Desert Oracle Radio

By: Ken Layne
Listen for free

  • Summary

  • Desert Oracle Radio is a weekly road trip through the weird American desert from the publisher of Desert Oracle, the pocket-sized field guide published in Joshua Tree, California. Hear tales of mysterious lights, missing tourists, lost mines, venomous creatures, weird history and weirder people. Hosted by editor Ken Layne and featuring a cast of intriguing mystics, oddballs, scientists and artists, Desert Oracle Radio is your soundtrack for a desert night. The program is broadcast on Friday nights at 10 p.m. on KCDZ 107.7 FM in the Mojave high desert, with field reports from around and across the desert lands, and is distributed by Public Radio Exchange (PRX).
    2025 Ken Layne
    Show more Show less
Philosophy Social Sciences Travel Writing & Commentary
Show more Show less
Episodes
  • The Vanishing Boy of Yavapai County

    The Vanishing Boy of Yavapai County
    Apr 19 2025

    Here’s how the Channel 12 news in Phoenix began the story, Thursday night on the 10 o’clock news: “God sent that dog to rescue my son.” These words were spoken by the toddler’s father, Corey Allen, outside the family’s home on the west side of rural Seligman, Arizona. Corey Allen says he was working on the roof, Sarah Allen was inside with their youngest. And two-year-old Bodin Allen went outside to play.

    But when Bodin Allen’s mom called for him, he didn’t answer. He wasn’t there. And after an hour of frantic searching beneath a darkening sky, the Allens called the Yavapai Sheriff’s Department and before long there were dozens of search-of-rescue volunteers and deputies searching the area. Helicopters with spotlights scoured the plateau, the pilots reporting two mountain lions prowling the territory. A rancher named Scotty Dunton discovered the blond-headed toddler, seven long miles away from home, deep into the backcountry to the west. The boy was coming up the driveway, along with Scotty Dunton's big ranch dog, Buford the Anatolian Pyrenees. This is EPISODE #141: THE VANISHING BOY with soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Written & hosted by Ken Layne.

    Thanks for supporting this advertising-free program on our Patreon.com/DesertOracle page.

    Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show more Show less
    28 mins
  • Spring Forward With the Desert Birds

    Spring Forward With the Desert Birds
    Apr 6 2025

    It's a cool & pleasant springtime in the Mojave High Desert. The hummingbirds are lingering on the branches of creosote and catclaw, looking around for the flowers. Where are the flowers? Well, that’s always the guessing game up here, isn’t it? Sometimes they’re evident by the end of March, sometimes it’s the beginning of May. Varies by terrain, by altitude, by a hundred little differences from spring to spring, in this forward motion of our lives. ALSO: Traveling Doc Holliday's West.

    Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show more Show less
    28 mins
  • Remembrance of Lost Time: Anniversary of a Lockdown

    Remembrance of Lost Time: Anniversary of a Lockdown
    Mar 17 2025

    Happy Ides of March, happy St. Patrick’s Day, and happy five-year anniversary of the COVID-19 lockdown — the beginning of it anyway: 15 days to slow the spread . . . not a great slogan, for what it cost, but that’s what we got. Much of the world is much the same as it was five years ago. Same iPhone, same president, same daylight savings time. Where did the lockdown time go? What did it do to us?

    Soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Thanks for supporting this advertising-free broadcast at Patreon.com/DesertOracle.

    Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2024 http://DesertOracle.com

    Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
    Show more Show less
    28 mins
adbl_web_global_use_to_activate_webcro805_stickypopup

What listeners say about Desert Oracle Radio

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0
Story
  • 5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    4
  • 4 Stars
    0
  • 3 Stars
    0
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Audible.com reviews

Amazon reviews
Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for gryphoemia

Radio for a night drive on a desert highway.

Sermons and campfire stories from the high desert, harkening to a time when those were one and the same.

A wide variety of topics and moods, with the weird history, lore, and natural world of the Mojave and the greater desert Southwest representing a common thread, not sidebars.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars
Profile Image for Kindle Customer

A Must Listen for all Desert Rats; Humans too

This podcast is such fun! A mix of folklore, Mojave magic, military history, Owens Valley tales and dreams of better, wetter times. As someone who frequents 395 and it’s offshoots as often as possible, listening to Ken reawakens memories of road-trips long passed, and adventures yet to come.

Report this

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!