Category: Media (Page 18 of 45)

PBS Radio Rocks by Not Rocking

April 22, 2016 / Jack / 0 Comments

PBSwebsize Elijah Hawkins has some pretty cool things to say about radio drama down under:

In a time when most commercial radio stations play (in this writer’s opinion) either mass-produced crap or ‘80s pop, and when even triple j is waning, community radio plays an incredibly important role in the scene.
PBS 106.7FM is one of these stations flying the flag for community radio, and from May 16-29 they’re calling on listeners to ‘Take the Plunge’ and sign up. As a station that remains independent and non-profit, the supporters and volunteers are what keeps PBS on the air.

Fuelled by people with a passion for music and propelled by the record collections of the volunteer broadcasters, the station offers programs focusing on everything, including country, blues and roots, garage, rock, punk, and even electronica, soul, hip-hop, and free jazz.

Folks who sign up or renew their membership will go into the running for a heap of prizes, including a Maton 70th anniversary series semi-acoustic guitar, a restored Thorens turnable, a classic red Vespa PX 150 scooter and plenty more.

So get out there and support PBS 106.7 FM and let the stories rock out!

Dietrick Theater Performers

April 20, 2016 / Jack / 0 Comments

web1_ABJ-Radio Headed to Pennsylvania and aching to watch some live radio drama?

Catch Owen Frazier and Rich Ryczak from Dietrich Radio Players performing at the Open Mic this Friday (April 22nd) this evening. Find out all the details from this article at Abington Journal:

Two members of the Dietrich Radio Players, Owen Frazier and Rich Ryczak, will be the featured performers for Open Mic at 7 p.m. Friday, April 22 at the theater. They will bring some comic examples of old time radio to the open mic stage.

Open to audiences and performers of all ages, musicians, comedians and performers of all types are invited to share their talents before Frazier and Ryczak take the stage. The doors open for sign-ups and seating at 6:30 p.m.

With years of experience performing in the Dietrich Radio Players group, Frazier and Ryczak chose scenes from the Jack Benny Show, Charlie McCarthy segments, W.C. Fields comedies and the “Who’s on First,” routine made famous by Abbott and Costello.

For more information about this free event, call the Dietrich at 570-996-1500.

Information provided by the Dietrich Theater.

Playing with Google

April 18, 2016 / Jack / 0 Comments

Google Play has the Internets all a twitter (pun intended) with the possibility of a new RSS aggregator.

Do you need to have a place to spread your feed? Check out this article from The Verge.

Racontour Radio, the folks who brought mesmerizing re-creations of Dr. Who and War of the Worlds, are at it again with A Fond Farewell to Downton Abbey! “Downton Abbey: A Staged Radio Play Parody”. Friday the 15th. Check out the details from the Morristown Green:

The theatrical troupe returns to the Morristown & Township Library on Friday, April 15, 2016, at 7 pm, for what may be the final gathering of the library’s Downton Abbey Support Group.

‘Downton Abbey’ fans Lorraine Rosenberg (portraying Lady Edith), Kathleen Mandaglio (Lady Mary) and Beverly DeFabiis (Anna, wife of Bates) at Downton Abbey Support Group meeting, at the Morristown & Township Library. Photo by Kevin Coughlin

Although we suspect the need for this group therapy is growing more acute.

Last month marked the end of the popular PBS series, which spent six seasons chronicling the Crawley family’s fictional struggles to preserve its aristocratic lifestyle in post-World War I Britain.

Friday’s parody is free. Period costumes are encouraged. Refreshments will be served –let’s hope the library staff bakes scones, a specialty of the house — and rumors are flying around about some musical surprises.

The library is at One Miller Road in Morristown. Here is the library’s show description:

A Fond Farewell to Downton Abbey! “Downton Abbey: A Staged Radio Play Parody”

Friday April 15, 2016

7 PM

The Library’s long-standing band of Crawley family enthusiasts, the Downton Abbey Support Group (to support the show’s fans during the long breaks between new episodes), is lamenting the fact that come March 2016, the show will have completed its sixth and final season.

The real Downton Abbey–Highclere Castle. The Morristown & Township Library will bring you up to speed on the PBS series, on Dec. 6 at 7 pm.

But to send the show off with the grandeur it deserves, the library will become Highclere Castle as the Downton Abbey Support Group hosts Raconteur Radio’s performance of Downton Abbey: A Staged Radio Play Parody.

