Dawson's Den | Radio Theater, Western Swing & Tall Tales

As the long winter finally loosens its grip, our sharp‑eyed storyteller who still gets tangled in the easy parts, celebrates the first signs of spring before unraveling the egg‑cellent details of a nefarious seasonal crime — a tale of thawing trails, suspicious shells, and mischief lurking just beneath the melting snow.

Always on the lookout for new sponsors, our sharp‑eyed storyteller who can outsmart a coyote but still overcomplicates the simple things, kicks things off with a self‑help outfit before moseying through local doings and finally settling into the matter at hand — sharing a handful of telling quotes from American Presidents, each one filtered through the dust, humor, and heart of the High Plains.

Will opens the Den with a grin and a brand‑new offering from Bighorn Flouring Mills , giving it the kind of honest cowboy endorsement only he can muster. From there he ambles into the week’s weather and the small doings around the ranch—frozen gates, stubborn calves, and the quiet rhythm of winter work. Then the switchboard crackles to life. Roving Reporter Dave calls in from Michigan with a holid...

The Den lights up for Christmas with a commercial that might be more plausible than Will wants to admit. Then comes the “Answer is No!” segment, where a certain cowboy must face the music about a product he bragged up a little too boldly. The show rounds the bend with this year’s Christmas story — soft, steady, and aimed straight at the heart.

Celebrate a Den‑style birthday as Will tips his hat to the original Will — Will Rogers, born November 4, 1879 — whose wit still rings true on the High Plains. Expect an unlikely commercial, a little cowboy philosophy, and a fireside conversation about one of America’s great humorists and the long shadow he still casts.

Will dims the lamps in the Den and settles in for one of Wyoming’s oldest, coldest legends — the phantom ship said to drift along the Platte River when the fog hangs low and the world goes quiet. Some swear they’ve seen it: a deck rimmed in frost, a crew made of shadows, a lantern glow that doesn’t belong to this side of the veil. And the old-timers whisper the same warning: If that ship shows its...

Will ambles into the Den with a simple question about Montana license plates — and somehow manages to turn it into a full‑blown trail‑ride tangle. Terry gets himself good and confused on the way to the Snowball, Will tries to set him straight without losing his own footing, and the whole thing starts to feel like a slow‑motion stampede of numbers and nonsense. Meanwhile, Roving Reporter Dave is of...

Will does his best thinking when there’s leather under him and a horse moving steady beneath. A chance ride out to the Canyon Creek Pasture gives the cowboy something worth chewing on — the kind of slow‑burn pondering that only shows up when the wind’s right and the world’s quiet. Back in the Den, the Office of Strange and Unusual Places checks in with another dispatch from the odd corners of the...

A stranger rides into the ranch with a guitar on his back and a grin that says he’s got stories he ain’t told yet. His name’s Knuckles , and before long he’s singin’ one of his dandy, original tunes right there in the Den — the kind of song that makes a cowboy wish he’d taken up the guitar a little earlier in life. Will, who’s always harbored a quiet dream of bein’ a singin’ cowboy himself, starts...

In this chapter of the Den’s library, Will — master of the obvious and proud of it — rolled out a brand‑new segment called “That’s Obvious.” Turns out it was funnier than he remembered. These were stories where the ending was plain as a boot print in fresh snow… yet somehow folks still managed to miss it. Will didn’t. But the moment that really lit up the Den was the commercial break: Hypocondrian...

In this visit to the Den, Will digs into the “Answer is No!” mailbag and finds himself fielding a batch of questions about hats — Easter hats, cowboy hats, church hats, and the eternal question of whether a man can wear one indoors without gettin’ sideways looks. Will answers each with his usual blend of cowboy logic and gentle exasperation. Then the Den receives a dispatch from the Anglo‑American...

Season 3 opened with a blast of Wyoming cold — the kind that makes a man think strange thoughts and ask stranger questions. Roving Reporter Dave posed a frigid physics puzzle : at thirty‑five below zero, does a feller’s truck‑watering freeze before it hits the ground? Will, drawing on his biologist past and cowboy present, gave it his best shot… until someone who actually knew the science stepped...

In the lone Dawson’s Den episode of 2023, Will stepped into the role of storyteller with a quiet gravity that only shows up when a tale has been carried a long way. He told, in third person, of a dream that arrived after Thanksgiving — a dream where a man’s late wife returned, dressed in her finest, and invited him to waltz across their living room one last time. In the dream, she said the words s...

Christmas settles over the Den as Will remembers trimming a tree with his father — one of those quiet, steady moments that shape a man more than he realizes at the time. Dave and Nancy stop in to pick a tune, Nigel Nivens checks in from across the pond with a report on Wyoming winter and Snowball horses, and the Will Dairy unveils a commercial explaining how they make “real eggnog” from free‑range...

Let's get ready for Christmas! Find a gift for your horse, listen to a chilling tale of the trail and get your "no!" questions answered in this episode! 

Thanksgiving settles over the Den with humor up front and a quiet truth waiting at the end. Will fields holiday questions in “The Answer Is No!!” , including one listener who wondered if they could cook their turkey with their Chihuahua inside it. (They could not.) Our sponsor, German for Cowboys , rides in with a message that’s as crooked and charming now as it was back in 2022. But the heart of...

"The Answer is No!" and a visit to a haunted hotel highlights this holiday episode.  

Will tackles a strange sponsor, a stranger book, and the strangest questions yet from the “Answer is No!” mailbag. Maybe that’s why this episode caught fire. Maybe folks just like watching a cowboy try to keep a straight face. 

A special Easter show- A commercial for Will Dairy, The Answer is No and more!

Duffy Exon drops by the Den this week and enlightens us all about a wedding where nothing seemed to go right. 

Tales of a Game Warden, Trail Talk  and a commercial for that sensational new breakfast cereal...Yodel O's!  

Will pontificates about daylight saving time, Ed Vine makes a surprise visit to the den and talks about survival and we hear about the rugged way to start your day... with Prairie Bits Cereal.   

Will celebrates the 150th birthday of Yellowstone National Park with some facts you didn't, and likely did not want, to know.  

A special President's Day episode!

A segment of "Strange but True" A special visitor rides into the den... illustrating just how far Will will go to get a guest.