Gunsmoke is an American western radio series, which was developed for radio by John Meston and Norman Macdonnell. The series ran for nine seasons and was broadcast by CBS. ] The first episode of the series originally aired in the United States on April 26, 1952, and the final first-run episode aired on June 18, 1961. During the series, a total of 480 original episodes were broadcast, including shows with re-used or adapted scripts.[4] A television version of the series premiered in 1955.