ABSTRACT
In 1962, Leslie Stevens, President of Daystar Productions, produced a new rodeo series called Stoney Burke, a one-season Western-drama hybrid. Stoney Burke follows its eponymous rodeo cowboy in a quest for the Gold Buckle, the award given to the world champion saddle bronco rider. By the 1962–1963 season, television networks considered new approaches to popular genres such as the Western. One full-page advertisement for the Stoney Burke series emphasised that it ‘comes on strong with authentic rodeo sight and sound, with plenty of story muscle’. This rodeo sound came from both the sound effects and diegetic and non-diegetic music cues. Although the two shows are different genres – one a Western series and one a science fiction anthology show – the reuse of the music from the former in the latter and its appropriateness is quite remarkable. In fact, many of the cues for Stoney Burke sound remarkably science fiction-like in their reuse.
