The Adventures of Champion (subtitled Gene Autry's Champion) is a 15-minute adventure serial radio drama directed by William Burch and heard weekday afternoons on the Mutual Broadcasting System in 1949-50.
The 1940s popularity of Gene Autry on radio led to this spin-off series about the adventures of his horse, Champion. The Western mystery tales focused on young Ricky West, raised in the wilderness by his adopted Uncle Smoky, and Ricky's German Shepherd, Rebel. The program offered scant explanation of how Champion had become a wild horse who let only Ricky ride him.
Many more listeners tuned in Sunday afternoons to Gene Autry's Melody Ranch, a top CBS radio network program for the singing cowboy from 1940 to 1956. The Autry Melody Ranch, a movie ranch, had been named by him after his movie "Melody Ranch".
