
16:14I learned just last week. I was helping a professional snake hunter named Sam Smith.
16:20I'm pretty sure these snakes belonged to him, but I can't imagine how they got here unless they
16:25fell off his truck. Say, uh, what are you burying that snake's head for? So nobody accidentally
16:32steps on it. That's another thing I learned from Sam Smith. Oh, you better sit down there,
16:37Mr. Cobb. A person who's been bitten by a poisonous snake shouldn't move around or get excited.
16:46Hey, here comes a car. It looks like Jim Brownlee. Hey, Jim!
16:56What's going on here? Mr. Cobb was just bitten by a snake. Can you take him to Doc White? Oh,
17:01sure. Hop in, Mr. Cobb. You remember what I said, Mr. Cobb. You take it real easy. No
17:10excitement, no moving around. Don't you worry, Jack. I'll have him at Doc White's in less than
17:15two minutes. I'm pretty sure Mr. Cobb's gonna be all right now, but I'd better do something
17:31about the rest of these snakes. They're pretty sluggish right now, but with the sun warming them
17:36up, they're gonna start moving around. That means if I'm gonna do anything about them, I better do
17:40it right now. I sure wish Sam and Danny Smith were here. They'd know what to do. Hey, Jack,
17:47what are you doing out there? Did you ever gonna eat lunch? Wow, look at that. Big heap of rattlesnakes
17:53laying on the ground. Hey, Jack, you better get away from those snakes. You're gonna get hurt.
17:58I can't just go away and leave them here. They'll be starting to move around, and
18:02they'll be all over the schoolyard soon unless somebody does something about them.
18:08Hey, you guys. Look what's down here by the road. A whole bunch of rattlesnakes.
18:13Hey, where did the snakes come from, Jack? Is it true that old man Cobb found them in a canvas bag?
18:18Yes, it's true, and one of them bit Mr. Cobb. Hey, you fellas had better get back in the school.
18:23I'm afraid somebody is gonna get hurt. Yeah, but Jack, who do you suppose put that bag of snakes
18:27out here? No one put it here. I think these rattlers belong to a professional snake hunter
18:32named Sam Smith. He left town this morning, and this bag must have fallen off his truck.
18:38Get back into the school, everybody. Jack, what's this I hear about snakes on the front lawn?
18:43I'll see here if this is some kind of a joke. Say, there really is a pile of snakes here.
18:49This is no joke, Mr. Bailey. You've got to get these kids back into the school before someone
18:53gets hurt. Jack's right. Get back into school now, all of you. Jack, shouldn't you go inside too?
19:01I suppose I should, sir, but I was thinking maybe I should catch these snakes before they go crawling
19:06off all over the front lawn. You have a point there. I'm afraid we can hardly dismiss school
19:11today until these rattlers are disposed of. Do you know anything about handling snakes?
19:16Yes, sir, a little. What can I do to help you? Well, I'm not sure. I haven't quite figured out
19:23what I'm going to do. If you would telephone Ranger Bill, that'd be a big help. I'll do that.
19:30Hey, that snake's starting to crawl around. Uh-oh, he's headed right for me.
19:36Oh, where's that shovel? No chance of getting to it now. If I make a sudden move, he might strike.
19:53What's the matter with you today, Bill? I was eating my lunch peaceful as can be and you come
20:04running in yelling something about trouble down to school. Now here you are driving along like a
20:10maniac. Still haven't told me what's up. Well, to tell you the truth, Stumpy, I'm not sure myself
20:16what's up. Sam Smith called me and said he lost a canvas bag full of rattlers in the back of his
20:22truck. Not sure, but he thinks it might have bounced out right in front of the school. Great
20:28hopping horn toads. I sure hope he's wrong about where he lost it. I hope so too, Stumpy. I don't
20:36know how Sam Smith fastens those canvas sacks of his. I suppose there's always a chance the
20:41sack might come open somehow and the snakes escape. What could be worse than that, Bill,
20:46would be if someone saw that sack lying along the road and took it into his head to open it up. See
20:52what's inside. Yeah, you're right. If the sack did land near the school, it's pretty likely that
20:58some curious kids will find it. Then maybe we're too late. Maybe some of them kids got bit already.
21:06Yeah, maybe. Now when we started out, the only thought I had in mind was to get to the school
21:11as soon as possible. Now I think maybe it would pay us to stop here at Doc White's office. We'll
21:18take him along with us. Doc White and a big supply of anti-venom.
21:30Well, I sure got myself into a mess here. Here's a snake crawling toward me,
21:35not three feet away. If I had the shovel, maybe I could kill him. The shovel's at
21:39at least 10 feet from me. There's not a chance I can get to it.
21:42He's only about two feet away now. I gotta stand perfectly still. It's my only chance.
21:50I don't know if I can do it. What? Oh, a school bell. It's a miracle. Just a miracle I didn't
22:00jump on that bell rangle. He's gone right by me. Now I can breathe again. That sure was a close
22:06call. I'm shaking all over. But I still haven't done anything about the rest of those snakes.
22:11They're starting to get lively. Lord, you'll have to help me think of something.