Raconteur Radio performs scenes of the show as a radio play but with period costumes, theatrical lighting, golden age radio equipment and extensive sound effects!

Raconteur Radio stages theatrical presentations of vintage radio plays, classic works of literature, and pop-culture parodies for live audiences throughout the Tri-State area.

The Mandela Effect

April 13, 2016 / Jack / 0 Comments

Not to be confused Fiona Broome’s theory of The Mandela Effect, the The Nelson Mandela Foundation just announced that they will be launching “Mandela: An Audio History” which will document “the struggle against apartheid through the intimate accounts of Nelson Mandela, as well as those who fought with him, and against him”.

Read all about this exciting new series in the NMF’s Press Release.

Odd Fanboys!

April 13, 2016 / Jack / 0 Comments

odds Fanboy Comics (soon to be Fanbase Press) took another step towards brand new audio drama as they signed on Sam Cushion for their radio drama series which is adapted from the comedy action novel The Odds by Robert J. Peterson. Read all about it in the Fanboy article from friend of the Society Barbra Dillon.

His Voice was “Magically Delicious”

April 12, 2016 / Jack / 0 Comments

13Anderson1Obit-master675 Great loss to the world of radio drama and voice acting on April 10th, when Arthur Anderson passed away at the age of 93. The New York Times article reported:

Arthur Anderson, who performed on radio as a teenager with Orson Welles’s Mercury Theater and appeared on Broadway, in films and on television, but whose most enduring role was as the voice of Lucky Charms cereal’s leprechaun, died on Saturday in Manhattan.

As the last of the Golden Age of Radio begins to fade into the distance, I find myself thinking back as to how much of an impact they made, not just on those children who grew up with radio and radio drama, but the grandchildren, and the great grandchildren. My parents loved radio plays and bought LP’s for me to listen to in my formative years. Even now, archive.org keeps putting more and more old time radio shows into the public domain. Go through the available Mercury and Campbell’s Playhouse Theatres and have some time to listen to Anderson’s salad years.

Rest well, sweet prince!

Vintage Hitchcock Radio

April 11, 2016 / Jack / 0 Comments

2-s47dtu_preview_featured The Oskaloosa Herald shares an exciting live radio theatre performance:

With “Vintage Hitchcock,” performed by William Penn University’s theatre department, you will visit neither London nor the 1920s, but you will become the audience of a radio show from several eras. “I really would like the audience to come in and take time to close [their] eyes and just listen to what it sounds like. This is designed to be a radio play, and we really tried to tackle it from that point of view,” said director Andy McGuire.

Three of Alfred Hitchcock’s early films have been adapted into radio plays by playwright Joe Landry. “The Lodger” will be first, followed by “Sabotage.” After a brief intermission, “The 39 Steps” will finish out the evening. “They’re all made with great reverence and love for Hitchcock,” said McGuire. The filmmaker is known for being a master of nail-biting suspense and the thriller genre. “A lot of times people think of theatre as this farce and this comedy. These plays are fun, they have their fun moments, but they’re not really comedies.”

Find out everything about Friday and Saturday’s performances that are offered free from this article College Students to Perform Vintage Hitchcock.

Tigers and Bunnies and Audio Drama, Oh My!

April 10, 2016 / Jack / 0 Comments

tigerbunny A growing popular add to a BluRay collection seems to be additional audio drama programmes. With the popular Japanese animation Tiger & Bunny there’s a brand new radio drama with the whole cast.

Crunchy roll has all the details:

The Japanese Tiger & Bunny Bluray Box will include all 25 episodes of the original TV series on 12 Bluray discs. In addition to the bonus materials included in the 9 individual Tiger & Bunny Bluray releases, the new box set will also include an original audio drama CD and new interviews with the voice cast.

Divergent’s Last Flop is Good News For Audio Drama Fans

April 9, 2016 / Jack / 0 Comments

divergent-ascendant-radio-drama If you’ve been following the Box Office, Divergent‘s latest chapter, Insurgent, has been disappointing.

So disappointing in fact, that “they who hold the purse strings” have cut the final movie from the trilogy. But, unlike what normally would occur without any followup, the final book- Ascendant will be made into an audio drama.

The article in hypable by Katie Awad entitled crisply as Final Divergent Film to be Released as Radio Drama everyone involved seems genuinely dismayed at the thought.

But, we at the Sonic Society, see it differently.

How fantastic is audio drama’s rise that the Hollywood Film houses see even a marketable radio drama product can be made from lackluster movie sails. This can only bode well for our favourite medium!