A little 'audio-memory' from my high-school-radio-station days!

Some 'Loydster history' here! WAY back before the dawn of the dark ages, when I was 'teen-Loydster', I worked on an afternoon show, on the high school radio station. KCHS, Central Point Oregon. My partner, Dan Bowser and I, called ourselves the 'Afternoon CornFlakes'. Boy, was THAT name exactly RIGHT!

Heck, it's been enough years ago, I don't even remember WHO found this ODD-BALL cut, off the very end of Van Halen's 'Diver Down' album! Odd-ball INDEED! A slightly-over one minute version of an old Roy Rogers 'sign-off' tune, at the end of a Van Halen album?

 We BOTH though--- having nearly identical senses of humor (I used to go over to Dan's house after school every so often, and we'd read MAD magazines together-- and goof-around, laughing for HOURS!)-- felt it was the EXACTLY  RIGHT way to sign off our show EVERY afternoon! (we were the last show on the station, which signed off at the end of each school day.)-----

This is also the reason / story, behind the way I've always signed off  most of my correspondence with friends & family over the years--'HAPPY TRAILS'! It's my way of remembering those goof-ball high school D.J. days, and my old buddy Dan. God Bless you old pal! Wherever you are!

Fond memories of another childhood hero! (OR--- 'Who WAS that masked man?')

'The Lone Ranger and his faithful companion, Tonto'! Otherwise known as Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels. My  'early Saturday morning heroes'!

Once again, we're hopping into the 'way-back' time-traveling machine, and taking a spin through the Loydster's childhood! It's WAY too early on Saturday morning,pretty much EVERYBODY in the house is still asleep! NOT the little Loydster! Before even the nearly TWO-HOURS of Bugs Bunny / Road Runner cartoons begin,the little guy with the SERIOUS case of 'bed-head', has to catch up with his 'crack-of-dawn', Saturday-morning western heroes!

'Hopalong Cassidy' came on first. Hopalong was alright, but his adventures seemed a little too 'old-timey' and creaky-antique feeling, even to the then 4 and 5 year-old Loydster! But THEN... the stirring 'William Tell Overture' music would blare out of the tiny TV speaker, and the REAL western 'mystery man' that I'd been waiting to see,would come galloping in to my living room! Even NOW, all these years later, I STILL get a little tingle of excitement at this opening credit sequence!----

I would find out MUCH later, about the 'Ranger's roots in old-time radio, AND the opening narration being directly lifted from the old radio program. Why NOT? It just wouldn't be the same (or NEARLY as exciting to my then 5-year old self!) if that little introduction wasn't there!

But WHAT a way to kick off a kid's Saturday morning! The Lone Ranger and his faithful Indian companion, Tonto-- fought the bad guys and kept the frontier SAFE, in fast-moving, action-oriented 30-minute episodes! Little Loydster was HOOKED from begining to end, EVERY EPISODE!

Back then, on channel 30 out of Fresno California---they pretty much ran only the color episodes from (what I would also learn MUCH later!) the show's FINAL season (the ONLY ones filmed in color!). So, it was the guy in the 'powder-blue' suit, white hat, and the steely-blue eyes that I became familiar with!-----

The 'Western Dynamic Duo' of the '50s! (and the TV-stars of the 'Kindergarten-Loydster's' early Saturday mornings!)

So, for pretty much the first several years of my elementary school-aged life, I faithfully watched the adventures of the 'Masked Rider of the plains'. One particular Saturday though, when I was around 10 years old, I noticed the 'opening credits' sequence had changed! It now had an 'origin story' for the 'Ranger, and an actual 'theme song'!

Like other stuff about the 'Ranger I would learn MUCH later, the opening had been lifted from the 1958 movie 'The Lone Ranger and the Lost City of Gold'! Still, the show was even MORE cool, with THIS opening sequence! Like the original opening, this one also makes me feel all tingly and 5 years old AGAIN!--

Later on in life, I would learn MUCH more about the actor who played the 'Ranger. Clayton Moore, a former circus acrobat and movie-serial veteran (he played Zorro before being picked to play the guy in the mask & white hat!), considered the role of the 'Ranger, to be the 'role of a life time'. He took the responsibility of the role seriously, and strived to be as much of a stand-up, straight-arrow guy as the character he played!

After playing the character for nearly 5 seasons on the tube, as well as the two feature films---- Mr. Moore would go on to make public appearances as the 'Ranger (white hat, mask, powder-blue suit and all!)--- for 40 YEARS! I'd say he pretty much 'took the role to heart'!

He once said: 'I'll wear the white hat for the rest of my life!' And--- that he did. His star, on the 'Hollywood walk of fame', is the ONLY one with an actor's name, AND the name of the character they played! His reads: 'Clayton Moore-- The Lone Ranger'.

Eventually, I finally got around to watching most of the rest of the other episodes of the series. It's been all over cable and even local stations in reruns for AGES (pretty much ever since the time that I was the 'little Loydster!)! As a whole, it all holds up pretty well. Mr. Moore and the pretty much PERFECTLY cast Mr. Silverheels, played their roles with sincerity and conviction. There's a REASON this series is considered one of the CLASSICS of early television!

 I've even sampled some of the attempted 'remakes' and 're-imaginings' of the character over the decades. The most recent MISFIRE / misguided / TOTAL misunderstanding of the character-- with Johnny Depp as Tonto, a few years back..... was just a complete WASTE of over two hours of my time!

Nope, to the now considerably older Loydster, there will ALWAYS be only ONE TRUE Lone Ranger--- and he first put on the mask and white hat just over 70 years ago! Mr. Clayton Moore. To me at least, he and Jay Silverheels will ALWAYS be---- The Lone Ranger and Tonto! 'Hi-Yo Silver, AWAY!'

God bless Mr. Clayton Moore! The ONE TRUE Lone Ranger!