Ranger Headquarters

Ranger Headquarters
Big Pine National Forest, Knotty Pine

Saturday, October 25, 2008

How Many Ranger Bill Episodes?

Phil Shappard of Moody Audio tells the Ranger Bill Fan Club that he now has roughly 370 Ranger Bill scripts that have been rescued from the dark recesses of a closet at Moody Bible Institute. Phil hopes to scan all these scripts as time permits. But this may take some time because he has many other duties with Moody Audio that must come first.
Moody Audio also now boasts 206 half-hour episodes of the show for sale on their web site. We here at the club have 220 half-hour episodes. We call the additional 14 shows that we have the "missing episodes." These are shows that have probably been lost or damaged beyond usability. And from the script numbering that we have seen so far, it appears that there are 162 of the 15-minute episodes broadcast from October 2, 1950 until approximately February of 1954 when the half-hour shows began. These numbers suggest that WMBI aired a new 15-minute Ranger Bill every week for about three and a quarter years with few if any interruptions! Compare that with today's TV broadcasts where rough;y 25 new shows are aired each season.
If the club's numbering is correct then there are 162 15-minute shows and 220 half-hour shows for a grand total of 382 Ranger Bill episodes!
We don't know how many complete stories there are in the 15-minute shows at this time. We were guessing that one story covered two 15-minute shows. Now it looks as if the stories may include three or more episodes and that stories' lengths may vary.

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