Distinctly Montana Magazine

78 D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA N A M A G A Z I N E • FA L L 2 0 2 5 ater with an ending you've heard talked about—but television showed you exactly what everyone else was seeing that night in Pasadena or Pittsburgh or Plentywood. You didn't have to imag- ine the Lone Ranger and his horse, Silver, galloping toward some dusty town like you did on the radio—or wait months to see its ending flicker across a big screen years after someone else al- ready had. It was happening right now, in your living room, on your television screen, the same thing every other kid in America was seeing. Once television entered fully into its own—going live, in color— you could watch a president address the nation in real time, his gaze meeting yours through the screen to earn your trust and future vote. Instead of hearing about it on the radio or reading it in the dailies, you could watch the same president—or his broth- er even—get assassinated in your living room, over and over, on the evening news. One night, a preacher might deliver you a poi- gnant sermon, wipe away tears, then ask you for money for your own salvation; the next, you might see a man planting a flag on the moon. The moon! And maybe on some other night, it's a war unfolding around you, one that feels as visceral as it does unreal, the sound of artillery filling your living room, right around the time your family is ready to sit down for dinner. But it's usually on the most ordinary nights that the signal feels strongest: a sitcom family you wish were yours, sitting on a sit- com couch you can't afford, where any problem—no matter how large or small—can be solved in under thirty minutes. And when this family makes you laugh, it's in the same way, you un- derstand, that it makes a stranger in Pittsburgh or Plentywood laugh. Or you're a nine-year-old and waiting, giddy with your toy six-shooters ready at the hip, for that moment you know is coming: the black-masked Lone Ranger rearing Silver and call- ing out to millions of young fans through the screen, "Hi yo, Sil- ver, away!" The fact that Montanans could watch I Love Lucy or The Lone Ranger at the same time as strangers from New Jersey or Cali- fornia wasn't what made it special. What did make it special was that for twenty-three minutes (plus commercial breaks, of course), Lucy and the Lone Ranger didn't just appear in Montana living rooms—their iconography embodied the American experience. This meant that they belonged to Montanans, too. S U B S C R I B E S U B S C R I B E T O D AY T O D AY A N D N E V E R L E AV E Y O U R D E N ! A N D N E V E R L E AV E Y O U R D E N ! SUBSCRIBE TO DISTINCTLY MONTANA MAGAZINE AND GET IT DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO YOUR HOME! distinctlymontana.com/subscribe SEND A CHECK FOR THE AMOUNT MATCHING THE SUBSCRIPTION PERIOD YOU'D LIKE: 1 YEAR - $39.95 2 YEARS - $69.95 3 YEARS - $99.95 MAIL CHECKS TO: DISTINCTLY MONTANA PO BOX 84 BOZEMAN MT 59771 TO SUBSCRIBE BY PHONE, CALL 406-600-7660 KXLQ broadcasting from Bozeman

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