What if?
Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2025 10:04 am
In the realm of the “what if”’ we always seem to wish for a chance that would redesign an undesired result or event. Sometimes we just wish to locate a lost item or learn the answer to a mystery question. What could we learn about Tombstone or Wyatt Earp if we could locate a radio broadcast discussing an in-person interview with Wyatt Earp. I have two possibilities concerning radio broadcasts that readers of this discussion board might be able to help locate.
First, in the 1920s a magazine feature reporter named Adela Rogers St. Johns interviewed frontier lawman Wyatt Earp shortly before his final illness. In the 1960s she reviewed this meeting in a feature newspaper article. Here is my “what if” desire. Ms. St. Johns hosted a 15-minute weekday morning program on the national ABC radio network during the 1936-37 season. Her daily format was a personality-oriented commentary. It is understood that one of her profiles centered around her interview with Wyatt Earp a decade earlier. What could be learned from listing to a recording of that broadcast? Maybe one of you reading this message might be able to help locate a recording or script of this early day radio broadcast.
A second “What if” would be the location of a recording or transcript of the interviews that Stuart N. Lake gave in 1931 to a San Diego radio reporter concerning his new book Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal.
Let’s start searching and talking to old radio show collectors, we might find gold and have a great program for a presentation at a future TTR Symposium. Don’t forget the 15th Annual TTR Symposium will be held 22-26 October 2025 in Tombstone.
Chuck Hornung
First, in the 1920s a magazine feature reporter named Adela Rogers St. Johns interviewed frontier lawman Wyatt Earp shortly before his final illness. In the 1960s she reviewed this meeting in a feature newspaper article. Here is my “what if” desire. Ms. St. Johns hosted a 15-minute weekday morning program on the national ABC radio network during the 1936-37 season. Her daily format was a personality-oriented commentary. It is understood that one of her profiles centered around her interview with Wyatt Earp a decade earlier. What could be learned from listing to a recording of that broadcast? Maybe one of you reading this message might be able to help locate a recording or script of this early day radio broadcast.
A second “What if” would be the location of a recording or transcript of the interviews that Stuart N. Lake gave in 1931 to a San Diego radio reporter concerning his new book Wyatt Earp, Frontier Marshal.
Let’s start searching and talking to old radio show collectors, we might find gold and have a great program for a presentation at a future TTR Symposium. Don’t forget the 15th Annual TTR Symposium will be held 22-26 October 2025 in Tombstone.
Chuck Hornung