Ranger Bill Fan Club: Blog

Okay, okay--I'm still around

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 08:45:22 -0500

All right--so I haven't flipped the switch to "off". Phil Shaphard of Moody Audio was kind enough to send photos, and Dave Daily of The Ranger Bill Club didn't have space on his site to publish them. So I've posted those photos here. Since I really don't have much to add these days, Dave will simply link to the photos.

If you haven't noticed, all links to Ranger Bill episodes are gone. I even contacted Archive.org to remove all the episodes I uploaded per the copyright restrictions of MBN. However, you can now purchase the episodes from moodyaudio.com, and I think the price is pretty reasonable. Looks like you get 50 episodes on a CD in MP3 format for $29, or you can buy one episode at a time for download at $1.95 each (the $29 deal is far better--only 58 cents an episode that way).

Mr. Shaphard also tells me that we may see Sailor Sam on Moody Audio in the near future. I'm looking forward to seeing these episodes.

If you notice, there are only about 200 episodes listed on Moody Audio, and Dave and I have identified 217 episodes as having been aired. In time, I plan to purchase these episodes (nothing like having copies from the original master tapes) and identify which episodes are missing from Moody Audio. I'll let Dave Daily know which these are, and I'll try to find reasons why Moody does not have them available, although Mr. Shaphard did provide possible explanations (though not specifics--I don't think he was really certain himself). It may become apparent to me once I've identified which episodes are missing.

Looking at the list on Moody Audio, it looks like the first Ranger Bill episode may be one of the missing episodes.

I asked Mr. Shaphard about the episode we nicknamed "The Ghost Organ", but he couldn't link it to one of the existing episodes. Maybe I'll have better luck once I purchase all the episodes. Just purchased CD #1, so I'll be getting started on it shortly.

Finally, Dave and I are trying to talk Mr. Shaphard into scanning in the scripts to the episodes so that we can publish them for all to see. They are in a fragile state, so we may be lucky to only see a page or two from them, but it sounds like they have the scripts to nearly all episodes.

This site will be shutting down!

Tue, 24 Jul 2007 14:18:24 -0500

I just received word from Phil Shapard of Moody that they will be offering Ranger Bill episodes for sale and will start enforcing their copyright over Ranger Bill. So, soon, you won't be seeing this site anymore, but will instead need to go to www.moodyaudio.co m. The good news about this is that you will certainly be able to get all episodes, and in top quality! You can still keep in touch with Ranger Bill fans at membe rs.aol.com/rangerbillclub. I'll be shutting down this site in the next couple of weeks. Thanks for all your interest, and for keeping Ranger Bill alive!

I'm still here!

Mon, 30 Apr 2007 14:18:12 -0500

I just returned from a nice long and much needed vacation in Colorado Springs (Ranger Bill country) and just checked e-mail. It's incredible the responses I'm getting, including one from Gray Wolf (Ed Ronne, Sr) himself! I'll respond to everyone as soon as I can. To those of you offering to supply me with episodes, until I can work out with you which episodes I need, my best suggestion is to check the list I have under the links pages. As far as I know the only episode I'm missing is the second half of the first episode. If anyone downloads an episode and finds it to be poor quality, please let us know by adding an entry to one of my blogs so that we can try to get a better quality version. I do still have a list of high-quality episodes to upload--it's just taking time. These episodes are about 100mb, so it takes awhile to upload. By the way--my vacation was wonderful. My wife and I spent a lot of time seeing the countryside. We even spent a day at Focus on the Family, where they let us play on a radio studio and record our own Adventures in Odyssey episode (although you won't hear it on the air).

Steadily updating

Thu, 08 Mar 2007 19:09:39 -0600

I've been steadily moving episodes from Orbitfiles to Archive.org--just haven't added to this blog. The latest, with FLAC versions, can be seen on the Featured Episode list.

A Lesson In Love

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 20:09:56 -0600

Moved to Archive.org from orbitfiles.

Misc maintenance

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 19:03:41 -0600

Moved "Death's Half Mile" to Archive.org, and I think this one is complete. Also, I uploaded a series of FLAC file versions at very high-quality (some at 256 kps). The full link listing will show which these are. Still have more to go through, but at this time there are no new episodes. (update). Also moved "Standing Firm For What is Right", "Nature's Vacuum Cleaner", and "Typhoid Fever at Storm Point" to Archive.org.

Updated Sultan

Tue, 06 Feb 2007 17:12:56 -0600

Uploaded full and high-quality version of the episode "Sultan, King of Beasts", thanks to Mark Huggins.

Additions

Thu, 01 Feb 2007 19:07:48 -0600

I re-uploaded high-quality versions of Bobsled and Dead on Arrival. Currently, I am uploading "Henry's Bridge", which is a new addition. While the upload is going on and Archive.org is processing the derivatives (smaller versions of the huge FLAC file), I'll put the links in place, so the links might not work right away--although they'll work within the hour. I'll try uploading more tomorrow, but don't expect many more new ones.

The total uploaded should be at 217 now. My concentration now is leaning toward uploading complete or higher-quality. I'm still going through the vast library of tapes, so there might still be a surprise or two.

I also got a new CD from Marty Silver--I'll be going through that to see what I've uploaded that his recordings can replace. I know there's probably at least a few.

Skiers in the Sky

Thu, 25 Jan 2007 19:47:13 -0600

I uploaded a FLAC version of a full and high- quality copy of Skiers in the Sky. FLAC is a huge file (104MB!). Don't worry though--the streaming copy is 64kps, so it's a much smaller file. I'm experimenting with uploading the large files to see how well archive.org derives smaller files from it.

Completed episodes uploaded

Wed, 24 Jan 2007 08:13:00 -0600

Uploaded "The Battle at Jenkins Manor" and "The Diamond Ring", both of which were incomplete, but now are complete. Also, I discovered this link: MBI. I believe the program number will link to the currently streamed epsiode from The Ranger Bill Fan Club Site, so I've started using it to track the episode to the official program number. You'll see that updated here as I gather the information.