The Very First Ranger Bill Show!!!

"Pendleton Valley Fire" is the very first Ranger Bill program ever broadcast, first aired on October 2, 1950. This is a 2-part story aired in 15-minute segments.

In this show Colonel Anders is leading his rangers in fighting a huge fire in the Pendleton Valley. The fire is getting too big for the firefighters to control. So Colonel Anders sends Ranger Bill, Henry, and Stumpy high in the mountains above Pendleton Valley. Bill and the boys must reach an earthen dam to blow it up and save the firefighters and the valley from the massive fire.

Cleveland Moody radio station WCRF is currently celebrating its 50th anniversary. So what does that have to do with Ranger Bill and the "Pendleton Valley Fire?" As part of their celebration, WCRF performed a humorous reenactment of "Pendleton Valley Fire." The WCRF crew mentioned that the original Ranger Bill cast and crew would often perform a Ranger Bill story at Chicago area churches. They also revealed that many of these early 15-minute episodes were cliff-hangers.

WCRF also has some Ranger Bill treats on their web site, an mp3 audio file from that first Ranger Bill episode and copies of episodes 1 and 2 so you can read the entire "Pendleton Valley Fire" story and find out what happens to Colonel Anders and his men and what Bill does to rescure them.

Visit the WCRF web site at http://www.wcrfradio.org/ and follow the links to their 50th anniversary to liten to and download the Pendleton Valley audio and scripts.

And don't forget our own Ranger Bill script, "The Fire Bug," the story of Randolph Thompson's coal-burning engines. Visit our files on Zoomshare at http://rangerbill.zoomshare.com/ and click on the "Fire Bug" link.