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).
Night has fallen on the desert, and that’s a joyous time in the heat of Southwest Summer. Too hot, too dry, and we long for the cool misty tales of primeval forest, of strange creatures, of great mysteries! Soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Thanks to our patrons; become a patron tonight and support the radio show you love! This is EPISODE #266: PETRIFIED FORESTS AND GHOSTLY GOBLINS. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2026 http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
With every passing day, scorcher or not, we are on the march towards Autumn, towards cooler days and longer nights, the time of graveyards and ghost stories. But it’s always time for ghost stories, of course. Especially on Desert Oracle Radio. So tonight, after the exciting Monsoon Season forecast and report, we spend a chilling evening in an old mansion with a writer who just wants some peace and quiet so he can finish his book . . . . Soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Thanks to our too-few patrons for keeping the lights on, for now. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2026 http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We're back with Midsummer Tidings from the Mojave, with solstice verse from Sam Clemens & Shakespeare, too. Plus a new campfire story from our recently concluded springtime series in Joshua Tree. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2026 http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
From our Campfire Stories in Joshua Tree on May 23, 2026, here’s a special one-hour edition of Desert Oracle Radio live from the desert behind the Joshua Tree Retreat Center, with the High Desert's own Herb Benham IV opening the campfire festivities with a couple of proper cowboy songs. Ravens, rattlesnakes and other characters appear early and often in the stories & fables that follow. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
If you love flying saucers, maybe you’ve been following the release of a bunch more UFO files. Maybe you're disappointed that E.T. isn't in there, signing a treaty with F.D.R. But it's a very interesting window on the American UFO era, which is now 80 years old! PLUS: A tale from Death Valley, told at our recent Campfire Stories event in Joshua Tree. Desert Oracle Radio (C)(P) 2017-2026 http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Tonight's episode features a previously secret recording of Campfire Stories from years gone by, plus an examination of the so-called "Mosquito Hawk" (or Skeeter Eater), which does not eat mosquitos. It doesn't really do anything but fly into your mouth while you're driving, or eating, or just trying to walk through your own house. Information regarding our May 2 / May 16 / May 23 "Campfire Stories" in Joshua Tree is also provided, with more details at DesertOracle.com/event-calendar/ Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2026 http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
We still live in the Time of Ancient Gods. At this very moment, in memory of a mission named for the god Apollo, astronauts of the Artemis mission are aboard the Orion spaceship, headed for La Luna. The mission is named for Blessed Artemis, goddess of the night, of the hunt, of the Moon. Daughter of Zeus. And just south of Death Valley National Park, one of the world's three Deep Space Network bases is bringing in the data from Artemis by radio. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2026 http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
What's going on with all these meteors & fireballs in the dark skies above? Where did Elvis Presley see a big UFO hovering over the Mojave Desert? And what drives so many people to the pilgrimage shrine of Graceland? Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2026 http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It's the magical time when the cold winter desert becomes an Eden of Wildflowers, as we luxuriate in the the spring warmth of the Sun & the birds are all delirious. Just like that, way up here in the Mojave mountains. ALSO: We dedicate this episode to the memory of Ray Barnes. PLUS: It's the 50th anniversary of the desert-fanatic classic The Monkey Wrench Gang . Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2026 http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Celebrating Ed Abbey's 99th Birthday with a road trip to Arches National Park, setting of his beloved 1968 book, Desert Solitaire . AND: What's going on within the federal government's "experimental forests" in Sasquatch Country? New soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2026 http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
It’s time for Strange & Unusual Facts. Mostly about the desert, the wilderness, critters and criminals. We are not using our usual flurry of em-dashes because we've heard that's a sign of AI-slop writings . New soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver, for this new year and new springtime on the way. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Join Desert Oracle Radio for an audio tour of how the American Desert celebrates Christmastime, or Christmastide. With festive soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Desert Oracle Radio (c)(p) 2017-2025 http://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Snowy mountaintops across the Western Mojave, all the transverse ranges have at least a dusting, with the big peaks covered in white. San Gorgonio looks so pretty right now, you can almost forget it’s a haunted mountain that eats people alive and is usually known by its grim local nickname “Old Grayback.” It must be Thanksgiving in the High Desert! An all-new episode with new soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver, this is Desert Oracle Radio Episode #253. ALSO: Listen to the end, for important information on our Stocking Stuffer Special: a rare print edition of Desert Oracle (issue #11) & a DOR yellow vinyl bumper sticker, postage-paid to your mailbox for only $15.99. 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.
Recorded live in New York before an audience of DOR Patrons & assorted Manhattanites, this is Desert Oracle’s special Halloween Ghost Stories. Thanks to our special guests Matt Welch from The Fifth Column and Nicholas Lowry from Antique Roadshows & the new Czech graphic-design documentary Identity . Special thanks to our listeners who told ghost stories, RedBlueBlackSilver for the spooky soundscapes that surrounded us all, and Jonathan Farber for hosting the event. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
September 22 is the day & 11:19 a.m. is the hour when Fall finally arrives in the Mojave Desert. Add an hour for Nevada and Utah, which both share a little of the Mojave with California and Arizona. While it's still hot on the desert floor, the mountains are cool and the aspens are changing color. Too far from the aspen groves? If you're in the desert, there are Fremont's cottonwoods somewhere near you, and few trees have such fantastic fall colors. New soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver, written & hosted by Ken Layne. https://DesertOracle.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
On a monsoon evening, the sky streaked with golden bands, tropical clouds drawn up from the Sea of Cortez, everything is vibrant, delirious light. No sound but the crunch of boots and dog paws in the sandy wash lined with desert willow and Mormon tea, before we climb up to the mesa and through a high-desert forest of Joshua trees and Juniper. We sit for a while, at sunset: Great Apollo blazing over western mountains. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
A centuries-old conspiracy regarding Soothsayers' Oaks in the Bible, plus a walk in the woods with good old Henry David Thoreau. Soundscapes by RedBlueBlackSilver. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/desertoracle See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
