Don (Wehde) Wade’s radio career included stops at a dozen or so cities including WIBG Philadelphia, CHAM Hamilton, ON., KOL Seattle, and KTAC Tacoma. Wade’s trek eventually took him to Chicago, where, in 1985, he won a spot at WLS. His wife, Roma, joined him as co-host.
Wade was not only a rock and roll DJ, but also the brains and voice behind a cast of unforgettable politically incorrect comedic characters such as: General Nuisance and his aide Private Parts (aka Roma); Sheriff CW Turnipseed; Peter “Kiss! Kiss!” Suckwell, the Mary Gay Cosmetics truck driver, and his best friend Phil McCrackin; Dr Buster Hymen, staff gynecologist at your cervix; Cabbie/Guru Maharishi Marachino; and the Stoned Ranger and Toronto.
This is the STONED RANGER radio series, created by Don Wade, Tom Rivers and Jim Hault. These vignettes originally aired in 1973.
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 1
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 2
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 3
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 4
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 5
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 6
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 7
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 8
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 9
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 10
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 11
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 12
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 13
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 14
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 15
STONED RANGER & TORONTO Episode 16
Don Wade died September 6, 2013 at the age of 72.
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Happy to listen to hear the Stoned Ranger again. I was a big fan. Orel Rowboats was another DW character, an aircraft carrier chaplain as I recall.
Is this the same guy that did “Billy and the Kid”? Or was the show renamed due to the controversial nature of the title?
Do not recall Billy & the Kid being associated with Don Wade.
Thanks for posting these. Brings back fond memories of my High School Days in Philadelphia!!
There were actually 65 episodes of The Stoned Ranger. Before he died, Tom Rivers gave me four 7″ reels that have all 65 episodes on them. Tom also told me that they received a ‘cease and desist’ notice from The Wrather Corporation (who owned The Lone Ranger), so it’s possible that only 16 episodes ever aired. That I don’t know.
Rivers also created several other series during his career. When he was at KFRC, he created another 65 episode spoof on “Star Wars” called “Welcome To Omega Flats”. Tom was the Zeta Ranger, I was a character named Crusty and I did an Edgar Buchanan (“Petticoat Junction”) type voice and there was Meko, the robot, also voiced by Tom. A fan has created a website that features all of those episodes as well. http://www.omegaflats.com/episodes.php
While at CFTR Toronto, Tom created “The Unfriendly Giant”, which was a spoof of the Canadian children’s TV series “The Friendly Giant”.
Doug,
I listened to the Stoned Ranger every day on AM 1290 WIRL in Peoria, Illinois and thoroughly enjoyed them! Finding the episodes on this website has been great, and listening to them brought back wonderful memories. Question: have you ever uploaded to any archive site those episodes from the reels which Tom gave to you?
David Gruber
Doug, is there any chance you still have the reels of the Stoned Ranger or copies of them? My best friend, of now 65 years, and I listened to that program when we were in college together in the early 70’s. We both loved it. But Lauren has developed Alzheimer’s disease and I know he would love to listen to them again. If you have them would you be willing to copy the episodes for me? I can use 3.5″ floppy drives, USB drives, SD cards, zip files of MP3 or MP4 would also work. I can translate from cassette tapes and if I had to, I have a friend with a working reel to reel tape deck from which we could capture the files.
I would be glad to pay copying, media and shipping fees if reasonable. Please reply as soon as you can. I await your reply.
Sincerely yours,
John D. Stewart
Waterloo, IA 50702
I was in Florida in 73 and listened every day it was on. There were way many more I listened to than the above. Loved the one about the grand funk railroad and the one about trolling for gators, you ain’t going to catch a gator with bait that big.
Loved the series.