Texas Bix Bender was the narrator/announcer of Riders Radio Theater, both the radio series and the TNN television specials. He first started announcing for Riders In The Sky on their first television series, Tumbleweed Theater. He was portrayed by Steve Arwood.
In Riders Radio Theater (1988-1995)[]
Texas Bix would open each episode of Riders Radio Theater with "Riders Radio Theater is on the air", and close (almost) all episodes with the staff credits and mailing address for Too Slim's Mercantile.
In The Television Specials (1995-1996)[]
Texas Bix was the narrator of all of the Riders Radio Theater television specials for TNN.
Writer[]
During Riders Radio Theater, Texas Bix began writing humor books about the cowboy lifestyle.
Behind The Scenes[]
Steve Arwood first met Riders In The Sky when he was working for TNN. He pushed for the Riders to be the host of Tumbleweed Theater, a new show that would premier on the same day The Nashville Network would begin broadcasting, and eventually became a writer for the series alongside Fred LaBour (Too Slim). He and LaBour would later go on to write Riders Radio Theater episodes, with Arwood writing an outline for the Ongoing Saga of The Cowboy Way segments as the Riders were out touring, and LaBour coming back and adding humor to it later.