22:29Danny, you know I've never had much use for religion, but I've tried to be a good man.
22:35I know that, Dad. You've always been a good dad to us kids.
22:39I've never been a religious man, but I've always tried to do right by the other fella.
22:44I tell you, Danny, it scares me to think that some innocent person might get hurt just because
22:49I lost a bag of snakes. It's no fault of yours that there was a bump in the road.
22:53Nothing like this ever happened before. Well, I've never had that many snakes pile up in the
22:58back of the truck either. I maybe could have tied the bags down with a piece of rope if I
23:04thought of it. Dad, maybe God would sort of take care of the people. Protect them from the snakes,
23:12I mean, if I asked him to. If you wouldn't mind, that is. No, I wouldn't mind, Danny.
23:20If you want to pray, you go right ahead. In fact, I think it's a good idea.
23:37Now, I gotta catch these snakes. If Sam were here, he could catch them with that pole of his.
23:41But I don't have a pole. Maybe I could throw that canvas sack over them.
23:46No, they've moved around and spread out. It wouldn't cover all of them.
23:49It looks like four or five of them tangled up together there.
23:52Canvas sack, canvas sack. That gives me an idea. Hey, Jack, if you ever got an audience,
24:01practically the whole school is watching you from the windows to see what you're gonna do next.
24:04You know, in the gym, in the boys' shower room, there's a bunch of old equipment there with a
24:09couple of tarpaulins thrown over it. Would one of you fellas get me one of those tarps and throw it
24:14out the window to me? Sure, Jack. Right away. Now, while he's getting the tarp, I'll just
24:21gather up some of these steel fence posts Mr. Cobb was putting in. Okay, Jack, here's your tarp.
24:27Thanks. Now, just throw the tarp over the rattlers and weigh it down with his fence post.
24:39Ah, there. They can't get out of that.
24:44Well, Danny, we're almost back to Knotty Pine School. I'll slow down. You start keeping your
25:01eyes peeled for that big bag of snakes. Okay, Dad. Hey, look, there's Jack standing out in front of
25:07the school. Jack, we lost a bag full of rattlers. Have you seen it? I sure have. Where is it? Right
25:22here in the front of the school. I didn't find it. Mr. Cobb, the school gardener did. He was putting
25:28in a new fence out here when he noticed it lying along the road. Naturally wondered what it was,
25:32opened it up. I'm almost afraid to ask. Did he get bit? Yes, Sam, I'm afraid he did. We got him to
25:39the doctor right away, though, so I'm pretty sure he'll be all right. Was anyone else hurt? No,
25:44just Mr. Cobb. I'm glad it wasn't any worse than that. I sure was worried. Where's the bag of
25:54snakes now? Well, when Mr. Cobb opened the sack and got bit on the hand, he spilled all the snakes
25:59out of the bag. I knew that with the sun shining on them, they'd warm up soon and get more active,
26:05so I just threw that tarp over there and weighted it down with those fence posts.
26:09There they are right over there. You did that all by yourself, Jack? Weren't you scared? You bet I
26:14was scared. For a while there, I was really shaking in my shoes. Then I asked the Lord to help me,
26:20and he sure did. Hey, look. Here come Bill and Stumpy.
26:30Everything all right here? Everything's under control, thanks to Jack here.
26:35Somehow or other, he managed to get the rattlers pinned under that tarp. Good work, young feller.
26:42Looks as though God answered your prayers after all. Your prayers? Yep. I don't mind telling you
26:49that I felt mighty bad about losing that sack. I sure didn't want anyone to get hurt because of a
26:55stupid mistake I made. So Danny prayed all the way back here that God would protect you folks
27:00and Naughty Pine from the snakes. I've been mistaken about some other things, too. I was
27:08talking big to Jack the other day, making like I was so tough and so strong that I didn't need
27:13religion. I told him that stuff was for women and little kids. But I've been watching all you guys,
27:20and I can see that that ain't true. It ain't true at all. You fellas all are Christians,
27:28and I ain't ever seen a bunch of braver men. I've done a lot of bad things in my life,
27:35but I want to have what you fellas have. If you think God would want an old sinner like me...
27:42He sure does want you, Sam. He says in his word, him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
27:49You've already taken the first step in coming to him. You've admitted that you're a sinner,
27:54and you need a savior. Now if you'll just ask the Lord Jesus to come into your heart,
27:59he'll wash your sins away and make you a Christian. I'm gonna do it, Bill. I'm gonna do it right now.
28:06Hey, Danny, you think your mom's gonna be happy when she finds out what happened?
28:12She sure is, Dad. I think she'll say it's an answer to her prayers.
28:23How about you boys and girls? If you've never accepted Christ as your savior, won't you do it
28:29today? Stumpy and Jack and I, yes, and Sam and Danny Smith will all tell you it'll mean the start
28:36of a new life, a wonderful new life in Christ. Well, see you again next week for more adventure
28:43with Ranger Bill!
28:54Ranger Bill is produced in the radio studios of the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago.
29:00This is a Moody Radio Network production.
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